Good Evening,
It's Wednesday, January 4th. |
Cellphone Strike
Russia’s Defense Ministry blamed on-site cellphone communication by soldiers in a Makiivka building for the deadly strike, saying it allowed Ukrainian forces to locate the target, and as The Washington Post reports, the ministry raised the Russian death toll to 89 on Wednesday. |
Russia Looking to Replenish Missiles
Russia is struggling to replenish its stockpiles of missiles but still has enough for more large-scale strikes and is rushing new munitions from the production line into use in the war, a senior Ukrainian intelligence official said Wednesday, as the NYT reports. |
Biden to Visit U.S.-Mexico Border
President Biden said Wednesday that he intends to visit the U.S.-Mexico border during his trip to Mexico City next week, as the WSJ reports. |
Executive Education
Gain key insights on what the Biden administration's FY 2024 budget and strategy documents reveal about strategic priorities from CSIS experts and practitioners in the one-day course offering, Inside DOD's FY 2024 Budget. Participants will have a unique opportunity to dive deeply into how these changes will affect the defense enterprise, leaving with the most critical data and information for their own organizations. |
Video Shorts
Check out CSIS’s new series of video shorts: “The ReCap,” “Data Unpacked,” “Testify,” “What's Happening,” “Preview,” and “High Resolution.” And don’t forget to subscribe to the CSIS YouTube Channel! |
In That Number
80
Oil prices are falling, driven by China's messy Covid reopening, dragging Brent crude below $80 a barrel for the first time since December 21.
Source: WSJ |
Critical Quote
“Russia mobilizes those whom it wants to throw to death, we mobilize the civilized world. For the sake of life.”
- President Volodymyr Zelensky
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iDeas Lab
Dr. Kathleen McInnis sat down with Ambassador Julianne Smith, U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO, for a conversation on the NATO alliance and the road to the 2023 Vilnius Summit. Watch the ReCap here.
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: Dimitar Dilkoff/Getty Images.) Construction workers climb onto the roof of a destroyed church in the village of Bohorodychne, Donetsk region on January 4, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. |
Recommended Reading
"The Taiwan Long Game: Why the Best Solution Is No Solution" by CSIS's Jude Blanchette and Ryan Hass of Brookings in Foreign Affairs. |
This Town This Week
Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., the CSIS Korea Chair holds a discussion on the North Korean leadership, including unanswered questions about Kim Jong-un's health, the succession plan, and new revelations about the Kim family.
Later, at 12:15 p.m., the CSIS Economics Program hosts a conversation with the Honorable Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's minister of economy, trade, and industry, outlining Japan's economic priorities for its G7 presidency in 2023.
And on Friday, at 3:30 p.m., the Wilson Center previews U.S. priorities heading into the 2023 North American Leaders' Summit.
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Video
Members of the CSIS Ukraine Economic Reconstruction Commission discuss how the critical international effort of economic reconstruction should focus on three key sectors: digital, energy, and agriculture. Watch the video here. |
Podcasts
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson joins the newest episode of Smart Women, Smart Power to discuss the global fight against organized crime and drug trafficking, including the trafficking of women.
Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts. |
Smiles
Most everyone I know who listens to country and western is all about Zach Bryan right now. And with good reason! Bryan’s music and persona give off an aura of authenticity in a music industry mostly devoid of genuineness. Who else would drop an unannounced live album on Christmas Eve? If you ask record biz people, they’ll tell you that it’s certain seppuku to release product over the holidays, much less anytime in January.
But with “All My Homies Hate Ticketmaster (Live at Red Rocks),” Bryan has both tapped into the source of concert-goers frustration at exorbitant ticket prices, and most of all, reminded his fans that he loves them with the surprise gift of an amazing record.
Bryan doesn’t sit for many interviews. If I were writing for The New Yorker or producing 60 Minutes, I’d get on my horse immediately and make the most compelling case for why Bryan should talk…
What I do know about Zach Bryan is that my sons love him, hope he is playing at Jazz Fest this year, and have memorized most of his lyrics (as you’ll soon hear, they aren’t the only ones who know all the words.) I also am aware that Bryan served honorably for 7 years in the U.S. Navy and that he writes all of his own lyrics. One of my boys thinks he’s Dylanesque. I think Bryan is his own dude, and I haven’t heard anything in country that I like as much in a long time. |
| I invite you to email me at [email protected] and follow me on Twitter @handrewschwartz |
