This week, Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack on Russian military airbases and Russia retaliated with a major air attack, President Trump spoke by phone with President of China Xi Jinping, NATO defense ministers gathered in Brussels, and Lee Jae-myung was sworn in as president of
South Korea.
Read more below.
2025 Aspen Security Forum: Limited Public Passes Available
The Aspen Strategy Group will host the 2025 Aspen Security Forum in Aspen, CO from the evening of Tuesday, July 15 to midday Friday, July 18. Our flagship Forum will feature an array of decision-makers and thought leaders from Washington, DC and around the world. We have a very limited number of passes available for the public. If you are interested in attending in person, please submit a request to attend here.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Nicholas Burns, Patricia Kim, and Jonathan Czin at the Brookings Institution: “The United States, China, and the War in Ukraine”
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Phelim Kine for POLITICO: “‘We Would Have Had Leverage’: How Trump Botched the Trade War With China”
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Brian Kilmeade for Fox News: “Condoleezza Rice Reveals Concerning Shift in Putin’s Behavior, Calls Him ‘Desperate’ as Ukraine Strikes Back”
Chris Coons quoted by Joe Gould and Connor O’Brien for POLITICO: “‘Wake-Up Call’: Ukraine Drone Strike Exposes Dangers to U.S. Aircraft”
Michael Froman and Matthew Dowd interviewed by Katy Tur for MSNBC: “Trump’s ‘Huge’ 50% Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Go Into Effect”
Susan Glasser, Luke Broadwater, and David Drucker interviewed by Stephanie Ruhle for MSNBC: “‘It’s Impossible’: Is Trump’s Team Starting to Sweat as His Own Trade Deal Deadline Approaches?”
Michael J. Green interviewed Ian Storey for the Asia Chessboard podcast: “Russia, the Newest Disruptor in Southeast Asia?”
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Nitin Nainani for The Federalist Society: “Fireside Chat With Ambassador Kay Bailey Hutchison”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Ukraine’s Dirty War Is Just Getting Started”
Joseph S. Nye, Jr. and Robert O. Keohane for Foreign Affairs: “The End of the Long American Century”
David Petraeus interviewed by Ghida Fahkry for ING: “Europe Must Take Greater Responsibility for Its Own Defense – Petraeus”
Jack Reed interviewed by Alicia Menendez, Symone Sanders-Townsend, and Michael Steele for MSNBC: “An ‘Attack on Their Families—Literally’: Senate Appropriations Dem on GOP Budget Bill”
Susan Schwab quoted by Adam Kay for the Natural Gas Association: “Natural Gas: Fueling the Moment”
Anne-Marie Slaughter for Project Syndicate: “The Right Name for the Gulf of Mexico”
Dan Sullivan mentioned by Becky Bohrer and Mark Thiessen for AP News: “Top Trump Officials Visit Prolific Alaska Oil Field Amid Push to Expand Drilling”
Jake Sullivan interviewed by Yonit Levi and Jonathan Freedland for the Unholy podcast: “Jake Sullivan on Bibi and Trump, Saudi Normalization, and the Biden Era”
Lawrence Summers interviewed by Chris Anstey for Bloomberg: “Summers Says Debt Surge From Trump Plan Will Undermine U.S. Power”
Philip Zelikow quoted by Eugene Volokh for Reason: “Does the Smoot-Hawley Act Justify the Trump Tariffs? No, Says Philip Zelikow”
Post of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Jon B. Alterman and Jason Rezaian for the Center for Strategic & International Studies: “Combating State Hostage Taking and Wrongful Detention”
Najmeh Bozorgmehr for the Financial Times: “Iran’s Supreme Leader Hits Back at U.S. Nuclear Proposal”
Baiba Braže for The Economist: “There Is Nothing Extreme About the Baltic States’ Hard-Nosed View of Russia, Says Latvia’s Foreign Minister”
Emma De Ruiter for Euronews: “The Netherlands to Hold Snap Election on 29 October After Coalition Collapse”
Ellen Francis for The Washington Post: “NATO Nears Deal to Grant Trump’s Wish for Giant Military Spending Increase”
E. Tammy Kim for The New Yorker: “Democracy Wins a Referendum in South Korea”
Alex Leary, Lingling Wei, and Alexander Ward for The Wall Street Journal: “Trump Says He Discussed Trade, Rare Earths in Call With China’s Xi”
Christopher Sabatini and Robert Greenhill for Foreign Policy: “Haiti Is Burning, But There Is a Path Forward”
Marc Santora and Constant Méheut for The New York Times: “Russia Pummels Kyiv in Apparent Retaliation for Ukrainian Drone Assault”
Lucia Schulten for DW: “What Next for EU-Poland Ties After Nawrocki’s Election Win?”
Lara Spirit, George Grylls, Jane Flanagan, and Stephen Gibbs for The Times: “Trump Travel Ban on 12 Countries Prompts Mixed Reaction”
Eli Stokols for POLITICO: “Merz Avoids a Blowup in the Oval, But Trump Goes His Own Way on Russia”
Mohammed Tawfeeq, Maija Ehlinger, and Mostafa Salem for CNN: “Israel Attacks Suburbs of Beirut, Targeting Alleged Hezbollah ‘Drone Factories’”
Malcolm Turnbull for Foreign Affairs: “America’s Allies Must Save Themselves”
UN News: “Five Humanitarians Killed in ‘Horrendous’ Attack on Aid Convoy in Sudan”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on NATO, European defense, and Ukraine from
the 2024 Aspen Security Forum: DC Edition.
The Future of the Transatlantic Relationship: Europe’s Perspective
Clément Beaune, Former Minister of State for European Affairs, France
Enrique Mora Benavente, Deputy Secretary-General for Political Affairs/Political Director, European External Action Service
Kajsa Ollongren, Former Minister of Defense; Former Deputy Prime Minister, The Netherlands
Jens Plötner, then Foreign and Security Policy Advisor to the Chancellor, Germany
Moderator: Peter Spiegel, then U.S. Managing Editor, Financial Times
Book of the Week
By Patrick McGee
“After struggling to build its products on three continents, Apple was lured by China’s seemingly inexhaustible supply of cheap labor. Soon it was sending thousands of engineers across the Pacific, training millions of workers, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to create the world’s most sophisticated supply chain. These capabilities enabled Apple to build the 21st century’s most iconic products—in staggering volume and for enormous profit.
Without explicitly intending to, Apple built an advanced electronics industry within China, only to discover that its massive investments in technology upgrades had inadvertently given Beijing a power that could be weaponized.
In Apple in China, journalist Patrick McGee draws on more than two hundred interviews with former executives and engineers, supplementing their stories with unreported meetings held by Steve Jobs, emails between top executives, and internal memos regarding threats from Chinese competition. The book highlights the unknown characters who were instrumental in Apple’s ascent and who tried to forge a different path, including the Mormon missionary who established the Apple Store in China; the ‘Gang of Eight’ executives tasked with placating Beijing; and an idealistic veteran whose hopes of improving the lives of factory workers were crushed by both Cupertino’s operational demands and Xi Jinping’s war on civil society.”
Podcast of the Week
Veerle Nouwens, Evan A. Laksma, and Nick Childs join Meia Nouwens on the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Sounds Strategic podcast: “IISS Shangri-La Dialogue 2025”
