Zelensky Calls for Accelerated Delivery

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for the West to accelerate deliveries of weapons to Kyiv, as Ukrainian forces battled to keep Russian troops from encircling Bakhmut, the city in eastern Ukraine where the fiercest fighting is under way, as the WSJ reports.

Suicide Bombing Tears Through Pakistan Mosque, Killing Dozens

A powerful suicide bombing on Monday ripped through a mosque frequented by police officers in a highly secured part of the city of Peshawar, killing at least 59 people and wounding nearly 160 in the worst attack in Pakistan in months, as the NYT reports.

Blinken urges Israel-Palestinian calm as violence soars

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Israel and the Palestinians on Monday to ease tensions following a spike in violence that has put the region on edge, as the AP 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

59

At least 59 people were killed by a suspected suicide bombing at a mosque within a police compound in northwestern Pakistan.

Source: WSJ

Critical Quote
“We have to make time our weapon.”

— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

iDeas Lab

Last week, Under Secretary of State Jose W. Fernandez joined CSIS's Matt Goodman and Erin Murphy for a conversation on strategic economic competition with China. 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 by Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty Images.) U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu give a joint press conference on January 30, 2023 in Jerusalem.

This Town Tomorrow

At 8:00 a.m., the CSIS Interpret: China project and the CSIS Japan Chair hold a discussion on the likely trajectories for China-Japan relations.

Later, at 2:00 p.m., the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program hosts a discussion on the future of energy markets and climate targets with Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy David Turk and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency Dr. Fatih Birol.

Earlier, at 9:00 a.m., the Atlantic Council explores the impact of Western sanctions on Russia.

Video

CSIS's Smart Women, Smart Power initative hosted Sandra Douglass Morgan, president of the Las Vegas Raiders, for a conversation on the importance of sports teams engaging in local politics and community. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

Award-winning and best-selling author Steve Silberman (“Neurotribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity”) joins the podcast to talk about the passing of his close friend, singer-songwriter David Crosby, last week at 81. In this episode, Silberman describes how Crosby was singular as a musician, a unique American, and discusses the incredible life Crosby led.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

How do you make a perfect, iconic record sound better than its original form? Well, you don’t. But you can make something greatly different, which is what Bob Dylan has done with “Fragments—Time Out of Mind Sessions 1996-1997” the 17th volume of his Bootleg Series.

Produced by Daniel Lanois (of U2 fame) “Time Out of Mind” won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1998, and it is widely recognized as one of the best albums in rock history. Maybe most importantly, it built on the 1989 Lanois’ produced “Oh Mercy” and ignited a resurgence into contemporary musical relevance for Dylan. “Oh Mercy” and “Time Out of Mind” were Dylan’s 29th and 30th studio albums and for years before their release, Dylan’s music was thought of as passe.

“Time Out of Mind” proved to be an atmospheric masterpiece dripping with Lanois’ ability to conjure the New Orleans voodoo swamp aesthetic. The Neville Brothers’ seminal “Yellow Moon” released in ’89 is another prime example of this Lanois sound.

But Dylan had a problem with the end result of “Time Out of Mind” upon its initial release. None of the songs were up tempo, and while it achieved what Lanois set out to accomplish, it didn’t do the same for Dylan because of that.

Now, we have “Fragments” a sprawling collection of remixes, alternate versions, outtakes and live recordings of the material. With this release, we can better understand the totality of what both Dylan and Lanois had hoped for. It’s an astonishing body of work.

An example of the tempo that eluded the initial album is revealed in this outtake of “Dreaming of You,” as seen here with a music video starring Harry Dean Stanton driving through the Joshua Tree desert.

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: Paige Montfort, Claire Dannenbaum, and Claire Smrt.