At the United Nations

The Trump administration has backed away from some of the most stringent penalties it had sought to impose on North Korea in an apparent effort to draw Russian and Chinese backing for a new raft of sanctions over the country’s nuclear weapons advances, as the New York Times’ Somini Sengupta reports.

And as Bloomberg’s Kanga Kong reports, North Korea has warned of retaliation if the UN Security Council approves a U.S. proposal for harsher sanctions after Pyongyang conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.

Myanmar

The United Nations said today that “ethnic cleansing” is unfolding in Myanmar, as NPR’s Colin Dwyer reports.

Dive Deeper: See CFR’s Joshya Kurlantzick on “Is the United States Really Going to Expand Military Cooperation With Myanmar Now?”

Ukraine/Russia

Ukraine on Monday launched joint military exercises with the United States and a host of other NATO countries as its bitter rival Russia gears up for its own war games on the EU border, as the AFP reports.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post’s David Filipov and Michael Birnbaum report that Russia is readying this week for war games that Western security officials see as a muscular display of firepower along NATO’s most vulnerable region.

Dive Deeper: See “The Russia-NATO A2AD Environment,” an interactive posting from CSIS’s Missile Threat micro-website.

In That Number

6.2 million

The number of customers without power in Florida.
Source: CNN.

Critical Quote

“Space has become so critical to the way we fight and win wars, it can no longer be subordinate.”

—Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-AL) last week at CSIS.

iDeas Lab

This graphic on global perceptions of violent extremism comes from Turning Point, a report by the CSIS Commission on Countering Violent Extremism (CVE).

The Andreas C. Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS enhances our research with the latest in cutting-edge web technologies, design, and video.

Optics

(Photo Credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.)
North Fort Lauderdale Beach Boulevard as Hurricane Irma hits the southern part of the state yesterday.

This Town Tomorrow

Join CSIS’s Americas Program at 9:00 a.m. for “NAFTA Renegotiation: Strengthening North American Prosperity and Competitiveness,” featuring a keynote address by Senator Rob Portman (R-OH).

And Join the German Marshall Fund at 3:00 p.m. for “Uneasy Allies: The Future of U.S.-Turkey Relations.”

Video

“How to Organize Military Space” a CSIS event last week.

Sounds

Russian Roulette has a new podcast on the demographic landscape of East European and post-Soviet countries. Topics of discussion include health care, health policy, migration, and other demographic issues affecting the region as a whole.

Listen on Apple Podcasts or SoundCloud.

Smiles

Today is a solemn day in America. But I choose to smile about all we have overcome since September 11, 2001, and smile about the collective strength of the USA. None of us will ever forget that day or the people we lost. It helps me to remember how Bruce Springsteen wrote an entire album about September 11.

The Boss hadn’t recorded a record with the E Street Band in 18 years when he released “The Rising” in late July, 2002. Powerful, reflective and essential, “The Rising” is Bruce at the top of his powers. This performance helped me heal, and always helps me remember. And smile.

I invite you to email me at aschwartz@csis.org 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: Colm Quinn, Sofie Kodner, and Jackie Ramsay.