The Evening CSIS April 22 2015

Good Evening,

Welcome to The Evening CSIS—my daily guide to key insights CSIS brings to the events of the day plus HIGHLY RECOMMENDED content from around the world. To subscribe, please click here and if you want to view this in your browser, click here.

Plan to Attack
A 24-year-old Algerian national, Sid Ahmed Ghlam, has been arrested in a Paris suburb for planning an attack on “one or two churches” in the city, according to authorities. Ghlam apparently had ties to extremists in Syria. The BBC has this report.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Juan Zarate testified today before the House Financial Services Committee on “A Survey of Global Terrorism and Terrorist Financing.” Read Juan’s testimony here.

In late February, Zarate, Farah Pandith, and Nancy Youssef joined Bob Schieffer for a CSIS-Schieffer Series discussion on “ Countering Violent Extremism .”

Also in late February, Humera Khan, executive director of Muflehun, a think tank specializing in preventing radicalization and countering violent extremism published “ Why Countering Extremism Fails ” in Foreign Affairs.

Insider resource: The Muflehun Daily, an aggregation of extremism, terrorism & political violence news by Muflehun, an independent, nonpartisan think tank focused on preventing radicalization & countering violent extremism.

Yemen Airstrikes
Hours after Saudi Arabia announced an end to its bombing campaign in Yemen, fighter planes from the Saudi-led military coalition conducted airstrikes Wednesday in the Yemeni city of Taiz, the New York Times reports.

Amid the airstrikes, Houthis called for peace talks, CNN reports.

And, “Yemen’s Fault Lines,” part of Bloomberg’s “Quick Take” series is a useful guide to the current crisis.

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Anthony Cordesman published a new commentary today, “Yemen and Warfare in Failed States.”

Brookings’ Bruce Riedel today published a new commentary, “Saudis wisely end bombing of Yemen, but peace remains unlikely.”

Foreign Affairs published an essay earlier this week, “ Iran’s game in Yemen,” by Mohsen Milani, executive director of the Center for Strategic & Diplomatic Studies and professor of politics at the University of South Florida.

Chinese Defaults
In an editorial published yesterday by Bloomberg View, “Defaults Are Just What China Needs”, the news service’s editorial arm argued that two high-profile defaults this week, one by a major developer, the other by a state-owned enterprise, “provide a dose of market discipline that China sorely needs.”

Dive Deeper: CSIS’s Scott Kennedy and Tang Tianyi today published a commentary, “A Chinese corporate bond default: No big deal.”

In that Number
20
Number of places you should “visit before they disappear,” according to Business Insider.
Source : Business Insider.

Critical Question
A daily shortened sampling of our signature "Asked & Answered" series.

Asked: With the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill being marked up by the Senate Finance Committee, what are its prospects?

Answered: Scott Miller, CSIS Scholl Chair in International Business, and Amy Studdart, deputy director, CSIS Simon Chair in Political Economy: Generally speaking, trade is an issue that divides Democrats and unites Republicans. Following the 2014 elections, President Obama and Republican leaders in Congress have consistently identified trade as an area with potential for cooperation. That said, the fundamental political calculus is still unchanged: though there may be more potential affirmative votes now than before the midterms, neither side has the votes to fully impose their will on the other. Getting TPA to this point is an encouraging sign for the US trade agenda, but the cooperation that got the bill this far will need to be continued through final ratification.

Read the full analysis on TPA here.

One to Watch

Tara McKelvey ( @Tara_Mckelvey) is a White House reporter for BBC News. Previously, she was a correspondent for Newsweek and the Daily Beast and a frequent contributor to theNew York Times Book Review. She has reported on national security issues from the Middle East, South Asia, and Russia. She is also the author of Monstering: Inside America’s Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War (Basic Books).

Optics
Today is Earth Day, and NASA released these satellite photos marking the occasion that show our blue marble in all its glory.

Highly Recommended
One of Washington’s most interesting government officials is Megan Smith, US chief technology officer. Ms. Smith is on the cover of the May issue of Wired, which has a smart write-up of what she’s trying to do over the next 18 months of the Obama administration.

CSIS Today
Watch video of today’s events at our HQ.

Juan Zarate , CSIS senior adviser and former deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism, presented compelling testimony before the House Financial Services Committee on the campaign against terrorist financing. In his testimony, Zarate writes, “The power to affect the budgets of America’s enemies is an enormous power that needs to be tended carefully and wielded wisely.” Be sure to download his full testimony here.

CSIS hosted a conversation with CFR’s Sheila Smith on her latest book, Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China.

CSIS Tomorrow
What’s in store at CSIS HQ tomorrow.

CSIS will host its first ever Global Development Forum—an all-day conference focusing on private-sector partnerships, capacity building and workforce development, innovative finance, the post-2015 global development agenda, Ebola recovery in West Africa, and the strategic role of development in overall US foreign policy. Keynote addresses will be given by Representative Ander Crenshaw and Dr. Sri Mulyani Indrawati, managing director of the World Bank Group. Click here for the full agenda, starting at 8:45 a.m. For live updates follow #CSISGDF.

This Town Tomorrow
So many important things in this town—so little time. Of note:

The Atlantic Council will host a high-level conference on “Trade and National Security: Renewing US Leadership through Economic Strength,” featuring a keynote by Secretary of State John Kerry. The event is at capacity, but watch live here at 8:45 a.m.

CSIS on Demand
Watch Latvia’s defense minister, Raimonds Vejonis, discuss the Baltic Sea region and securing his country against hybrid warfare.

Sounds
NPR’s Renee Montagne spoke with European Parliament president Martin Schulz, as he called for more action from the EU to save the lives of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

I Like It Like That
Eye catching things in CSIS’s orbit

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson spoke yesterday at the RSA conference, the annual information security gathering held annually in San Francisco. Secretary Johnson appeared sans necktie, a big deal for any Washington lawyer, much less a cabinet secretary. Johnson’s remarks on cybersecurity were both entertaining and informative.

LAGNIAPPE
A little something extra

Smart article posted today on the Atlantic website by Edward Delman ( @EdwardJacob90): “When Is a TV Channel a Foreign Agent?”

Smiles
We had an enormously positive response to yesterday’s clip of the legendary performance from the 1978 Martin Scorsese documentary The Last Waltz by Van Morrison and The Band. Thus, for an encore, watch rock & roll pioneer Ronnie Hawkins (The Band’s first mentor) perform “Who Do You Love?” from The Last Waltz. You’ll see why the whole stage is burning up with smiles.

Feedback

I always welcome and benefit from your feedback. Please drop me a line at aschwartz@csis.org.