The Weekly Leaf - April 25
- The Aspen Strategy Group
- 18 hours ago
- 5 min read
The Weekly Leaf
This week, Pope Francis passed away at 88, President Trump rebuked Putin following a Russian attack on Kyiv, India-Pakistan tensions escalated after violence erupted in Kashmir, and U.S. and Iranian negotiators prepared for technical talks in Oman.
Read more below.
2025 Aspen Security Forum: Registration Now Open!
The Aspen Strategy Group will host the 2025 Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, CO from the evening of July 15 to midday Friday, July 18. Our flagship Forum will feature an array of decision-makers and thought leaders from Washington, DC and around the world. We will have very limited seating for the public; if you are interested in attending in person, please submit a request to attend below.
All of our sessions will be livestreamed. You can register here to receive the link for our livestreamed content.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice, Penny Pritzker, and Lawrence Summers mentioned by Rob Copeland, Maureen Farrell, and Michael S. Schmidt for The New York Times: “As Harvard Is Hailed a Hero, Some Donors Still Want It to Strike a Deal”
Kurt Campbell interviewed by Emily Tan for CNBC: “Trump Needs to 'Back Off' From Overheated Rhetoric”
Chris Coons for U.S. News & World Report: “Want to Make America Great? Bring Back AmeriCorps Volunteers.”
Elizabeth Economy interviewed Gary Rieschel for the China Considered podcast: “Venture Capital in China With Gary Rieschel”
Peter Feaver quoted by Shaun King for Duke Today: “Empathy Across Oceans: Duke Students Channel WWII History in Japan”
Michèle Flournoy presented the Impact Through Storytelling Award to Walter Parkes, and David Petraeus presented the Impact in the Battlespace Award to Bryan P. Fenton at The Cipher Brief 2025 Honors Dinner
Michael Froman interviewed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala at the Council on Foreign Relations
Robert Gates was awarded the 2025 George W. Bush Medal for Distinguished Leadership
Susan B. Glasser for The New Yorker: “Waiting for Trump's Big, Beautiful Deals”
Stephen J. Hadley announced as the 2025 recipient of the Atlantic Council Distinguished Service Award
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Has Trump Found a Path to Peace in Ukraine?”
Dina Powell McCormick, David McCormick, Mary Barra, and moderator Bina Venkataraman at The Washington Post The ‘Ship Series
Jack Reed interviewed by Leila Fadel for NPR: “Sen. Jack Reed Calls for Investigation Into Pete Hegseth's Signal Chat”
David Rubenstein, Penny Pritzker, Ken Griffin, and Henry Kravis co-chaired the Semafor World Economy Summit 2025
Jake Sullivan interviewed by Rachel Maddow for MSNBC: “‘Unadulterated Disaster’: Trump Spends First 100 Days Sabotaging What Makes America Great”
Philip Zelikow, Robert Zoellick, and Lawrence Summers signed an open letter for the National Post: “Canada Must Lead on Supporting Ukraine With Russia’s Frozen Assets”
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Daniel Akech for the International Crisis Group: “South Sudan Retakes Opposition Stronghold, but Violence Is Set to Worsen”
Chris Anstey for Bloomberg: “U.S. Endorsement of IMF and World Bank Spurs a ‘Sigh of Relief’”
The Economist: “Is Donald Trump About to Bomb Iran or Rebuild It?”
Gabe Kaminsky and Madeleine Rowley for The Free Press: “Revealed: Trump Admin Launches the Biggest Shake-Up ‘In Decades’ at the State Department”
Soobin Kim and Timothy W. Martin for The Wall Street Journal: “South Korea Indicts Another Ex-President, Leaving No Leader This Century Free of Scandal”
Salman Masood for The New York Times: “Crisis Deepens for India and Pakistan Over Kashmir Attack”
Chris Miller for the Financial Times: “What Would a U.S. Tariff on Chips Look Like?”
Carl Minzner for the Council on Foreign Relations: “As Beijing Tightens Its Grip, Hong Kong’s Democratic Party Dissolves Itself”
Siobhán O'Grady and Anastacia Galouchka for The Washington Post: “Russian Strike on Kyiv Draws Rare Rebuke From Trump; Peace Talks Stall”
Barry R. Posen for Foreign Affairs: “How Europe Can Deter Russia”
Francis X. Rocca for The Atlantic: “The Papacy Is Forever Changed”
John Ullyot for Politico: “Former Top Pentagon Spokesperson Details ‘Month From Hell’ Inside the Agency”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on India from the 2024 Aspen Security Forum.
Robert D. Blackwill, Henry A. Kissinger Senior Fellow for U.S. Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations; Former U.S. Ambassador to India
Bharat Lal, Secretary General, National Human Rights Commission, India
Daniel Twining, President, International Republican Institute
Moderator: Ravi Agrawal, Editor in Chief, Foreign Policy
Book of the Week
By Tommy Orange
“Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle, where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines.
In a novel that is by turns shattering and wondrous, Tommy Orange has conjured the ancestors of the family readers first fell in love with in There There—warriors, drunks, outlaws, addicts—asking what it means to be the children and grandchildren of massacre. Wandering Stars is a novel about epigenetic and generational trauma that has the force and vision of a modern epic, an exceptionally powerful new book from one of the most exciting writers at work today and soaring confirmation of Tommy Orange’s monumental gifts.”
Winner of the 2025 Aspen Words Literary Prize
The Aspen Words Literary Prize is a $35,000 annual award for an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture. See the other finalists and learn more here.
Featured Partner Event
FTWeekend Festival: U.S. Edition
The Financial Times Weekend Festival returns on Saturday, May 10 in Washington, D.C. and online! Experience the paper come to life with debates, tastings, performances, and more.
With speakers including Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Anthony Scaramucci, Katherine Maher, Teresa Carlson, and many more—this is a Saturday you will not want to miss!
As a Leaf subscriber, claim 25% off your pass today using promo code AspenxFT25!
Podcast of the Week
Fei-Fan Lin joined Channing Lee and Libby Lange for the Special Competitive Studies Project Strait Forward podcast: “Episode Four: National Security”
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