This week, an appeals court temporarily reinstated President Trump’s tariffs, ASEAN held its first-ever summit with China and six Gulf Cooperation Council countries in Kuala Lumpur, defense leaders convened in Singapore to kick off the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, and a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution center was overrun in Rafah.
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 delivered a eulogy for Ambassador Frank G. Wisner II
Condoleezza Rice, John Taylor, and Allyn Taylor at the Hoover Institution: “A Celebration in Honor of John Taylor With Condoleezza Rice”
Stephen E. Biegun interviewed by Don Arleth for Talking With TVP World: “PISM Strategic Ark 2025”
Christian Brose and Sam Roggeveen interviewed by Lydia Khalil for the Lowy Institute Conversations podcast: “The Future of Warfare”
Chris Coons interviewed by Kaitlan Collins for CNN: “Senator Coons Urges Trump to Impose New Sanctions Against Russia: ‘Putin Is a Thug and an Aggressor’”
Elizabeth Economy interviewed Šumit Ganguly for the China Considered podcast: “Lines of Fire: China, the U.S., and the India-Pakistan Standoff With Šumit Ganguly”
Mark T. Esper received the West Point Association of Graduates Distinguished Graduate Award
Michael Froman interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin for CNBC: “President Trump’s Tariffs May Not Actually Achieve His Objectives, Says CFR’s Michael Froman”
Susan B. Glasser for The New Yorker: “Elon Musk Didn’t Blow Up Washington, But He Left Plenty of Damage Behind”
Chris Howard moderated a conversation with Lawrence H. Summers at the Sandra Day O’Connor Institute
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “The Way to End the Gaza War Has Been Clear for Nearly a Year”
Dina Powell McCormick interviewed for LEADERS Magazine: “Purposeful Mentorship”
David Petraeus joined the Policy Exchange Law of Armed Conflict Conference:
Jack Reed, Elizabeth Warren, and Ron Wyden sent a letter to the Department of Justice, Office of Government Ethics, and Inspector Generals at the Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
David M. Rubenstein interviewed Jason Smith for Bloomberg: “The David Rubenstein Show: Rep. Jason Smith”
Dan Sullivan spoke on Memorial Day in Anchorage, Alaska
Jake Sullivan interviewed by Gideon Rachman for the Rachman Review podcast: “A Foreign Policy Debrief With Jake Sullivan”
Lawrence H. Summers interviewed by James Carville and Al Hunt for the Politics War Room podcast: “Deadly, Dangerous, Decline With Larry Summers”
Post of the Week
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Loucoumane Coulibaly for Reuters: “Mauritania’s Tah Elected President of AfDB, Africa’s Top Development Bank”
The Economist: “Venezuela’s Sound of Silence”
Michael R. Gordon for The Wall Street Journal: “North Korea Sent Missiles and Other Arms to Russia in Violation of Sanctions, U.S. and Allies Say”
Jon Harper for DefenseScoop: “As Elon Musk Exits Government, Hegseth Gives DOGE Team More Influence on Pentagon Contracting”
Aitor Hernández-Morales for POLITICO: “Far-Right Chega Group Confirmed as Portugal’s Main Opposition Party”
Isabel Kershner, Rawan Sheikh Ahmad, and Sanjana Varghese for The New York Times: “New Aid Site in Gaza Brings More Scenes of Chaos”
Erik Larson for Bloomberg: “Appeals Court Allows Trump Tariffs to Stay in Effect for Now”
Joe Leahy, Nian Liu, and Ryan McMorrow for the Financial Times: “The Lessons From China’s Dominance in Manufacturing”
Oliver Moody for The Times: “Germany to Fund Long-Range Weapons in Ukraine, Says Merz”
Cai Nebe for DW: “Is Joseph Kabila’s Return to Congo a Game Changer?”
David Santoro for Foreign Affairs: “The End of Extended Deterrence in Asia?”
Sebastian Strangio for The Diplomat: “ASEAN Holds First Trilateral Summit With China, Gulf States”
Ishaan Tharoor for The Washington Post: “The Trump Administration Pivots to a Wary Asia”
Paul Triolo for The Cairo Review of Global Affairs: “A Costly Illusion of Control: No Winners, Many Losers in U.S.-China AI Race”
Daniel Twining for National Review: “Democracy Assistance Isn’t Regime Change”
Thomas Wright for The Atlantic: “The Administration Takes a Hatchet to the NSC”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation with the Prime Minister of Singapore from the 2021 Aspen Security Forum.
Lee Hsien Loong, then Prime Minister of Singapore
Moderator: Evan Osnos, Contributor, The New Yorker
Book of the Week
Iran’s Grand Strategy: A Political History
By Vali Nasr
“Iran presents one of the most significant foreign policy challenges for America and the West, yet very little is known about what the country’s goals really are. Vali Nasr examines Iran’s political history in new ways to explain its actions and ambitions on the world stage, showing how, behind the veneer of theocracy and Islamic ideology, today’s Iran is pursuing a grand strategy aimed at securing the country internally and asserting its place in the region and the world.
…Challenging the notion that Iran’s foreign policy simply reflects its revolutionary values or theocratic government, Iran’s Grand Strategy provides invaluable new insights into what Iran wants and why, explaining the country’s resistance to the United States, its nuclear ambitions, and its pursuit of influence and proxies across the Middle East.”
Podcast of the Week
Christopher Preble, Zack Cooper, and Melanie Marlowe for the Stimson Center’s Net Assessment podcast: “Great Power Competition or Collusion?”
