The Weekly Leaf
This week, President Vladimir Putin and President Xi Jinping issued a joint statement deepening the China-Russia partnership during President Putin's visit to China; the Biden administration imposed new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, advanced batteries, solar cells, steel, aluminum, and more; and Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico survived an assassination attempt.
Read more below.
2024 Aspen Security Forum
Join us for the 2024 Aspen Security Forum! Our flagship Forum will feature an array of decision-makers and thought leaders from Washington, DC and around the world. Learn more about how to register for the livestream or request to attend here.
Aspen Strategy Group Programming
We were pleased to hold our first independent Rising Leaders Program alumni event hosted by our friend and partner Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States Dame Karen Pierce DCMG. Established in 2021, the Rising Leaders Program brings together approximately 30 young professionals to contribute to the conversation on critical foreign policy issues while honing their leadership skills. Now in its fourth year, our program has a diverse network of over 120 current and former Rising Leaders.
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice, Anja Manuel, M.K. Narayanan, Shivshankar Menon, David C. Mulford, R. Nicholas Burns, and Eric Garcetti at the Hoover Institution: "Strengthening Trust With India: Implications of the 2008 U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement"
Chris Coons chaired a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on strengthening American competitiveness with witnesses Scott Nathan, Reta Jo Lewis, and Alice Albright
Michèle Flournoy announced as the winner of the inaugural Leadership Council for Women In National Security’s Award for Defense Service
Michael Froman interviewed by Gideon Rachman for the Financial Times: "Has the U.S. Declared Economic War on China?"
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: "A Significant New Debate Is Beginning in Israel"
Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times: "From the Embers of an Old Genocide, a New One May Be Emerging"
David Petraeus for CNBC: "The Biggest Barrier to Saudi-Israel Normalization is an 'Intractable' One"
Tweet of the Week
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Emma Campbell-Mohn (‘23) and Ian Platz (‘23) spoke at the 2024 NATO Youth Summit in Miami, FL on Tuesday, May 13. Organized by NATO, the Aspen Institute International Partners, Aspen Institute Romania, Swedish Defence University, and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, the 2024 NATO Youth Summit featured an array of speakers to discuss the most pressing global issues of interest to youths.
Watch the day's sessions here.
Liana Fix (‘23) and Zongyuan Zoe Liu for Foreign Policy: “Europeans Need to Trump-Proof China Policy”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Emily Atkinson for BBC: "Suspect Charged With Attempted Murder of Slovak PM Fico"
Lloyd Axworthy, Michael W. Manulak, and Allan Rock for Foreign Affairs: “A UN Trusteeship for Palestine”
Mark Bergen for Bloomberg: "UAE Releases New Falcon AI Model to Challenge Meta, Open AI"
Elisabeth Braw for Foreign Policy: "Peru Learns to Read the Fine Print in China Deals"
CBS News: "Aid Starts Flowing Into Gaza Strip Across Temporary Floating Pier U.S. Just Finished Building"
Guy Faulconbridge and Andrew Osborn for Reuters: "Putin Taps Civilian Economist to Run Defense, Replacing Shoigu in Surprise Move"
John Hudson for The Washington Post: "Biden Advances $1 Billion in Arms for Israel Amid Rafah Tensions"
Aaron MC Nicholas for The Wire China: "China's Fintech Footprint in Africa"
James Palmer for Foreign Policy: "Can the U.S. Catch Up to China on EVs?"
David Pierson for The New York Times: "Putin's Visit Highlights Military Ties That Worry the West"
Eric Schmidt for MIT Technology Review: "Why America Needs an Apollo Program for the Age of AI"
Vasilisa Stepanenko and Evgeniy Maloletka for AP: "Russia Says It Has Captured 5 Villages in Northeast Ukraine as More Than 1,700 Civilians Flee"
Featured Event
Hosted by the Aspen Economic Strategy Group
The 2022 CHIPS and Science Act is the centerpiece of the federal government’s efforts to rebuild America’s industrial capacity and secure greater independence in the production of critical technologies. Under the law, tens of billions of dollars in subsidies for manufacturing advanced chips have already been announced. This panel will assess this effort, its prospects for success, and how the law, and similar government efforts to promote critical technologies, will affect the U.S. economy in the short and long-term. Featuring Michael Schmidt, Director of the CHIPS Program Office at the U.S. Department of Commerce and Chris Miller, Author of Chip War, in conversation with Greg Ip, Chief Economics Commentator at The Wall Street Journal, and opening remarks from former U.S. Treasury Secretary and AESG Co-Chair Timothy F. Geithner.
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on the European Union, NATO,
and the war in Ukraine from the 2023 Aspen Security Forum.
Mircea Geoană, Deputy Secretary General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
G.E.W. van Leeuwen, Foreign Affairs and Defense Advisor to the Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Tom Tugendhat, Minister of State (Minister for Security) of the United Kingdom
Moderator: Peter Spiegel, U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
Book of the Week
by Nicholas D. Kristof
"Since 1984, Nicholas Kristof has worked almost continuously for The New York Times as a reporter, foreign correspondent, bureau chief, and now columnist, becoming one of the foremost reporters of his generation. Here, he recounts his event-filled path from a small-town farm in Oregon to every corner of the world.
Reporting from Hong Kong, Beijing, and Tokyo, while traveling far afield to India, Africa, and Europe, Kristof witnessed and wrote about century-defining events: the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, the Yemeni civil war, the Darfur genocide in Sudan, and the wave of addiction and despair that swept through his hometown and a broad swath of working-class America. Fully aware that coverage of atrocities generates considerably fewer page views than the coverage of politics, he nevertheless continued to weaponize his pen against regimes and groups violating basic human rights, raising the cost of oppression and torture. Some of the risks he took while doing so make for hair-raising reading."
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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.