This week, Israel and Hamas accepted the first phase of President Trump’s Gaza peace deal, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Trump at the White House, Japan’s Komeito party withdrew from its 26-year alliance with the Liberal Democratic Party, and Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Condoleezza Rice launched the Hoover Institution’s Freedom Frequency Substack: “A New Chapter for Ideas Advancing Freedom”
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Christiane Amanpour for CNN: “China Sees an Opportunity as U.S. Withdraws, Former U.S. Ambassador Says”
Kurt M. Campbell for Foreign Affairs: “The U.S.-China Crisis Waiting to Happen”
Chris Coons quoted by Kevin Frey for MSNBC: “Democrats Embrace the Shutdown as a Necessary Tool in ‘Ridiculously Abnormal Times’”
Elizabeth Economy for Freedom Frequency’s China Considered Quick Takes: “Trump, Xi, and the U.S.-China Strategy Gap”
Peter D. Feaver for Foreign Affairs: “The U.S. Military’s Greatest Test”
Michael Froman interviewed by Becky Quick for CNBC: “First Phase of Gaza Peace Deal Should Be Celebrated as an Important Development”
Robert M. Gates awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s 2025 Patriot Award
Michael J. Green interviewed Nicholas Burns for The Asia Chessboard podcast: “Allies, Partners, and the U.S.-China Relationship”
Naima Green-Riley, David Willard, Wei Xiong, and moderator Rory Truex at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs: “The State and Stakes of the U.S.-China Economic Relationship”
Jane Harman interviewed by Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg: “Trump in Talks With Democrats on Shutdown”
David Ignatius, John F. Crowley, Todd Young, and Chrissy Houlahan spoke on a panel at the Strength in Democracy Forum: “On Biotechnology & National Security”
Dina Powell McCormick received ABANA’s 2025 Achievement Award
David Petraeus quoted for Ukrinform: “Ukraine’s Use of Flamingo Missiles Could Be Game Changer in this War – Ex-CIA Director”
David M. Rubenstein for Carlyle: “When Peace Gets Its Moment”
Anne-Marie Slaughter for Addis Fortune: “What’s Next for Multilateralism?”
Dan Sullivan, Andrew Sollinger, Kevin Rudd, and Robert Gascoyne-Cecil at the Strength in Democracy Forum: “On International Alliances & Diplomacy”
Post of the Week
Rising Leaders Program
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Jeff Alstott (‘21) interviewed by Jordan Schneider for the China Talk podcast: “RAND’s Jeff Alstott on Facts and Policymaking”
Alma Caballero (‘22) moderated a panel at the U.S.-Mexico Foundation’s North Capital Forum: “Feeling Good: USMCA Ambassadors Take the Stage”
Daniel Lippman (‘22), Paul McCleary, and Jack Detsch for POLITICO: “Hegseth Fires Top Navy Official”
Felicia Schwartz (‘24) and Dasha Burns for POLITICO: “How Trump’s Envoys Got Gaza Deal Over Finish Line”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Omar Abdel-Baqui, Summer Said, and Anat Peled for The Wall Street Journal: “Israel Says Cease-Fire Has Begun, Troops Withdraw From Parts of Gaza”
Graham Allison for Foreign Policy: “Who Holds the High Cards in Sino-American Supply Chain Poker?”
Ian Austen for The New York Times: “Trump Predicts That ‘Canada Will Love Us Again’ in Meeting With Carney”
Gracelin Baskaran for the Center for Strategic & International Studies: “China’s New Rare Earth and Magnet Restrictions Threaten U.S. Defense Supply Chains”
Teklemariam Bekit and Yemane Nagish for BBC News: “Ethiopia Accuses Eritrea of Preparing for War as Red Sea Tensions Rise”
Sandrine Cassini, Mariama Darame, Olivier Pérou, and Nathalie Segaunes for Le Monde: “Macron Looks for New Prime Minister, Again”
Robyn Dixon and Natalia Abbakumova for The Washington Post: “Russia Escalates Warning as Trump Considers Sale of Tomahawks to Ukraine”
Malek Fouda for Euronews: “ICC Convicts Former Militia Leader and al-Bashir Ally of Past War Crimes in Sudan’s Darfur Region”
Henry Foy for the Financial Times: “NATO Weighs Armed Response to Vladimir Putin’s Hybrid War”
Mike Gallagher for The Wall Street Journal: “The Oct. 7 Warning for the U.S. on China”
Timothy M. Ray and Al Puchala for Business Executives for National Security: “Arsenal of Democracy 2.0: Mobilizing Modern Capital for America’s Defense”
Matthew C. Waxman for the Council on Foreign Relations: “Armed Conflict? Trump’s Venezuela Boat Strikes Test U.S. Law”
Aime Williams for the Financial Times: “Former U.S. Trade Chief Robert Lighthizer: ‘Economists Have Been Wrong on Everything!’”
Yurika Yoneda and Yuichi Shiga for Nikkei Asia: “Japan’s Komeito Leaves Ruling Coalition, Dealing Blow to Takaichi’s LDP”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on hostage negotiations featuring Special Envoy Adam Boehler and Kaitlan Collins from the 2025 Aspen Security Forum.
Fireside Chat With Special Envoy Adam Boehler
Adam Boehler, Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Response, U.S. Department of State
Moderator: Kaitlan Collins, CNN
Book of the Week
The Skill of Statecraft from Attila the Hun to Kissinger
By A. Wess Mitchell
“Through fifteen centuries of history, Great Power Diplomacy recreates the perilous junctures, colorful personalities, and intricate statecraft that led to some of history’s most stunning diplomatic achievements—and greatest disasters. The protagonists include giants like Richelieu, Metternich, Bismarck, and Kissinger, but also a lesser-known cast of scoundrels, eunuchs, drunkards, and fools. At every turn, fortune favored those great powers with the foresight and dexterity to build winning alliances, splinter enemy coalitions, and, when necessary, make peace with their bitterest foes.
Diplomacy of this kind has become a lost art in recent years as Western elites embraced the illusion that globalization and the spread of democracy would create a borderless world where nations would live in harmony and war would be abolished from the human story. But, as Great Power Diplomacy reveals, we will need to rediscover the secrets of skillful statecraft as the world enters an unstable new era in which continent-sized great powers compete for territory, resources, and prestige. By recalling diplomacy’s rich past, we can equip ourselves for a more dangerous future.”
To be released on October 14, 2025.
Around the Aspen Institute
On November 18, Aspen Digital, a program of the Aspen Institute, will host the 10th Annual Aspen Cyber Summit. Taking place in Washington, DC, the Aspen Cyber Summit is the nation’s premier annual technology and cybersecurity policy gathering. This year’s Summit will include conversations on cyber offense, cyber policy at the state, local and global levels, the security of AI systems, and feature speakers General (Ret.) Paul M. Nakasone (Former Commander, U.S. Cyber Command), Brett Leatherman (Assistant Director, FBI Cyber Division), Alex Fitzsimmons (Director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, U.S. Department of Energy), David Koh (Chief Executive, Cyber Security Agency (CSA) of Singapore), Ambassador Brendan Dowling (Australian Department of Home Affairs), and more.
A full list of speakers, agenda, and other updates can be found on the Aspen Cyber Summit website.
Podcast of the Week
Jeonghun Min and Hanbeom Jeong joined Victor Cha for the Center for Strategic & International Studies’ The Impossible State podcast: “President Lee’s First 100 Days”
Join Our Team!
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