The Evening: NK, Iran, New Kid In Town and More

June 16, 2020

NK Destroys Joint Liaison Office

North Korea today blew up a joint liaison office set up in a border town in 2018 to foster better ties with South Korea after threatening action if defectors continued with a campaign of sending propaganda leaflets into the reclusive North, as Reuters reports.

U.S. Wants Face-To-Face With Iran

The United States would like a face-to-face meeting with Iran to discuss prisoner releases and it wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an indefinite arms embargo on the Islamic Republic, as Reuters reports.

Fauci Warning

Dr. Anthony Fauci today warned the nation risks a resurgence of coronavirus infections should states fail to remain vigilant as they reopen their economies, as the WSJ reports.

India-China Border Clash

The worst border clash between India and China in more than 40 years left 20 Indian soldiers dead and dozens believed captured, Indian officials said today, raising tensions between nuclear-armed rivals who have increasingly been flexing their diplomatic and military muscle, as the NYT reports.

On the Horizon

The Covid-19 crisis comes at a time of worsening U.S.-India economic relations. But recovery from the pandemic offers new opportunities for positive cooperation and more resilient linkages, writes CSIS's Richard Rossow.

CSIS’s “On the Horizon” series offers insights into the more fundamental changes we might anticipate for our future social and economic world as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic.

CSIS Executive Education

Enrollment is now open for CSIS and Syracuse University’s joint Executive Master’s in International Relations. This first-of-its-kind degree allows working professionals in the nation’s capital to benefit from the academic strengths of the #1 graduate school in public affairs and the policy know-how of #1 think tank in the U.S. Learn more and apply today.

Video Shorts

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

In That Number

20

At least 20 Indian Army troops were killed by Chinese soldiers late Monday in a clash along the disputed India-China border in the Himalayas.

Source: NYT

Critical Quote

“Americans want law and order, they demand law and order.”

— President Donald Trump

iDeas Lab

The CSIS Economics Program estimates G20 countries are providing $7.0 trillion in fiscal support, representing over 10 percent of 2019 G20 GDP.

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: Alex Wong/Getty Images.) Attorney General William Barr has his temperature checked while attending an event at the White House today.

Recommended Reading

“Exploring China’s Unmanned Ocean Network,” a new feature from CSIS’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative.

Online Events

Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., CSIS Korea experts will discuss the U.S.-South Korean alliance with General Vincent Brooks (Ret.), former commander of the United Nations Command, the Combined Forces Command, and of United States Forces Korea.

And, at 11:30 a.m., CSIS will host former Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates for a discussion of his new book, Exercise of Power: American Failures, Successes, and a New Path Forward in the Post-Cold War World.

Later, at 2:00 p.m., CSIS will hold the third event in the Synthetic Biology series. This event will discuss synthetic biology’s potential to drive both economic growth and positive social change.

Video

In a new video, CSIS experts address the intersection between climate change and foreign policy. Watch the full video here .

Podcasts

Host Jon Alterman welcomes Frederic Wehrey, senior fellow in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, to discuss the conflict in Libya, who is involved, and why.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

This Friday Bob Dylan will release “Rough and Rowdy Ways,” his first album of original songs since “Tempest” dropped in 2012. I can’t wait. As luck would have it, Dylan granted a rare interview last week to historian Doug Brinkley that was published in the New York Times.

In the interview, Dylan tells Brinkley on the day after George Floyd was killed in Dylan’s home state of Minnesota, “It sickened me no end to see George tortured to death like that.”

The interview also contained a few lighter moments. In discussing Dylan’s music, Brinkley mentions Eagles co-founders Don Henley and Glenn Frey who Dylan referenced in his 17-minute single “Murder Most Foul” released earlier this year. He asks Dylan: “What Eagles songs do you enjoy the most?” Dylan replies, “‘New Kid in Town,’ ‘Life in the Fast Lane,’ ‘Pretty Maids All in a Row.’ That could be one of the best songs ever.”

Three legendary tracks from the Eagles fifth studio album, “Hotel California,” which hit stores in late 1976 and has been embedded in the American consciousness ever since.

If you want to spend 45 mins or even 5 mins watching the Eagles in their prime performing tracks from “Hotel California” in 1977 right here in DC at the Capital Centre, check this out.