This week, the U.S. embassy in Kyiv was evacuated, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a national emergency over protests against Covid-19 related measures, and the annual Munich Security Conference commenced in Germany.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Chris Coons et al. in High North News: “U.S. Senators: Need for a Comprehensive State Department Arctic Strategy”
Michèle Flournoy interviewed on MSNBC's “Meet the Press” and with Charles Dent in The Hill: "For U.S. to Lead on Global COVID-19 Response, President Must Seek Emergency Supplemental"
Robert Gates on NPR and WBUR’s podcast “The Great Wager”
David Ignatius in The Washington Post: "Putin as Chess Master: Strong Opening but Weak Endgame in Ukraine”
Penny Pritzker in The Harvard Crimson: “Penny Pritzker ’81 to Serve as First Female Senior Fellow of the Harvard Corporation”
David Rubenstein and John Kerry on Bloomberg’s “Peer to Peer Conversations”
David Sanger on The New York Times’ The Daily: "Why U.S. Soldiers Won’t Come to Ukraine’s Rescue"
Anne-Marie Slaughter in Project Syndicate: “Say More”
Dan Sullivan on KINY Radio: “Senator Sullivan Provides His Take on Ukraine Situation on Action Line”
Lawrence Summers on Bloomberg: “Fed Should Hold Immediate Meeting to End Asset Purchases, Summers Says”
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
The Associated Press: “Iran Supreme Leader Urges Nuclear Energy Progress Amid Talks”
Elbridge Colby and Oriana Skylar Mastro in The Wall Street Journal: "Ukraine Is a Distraction From Taiwan"
Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood for CNN: "U.S. Closing Embassy in Kyiv and Moving Remaining Diplomats to Western Ukraine Amid Fears of Russian Invasion"
Terrence McCoy in The Washington Post: “Brazil’s Bolsonaro Embraced the U.S. Under Trump. Now He’s in ‘Solidarity’ with Russia”
Maria Popova and Oxana Shevel in Foreign Affairs: “Putin Cannot Erase Ukraine”
Steve Scherer, David Ljunggren, and Nichola Saminather for Reuters: “Canada's Trudeau Invokes Emergency Powers in Bid to End Protests”
Xiaofei Xu and Anaëlle Jonah for CNN: “French-led Western Forces to Withdraw from Mali”
Book of the Week
By Danielle Allen
"The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated some of the strengths of our society, including the rapid development of vaccines. But the pandemic has also exposed its glaring weaknesses, such as the failure of our government to develop and quickly implement strategies for tracing and containing outbreaks as well as widespread public distrust of government prompted by often confusing and conflicting choices—to mask, or not to mask. Even worse is that over half a million deaths and the extensive economic devastation could have been avoided if the government had been prepared to undertake comprehensive, contextually-sensitive policies to stop the spread of the disease.
In Democracy in the Time of Coronavirus, leading political thinker Danielle Allen untangles the US government’s COVID-19 victories and failures to offer a plan for creating a more resilient democratic polity—one that can better respond to both the present pandemic and future crises. Looking to history, Allen also identifies the challenges faced by democracies in other times that required strong government action. In an analysis spanning from ancient Greece to the Reconstruction Amendments and the present day, Allen argues for the relative effectiveness of collaborative federalism over authoritarian compulsion and for the unifying power of a common cause. But for democracy to endure, we—as participatory citizens—must commit to that cause: a just and equal social contract and support for good governance."
Partner Content
By Samuel Sanders Visner
"National space, government, and industry leaders are increasingly aware of how crucial space systems are to our national and economic security, our critical and business infrastructures, and our global commitments."
Read MITRE Tech Fellow and Professor of Cybersecurity Policy, Samuel Sanders Visner's piece on ensuring the security and resilience of our space systems.
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