This week, the EU and UK struck a Brexit ‘reset’ deal, President Trump and President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa had a tense Oval Office meeting, G7 finance ministers and central bank governors met in Canada, and Nicușor Dan was elected president of Romania.
This Memorial Day, we honor the brave men and women who lost their lives in service to our country.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Jane Perlez for the Face-Off: The U.S. vs China podcast: “Criss-Crossing China”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Emily Chang for Bloomberg: “Inside Stargate: OpenAI’s $500 Billion AI Factory”
Chris Coons and Pete Ricketts interviewed by Brett Baier for Fox News: “Senators Find ‘Common Ground’ Over Arming Taiwan”
Robert Gates interviewed by Margaret Brennan for CBS News
Susan B. Glasser, Jane Mayer, and Evan Osnos for The Political Scene podcast: “Biden, Trump, and the Challenges of Covering an Aging President”
Michael J. Green interviewed Ami Bera for The Asia Chessboard podcast: “Indo-Pacific Strategy With U.S. Rep. Ami Bera”
Jane Harman for The Bulwark: “Does Trump Want to Be the President Who Lost Ukraine?”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “Trump’s Ukraine Peace Push Is Built on Three Illusions”
Meghan O’Sullivan quoted by Ken Moriyasu for Nikkei Asia: “Who Will Replace Armitage and Nye as Custodians of U.S.-Japan Alliance?”
David Petraeus interviewed by John Micklethwait for Bloomberg: “KKR’s Petraeus on Iran Nuclear Deal, Geopolitics”
Susan Rice interviewed by David Frum for The Atlantic: “Trump’s National-Security Disaster”
Dan Sullivan quoted by Michael Marrow for Breaking Defense: “Trump: Golden Dome to Cost $175 Billion, Will Be Led By Space Force’s Guetlein”
Lawrence Summers and Elizabeth Economy interviewed by David Westin for Bloomberg: “Who Has the Upper Hand in U.S.-China Relations?”
Post of the Week
Rising Leaders Program Highlights
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Jeff Alstott (‘21), Joel Predd, Jim Mitre, and Casey Dugan at the Harvard Berkman Klein Center: “Artificial General Intelligence’s Five Hard National Security Problems”
Max Bluestein (‘25) quoted by Kylie Atwood and Alayna Treene for CNN: “U.S. Negotiating Israel-Gaza Ceasefire With Hamas Through American in Doha, Source Says”
Mari Manoogian (‘21) was named Executive Director of The Next 50
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Randolf Carr and Julia Hammelehle for the Munich Security Conference: “Trump, Trust, and Transatlanticism: Key Takeaways From the Munich Leaders Meeting in Washington”
The Economist: “Cyril Ramaphosa Keeps His Cool With Donald Trump”
Sam Francis, Kate Whannel, and Alice Cuddy for BBC: “UK Signs £101m-a-Year Deal to Hand Over Chagos Islands”
Jacob Freedman for The Boston Globe: “Trump Is Trying to Politicize the Military’s Recruiting Success”
Alexander B. Gray for Foreign Policy: “An America First Policy for the Antarctic”
Sadie Gurman, Meridith McGraw, and Olivia Beavers for The Wall Street Journal: “Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed in Shooting Outside Jewish Museum in Washington”
David Lawder, Promit Mukherjee, and Julia Payne for Reuters: “G7 Glosses Over Tariffs, Pledges to Cut Global Economic Imbalances”
Michelle Ye Hee Lee for The Washington Post: “North Korea’s Kim Jong Un Irate After Destroyer Is Damaged During Launch”
Oriana Skylar Mastro and Brandon Yoder for Foreign Affairs: “The Taiwan Tightrope”
Chris Miller for the Financial Times: “Trump’s Middle East Dealmaking Could Reshape the Global AI Race”
Alison Mutler for the Center for European Policy Analysis: “Romanian Centrist Victory Brings Relief to Allies”
Bojan Pancevski and Laurence Norman for The Wall Street Journal: “European Officials Say Trump Tells Their Leaders Putin Isn’t Ready to End War”
Michael Schwirtz and Jane Bradley for The New York Times: “The Spy Factory”
Dov S. Zakheim for The Hill: “Britain Inches Back Toward Europe With New Trade and Defense Pacts”
From the Archives
Revisit our bipartisan conversation on foreign policy, defense, and more from the
2024 Aspen Security Forum.
Chris Coons, U.S. Senator for Delaware
John Cornyn, U.S. Senator for Texas
Dan Sullivan, U.S. Senator for Alaska
Moderator: Ellen Nakashima, National Security Reporter, The Washington Post
Book of the Week
AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order
By Kai-Fu Lee
“In this thought-provoking book, Lee argues powerfully that because of the unprecedented developments in AI, dramatic changes will be happening much sooner than many of us expected. Indeed, as the U.S.-Sino AI competition begins to heat up, Lee urges the U.S. and China to both accept and to embrace the great responsibilities that come with significant technological power.
Most experts already say that AI will have a devastating impact on blue-collar jobs. But Lee predicts that Chinese and American AI will have a strong impact on white-collar jobs as well. Is universal basic income the solution? In Lee’s opinion, probably not. But he provides a clear description of which jobs will be affected and how soon, which jobs can be enhanced with AI, and most importantly, how we can provide solutions to some of the most profound changes in the future of human history.”
Podcast of the Week
Bill Greenwalt joined Vago Muradian on Defense & Aerospace Report’s Defense & Aerospace Daily Podcast: “AEI’s Dr. Bill Greenwalt on Exports and ITAR”
