The Weekly Leaf
This week, China fired missiles toward waters near Taiwan as tensions escalated following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri was killed in a drone strike, and WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine and a half years in Russian prison.
Read more below.
Revisit Your Favorite Sessions
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Steve Biegun for The Detroit News: "Pretending We're Not at War with Russia Has Real Risks"
Michèle Flournoy, Jane Harman, and Joseph Nye interviewed by Fox News: "Lawmakers, Experts Grade Joe Biden's Foreign Policy"
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: "Zawahiri’s Death Shows U.S. Focus Even Two Decades After 9/11"
Meghan O'Sullivan and Jason Bordoff for Foreign Policy: "By Not Acting on Climate, Congress Endangers U.S. National Security"
David Petraeus interviewed by Anderson Cooper for CNN: "Former CIA Director Explains What it Takes for Targeted Drone Strikes"
David Rubenstein interviewed by Sara Eisen of CNBC on the health of the economy
Lawrence Summers interviewed by Ryan Lizza for POLITICO: "He Was Right About Inflation. Biden Wasn't."
Rising Leaders in the News
"The better that you can predict what is going to happen in the future, the better able you are today, right now, to start moving resources in the right direction."
– ASG Rising Leader Mary Brooks ('22) in conversation with Zoe Weinberg ('21) and Grant Haver for Deep State Radio's "Next in Foreign Policy" podcast
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Maria Cervantes for Bloomberg: "Peru Prime Minister Quits, Triggering Cabinet Reshuffle"
The Economist: "China Sends Missiles Flying Over Taiwan"
Cora Engelbrecht and Euan Ward for The New York Times: "The Killing of Ayman al-Zawahri: What We Know"
Qin Gang for The Washington Post: "Chinese Ambassador: Why China Objects to Pelosi’s Visit to Taiwan"
Laura Kelly for The Hill: "Hungary’s Orbán Tells CPAC: ‘We Must Coordinate a Movement of our Troops’ to Fight Liberal Order"
Ellen Knickmeyer and Lisa Mascaro for AP News: "Senate Backs Finland, Sweden for NATO 95-1, Rebuking Russia"
Andrew Roth for The Guardian: "Russian Court Jails U.S. Basketball Player Brittney Griner for Nine Years on Drug Charges"
David Shepardson and Patricia Zengerle for Reuters: "U.S. Senate Passes Bill to Boost Chip Manufacturing, Compete With China"
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Register for the conversation here.
Book of the Week
By Ali Wyne
"It has become axiomatic to contend that U.S. foreign policy must adapt to an era of renewed 'great-power competition.' The United States went on a quarter-century strategic detour after the Cold War, the argument goes, basking in triumphalism and getting bogged down in the Middle East. Now China and Russia are increasingly challenging its influence and undercutting the order it has led since 1945. How should it respond to these two formidable authoritarian powers?
In this timely intervention, Ali Wyne offers the first detailed critique of great-power competition as a foreign policy framework, warning that it could render the United States defensive and reactive. He exhorts Washington to find a middle ground between complacence and consternation, selectively contesting Beijing and Moscow but not allowing their decisions to determine its own course. Analyzing a resurgent China, a disruptive Russia, and a deepening Sino-Russian entente, Wyne explains how the United States can seize the 'great-power opportunity' at hand: to manage all three of those phenomena confidently while renewing itself at home and abroad."
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