The Weekly Leaf
This week, Iran launched nearly 200 missiles at Israel, Claudia Sheinbaum was sworn in as Mexico's first female president, Prime Minister of Japan Shigeru Ishiba called a snap election for this month, and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte took office as secretary general of NATO.
Read more below.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Daniel Kurtz-Phelan for The Foreign Affairs Interview podcast: “The Middle East, China, and the Case Against American Isolationism”
Chris Coons for The Wall Street Journal: “Welcome Home, Hostages, and Pay Up”
Elizabeth Economy for The Diplomat: “The 75-Year Quest to Make China Great Again”
Michael B. G. Froman for Foreign Affairs: “The Next President and the Tradeoffs in U.S. Economic Policy”
Michael J. Green and Jude Blanchette interview Rick Waters for the Asia Chessboard podcast: “U.S.-China Relations From the Inside”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “The U.S. Has an Opportunity to Help Rebuild Lebanese Sovereignty”
Meghan O’Sullivan interviewed by Becky Quick for CNBC: “Israel Has the Ability to Cripple, But Not Eliminate Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities”
David Petraeus and Andrew Roberts for The Sunday Times: “Israel Could Learn From Our Iraq Operations, by Former U.S. General”
David E. Sanger for The New York Times: “A Wider War in the Middle East, From Hamas to Hezbollah and Now Iran”
Lawrence Summers quoted by The Economic Times: “India Working to Reform World Bank: Lawrence Summers”
Tweet of the Week
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Alma Caballero (‘22) for the Latin America Advisor: “Will Mexico’s Stock Market Reform Spur Investment?”
Geo Saba (‘22) for Foreign Policy: “How Congress Can Reclaim Its Role in U.S. Foreign Policy”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Stavros Atlamazoglou for The National Interest: “The U.S. Navy's New Problem: A Russia-China Navy ‘Alliance’?”
Carla Babb for Voice of America: “AFRICOM Chief on Threats, Way Forward for U.S. Military in Africa”
Antony J. Blinken for Foreign Affairs: “America’s Strategy of Renewal”
Andy Bounds, Edward White, and Kana Inagaki for the Financial Times: “EU Member States Agree to Impose Tariffs on Chinese Electric Vehicles”
Giselle Donnelly for the American Enterprise Institute: “How Serious Is the Risk of a ‘Wider War’ Breaking Out in the Middle East?”
Henry Foy for the Financial Times: “Former NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg: ‘So Far, We Have Called Putin’s Bluff’”
Camille Grand for the European Council on Foreign Relations: “Inventing NATO 3.0: Why Rutte Should Bridge the EU and the U.S. for a Stronger Alliance”
The Japan Times: “Ishiba Faces Challenges From the Opposition — and His Own Party”
Stephen Kalin and Rory Jones for The Wall Street Journal: “Heavy Israeli Airstrikes Target Likely Successor to Hezbollah Leader in Beirut”
Raja Krishnamoorthi for Foreign Policy: “Xi Jinping Is Prioritizing Political Survival Over Economic Prosperity”
Mary Beth Sheridan for The Washington Post: “Claudia Sheinbaum Is Sworn in as Mexico’s First Female President”
Brandi Vincent and Mikayla Easley for DefenseScoop: “Defense Secretary Austin Unveils Aims to Push Counter-UAS Tech in Replicator 2.0”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation with Jens Stoltenberg from the 2019 Aspen Security Forum.
Speaker: Jens Stoltenberg, then Secretary General, NATO
Moderator: Courtney Kube, then Military Correspondent, NBC News (current National Security and Pentagon Correspondent, NBC News)
Book of the Week
By Robert Kagan
“At the dawn of the twentieth century, the United States was one of the world’s richest, most populous, most technologically advanced nations. It was also a nation divided along numerous fault lines, with conflicting aspirations and concerns pulling it in different directions. And it was a nation unsure about the role it wanted to play in the world, if any. Americans were the beneficiaries of a global order they had no responsibility for maintaining. Many preferred to avoid being drawn into what seemed an ever more competitive, conflictual, and militarized international environment. However, many also were eager to see the United States taking a share of international responsibility, working with others to preserve peace and advance civilization. The story of American foreign policy in the first four decades of the twentieth century is about the effort to do both—'to adjust the nation to its new position without sacrificing the principles developed in the past,' as one contemporary put it.
This would prove a difficult task. The collapse of British naval power, combined with the rise of Germany and Japan, suddenly placed the United States in a pivotal position. American military power helped defeat Germany in the First World War, and the peace that followed was significantly shaped by a U.S. president. But Americans recoiled from their deep involvement in world affairs, and for the next two decades, they sat by as fascism and tyranny spread unchecked, ultimately causing the liberal world order to fall apart. America’s resulting intervention in the Second World War marked the beginning of a new era, for the United States and for the world... The Ghost at the Feast shows both the perils of American withdrawal from the world and the price of international responsibility.”
Podcast of the Week
Leading: “Anne Applebaum: Corruption, Populism, and Ending the War in Ukraine”
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.
Learn more about the role and apply here.
Thank you for sharing this opportunity with your networks.
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.