The Weekly Leaf
This week, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen visited China for high-level discussions on trade disputes and the bilateral relationship, Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida traveled to the U.S. for an official visit, and Hamas rejected a ceasefire proposal from Israel.
Read more below.
Aspen Strategy Group Programing
Building on our 2023 report, “Re-Engineering American Security: Cultivating Talent for Competitiveness,” the ASG hosted a workshop this week in partnership with the Walton Family Foundation on the intersection of national security and education. We were pleased to bring together a high-level group of creative thinkers working in technology, education, the private sector, and government to discuss existing challenges and develop tangible and actionable solutions.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Joseph S. Nye for Project Syndicate: “How to Prevent a War Over Taiwan”
Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos for the Political Science podcast: “After the World Central Kitchen Attack, How Far Will Biden Shift on Israel?”
Jane Harman for The Hill: “Can Mike Johnson Be a Profile in Courage?"
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “How Ukraine’s Tech Army Is Taking the Fight to Russia”
David Petraeus interviewed for The Cipher Brief: “Russia Planning Renewed Offensive in Ukraine While Washington Stalls on Aid”
Jack Reed led the Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing on U.S. Special Operations Command posture with testimonies from Christopher P. Maier, Bryan P. Fenton, and Timothy D. Haugh
David Sanger, Meghan O’Sullivan, Graham Allison, and Karen Donfried for the Institute of Politics Harvard Kennedy School: “World Order and Disorder: The United States, Eurasia, and the Indo-Pacific”
Dan Sullivan and Joe Manchin interviewed by Bret Baier for Fox News
Lawrence H. Summers interviewed by David Westin for Bloomberg: “Summers Says Fed Rate Cut in June Would Be Dangerous"
Tweet of the Week
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Tony Bishop ('23) helped create two new fully funded scholarships at the University of Oxford for Congressional Black Caucus Foundation alumni
Cedric Habiyaremye ('24) authored "From Shadows to Light: 30 Years of Resilience and Reconciliation in Rwanda"
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Nidal Al-Mughrabi for Reuters: "Hamas Says Israeli Proposal Fails to Meet Demands, But Is Under Review"
Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear for The New York Times: “Biden and Kishida Agree to Tighten Military and Economic Ties to Counter China”
Dylan Butts for CNBC: "U.S. Offers TSMC up to $6.6 Billion for Arizona Factories as Biden Pushes for Chip Security"
Christy Cooney for BBC: “U.S. Restricts Travel for Diplomats in Israel Amid Fears of Iran Attack”
Se Eun Gong for NPR: “South Korea’s Opposition Wins in Landslide Parliamentary Elections”
Andrew Goudsward and Sarah N. Lynch for Reuters: “FBI Concerned About Possible Coordinated Attack in U.S. After Russia Massacre”
Ryan Hass and Colin Kahl for the Brookings Institution: “Laying the Groundwork for U.S.-China AI Dialogue”
Benjamin Parkin and Jyotsna Singh for the Financial Times: "Narendra Modi Strives for Election Breakthrough in India's Wealthy South"
Matt Pottinger and Mike Gallagher for Foreign Affairs: “No Substitute for Victory”
Alan Rappeport for The New York Times: “Yellen Sees ‘More Work to Do’ as China Talks End With No Breakthrough”
Sam Sabin for Axios: "Russian Hackers Steal Agencies' Emails as Part of Microsoft Hack"
Svitlana Vlasova, Christian Edwards, and Caitlin Danaher for CNN: "Russian Airstrikes Destroy Kyiv's Largest Power Plant"
Fareed Zakaria interviewed Alexander Stubb for CNN: “Finland’s New President on Ending the Ukraine War”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on alliance structures in the Indo-
Pacific from the virtual 2021 Aspen Security Forum.
Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Julie Bishop, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Australia (current Special Envoy on Myanmar, United Nations)
C. Raja Mohan, then Director, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore (current Visiting Research Professor, Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore)
Tomiko Ichikawa, then Director General, Japan Institute of International Affairs (current Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Japan to the Conference on Disarmament)
Moderator: David Ignatius, Associate Editor and Columnist, The Washington Post
Partner Content
Join National Security Advisor of the United States Jake Sullivan, artist Ashley Longshore, designer Colin King, and more on May 4 in Washington, DC at the Financial Times Weekend Festival.
Book of the Week
by David E. Sanger with Mary K. Brooks
"Three decades after the end of the Cold War, the United States finds itself in a volatile rivalry with the other two great nuclear powers—Xi Jinping’s China and Vladimir Putin’s Russia—in a world far more complex and dangerous than that of half a century ago...
Now the three powers are engaged in a high-stakes struggle for military, economic, political, and technological supremacy, with nations around the world pressured to take sides. Yet all three are discovering that they are maneuvering for influence in a far more turbulent world than they imagined.
Based on a remarkable array of interviews with top officials from five presidential administrations, U.S. intelligence agencies, foreign governments, and tech companies, Sanger unfolds a riveting narrative spun around the era’s critical questions: Will the mistakes Putin made in his invasion of Ukraine prove his undoing and will he reach for his nuclear arsenal—or will the West’s famously short attention span signal Kyiv’s doom? Will Xi invade Taiwan? Will both men deepen their partnership to undercut America’s dominance? And can a politically dysfunctional America still lead the world?"
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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.