The Weekly Leaf
This week, Sweden’s accession to NATO was approved by the Hungarian National Assembly, more than 100 people were killed in a deadly aid convoy incident in Gaza, and French President Emmanuel Macron garnered rebuke from NATO member states after suggesting that Western troop deployments to Ukraine should not be ruled out.
Read more below.
Aspen Strategy Group Programming
On February 22, the Aspen Strategy Group and Bloomberg were pleased to co-host a roundtable discussion in New York with The Honorable Carlos Del Toro, 78th Secretary of the Navy, and Vice Admiral Francis Morley, Principal Military Deputy to the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development, and Acquisition. During the event, Secretary Del Toro announced the launch of the Maritime Economic Deterrence Executive Council (MEDEC), which will bring together several commands to counter adversarial economic activities, protect intellectual property, safeguard supply chains, and boost research efforts. Read more about MEDEC in Bloomberg, Defense News, and DefenseScoop.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Dan Sullivan, Lisa Murkowski, and Mary Peltola for The Hill: “Biden Targets Alaska’s Petroleum Reserve”
David Sanger for The New York Times: “New Nuclear Threats From Putin, Timed for a Moment of Anxiety”
Naima Green-Riley and Andrew Leber for Foreign Affairs: “The Race Gap That Shapes American Views of War”
Mark T. Esper for CNN: “Opinion: We Must Help Ukraine Now or Fight Costlier Wars Later”
Chris Coons interviewed by Dan Snyder for CBS News Philadelphia: “Delaware Sen. Chris Coons on Israel-Hamas War, Recent Conversation With Benjamin Netanyahu”
David Ignatius, Anne Applebaum, Lara Seligman, and moderator Jeffrey Goldberg for Washington Week With The Atlantic: “Ukraine’s 2-Year Fight for Survival Against Russia”
David Petraeus interviewed by Peter Bergen for CNN: “Opinion: Who Is Winning? Gen. Petraeus on Ukraine War, Two Years In”
Michael Froman interviewed Wally Adeyemo for the Council on Foreign Relations
Penny Pritzker interviewed by Michel Martin for PBS: “Special Rep. Pritzker Says U.S. Needs to Aid Ukraine”
Dina Powell McCormick featured in CNBC Changemakers
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Nidal Al-Mughrabi for Reuters: "More Than 100 Killed While Seeking Aid in Gaza, Overall Death Toll Passes 30,000"
Massimo Calabresi for Time: “Inside the White House Program to Share America’s Secrets”
C-SPAN: “President Biden Meets With Congressional Leaders on Government Funding”
Abdi Latif Dahir for The New York Times: “Hunger, Terrorism and the Threat of War: Somalia’s Year of Crises”
Jane Harman interviewed by Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg
Niha Masih, Andrew Jeong, and Ben Brasch for The Washington Post: “Sweden Is Set to Join NATO: What to Know About the Military Alliance”
Rod McGurk for the AP: “Philippine President Tells Australia Their Strategic Partnership Is More Important Than Ever”
Aaron David Miller and Steven Simon for Foreign Policy: “Oct. 7 Changed Everything—But What If It Didn’t?”
Lipika Pelham and Lou Newton for the BBC: “NATO Allies Reject Emmanuel Macron Idea of Troops to Ukraine”
John Prendergast for Foreign Affairs: “Dirty Money Is Destroying Sudan”
Dustin Volz and Lingling Wei for The Wall Street Journal: “U.S. Limits Sales of Americans’ Personal Data to China, Other Adversaries”
From the Archives
Going deeper into the archives, revisit our panel discussion from the
2019 Aspen Security Forum on Russian threats to the United States.
Toomas Henrik Ilves, former President of Estonia (current Visiting Professor, University of Tartu)
Victoria Nuland, then former Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs (current Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs)
Kathleen Hicks, then Senior Vice President and Director, International Security Program, CSIS (current Deputy Secretary of Defense)
John McLaughlin, former Acting and Deputy Director, Central Intelligence Agency (current Professor of Practice, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies)
Moderator: Nicholas Burns, then Harvard Professor and Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group (current U.S. Ambassador to China)
Book of the Week
by Kara Swisher
“Part memoir, part history, Burn Book is a necessary chronicle of tech’s most powerful players…Swisher has interviewed everyone who matters in tech over three decades, right when they presided over an explosion of world-changing innovation that has both helped and hurt our world. Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sheryl Sandberg, Bob Iger, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Meg Whitman, Peter Thiel, Sam Altman, and Mark Zuckerberg are just a few whom Swisher made sweat—figuratively and, in Zuckerberg’s case, literally.
Despite the damage she chronicles, Swisher remains optimistic about tech’s potential to help solve problems and not just create them. She calls upon the industry to make better, more thoughtful choices, even as a new set of powerful AI tools are poised to change the world yet again.”
Join Our Team
The Aspen Strategy Group is currently looking to hire talented individuals with a keen interest in foreign policy and national security. Join our small, fast-paced, collaborative team and contribute to the main pillars of our work, including the ASG Summer Workshop, the Aspen Security Forum, the Rising Leaders Program, and Track II Dialogues. We are currently hiring a Senior Associate for Communications and Engagement, a Program Assistant, and a Brent Scowcroft Award Fellow.
Apply today!
Please consider donating today to support our work as a critical forum for nonpartisan debate about the most pressing foreign policy challenges of our times.
Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe to our newsletter here.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Aspen Institute is nonpartisan and does not endorse, support, or oppose political candidates or parties. Further, the views and opinions of our guests and speakers do not necessarily reflect those of the Aspen Institute.