Angela Ellard, a former WTO deputy director general and current non-resident senior adviser at CSIS, discusses the 2026 WTO Public Forum in Geneva, where she noted 4,000 registrants and 130 panels. She highlights growing member discussions on reforming the most-favored-nation principle and advancing plurilateral agreements, despite ongoing uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
As traditional development frameworks face strain, the CSIS Global Development Department convenes a discussion on how aid architecture must adapt to modern realities. Enoh T. Ebong hosts Nikolai Henrik Wold Hegertun, Policy Director at the Norwegian Agency for International Development (NORAD), to examine why old aid models are falling short and how countries can move from charity toward mutual interest. The conversation addresses how volatile geopolitical tensions and shrinking official development assistance require a more targeted, resilient approach to cooperation.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
Thousands of U.S. military aircraft are stored across the Arizona desert at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG), one of the largest aircraft storage and maintenance facilities in the world. Located at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, AMARG provides long-term storage, preservation, maintenance, and regeneration support for military aircraft.
New footage from the U.S. Department of Defense offers a closer look at the aircraft and operations at the facility, showing what happens to military aircraft after they leave active service.
Sources: Defense News (YouTube)
Mike Green is joined by Dr. Sheena Chestnut Greitens, Associate Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss how regime survival concerns among the Indo-Pacific’s authoritarian powers shape their foreign relations and the region’s strategic competition.
They explore the agency of authoritarian leaders influences grand strategy, the role of domestic political considerations in foreign policy, and how the United States and its allies can prevent their deterrence efforts from being leveraged by authoritarian regimes to advance their narratives at home and abroad.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
Since acquiring the Shahed design from Iran in 2022, Russia has treated its Geran drone as a continuously evolving platform, upgrading its navigation, communications, payload, propulsion, and tactics in response to Ukrainian defenses, according to a new CSIS analysis.
On September 29, CSIS’s Wadhwani AI Center will host an event where senior fellow Kateryna Bondar and research assistant Nicole Errera will present findings from their report, tracing changes from GPS antennas to mesh radio networks and heavier warheads. Following the presentation, Kateryna will be joined by Samuel Bendett, advisor to CNA’s Strategy, Policy, Plans and Programs Division, for a broader conversation about Russia’s defense ecosystem and the role of China, Iran, and North Korea.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
U.S. Marines with 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force conducted LAR platoon attacks as part of Service Level Training Exercise 1-26 at Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California, on January 16, 2026.
The training assessed the execution of a hasty attack, including supporting fires, and was designed to employ a unit while coordinating maneuver with supporting artillery. Marines also utilized organic ISR assets in conjunction with offensive sUAS employment.
Sources: Defense News (YouTube)
CSIS Middle East Program Director Mona Yacoubian moderates a panel of experts on the Middle East Futures Project, examining regional realignments and U.S. policy options as the Iran war enters its seventh month. Panelists include Vali Nasr, Michael Ratney, Paul Salem, and Daniel Shapiro.
The discussion covers Iran’s likely course of action and Israel’s upcoming elections.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet for a second time this year in late September in Washington. Central to the gathering will be a number of economic security issues, including trade and macroeconomic imbalances, industrial policy, foreign investment, supply-chain resilience, clean-tech and energy markets, cybersecurity, dual-use technologies, and artificial intelligence.
Trustee Chair Scott Kennedy will moderate the discussion to understand how these issues played out at the summit and are likely to evolve in the coming months. Joining him from programs across CSIS’s Economic Security and Technology Department will be Sujai Shivakumar, Kate Koren, Ilaria Mazzocco, and Lauryn Williams.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
As leaders gather in New York for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, Africa is central to debates on peace, security, climate, and governance. In this episode of Into Africa, host Oay Onborg speaks with Betana Tadas of the International Peace Institute about what to watch as UNGA unfolds, prospects for UN reform, and Africa’s role in shaping the international agenda.
They discuss whether Africa’s louder voice is gaining the leverage needed to shape outcomes, touching on challenges like funding cuts, fragmented mediation efforts, and great-power competition.
Sources: CSIS (YouTube)
Logan and Jake Paul visited the Pentagon to meet with U.S. service members, the Department of War said.
Sources: DoD News (YouTube)