This week, the U.S. military carried out a strike on a drug-carrying boat from Venezuela, President Xi Jinping hosted President Vladimir Putin and Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un in Beijing, the U.S. announced cuts to European security programs focused on Russia, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Mexico and Ecuador.
Read more below.
This Week’s Content Highlights
Features from Aspen Strategy Group Members
Nicholas Burns interviewed by Joe Mathieu for Bloomberg: “U.S. Should Deny Nvidia Tech to China”
Condoleezza Rice interviewed by Bret Baier for The Bret Baier Podcast: “One-on-One: Secretary Condoleezza Rice: ‘We Keep Striving’”
Anja Manuel interviewed by Joe Mathieu and Kriti Gupta for Bloomberg: “Less Substance Than Meets the Eye: Manuel on Modi, China”
Kay Bailey Hutchison and Jane Harman for TIME: “How to Rebuild Bipartisanship in National Security”
Chris Coons, Gary Peters, Mike Turner, and Trent Kelly for TIME: “America Needs to Strengthen Its Presence in the Indo-Pacific”
Michèle Flournoy interviewed by Ellie Austin for Fortune: “The Former Highest-Ranking Woman in the Pentagon Tells Businesses How to Handle Geopolitical Uncertainty”
Michael Green for the Korea JoongAng Daily: “Can Lee Jae Myung Move Donald Trump in the Right Direction?”
David Ignatius for The Washington Post: “A Way Around the Russia-Ukraine Deadlock”
David Petraeus interviewed by Jonathan Karl for ABC News: “‘There’s Never Been Anything Like’ Trump’s Military Purge: Petraeus”
Susan Schwab interviewed by Allister D’Souza for NDTV: “‘U.S.-India Trade Deal Is Doable If…’”
Dan Sullivan interviewed by Margaret Brennan for CBS News’ “Face the Nation”
Jake Sullivan and Kurt M. Campbell for Foreign Affairs: “The Case for a U.S. Alliance With India”
Lawrence H. Summers interviewed by David Westin for Bloomberg: “Fed Is on Verge of Credibility Crisis, Summers Says”
Robert B. Zoellick for The Wall Street Journal: “Why the Trump Tariff Merry-Go-Round Won’t Stop”
Post of the Week
Rising Leaders Program
Features from ASG Rising Leaders
Theresa Lou (’21) for the World Politics Review: “Bucking History, South Korea’s Lee Opts for Pragmatism With Japan”
Things to Know
Content Relevant to Aspen Security Forum Discussions
Davey Alba, Josh Sisco, and Leah Nylen for Bloomberg: “Google Saved From Breakup in Antitrust Case by AI Threat”
Anna Coren for CBS News: “China Military Parade Sees Xi Jinping Joined By Putin and Kim Jong Un for Huge Display of Anti-U.S. Unity”
Mikayla Easterly for DefenseScoop: “Trump Announces U.S. Space Command HQ Will Move From Colorado to Alabama”
Stephen Gibbs for The Times: “U.S. Strike on Drug-Trafficking Speedboat ‘May Be First of Many’”
David Gritten for BBC News: “Israel Dismisses ‘Spin’ After Hamas Says It Is Ready for Comprehensive Gaza Deal”
International Crisis Group: “Succession Fever Deepens South Sudan’s Malaise”
Stephen Kotkin interviewed by Tunku Varadarajan for The Wall Street Journal: “With Putin, ‘Ultimately, Trump Holds the Cards’”
Estelle Nilsson-Julien and Mared Gwyn Jones for Euronews: “Bulgaria U-Turns on Claim Moscow Jammed GPS of Von Der Leyen’s Plane”
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala for the Financial Times: “A Stress Test for Global Trade”
Noah Robertson for The Washington Post: “Trump Administration to End European Security Programs Focused on Russia”
Sebastian Strangio for The Diplomat: “Thailand’s Parliament Elects Anutin Charnvirakul as Next Prime Minister”
Edward Wong for The New York Times: “U.S. and Mexico Vow to Fight Crime While Respecting Sovereignty”
Mohammad Yunus Yawar, Sayed Hassib, and Charlotte Greenfield for Reuters: “Third Quake Strikes Southeastern Afghanistan After Series That Killed Over 2,200”
From the Archives
Revisit our conversation on the future of European defense from the 2025 Aspen Security Forum.
Tanks But No Tanks: The Future of European Defense
Baiba Braže, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Latvia
Wolfgang Schmidt, Former Federal Minister and Head of the Chancellery; Chairman, Board of Trustees, MSC Foundation
Thórdís Kolbrún Reykfjörd Gylfadóttir, Special Envoy of the Secretary General on the Situation of Children of Ukraine, Council of Europe; Former Minister for Foreign Affairs, Iceland
Julie Smith, President, Clarion Strategies; Former U.S. Permanent Representative to NATO
Moderator: Shashank Joshi, The Economist
Book of the Week
Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future
By Dan Wang
“In Breakneck, Dan Wang blends political, economic, and philosophical analysis with reportage to reveal a provocative new framework for understanding China—one that helps us see America more clearly, too. While China is an engineering state, relentlessly pursuing megaprojects, the United States has stalled. America has transformed into a lawyerly society, reflexively blocking everything, good and bad…
In an era of animosity and mistrust, Wang unmasks the shocking similarities between the United States and China. Breakneck reveals how each country points toward a better path for the other: Chinese citizens would be better off if their government could learn to value individual liberties, while Americans would be better off if their government could learn to embrace engineering—and to produce better outcomes for the many, not just the few.”
Podcast of the Week
Sue-Lin Wong, Oliver Morton, and Don Weinland join Rosie Blau on The Economist’s The Intelligence podcast: “Indonesia Ablaze: Riots Test Prabowo”
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