The Weekly Leaf
This week, President Trump hosted President Xi Jinping for his first state visit to Washington in 11 years as the U.S. and China extended their trade truce; Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and other world leaders addressed the 81st U.N. General Assembly; and the U.S. signed a defense agreement with Greenland and Denmark.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Nicholas Burns quoted by Erica L. Green for The New York Times: “As Xi Visits Washington, Trump Plays Down China’s Actions Against U.S. Interests”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg’s Balance of Power podcast: “U.S. and China Vie for AI Lead Before Trump-Xi Summit”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Mimi Geerges for C-SPAN’s Washington Journal: “Anja Manuel Previews President Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping’s Summit”
Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Sharla McBride and Marc Lotter for Newsmax’s Wake Up America: “IRGC Seeks Power”
Antony Blinken interviewed by Ana Navarro for the Bleep! With Ana Navarro podcast: “AI, Iran, and the State of U.S. Foreign Policy”
Kurt Campbell interviewed by Haidi Stroud-Watts for Bloomberg’s The Asia Trade: “U.S.-China AI Talks Won’t Limit Beijing”
Elizabeth Economy interviewed by Dani Burger for Bloomberg’s Open Interest: “Trump-Xi Summit, Oracle Buildout Hits New Hurdle”
Mark Esper interviewed by Peter Alexander for MS NOW’s State of Play: “‘I Would NOT Roll Out the Red Carpet’ the Way WH Is: Fmr. SecDef Warns Trump Ahead of Xi Meeting”
Jendayi Frazer interviewed Ronald Lamola at the Council on Foreign Relations: “A Conversation With Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola of South Africa”
Michael Froman interviewed by Mary Louise Kelly for NPR’s All Things Considered: “The United Nations General Assembly Is Meeting. Is It Accomplishing Anything?”
Jane Harman and Kay Bailey Hutchison interviewed by Geeta Guru-Murthy and Sumi Somaskanda for BBC: “Guterres Hosts His Final Climate Summit at the UN”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “The Twilight of an Autocratic Age”
David Petraeus, Clara Kaluderovic (RLP ‘26), Boris Johnson, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, and moderator John Herbst for the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center: “Did Russia Intentionally Target Western Officials?”
Daniel Poneman and Brad Sherman interviewed by Nick Schifrin for PBS NewsHour: “U.S.-Saudi Nuclear Power Deal Faces Pushback Over Potential Weapons Risks”
Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson interviewed Greg Brown for The CEO Signal podcast: “Motorola Solutions CEO Greg Brown on the ‘Relief or Regret’ Rule”
Susan E. Rice, Helen Toner (RLP ‘21), Bernie Sanders, Steve Case, Cass R. Sunstein, and Brad Smith for The New York Times: “Bernie Sanders, Steve Case, and Susan Rice on How to Avert AI Disaster”
David Rubenstein published his book: “Inside the Owner’s Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports”
David E. Sanger interviewed by Michael Barbaro for The New York Times’ The Daily podcast: “What Safeguarding Nukes Can Teach Us About Safeguarding AI”
Post of the Week
Features from ASG Rising Leaders and Fellows
Rebecca J. Anderson (‘26), Mike Conway, Mike Doheny, and Shubham Singhal for McKinsey & Company: “Ready to Ramp? How U.S. Manufacturers Can Scale at Pace”
Max Bluestein (‘25) started a new position as Director for Counterterrorism at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Liana Fix (‘23) interviewed by Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend for the Center for a New American Security’s Brussels Sprouts podcast: “A Rearmed Germany’s Place in Europe”
Jessica Ji (‘26) interviewed by Diane Macedo for ABC News: “Google AI’s Hack of Real Companies Is ‘Pretty Concerning’”
Sahil V. Shah (‘21) for the Forum on Preventative Defense: “Hold the Line: Five Commitments for Effective U.S.–China AI Crisis Communications”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
David Brennan for ABC News: “NATO Jets Scrambled in Poland, Romania as Russia Strikes Ukraine”
Chan Ho-Him for AP News: “China’s Alibaba Unveils New Powerful Chip and Ambitious AI Model Plans”
The Economist: “What Donald Trump’s Meeting With Xi Jinping Has—And Hasn’t—Achieved”
Farnaz Fassihi for The New York Times: “Iran Will Not Be Bullied, President Says in Defiant U.N. Speech”
David Hutt for DW: “EU Finally Clinching Trade Deals With Southeast Asian States”
Dov Lieber for CBS News: “Israel’s Netanyahu Tells U.N. ‘We Will Continue to Defend Our State’ as Many Leaders Walk Out”
Ryan Mancini for The Hill: “Albanese Says OpenAI Agent Hacked Australian Health Department Site”
Megan Messerly, Phelim Kine, and Ari Hawkins for POLITICO: “‘The Scientific, Technical Term Is BS’: Inside the New Bessent-China AI Hotline”
Michelle Nichols, Courtney Rozen, and John Irish for Reuters: “AI Leaders Warn UN of Security Risks as Systems Grow More Powerful”
Jennifer Rankin for The Guardian: “EU Removes Two Oligarchs From Russia Sanctions List as Deadline Looms”
Barak Ravid for Axios: “Scoop: Trump’s Board of Peace to Unveil $2.45 Billion Gaza Recovery Plan”
Will Selber for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies: “Pakistan Conducts Airstrikes in Eastern Afghanistan in Retaliation for Terrorist Attacks”
Demetri Sevastopulo and Joe Leahy for the Financial Times: “U.S. and China Extend Trade Truce as Trump Welcomes Xi for Summit”
Adam Taylor for the The Washington Post: “Trump Pledges to Open New Arctic Military Bases as He Signs Greenland Deal”
Michael Teferi and Basillioh Rukanga for BBC: “Seven Ethiopian Rebel Groups Form New Alliance”
Tiago Ventura for TIME: “How the U.K. Is Supporting Saudi Arabia In Its Fight Against the Houthis”
Philip Wegmann, Alexander Ward, Vera Bergengruen for The Wall Street Journal: “Trump Threatens to Annihilate Iran as He Lays Out Foreign-Policy Vision at U.N.”
From the Archives
As the 81st United Nations General Assembly convenes in New York, revisit our conversation with Annalena Baerbock on her experience as President of the UN General Assembly, the role of the UN, and more from the 2026 Aspen Security Forum.
“Pod Save the World” Live Recording with Annalena Baerbock
Annalena Baerbock, President of the UN General Assembly; Former Foreign Minister, Germany
Ben Rhodes, Co-Host, Pod Save the World
Tommy Vietor, Co-Host, Pod Save the World
Book of the Week
Bytes and Bullets: Global Rivalry, Private Tech, and the New Shape of Modern Warfare
By Steven Feldstein
“2026 is the twenty-fifth anniversary of 9/11, the most devastating attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor. Within days, the United States began to declare its war on terror….
Based on hundreds of interviews, All the Presidents’ Wars focuses on critical decisions of four successive presidents—Bush, Obama, Biden, and Trump—and their global consequences. One of the few journalists to interview Osama bin Laden and have unparalleled access to the U.S. intelligence community, Peter Bergen covers the history that might have been avoided: the many terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups around the world; the rise of al-Qaeda in Iraq, largely responsible for the Iraqi civil war in the mid-2000s; the birth of ISIS; the resurrection of Afghanistan’s Taliban; and Trump’s war with Iran. From the failure to capture and the eventual killing of Osama bin Laden to the disastrous rise of sectarian violence in the Middle East, Bergen traces the profound ramifications of this epoch in American life.
All the Presidents’ Wars also explores the innovations and unintended consequences of each presidency’s military and political decisions, including debates over military intervention and withdrawal; the tactics of special operations units, armed drones, and armies of counterterrorism partners; and whether the idea of war ever properly captured the defining conflict of recent American foreign policy. All the Presidents’ Wars is essential reading to understand America’s devastating war on terror and to avoid the mistakes of the past.”
Around the Institute
This fall, Aspen Ideas: Economy comes to Tulsa for three days of public conversation about the forces shaping our economic future. From October 13-15, leaders, scholars, and innovators will explore how artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship, energy, finance, education, place, and democracy are changing the ways people build, work, invest, and prosper. Organized around six lines of inquiry, the event will connect national questions to the experiences of communities across Oklahoma and the country.
Speakers include former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, former Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economics Daleep Singh, former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, Aerospace Industries Association President and former Army Secretary Eric Fanning, energy and geopolitical experts Jason Bordoff and Amy Myers Jaffe, TechMet’s Helaina Matza, Ariel Investments Chairman John Rogers Jr., Piper Sandler Chief Global Economist Nancy Lazar, and U.S. Senator Alan Armstrong.
Join the conversation in a city where economic transformation is not an abstraction, but an ongoing story. Explore the program, meet the speakers, and register now for Aspen Ideas: Economy 2026.
Podcast of the Week
Nicholas Burns joined Mark Wu for the Harvard on China podcast: “When the World’s Most Powerful Leaders Meet: Inside American-Chinese Presidential Showdowns With Ambassador Nicholas Burns”
Join Our Team!
The Aspen Strategy Group is seeking a Program Manager to oversee and manage our main leadership initiatives: the Rising Leaders Program (RLP), which is now in its sixth year, and the Albright International Leaders Program (AILP) which will be launched in 2027. While the focus of the role will be on these leadership programs, the Program Manager will also contribute across the other pillars of our work including the Aspen Strategy Group and Aspen Security Forum.
This position is set in a very collaborative, ambitious, dynamic-team, and fast-paced environment. As the ASG team prepares for each new cohort/class of leaders, meeting, program, and project, the Program Manager is given a high level of responsibility and ownership to manage the responsibilities and portfolio assigned to them. We seek candidates with the ability to work both efficiently as part of a team and independently to ensure the success of the ASG’s various activities.
Thank you for sharing this opportunity with your networks.
