This week, the U.S. announced a new defense technology partnership with the UK and Australia, North Korea fired two ballistic missile tests in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions, and SpaceX launched the first all-civilian space mission into orbit. Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Chris Brose quoted by David Freedman in Newsweek: “U.S. Is Only Nation With Ethical Standards for AI Weapons. Should We Be Afraid?”
Susan Glasser and Peter Baker on the Higher Education Channel’s First Person One-on-One: “The Man Who Ran Washington, A Conversation With Peter Baker & Susan Glasser”
Jane Harman, David Rubenstein, and others reflect on 9/11 on Bloomberg’s Balance of Power
David Petraeus on the CBS The Takeout podcast: “Retired General David Petraeus on 20 Years of War in Afghanistan”
David Rubenstein interviews Reid Hoffman on The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations
David Sanger and Zolan Kanno-Youngs in The New York Times: "Biden Announces Defense Deal With Australia in a Bid to Counter China"
Anne-Marie Slaughter on The Economist's Checks and Balances podcast: “Twenty Years On—Is the Era of American Interventionism Over?”
James Steinberg was named Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
ASG Rising Leaders in the News
“OVER (AND OUT) AT VILLA FIRENZE: The other centers of D.C. embassy social gravity before the Delta variant rudely interrupted — U.K. and Italy — teamed up again Tuesday (they are COP26 co-hosts) for an ‘Out in Energy’ event, where Ambassadors Karen Pierce and Mariangela Zappia were joined by Energy Department Assistant Secretary Kathryn Huff and John Kerry’s senior adviser, David Livingston, for a debate on how inclusion of diverse voices in energy debates can lead to stronger climate action.”
Politico Global Insider highlighted ASG Rising Leader David Livingston’s participation in the “Out in Energy” event this week.
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Denise Chow for NBC: “SpaceX Makes History With First All-Civilian Spaceflight”
Megan Lamberth and Martijn Rasser in The Hill: “Technology Competition: We Need More Than Just Strategy”
Mark Landler and Stephen Castle for The New York Times: “U.K. Cabinet Reshuffle a Blow to Boris Johnson’s Global Ambitions”
Timothy W. Martin and Dasl Yoon in The Wall Street Journal: “North Korea Fires Two Ballistic Missiles Off Its East Coast, South Korean Military Says”
Harvard Business School partners with the State Department for the second cohort of the Secretary’s Leadership Seminar
Book of the Week
By Tom Nichols “Over the past three decades, citizens of democracies who claim to value freedom, tolerance, and the rule of law have increasingly embraced illiberal politicians and platforms. Democracy is in trouble--but who is really to blame?
In Our Own Worst Enemy, Tom Nichols challenges the current depictions of the rise of illiberal and anti-democratic movements in the United States and elsewhere as the result of the deprivations of globalization or the malign decisions of elites. Rather, he places the blame for the rise of illiberalism on the people themselves. Nichols traces the illiberalism of the 21st century to the growth of unchecked narcissism, rising standards of living, global peace, and a resistance to change. Ordinary citizens, laden with grievances, have joined forces with political entrepreneurs who thrive on the creation of rage rather than on the encouragement of civic virtue and democratic cooperation. While it will be difficult, Nichols argues that we need to defend democracy by resurrecting the virtues of altruism, compromise, stoicism, and cooperation--and by recognizing how good we've actually had it in the modern world.
Trenchant, contrarian, and highly engaging, Our Own Worst Enemy reframes the debate about how democracies have ended up in this dire state of affairs and what to do about it.”
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