The Weekly Leaf
This week, Finland and Sweden edged closer to joining NATO as Russia made retaliatory nuclear threats, a large-scale COVID outbreak in Shanghai intensified global supply chain worries, and President Biden promised $800 million in military aid to Ukraine.
Read more below.
The Aspen Strategy Group will be hosting the 13th annual Aspen Security Forum on July 19-22, 2022 in Aspen, Colorado.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Zoë Baird was appointed to the U.S. Department of Commerce's National AI Advisory Committee
Chris Coons discussed the war in Ukraine in a University of Michigan policy talk
Michèle Flournoy on MSNBC with Andrea Mitchell: “War Crimes ‘Conducted’ to ‘Break the Ukrainian Will' Have Yielded ‘the Opposite Effect’”
Jane Harman discussed the UN response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on MSNBC
David Ignatius in The Washington Post: “Biden Won’t Remove Iran’s Revolutionary Guard from Terror List. He’s Right.”
Anja Manuel on Bloomberg: “Shanghai Lockdown Tests China's Zero Covid Policy”
Meghan O’Sullivan on CNN with Fareed Zakaria: “Weaning the West Off Russian Energy”
David Petraeus on CNN: “What Does Gen. Petraeus See Coming in the Weeks Ahead in Ukraine?”
Dan Sullivan discussed American energy on The Sean Hannity Radio Show
Rising Leaders in the News
"...India can be expected to continue moving closer to the West’s position on the Russian invasion and closer to the West overall, especially as Russia’s increasingly close partnership with China has eroded the historically strong Russo-Indian relationship."
–ASG Rising Leader Akhil Bery ('22) for Asia Society Policy Institute: "ASPI Note: Understanding the 2+2 and the Biden-Modi Virtual Summit"
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Julian E. Barnes and Michael D. Shear for The New York Times: "Biden Announces $800 Million in Military Assistance for Ukraine"
Jon Gambrell for AP: "U.S. Navy Says New Task Force to Patrol Red Sea Amid Yemen War"
Dave Graham for Reuters: "Mexican President Wins 90% Backing in Leadership Vote He Sought"
Kathrin Hille and Thomas Hale for Financial Times: "Shanghai Lockdown Stokes Global Supply Chain Anxiety"
Bethan McKernan and Vera Mironova for The Guardian: "Russia 'Using Weapons Smuggled by Iran from Iraq Against Ukraine'"
Bojan Pancevski and Georgi Kantchev for The Wall Street Journal: "Russia Warns It Could Station Nuclear Forces in Europe if Finland, Sweden Join NATO"
Book of the Week
By Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie
"Artificial intelligence is revolutionizing the modern world. It is ubiquitous—in our homes and offices, in the present and most certainly in the future. Today, we encounter AI as our distant ancestors once encountered fire. If we manage AI well, it will become a force for good, lighting the way to many transformative inventions. If we deploy it thoughtlessly, it will advance beyond our control. If we wield it for destruction, it will fan the flames of a new kind of war, one that holds democracy in the balance. As AI policy experts Ben Buchanan and Andrew Imbrie show in The New Fire, few choices are more urgent—or more fascinating—than how we harness this technology and for what purpose.
The new fire has three sparks: data, algorithms, and computing power. These components fuel viral disinformation campaigns, new hacking tools, and military weapons that once seemed like science fiction. To autocrats, AI offers the prospect of centralized control at home and asymmetric advantages in combat. It is easy to assume that democracies, bound by ethical constraints and disjointed in their approach, will be unable to keep up. But such a dystopia is hardly preordained. Combining an incisive understanding of technology with shrewd geopolitical analysis, Buchanan and Imbrie show how AI can work for democracy. With the right approach, technology need not favor tyranny."
Program Assistant
The Program Assistant is a critical position that will provide high-quality support for the ASG across all its efforts. The ideal candidate is a multi-talented, early career- professional who is interested in and knowledgeable about U.S. foreign policy, national security, and international affairs; has a passion for handling a wide range of administrative, communications, operational, and logistical tasks; is creative, enterprising, and eager to learn on the job; is excited about balancing multiple, often simultaneous, activities; and has extremely high standards for the quality of their work.
Brent Scowcroft Award Fellow
Named in honor of ASG Chair Emeritus Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, the fellowship program provides the first stepping-stone for young professionals with an interest in U.S. foreign policy to forge careers inspired by General Scowcroft’s expertise and ethos of service. Scowcroft Fellows typically join the ASG team for a period of 6 months, during which time they are encouraged to develop practical skills and build knowledge in the field of foreign policy and national security. Applications are now open for this temporary, full-time, paid position.
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.