The Weekly Leaf
This week, COP27 kicked off in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, the White House announced that President Biden will meet with President Xi Jinping next week at the G20 Summit in Bali, and midterm elections were held in the U.S.
Read more below.
The 2022 Aspen Security Forum: D.C. Edition
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Chris Coons and Rob Portman quoted by Max Hunder for Reuters: "U.S. Senators, in Kyiv Visit, Vow to Continue Bipartisan Support After Elections"
Michael J. Green, Gorana Grgic, and Jude Blanchette for the United States Studies Centre: "The Asia Chessboard: Unpacking the U.S. National Security Strategy"
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: "As War Rages in Ukraine, the World is Realigning. Exhibit A: North Korea"
Meghan O'Sullivan and Jason Bordoff interviewed by Demetri Kofinas for the Hidden Forces Podcast: "Energy Geopolitics, Security, and the New Energy Order"
David Petraeus quoted by Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet for The Hill: "Putin's Darkening Shadows"
David Sanger interviewed by Ian Bremmer for GZERO: "U.S. Threat Levels From Foreign and Domestic Enemies"
Lawrence Summers and William H. Overholt for the Harvard Kennedy School: "China's Future: Xi Jinping and After"
Rising Leaders in the News
"The alliance’s new identity encourages the institution to tweak the consensus rule to allow coalitions of the willing within NATO to address more nuanced concerns within the alliance. "
ASG Rising Leader Nathan Dial ('22) for the Columbia SIPA Journal of International Affairs: "To Protect the Pledge - NATO Should Tweak Its Consensus Decision Making Process"
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Yasmeen Abutaleb and Matt Viser for The Washington Post: "Biden and China’s Xi to Hold First In-Person Presidential Meeting"
Ivo Daalder for POLITICO: "Europe's U.S. Anxiety"
Richard Haass for Project Syndicate: "Making Sense of Midterm America"
David Hutt for DW News: "ASEAN Summit: Is The Bloc as We Know It Finished?"
Martin Kimani interviewed by Adam Cooper for The Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue: "Kenya’s 'African Agenda' in the Security Council"
Suzanne Maloney interviewed by James Lindsay for the Council on Foreign Relations: "Protests in Iran"
Kevin Rudd for Foreign Affairs: "The Return of Red China"
Marc Santora, Andrew E. Kramer, Dan Bilefsky, Ivan Nechepurenko, and Anton Troianovski for The New York Times: "Russia Orders Retreat From Kherson, a Serious Reversal in the Ukraine War"
Sara Schonhardt for Scientific American: "Five Tensions That Could Derail the COP 27 Climate Summit"
Book of the Week
By Emma Ashford "In a world where oil-rich states are more likely to start war than their oil-dependent counterparts, it's surprising how little attention is still paid to these so-called petrostates. These states' wealth props up the global arms trade, provides diplomatic leverage, and allows them to support violent and nonviolent proxies. In Oil, the State, and War, Emma Ashford explores the many potential links between domestic oil production and foreign policy behavior and how oil production influences global politics.
Not all petrostates have the same characteristics or capabilities. To help us conceptualize these differences, Ashford creates an original classification of three types of petrostates: oil-dependent states (those weakened by the resource curse), oil-wealthy states (those made rich by oil exports), and super-producer states (those that form the backbone of the global oil market). Through a combination of case studies and analysis, she illustrates how oil shapes petrostates' behavior, filling a major gap in our understanding of the international implications of oil wealth. Experts have too often treated oil-rich states as passive objects, subject to the energy security needs of Western importing states. Instead, this book highlights the agency and power enjoyed by petrostates."
Class of 2023 Rising Leaders Applications Open
The Aspen Strategy Group has been strongly committed to cultivating the next generation of leaders in national security and foreign policy since its inception. Now entering its third year, the Rising Leaders Program is a one-year program for young professionals to contribute to the conversation on the most pressing international challenges while honing their leadership skills. Applications will close December 18 at 11:59 PM ET
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