Good Evening,
It's Tuesday, October 18th. |
Invasion Faltering in South Ukraine
Russia’s top military commander in Ukraine gave a rare pessimistic take of his invading forces’ position, suggesting their hold on the southern city of Kherson was weakening, as the WSJ reports. |
Variant Swarm Could Fuel Winter Surge
This fall and winter are expected to be different when it comes to coronavirus variants: Instead of a single ominous variant lurking on the horizon, experts are nervously eyeing a swarm of viruses—and a new evolutionary phase in the pandemic, as the Washington Post reports. |
Biden Administration to Tap Oil Reserve Again Ahead of Midterms
The Biden administration plans to announce a release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to drive fuel prices down, as Politico reports. |
Executive Education
U.S. and Eurasian Security: The Challenges Ahead is a new program that will give participants a competitive advantage through in-depth analysis and insights into the major challenges to U.S. security across Eurasia. |
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
30%
President Zelensky said 30 percent of Ukraine's power stations have been destroyed since October 10.
Source: Washington Post |
Critical Quote
“I do want to accept responsibility and say sorry for the mistakes that have been made. I wanted to act, to help people with their energy bills, to deal with the issue of high taxes, but we went too far and too fast.”
— British Prime Minister Liz Truss |
iDeas Lab
Recent satellite images of the Sinpo South Shipyard, a critical location in North Korea's development of SSB and SLBM capabilities, show more vessel movements and new construction in the area.
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: Stringer/AFP/Getty Images.) The wreckage of a Sukhoi Su-34 military jet lies at the crash site in the courtyard of a residential area in the town of Yeysk in southwestern Russia on October 17, 2022. |
Recommended Reading
“Deterring Nuclear Weapons Use in Ukraine" by CSIS's Heather Williams. |
This Town Tomorrow
At 10:00 a.m., the CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security hosts a fireside chat with Dr. Raj Panjabi on the National Biodefense Strategy and Implementation Plan.
Earlier, at 9:00 a.m., the Stimson Center holds a discussion on Myanmar’s shadow government and a new front that has opened for Myanmar’s resistance against the military junta: its fragile economy.
And later, at 12:00 p.m., Carnegie hosts a conversation on how immigration is affecting democratic politics around the world and in the United States.
|
Video
Yesterday, the CSIS Scholl Chair hosted a conversation with former United States Trade Representatives on what a positive trade agenda should look like for the Biden administration. Watch the full video here. |
Podcasts
CSIS Americas Program director Ryan Berg joins the podcast to discuss the runoff election for the Brazilian presidency.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. |
Smiles
The formula for discovering new music used to be fairly straightforward. Radio play, and subsequently airtime on MTV, launched musicians’ careers and largely put listeners on the same page in terms of attaining access to what sounded good.
In the disaggregated age of streaming, there isn’t typically such a clear path. Algorithms on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon have a lot to do with discovering new music. Satellite and terrestrial radio much less than before.
The smart musicians look for creative placement solutions. One of the more effective strategies is to land a soundtrack spot for a song on a hit television show. We all watch a lot of TV these days and our streaming services are providing millions of hours of highly watchable content. If artists are able to embed their songs within one these hours, it could prove to be career changing. Just ask country stars Whiskey Myers. Before their songs (and live performance) showed up in Kevin Costner’s “Yellowstone,” nobody knew who they were—now they are one of C&W’s hottest acts.
The cool thing about music appearing in television shows is that with our current technology, you can figure out quickly who the artist is. Just download the free Shazam App on your phone and you can instantly find out who the artist is if you hear something you like on one of your shows. And, if you subscribe to one of the music streaming services mentioned above, you can easily find playlists that collect the soundtracks to entire television series.
My latest discovery comes from the Apple TV hit “Bad Sisters,” an excellent show chock full of great new and old music. I had never heard of the Portland, Oregon-based folk-rock outfit, The Builders and The Butchers, but now I am mesmerized by their music after I heard it on “Bad Sisters,” Shazamed it, and then took to Spotify and YouTube. |
| I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz |
