The Weekly Leaf
This week, U.S. and British forces launched new strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, Russian missiles hit cities across Ukraine, and the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take reasonable measures to limit harm to civilians in Gaza.
Read more below.
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This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Chris Brose quoted by Courtney Albon and Noah Robertson for Defense News: "Defense Technology Firms Watch New Strategy for ‘Generational’ Change"
Susan Glasser for The New Yorker: “The 2024 Republican Primary Was Over Before It Began”
Michael J. Green and Daniel Twining for Foreign Affairs: “The Strategic Case for Democracy Promotion in Asia”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Israel and Hamas Probe for a Pause That Both Sides Need”
Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times: “Visiting the Most Important Company in the World”
Joseph Nye interviewed by Meredith Wolf Schizer for Newsweek: “Don’t ‘Jeopardize Free Speech That Is Fundamental' to Harvard, Says Prof”
David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts interviewed by Eric S. Edelman and Elliot Cohen for the Shield of the Republic podcast
Condoleezza Rice quoted by Khushboo Razdan for the South China Morning Post: “U.S.-China Science Deal Must Address American National Security Concerns: Senior State Department Official”
David Rubenstein interviewed Rajiv Shah for Bloomberg
David Sanger, Julian Barnes, and Eric Schmitt for The New York Times: “A New Concern on the Ukrainian Battlefield: North Korea’s Latest Missiles”
Dan Sullivan and Randy Kee interviewed by Lori Townsend for Alaska Public Media: “The Future of the Military in Alaska”
Lawrence Summers interviewed by David Westin for Bloomberg
Robert Zoellick for the Financial Times: “Transferring Frozen Russian Reserves to Ukraine Is Elegant Justice”
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Christo Grozev interviewed by Simon Ostrovsky for The Insider World: “Who Are the Russian Spies Creating Chaos in the West? Christo Grozev Explains Unit 29155”
Jane Harman interviewed by Jonathan Capehart for MSNBC: “The Consensus at Davos: Trump Will Return to the White House”
The Heritage Foundation: “2024 Index of U.S. Military Strength”
Fatima Hussein and Abby Sewell for the AP: “U.S. Targets Iraqi Airline Fly Baghdad, Its CEO, and Hamas Cryptocurrency Financiers for Sanctions”
Keoki Jackson interviewed by Vago Muradian for the Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast: “Dr. Keoki Jackson on Integrated Deterrence and Strategic Competition”
Michael Kimmage and Jeremy Shapiro for Foreign Policy: “The Myths That Warp How America Sees Russia–and Vice Versa”
Courtney Kube for NBC: “U.S. and U.K. Launch New Strikes Against Houthi Sites in Yemen”
Tzipi Livni interviewed by Christiane Amanpour for CNN: “‘I Believe This Is the End of Netanayhu’s Era in Politics,’ Says Former Israeli FM”
Jeff Mason for Reuters: “U.S. Envoy McGurk in Cairo to Focus on Humanitarian Pause, Hostage Deal”
Farah Pandith, Aaron David Miller, Hussein Ibish, and Mairav Zonszein for the National Committee on American Foreign Policy: “What’s Next for U.S. Policy in the Middle East?”
Emily Rauhala and Steve Hendrix for The Washington Post: “U.N. Court Orders Israel to Halt Killings in Gaza, but No Cease-Fire”
Eric Schmidt for Foreign Affairs: “Ukraine Is Losing the Drone War”
Peter W. Singer and Kevin Nguyen for Defense One: “How China Is Winning the Middle East”
Todd Young and Michael Bennet interviewed by Gregory C. Allen for CSIS: “Global Technology Competition in the Age of AI”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation with Lead Russia Investigator of Bellingcat Productions Christo Grozev from the 2023 Aspen Security Forum.
Christo Grozev, Lead Russia Investigator, Bellingcat Productions
Moderator: Sharon Weinberger, National Security Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Book of the Week
By Thomas Graham
"As U.S.-Russian relations scrape the depths of Cold War antagonism, the promise of partnership that beguiled American administrations during the first post-Soviet decades increasingly appears to have been false from the start. Why did American leaders persist in pursuing it? Was there another path that would have produced more constructive relations or better prepared Washington to face the challenge Russia poses today?
With a practitioner's eye honed during decades of work on Russian affairs, Thomas Graham deftly traces the evolution of opposing ideas of national purpose that created an inherent tension in relations. Getting Russia Right identifies the blind spots that prevented Washington from seeing Russia as it really is and crafting a policy to advance American interests without provoking an aggressive Russian response. Distilling the Putin factor to reveal the contours of the Russia challenge facing the United States whenever he departs the scene, Graham lays out a compelling way to deal with it so that the United States can continue to advance its interests in a rapidly changing world."
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