The Weekly Leaf
This week, Secretaries Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after Hamas launched a devastating terrorist attack, multiple major earthquakes hit Afghanistan, and Senator Schumer led the first bipartisan Congressional delegation to China since 2019.
Read more below.
Coming Soon
Rapid Technological Change and Its Impact on
U.S. National Security Strategy
To Be Published October 18, 2023
This Week's Content Highlights
Features from the Aspen Strategy Group Members
Sylvia Burwell named one of the Most Powerful Women in Washington by the Washingtonian
Mark T. Esper interviewed by Sara Eisen for CNBC: "Israel-Hamas Conflict Will Last Weeks at a Minimum"
Michael Froman, Farah Pandith, Steven Cook, and Ray Takeyh for the Council on Foreign Relations: "Virtual Public Forum: Update on the Israel-Hamas War"
Robert Gates interviewed by Margaret Brennan for Face the Nation
Susan Glasser for The New Yorker: “Jake Sullivan’s Trial by Combat”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: "In Hamas, Israel Faces a Formidable, and Technologically Sophisticated, Foe"
Nicholas Kristof for The New York Times: “Seeking a Moral Compass in Gaza’s War”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Tobin Harshaw for Bloomberg: "The ‘Tech War’ With China Is More of a Great Race"
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Guy Benson for The Guy Benson Show
David Sanger, Julian Barnes, and Eric Schmitt for The New York Times: "Hamas Attack Raises Questions Over an Israeli Intelligence Failure"
Philip Zelikow and Sam Greene for the Why It Matters podcast: "The Case for Rebuilding Ukraine"
Rising Leaders in the News
Congratulations to Virginia Boney (‘21) for being named one of the Most Powerful Women in Washington by the Washingtonian!
Tweet of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: "Poland’s Election Is Neither Free nor Fair"
Tara Copp for the AP: "The U.S. Is Moving Quickly to Boost Israel’s Military. A Look at What Assistance It’s Providing"
Elsa Court for The Kyiv Independent: "Estonian Government Approves Transfer of Frozen Russian Assets to Ukraine"
Brian Deese and Jason Bordoff for Foreign Policy: "How to Break China’s Hold on Batteries and Critical Minerals"
Steve Inskeep and John Ruwitch for NPR: "A U.S. Congressional Delegation Visits China — the First Since 2019"
Michael Kimmage and Hannah Notte for Foreign Affairs: "The Age of Great-Power Distraction"
Jolie Lash for ABC: "6.3 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Afghanistan Days After Devastating Weekend Quakes"
Mark Leonard for Project Syndicate: "The Geopolitics of EU Enlargement"
Felicia Schwartz for the Financial Times: "‘Mission Impossible’? Antony Blinken Seeks Restraint as Middle East Sabres Rattle"
Jeff Stein and Jacob Bogage for The Washington Post: "U.S., Qatar Agree to Stop Iran From Tapping $6 Billion Fund After Hamas Attack"
Hiba Yazbek, Nicholas Casey, and Patrick Kingsley for The New York Times: "Israel Forms Unity Government and Bombs Gaza in the Wake of Hamas Attack"
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on the U.S. sanctions apparatus from the
Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, U.S. Department of the Treasury
Lisa Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice
Moderator: David Ignatius, Columnist and Associate Editor, The Washington Post
Book of the Week
By Rajiv Shah
“The world is facing myriad big challenges today— the climate crisis, food insecurity, racial injustice, the rise of AI, insufficient access to healthcare—and mired in a deep cynicism about our chances against them. But The Rockefeller Foundation president Rajiv Shah wants to show the world it’s realistic to be optimistic about solving those and other sticky problems.
In his debut book Big Bets: How Large-Scale Change Really Happens, Shah shares his personal journey along with a new model for making the change we need today. In helping vaccinate a billion children, responding to crises (pandemics, earthquakes, and famines), and connecting a billion people to electricity for the first time, Shah has seen first-hand that big problems must be met with big solutions. With this book, Shah shows what’s possible when we decide not to settle for the usual incremental improvements and instead choose to bet big.”
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