The Weekly Leaf
This week, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died in prison, President Biden warned Israel against invading Rafah following his meeting with King Abdullah II of Jordan, Indonesian Defense Minister and former general Prabowo Subianto claimed victory in the Indonesian presidential election, and the Munich Security Conference kicked off.
Read more below.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Elizabeth Economy, Graham Allison, Josh M. Cartin, Susan A. Thornton, and moderator Evan Osnos at the Brookings Institution: “Is the U.S.-China Relationship America’s Most Consequential Bilateral Relationship?”
Michael J. Green interviewed John Kunkel for The Asia Chessboard podcast: “Australia’s Economic Future in a Shifting Geo-Economic Landscape”
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg: “In This Together: Hutchison Against Trump’s NATO Comment”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “In the Arms Race for Space Weaponry, Russia Fires a Shot Across the Bow”
Joseph Nye interviewed by Del Irani for Deeper Look: “U.S. Leadership in the Changing World”
Meghan O’Sullivan and Graham Allison moderated a conversation with Mike Gallagher and Raja Krishnamoorthi for the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics: “The China Challenge and America’s Future”
David Petraeus interviewed by Erin Burnett for CNN: “Trump’s NATO Comments ‘Concerning’”
David Sanger, Julian E. Barnes, Karoun Demirjian, and Eric Schmitt for The New York Times: “Russia’s Advances on Space-Based Nuclear Weapon Draw U.S. Concerns”
Lawrence Summers interviewed by Michael Klein for EconoFact Chats: “Larry Summers on Today’s Economic Challenges”
Tweet of the Week
Rising Leaders in the News
"The United States and its allies have invested massively in Ukraine’s defense, not only guaranteeing Ukraine’s survival, but also increasing domestic pressures on Putin. Weakening Western support for Ukraine would put both aims at risk."
Liana Fix (‘23) and Maria Snegovaya for the Council on Foreign Relations: “Leadership Change in Russia”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Al Jazeera: "Could a Southern African Military Force Help Bring Stability to DRC?"
Ben Bland for Foreign Affairs: “Indonesia’s Democracy Is Stronger Than a Strongman”
Charles Q. Brown interviewed by Lester Holt for NBC News: “Lester Holt One-On-One With Joint Chiefs Chairman CQ Brown”
David Cameron for The Hill: “Pass Ukraine Funding for the Sake of Global Security”
CEPA International Leadership Council: “Leadership in Action: Six Priorities for the Transatlantic Alliance in 2024”
Amy Mackinnon and Robbie Gramer for Foreign Policy: "Biden's Grand Bargain to Remake the Middle East"
Jared Malsin and Summer Said for The Wall Street Journal: “Gaza Cease-Fire Negotiators Fail to Bridge Gaps Between Israel and Hamas in Cairo Talks”
Richard Milne and Max Seddon for The Financial Times: “Russia to Double Military Presence Along NATO Border, Estonia Warns”
Paul M. Nakasone for The Washington Post: “I Was Head of the NSA. In a World of Threats, This Is My Biggest Worry.”
Andrew Roth and Helen Sullivan for The Guardian: "Russian Activist and Putin Critic Alexei Navalny Dies in Prison"
George Wright for the BBC: “Dutch Court Orders Halt to F-35 Jet Parts Exports to Israel”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on the future of U.S. space strategy from the
Salvatore 'Tory' Bruno, CEO, United Launch Alliance
John Plumb, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy, U.S. Department of Defense
Ezinne Uzo-Okoro, Assistant Director for Space Policy, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Moderator: David Ignatius, Columnist, The Washington Post
Book of the Week
by Francis J. Gavin
"The world first confronted the power of nuclear weapons when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945... Francis J. Gavin argues that scholarly and popular understanding of many key issues about nuclear weapons is incomplete at best and wrong at worst. Among these important, misunderstood issues are: how nuclear deterrence works; whether nuclear coercion is effective; how and why the United States chose its nuclear strategies; why countries develop their own nuclear weapons or choose not to do so; and, most fundamentally, whether nuclear weapons make the world safer or more dangerous. These and similar questions still matter because nuclear danger is returning as a genuine threat. Emerging technologies and shifting great-power rivalries seem to herald a new type of cold war just three decades after the end of the U.S.-Soviet conflict that was characterized by periodic prospects of global Armageddon."
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