This week, U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will travel to Islamabad to restart negotiations to end the war with Iran, Israel and Lebanon extended their ceasefire by three weeks following a second round of peace talks in Washington, Japan lifted its World War II-era ban on lethal weapons exports, and Hungary dropped its veto on a €90 billion loan for Ukraine as EU leaders gathered in Cyprus.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice for the Hoover Institution’s Freedom Frequency: “Finding the Ideas—and the Confidence—to Weave the World Anew”
Nicholas Burns and Jane Hartley interviewed by Meghan O’Sullivan at the Harvard Kennedy School: “Diplomacy & Statecraft | Nicholas Burns & Jane Hartley Launch New Diplomacy Program at Harvard”
Anja Manuel, Jared Bernstein, Mitchell Daniels, and Nina Schick interviewed by Leon E. Panetta for the 2026 Leon Panetta Lecture Series: “The Legacy of the American Economy: Strong Market Growth and Stability or Another ‘29 Crash?”
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Romaine Bostick and Katie Greifeld for Bloomberg’s The Close: “U.S.-Europe Relations Must Be Healed”
Chris Brose interviewed by Andrew Roberts for the Hoover Institution’s Secrets of Statecraft podcast: “Anduril’s Chris Brose on Fighting the Next War”
William J. Burns for The New York Times: “Here’s How Trump Can Get Us Out of the Mess in Iran”
Kurt Campbell and Chuck Hagel interviewed by Robert Pape at the University of Chicago’s Hagel Lecture: “America’s Role in Asia in Context of War With Iran”
Chris Coons interviewed by Elex Michaelson for CNN’s The Story Is
Elizabeth Economy quoted by Rana Foroohar for the Financial Times: “The U.S. and Europe Are Still Stronger Together”
Mark Esper interviewed by David Faber and Sara Eisen for CNBC’s Money Movers: “Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper Lays Out What’s at Stake in U.S.-Iran Negotiations”
Jendayi Frazer, Ameenah Gurib Fakim, and Mark-Alexandre Doumba interviewed by Mayowa Kuyoro at the Harvard Kennedy School: “Africa and the World: Reclaiming Agency in a Shifting Geopolitical Landscape”
Michael Froman for the Council on Foreign Relations: “Trump Extended the Iran War Ceasefire. Now What?”
Jane Harman interviewed by Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg’s Balance of Power: “Harman on Iran Talks, FISA Risks”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “I’ve Never Seen a Negotiation Like This One”
Dina Powell McCormick interviewed by Maria Bartiromo for Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria: “Meta’s $600B AI Investment Could Reshape Jobs and America’s Workforce”
David H. Petraeus and Isaac C. Flanagan for The Hill: “The Pentagon Could Be About to Make a $55 Billion Mistake”
Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson interviewed Arvind Krishna for Semafor’s The CEO Signal podcast: “Arvind Krishna, IBM CEO, on Big Bets, AI, and Quantum”
David Rubenstein interviewed Nik Storonsky for The David Rubenstein Show: “Revolut CEO Nik Storonsky on Building a Fintech Giant”
David E. Sanger and Luke Broadwater for The New York Times: “Trump Keeps Talking About Iran’s ‘Nuclear Dust.’ What Is It?”
Anne-Marie Slaughter appointed as Dean of the School of Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science
Jake Sullivan interviewed by Dan Kurtz-Phelan for The Foreign Affairs Interview podcast: “Is America Losing the High Ground?”
Post of the Week
Young Leaders Spotlight
Features from ASG Rising Leaders and Former Fellows
Rebecca J. Anderson (‘26) interviewed by Nick Danforth at Foreign Policy’s Geoeconomics Forum: “Sustaining America’s Edge in a New Era of AI and Global Competition”
María Fernanda Bozmoski (‘26) interviewed Eduardo Ortega-Barría at the Atlantic Council: “Building Panama’s Innovation Economy Through AI and Science”
Daniel Lippman (‘22), Jack Detsch, Paul McLeary, and Connor O’Brien for POLITICO: “Navy Secretary Is Out Amid Pentagon Infighting”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Munir Ahmed, Jon Gambrell, and Jamey Keaten for AP News: “Trump Dispatches Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan for New Talks With Iran’s Foreign Minister”
Marc Bennetts for The Times: “‘Donnyland’ in Donbas Aims to Win Over Trump”
Thompson Chau for Nikkei Asia: “Blocking of Taiwan President’s Flight Seen as ‘Warning Shot’ by China”
Mohamad El Chamaa, Victoria Craw, Lior Soroka, Susannah George, and Tara Copp for The Washington Post: “Hezbollah Defiant in Face of Israel-Lebanon Ceasefire Extension”
France 24: “Bulgaria’s Kremlin-Friendly Former President Radev Wins Parliamentary Election”
Lily Kuo and Agnes Chang for The New York Times: “How China Is Building Its Next Outpost at Sea”
Jorge Liboreiro for Euronews: “EU Leaders Meet in Cyprus to Talk Ukraine, Hormuz, Energy, and Mutual Defence”
Robert E. Lighthizer for Foreign Affairs: “The New Trade Order: Restoring Balance to a Broken Global Economy”
Timothy W. Martin for The Wall Street Journal: “Kim Jong Un, With Daughter by His Side, Oversees Test of Cluster Bombs”
Kurumi Mori and Koh Ewe for BBC News: “Japan Loosens Arms Export Rules in Break From Post-WW2 Pacifism”
Demetri Sevastopulo and Cristina Criddle for the Financial Times: “White House Accuses China of ‘Industrial-Scale’ Theft of AI Technology”
Fabiola Zerpa, Ari Natter, and Mitchell Ferman for Bloomberg: “U.S. Oil CEOs Meet Venezuela President as Trump Seeks Oil Revival”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on bolstering U.S. capabilities on the battlefield from the 2025 Aspen Security Forum.
A New Playbook: The Future of U.S. Competitiveness
Chris Brose, President and Chief Strategy Officer, Anduril
Chris George, President and GM, Intel Government Technologies, Intel
Mike Schnabel, Vice President of International Operations and Policy, The Boeing Company
Moderator: Nick Schifrin, PBS News Hour
Book of the Week
The American Way of Foreign Policy: Ideology, Economics, and Democracy
By Michael Mandelbaum
“What is distinctively American about American foreign policy? The American Way of Foreign Policy answers that question by identifying three features of the nation’s relations with other countries and tracing their impact from the eighteenth century to the twenty-first. Concisely and clearly written for the general reader, The American Way of Foreign Policy explores the origins of these three enduring features of the nation’s foreign relations, shows their effects throughout the nation’s history, and assesses their contributions to America’s successes and failures abroad. It provides readers with a new understanding of how and why America has conducted its relations with the world for over 250 years.”
Podcast of the Week
Kate Hendry, Andrea Sella, and Monica Grady joined Misha Glenny for BBC’s In Our Time podcast: “Silicon”
