This week, military leaders in Myanmar staged a coup by deposing civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, internet services were temporarily suspended in parts of India amidst continuing farmers’ protests, and Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny who survived a poisoning attempt last year was sentenced to three years in prison. Read more below.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Madeleine Albright, Lloyd Axworthy, Mayu Brizuela De Ávila, and Fen Osler Hampson in The Globe and Mail: “Canada and the U.S. Must Unite To Help Latin American Refugees”
Zoë Baird contributes to a Coalition for Inclusive Capitalism report: “Framework for Inclusive Capitalism: A New Compact Among Businesses, Government & American Workers”
Nicholas Burns on MSNBC: "Biden's State Dept. Visit 'A Powerful Signal of His Support' for Diplomacy"
Eliot Cohen interviewed by the The Dallas Morning News: “Reports of the Death of American Leadership Are Greatly Exaggerated”
Peter Feaver and Will Inboden in Foreign Policy: “Advice to National-Security Republicans as Biden Takes Office”
Nick Kristof in The New York Times: “Biden’s Nightmare May Be China”
Anja Manuel on Bloomberg Radio: “Anja Manuel on U.S., China Under Biden”
David McCormick on Bloomberg: “Bridgewater CEO Says Aiming for Pre-COVID ‘Normal’ Is Misguided”
Condoleezza Rice in United States Institute of Peace discussion: “German Reunification: ‘It Was Nothing Short of a Miracle’”
Anne-Marie Slaughter in Financial Times: "Joe Biden's U.S. Must Act Like A New Leader, Not A Returning One"
Robert Zoellick interviewed by Bloomberg Opinion: “America Can Be Great Again, Even After Trump”
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Stay Informed with Important Analysis Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Mike Abramowitz and Nate Schenkkan in The Washington Post: “The Long Arm of the Authoritarian State”
Maïa De La Baume, Lili Bayer, and David M. Herszenhorn in Politico: “Von der Leyen Takes ‘Full Responsibility’ for Overriding Brexit Deal with Vaccine Export Ban”
Mayank Bhardwaj and Sanjeev Miglani for Reuters: “U.S. Calls For Dialogue To Resolve India's Farmers' Protests”
Matthew Bodner, Yuliya Talmazan, and Patrick Smith for NBC News: “Alexei Navalny, Leading Putin Critic, Sentenced to Nearly 3 Years in Jail”
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 2021 Doomsday Clock Announcement
Niall Ferguson in The Times Literary Supplement: “No More Narcissism: How History Can Be Applied to U.S. Foreign Policy”
Gwen Robinson in Financial Times: "The West Needs to Talk to Myanmar's Generals"
Alexander Smith for NBC News: “After Myanmar Coup, China Is Muted While U.S. Condemns Military Takeover”
Book of the Week
The Hidden History of Burma: Race, Capitalism, and the Crisis of Democracy in the Twenty-First Century
By Thant Myint-U
“During a century of colonialism, Burma was plundered for its natural resources and remade as a racial hierarchy. Over decades of dictatorship, it suffered civil war, repression, and deep poverty. Today, Burma faces a mountain of challenges: crony capitalism, exploding inequality, rising ethnonationalism, extreme racial violence, climate change, multibillion dollar criminal networks, and the power of China next door. Thant Myint-U shows how the country’s past shapes its recent and almost unbelievable attempt to create a new democracy in the heart of Asia, and helps to answer the big questions: Can this multicultural country of 55 million succeed? And what does Burma’s story really tell us about the most critical issues of our time?”
ICYMI
The View from Bogotá:
A Live Conversation with the President of Colombia Iván Duque Márquez
Tuesday, February 2, 2021
9:00 a.m. ET
Speaker
Iván Duque Márquez
President of Colombia
Moderated By
Gideon Rachman
Chief Foreign Affairs Commentator, The Financial Times
Introduced By
Nicholas Burns
Executive Director, Aspen Strategy Group
Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations,
Harvard Kennedy School
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