Maxwell School News and Commentary

"Over the last 15 years or so, we've seen some policies aimed at promoting its [renminbi] international use, but we've also seen a lot of policies that make it less attractive," says Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science.

“If the U.S. dismissed him wholeheartedly, it’s going to make these conversations—and again some of these are happening behind closed doors—a hell of a lot more difficult to be had,” says Gladys McCormick, Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair on Mexico-U.S. Relations, regarding the immigration talks between the U.S. and Mexico as Title 42 lifts this week.

“Everyone wants light and portable laser weapons but it’s far off. Essentially, you also need a portable power plant, which is unrealistic…Lasers are more hype than reality, and the U.S. is investing US$1 billion a year to bridge this gap. However, it may go on for years,” says Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs.

“China had economic motives to de-dollarize that predate sanction concerns,” says Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science. “When the U.S. economy had a financial crisis, China ended up getting hurt. China figured, we should probably promote our own currency now.”

What matters to China is consumer and investor confidence, "so it is not hard to see why Chinese officials are pushing back on the argument that a population decline spells economic decline," says Dimitar Gueorguiev, associate professor of political science.

"Progressive forces internationally must call for the arrest and trial of the military forces that have unleashed genocidal violence on the Sudanese peoples since 1989," writes Horace Campbell, professor of political science. "The Resistance Committees’ and the popular forces are calling for solidarity and non-intervention to push the process of transition from militarism to one where the peoples of Sudan can enter into new relations."

The visibility of losing their flagship for an entire fleet inevitably attracted attention, says retired Vice Admiral Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. It proved that any and all Russian vessels approaching Ukraine's littoral waters were under threat, he adds.

Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs, says China is far from being able to take the island. “China’s military is not ready to take Taiwan, which is why Xi Jinping ordered the military to be ready to take Taiwan by 2027, if told to do so,” he says.

That show of force was as much for “domestic consumption inside China” as it was for Taiwan, says retired Vice Adm. Robert Murrett, professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. And the scale and intensity of the drills  “were calibrated very, very carefully,” to minimize threat perceptions, he says.