Canada–Mexico Vaccine Pledge

The leaders of Canada and Mexico will announce a pledge to send millions of coronavirus vaccines to much of Latin America and the Caribbean on Thursday during a summit with President Biden, as the NYT reports.

Covid Origins

A scientist known for investigating viral origins has reconstructed the first known weeks of the Covid-19 pandemic, adding to a growing body of evidence that the virus behind it jumped from infected animals to humans rather than emerging from laboratory research, as the WSJ reports.

Diplomatic Boycott

President Biden said on Thursday that his administration is “considering” a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in China, a move that would keep U.S. government officials from attending the games in Beijing to protest China’s human rights abuses. Under this boycott, U.S. athletes would still attend, as the Washington Post reports.

Executive Education

Register for the Defense Enterprise Today course to gain key insights into the current state of the defense enterprise and the challenges the defense enterprise faces in the future. The course will focus not just on classic defense activities but also on the intelligence community, irregular warfare, and gray zone competition.

Video Shorts

Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “Data Unpacked,” Testify,” “What's Happening,” “Preview,” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel!

In That Number

400

More than 400 Iraqis were flown home Thursday from Belarus after unsuccessful attempts to enter the European Union at the border with Poland, where thousands of migrants have been stranded in perilous conditions.

Source: Washington Post

Critical Quote

“When social media platforms treat our children as mere commodities to manipulate for longer screen time engagement and data extraction, it becomes imperative for state attorneys general to engage our investigative authority under our consumer protection laws.”

— Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson (R)

iDeas Lab

New CSIS satellite imagery analysis shows a 17 percent increase in the number of military structures used for storage and billeting troops outside the Russian town of Yelnya, home of the 144th Guards Motorized Rifle Division. Russia’s buildup comes on the heels of a spike in hostilities between Ukraine and Russian-backed rebels.

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and multimedia.

Optics

(Photo credit: Joe Nicholson / AFP / Getty Images.) A man and woman ferry a dog down a flooded Sterling Road in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, on November 17, 2021.

This Town Tomorrow

At 9:00 a.m., join the CSIS China Power Project for a debate on whether or not the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the timeline by which China’s economic power will surpass that of the United States.

And, at 8:00 a.m., the Peterson Institute for International Economics holds a discussion on the lessons learned from the ongoing expansion of the eurozone to include Croatia and Bulgaria.

Also, at 9:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council continues its 2021 Central Europe Week with a panel on “Navigating the Next Geopolitical Challenges.”

Video

Yesterday, CSIS hosted Jonathan Pershing, Deputy Special Envoy for Climate at the U.S. Department of State, for a roundtable conversation on key takeaways from COP26.

Podcasts

Yesterday, the Smart Women, Smart Power podcast welcomed U.S. Army Reserves Major Asha Castleberry-Hernandez, senior advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department, for a discussion on defending democracy abroad.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

Thirty years ago this week, U2 released “Achtung Baby,” and in the process moved the needle on rock and roll’s sonic architecture. Before Achtung, I was a big U2 fan. I loved all of their albums, from 1980’s “Boy” through their seminal 1987 record, “The Joshua Tree.”

“Achtung Baby” proved to be something altogether different from U2’s prior efforts in that it launched a new musical language with its driving lyrics, barrage of guitars, and cavernous industrial rhythms. It was a big sounding record, but its songs weren’t as anthemic as the music of albums like “War,” “The Unforgettable Fire,” and “The Joshua Tree.”

Soon after Achtung’s release, the band’s touring show became a grandiose affair, and in my view an obfuscation to the essence of their music. But it’s the music that lasts, and in the case of “Achtung Baby,” tracks like this one sound as contemporary today as they were earth-shaking 30 years ago.

I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz

The Evening is my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day. It is composed with the External Relations team: Kendal Gee, Paige Montfort, and Christopher Healey.