The Evening: No De-escalation, EU Open to Vaccinated, Déjà Vu and More

May 19, 2021

No De-escalation

Despite new pressure from the Biden administration to de-escalate violence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said he was “determined to continue this operation until its goal is achieved,” as the Washington Post reports.

EU to Reopen for Vaccinated Travelers

The European Union agreed on Wednesday to reopen its borders to visitors who have been fully vaccinated with an approved shot and to those coming from a list of countries considered safe from a coronavirus perspective, as the NYT reports.

Fed Signals Shift from Easy-Money Pandemic Policies

The Federal Reserve has begun to telegraph an eventual shift away from the easy-money policies implemented during the pandemic as evidence builds of a robust economic recovery and mounting inflation, as the WSJ reports.

Executive Education

Today is the last day to register for CSIS' virtual course: Unpacking the Defense Enterprise. Participants will be able to connect with security experts and former U.S. government leaders to gain a competitive advantage in analyzing the defense domain.

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

4,000

More than 4,000 rockets have been fired from Gaza since the conflict between Hamas and Israel began.

Source: NYT

Critical Quote

“I will admit that I wasn’t comfortable seeing money go out the door to people like this. But it was the right thing to do for the country.”

— Joseph Blount, CEO of Colonial Pipeline, on his decision to pay ransom to computer hackers who attacked the pipeline.

iDeas Lab

A new feature from Reconnecting Asia identified 70 deals in 41 countries between Huawei and foreign governments or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for cloud infrastructure and e-government services.

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: Ahmad Gharabli/AFP/Getty Images.)

Israeli security forces cordon off an area in the northern Israeli-Arab city of Shfaram on May 19, 2021, following a rocket attack fired from southern Lebanon.

Recommended Reading

“Sustainable States: Environment, Governance, and the Future of the Middle East,” by CSIS’ Jon Alterman, Natasha Hall and Will Todman.

This Town Tomorrow

Tomorrow, at 9:00 a.m., CSIS hosts Congressman Andy Kim (D-NJ), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and House Armed Services Committee, for a discussion on the role of human capital in US-China competition.

Then, at 3:00 p.m., the Brookings Institution holds conversation on the future of artificial intelligence and its impact on the economy.

And, at 3:30 p.m., the Woodrow Wilson Center's Latin America Program explores the results of Chile's Constituent Assembly elections and its impact on the future trajectory of Chilean politics.

Video

CSIS expert Dr. Jon Alterman examines how the development of environmentally sustainable public utilities in the MENA region could help bridge the trust deficit between citizens and their governments. Watch the full video here.

Podcasts

Ayoade Olatunbosun-Alakija, co-chair of the African Union’s Vaccine Delivery Alliance, joins to discuss the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines in Africa—sharing her views on the potential for scaling up vaccine manufacturing in the region and her concerns that more transmissible viral variants may gain a foothold before enough vaccines are available.

Listen on Spotify & Apple Podcasts.

Smiles

“We are stardust…”

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s 1970 album “Déjà Vu” is one of the greatest rock records in history—Rolling Stone ranks it as number 148 on their list of top 500. I’d put it in the top 20. Tracks like “Carry On,” “Teach Your Children,” “Helpless,” “Woodstock,” “Our House,” “Almost Cut My Hair” and the title cut are part of the cannon that comprise rock and roll’s best loved and most memorable tunes.

This week Rhino Records released a new 50th anniversary edition of “Déjà Vu” and it has the rock world abuzz. In LA, music insiders are talking about it because this 4 CD edition does something unique in the terms of anniversary reissues and box sets. It provides a set of 11 outtakes that didn’t make the record and haven’t been released until now, but are so good that if they had been added to the 10 original songs on the album, we would be talking about “Déjà Vu” as if it were the Rolling Stones’ “Exile on Main Street,” or the Beatles’ “White Album.”

I was shocked to learn that leftover tracks like Stephen Stills’ “Ivory Tower” existed, and that David Crosby’s “Laughing” could have been on the album.

When I heard “Ivory Tower” I think my jaw hit the floor. How could a lost treasure like this not have been unearthed over the past 51 years??? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfepzA1UkI4.