The Weekly Leaf
This week, President Vladimir Putin hosted the BRICS Summit in Kazan, the White House released an AI national security memorandum, North Korean troops deployed to Russia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping held their first formal meeting in five years, IMF and World Bank meetings took place in Washington, DC, and the G7 finalized a $50 billion Ukraine loan backed by frozen Russian assets.
Read more below.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Joseph S. Nye, Kurt M. Campbell, Grace Park, John J. Hamre, and more at CSIS: “Architects of the U.S.-Japan Alliance: Past, Present, and Future”
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Peter Robinson for Uncommon Knowledge
Anja Manuel and Geoffrey Hinton interviewed by David Westin for Bloomberg's Wall Street Week
Anja Manuel interviewed by Caroline Hyde and Ed Ludlow for Bloomberg Technology: "TSMC's Arizona Plant and U.S. Chip Ambitions"
Elizabeth Economy interviewed by Martin Soong for CNBC Squawk Box Asia
Michael Froman interviewed Kevin Rudd for the Council on Foreign Relations: “A Conversation With Kevin Rudd: C.V. Starr & Co. Annual Lecture on China”
Susan B. Glasser for Foreign Affairs: “Whose Ronald Reagan?”
Michael J. Green and Derek Mitchell for CSIS: “Democracy, Human Rights, and American Grand Strategy”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Trump to Putin: What’s a Little Covert War Among Friends?”
Meghan O’Sullivan moderated a discussion with Carme Artigas and James Manyika for the Institute of Politics Harvard Kennedy School: “AI and the Geopolitics of Emerging Technologies”
David Petraeus interviewed by Ravi Agrawal for FP Live: “David Petraeus: Israel Needs to Adapt Its Strategy”
David Rubenstein interviewed Peter Orszag for Bloomberg's The David Rubenstein Show
David E. Sanger for The New York Times: “Biden Administration Outlines Government ‘Guardrails’ for A.I. Tools”
Philip Zelikow mentioned by Frederick Kempe for The Atlantic: “War Is Coming. Will Our Next President Be Ready?”
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Keome Rowe (‘23), Andy Hong, Jiho Lee, and Anne Linnee for Global Minnesota: “The Future of U.S.- South Korea Relations”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Daniel Carvalho and Eric Martin for Bloomberg: “U.S. Trade Head Urges Brazil to Consider Risks of China Belt and Road Initiative”
Charles Clover, Daria Mosolova, and Christopher Miller for the Financial Times: “Vladimir Putin Signals North Korean Troops Are in Russia”
Rahm Emanuel interviewed by Fareed Zakaria for CNN: “Amb. Rahm Emanuel on Deterring China”
Thomas Grove, Warren P. Strobel, Aruna Viswanatha, Gordon Lubold, and Sam Schechner for The Wall Street Journal: “Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin”
George Grylls for The Times: “Israel Delays Iran Retaliation After U.S. Intelligence Leak”
Mara Karlin for Foreign Affairs: “The Return of Total War”
Michael Kugelman for BBC News: “India's Balancing Act With the West as Brics Flexes New Muscles”
Friedrich Merz for Project Syndicate: “European Security Cannot Be Found in the Past”
Lenin Ndebele for News24: “Frelimo’s Chapo Takes 70.67% of Vote in Disputed Mozambique Elections Marked by Riots and Violence”
Daniel Poneman interviewed by Hugh Hewitt for The Hugh Hewitt Show: “Nuclear Power Is Back!”
Karim Sadjadpour for Foreign Affairs: “The New Battle for the Middle East”
The White House: “Memorandum on Advancing the United States’ Leadership in Artificial Intelligence; Harnessing Artificial Intelligence to Fulfill National Security Objectives; and Fostering the Safety, Security, and Trustworthiness of Artificial Intelligence”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on the European threat landscape, NATO, and challenges from Russia, China, and Iran from the
Mircea Geoană, Deputy Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
G.E.W. van Leeuwen, Foreign Affairs and Defense Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State (Minister for Security) of the United Kingdom
Moderator: Peter Spiegel, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
Book of the Week
By Phillips Payson O'Brien
“In The Strategists, Professor Phillips Payson O'Brien shows how the views these five leaders forged in WW1 are crucial to understanding how they fought WW2. For example, Churchill's experiences of facing the German Army in France in 1916 made him unwilling to send masses of British soldiers back there in the 1940s, while Hitler's mistakes on the Eastern Front were influenced by his reluctance to accept that conditions had changed since his own time fighting. The implications of the power of leaders remain with us to this day: to truly understand what is happening in Ukraine, for example, requires us to know what has influenced the leaders involved.
This is a history in which leaders—and their choices—matter.
For better or worse.”
Podcast of the Week
“Fiona Hill on U.S. Leadership, Ukraine’s Future, and the Post-Election World”
Join Our Team
Brent Scowcroft Award Fellowship
The ASG launched the Brent Scowcroft Award Fellowship (BSAF), a paid, temporary, and full-time fellowship program, in recognition of ASG Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft’s long-time dedication to the group, as well as his legacy of distinguished public service. Now in its 20th year, the six-month fellowship is designed to provide an important professional stepping-stone for recent graduates with a keen interest in foreign policy and national security by way of direct exposure to the types of critical, thoughtful, and bipartisan discussions that characterize the ASG’s dialogues. Scowcroft Fellows are integral members of our team and their work contributes across all of our programs and initiatives at the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.
Anticipated Start: November 2024
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