Maxwell School News and Commentary

“Putin isn’t interested in a ceasefire or an agreement, but rather in victory, understood as the subjugation of Ukraine,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. “The Russian president has faced zero consequences for stalling Trump over the past four months, and from what Trump has said about the conversation, that hasn’t changed one bit.”

“In a region where democratic backsliding has often been normalized, Bangladesh is attempting a rare and ambitious path forward. But reforms – no matter how visionary – face real resistance from entrenched interests and are fraught with obstacles, both internal and external, that threaten to derail Bangladesh’s progress,” writes Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment.

“I don't think either the Indian or Pakistani governments actually want a war,” says Mona Bhan, Ford-Maxwell Professor of South Asian Studies. “But neither of them wants to appear weak under any circumstances.”

“There's going to be an enormous amount of pressure on the Republicans to stay together on this. More than anything else that any Republican who's serving in Congress right now will face, because this is going to be Donald Trump's signature domestic bill,” says Grant Reeher, professor of political science.

The meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa “represents a remarkable shift in U.S. policy toward al-Qaeda and its affiliates. More than 23 years after the 9/11 attacks and the declaration of the Global War on Terror, the United States is developing relations with a former leader of the organization who now declares himself a moderate,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history.

“Social media can be a minefield for divisive commentary, so I imagine he’ll use it sparingly, perhaps for simple, pastoral messages (and yes, delivered on the official pope account) like holiday greetings, but not for anything controversial,” says Margaret Susan Thompson, professor of history and political science.

India's move to use the Indus Waters Treaty as geopolitical leverage “undermines the legal integrity of such treaties,” says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. ”These treaty violations and suspensions can have ripple-on deleterious (harmful) effects across and beyond the region for the examples they set,” she says.

More than the immediate rewards, “vacations provide a buffer against chronic stress and inflammation—both of which wreak havoc on the body,” says Brooks Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health. Vacationing turns off the spigot of stress hormones like cortisol and allows the body to reset, restoring equilibrium, he says.

“We have a lot of legacy systems that really were designed for the Soviet Union still in our arsenal and I think the Army is finally trying to peel them away,” says Sean McFate, adjunct professor in Maxwell's Washington programs.

“There have been a variety of efforts since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 to try and remake the U.S.-Russia relationship...Obviously a lot has happened since then and it hasn't worked out that way and from my point of view, the thing that has broken the relationship most of all has been the Russian war against Ukraine which began in 2014,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.