The Evening: Increased Testing Investment, NK Hackers Charged, Stage Fright and More

February 17, 2021

Increased Investment in Testing

The Biden administration said Wednesday it was investing more than $1.6 billion to increase coronavirus testing and sequencing, as the Washington Post reports.

U.S. Charges NK with Hacking

The United States has charged three North Korean computer programmers with a massive hacking spree aimed at stealing more than $1.3 billion in money and cryptocurrency, affecting companies from banks to Hollywood movie studios, as Reuters reports.

Saudi Arabia to Increase Oil Output

Saudi Arabia plans to increase its oil output in the coming months, reversing a recent big production cut, a sign of growing confidence over an oil-price recovery, as the WSJ reports.

Executive Education

CSIS is now accepting applications for the Spring 2021 Belt and Road Executive Course. Drawing insights from leading experts and the CSIS Reconnecting Asia Project, this course reveals how China's $1 trillion foreign policy effort is impacting commercial and strategic realities on the ground.

Global Forecast 2021

Global Forecast is an annual collection of essays by CSIS experts focused on the critical issues facing the United States and the world in the year ahead. The latest papers examine China's Digital Silk Road and U.S. commitment to NATO.

Coronavirus Crisis Update

The Coronavirus Crisis Update podcast brings you the latest updates and analysis from CSIS experts and the leaders directing the global response. Past guests include NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, IHME Director Dr. Chris Murray, Covid-19 Advisory Group members Dr. Luciana Borio and Dr. Celine Gounder, chef Jose Andres, and more. Listen on Apple Podcasts & Spotify.

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

3.4 million

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which manages the state’s power grid, said on Wednesday that around 700,000 homes had electricity restored overnight but more than 3.4 million customers were still without power late Wednesday morning.

Source: NYT

Critical Quote

“To better understand this pandemic and prepare for the next one, all countries must make available all data from the earliest days of the outbreak.”

— Secretary of State Antony Blinken

iDeas Lab

The effects of Covid-19 are threatening the economic progress made in the Mekong Subregion (comprised of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam). CSIS examines how to combat this slowdown.

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: Ron Jenkins/Getty Images.) Pike Electric service trucks line up after winter storm Uri on February 16, 2021 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Recommended Reading

“Extreme Weather Tests Grid Resilience across Much of the United States,” by CSIS’s Stephen Naimoli.

This Town Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., the CSIS Korea Chair convenes for a special discussion about Korea and China.

Then, at 10:00 a.m., join Brookings for a discussion examining how the U.S. government should think about working with, and through, nonstate armed actors in implementing the global fragility strategy.

Later, at 4:00 p.m., the Wilson Center will host President Francisco Sagasti of Peru as part of the Latin American Program’s “Crisis Conversations,” a series of dialogues with Latin American leaders about overcoming policy challenges during the pandemic.

Video

Earlier today, the CSIS Project on Prosperity and Development hosted an armchair conversation with Mauricio Claver-Carone, President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

This week, Dr. Chris Murray returns to the podcast to discuss how Covid-19 variants may increase transmissibility and the impact of accelerating vaccine campaigns.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

I’d argue that very few artists have ever performed and recorded rock and roll music as elegantly and expertly as The Band. The combination of Robbie Robertson’s lyrical master storytelling, the extraordinary musicianship of the group and the three singers trading lead vocals is hard to beat.

Last week marked the release of a 50^th anniversary edition of The Band’s third album “Stage Fright” (1970). Unlike “Music From Big Pink,” (1968) and “The Band” (1969) which preceded it, on its face, “Stage Fright” didn’t seem to break much new ground. Breaking new ground would have been a tall order—“Big Pink” and “The Band” changed the shape of music for generations.

Yet on it’s own, “Stage Fright” is a fantastic record chock full of the kind of funk rooted rock and roll that would inform the music of Little Feat and so many others. The album doesn’t include such masterpieces as “The Weight,” “Up On Cripple Creek,” and “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” but it does include gems like “The W.S. Wolcott Medicine Show” performed live in this clip in 1971 at New York’s Academy of Music https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nX3_CjtJltU.