Maxwell School News and Commentary

“Putin wanted to bring home a Russian assassin...and other spies, to show people who work in the Russian intelligence services that their government will try to bring them home if they get caught. The U.S. government and its allies wanted to free innocent people being held hostage in Russian prisons,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

“As this continues over the next few weeks, you’re going to see even greater distance between the U.S. and its allies, and the U.S. and Israel increasingly isolated,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history and chair of the International Relations Undergraduate Program.

In the glory days of the American labor movement, when unions were strong and wages rose alongside productivity, “organized workers could cash that out as more free time,” says Aaron Benanav, assistant professor of sociology. “But for decades, workers haven’t even been getting that choice because, for the most part, productivity growth has ended up as higher profits and more inequality.”

“Biden’s strong support for Israel has contributed to the heightened anger and frustration in the region. As we have seen in the protests of the last 24 hours, that anger is palpable and will only grow as long as the United States continues to block a ceasefire or even a humanitarian pause at the U.N.,” Osamah Khalil, professor of history, tells El País.

"I think Putin emerges from this significantly weakened," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science. "I think if you're a member of the Russian elite or are in fact a member of the Russian population, you're going to look at this and think, 'Wow, a private army just drove on Moscow for most of the day. No one stopped them and they're allowed to leave and no real consequences.'"

“Wagner was a very useful stopgap in that period between when [Russia] had so many of their regular forces attrited and Putin came around to the realization that he had no choice but to bring in hundreds of thousands of more people. That may, in some sense, prove to be that Wagner is at its sort of height of influence,” says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

At least 15 Russian businessmen and executives have died in apparent accidents or by suicide in the last eight months, including a number of Putin allies. Brian Taylor, professor of political science, sees “more than just randomness” in the deaths.

Professor Brian Taylor was featured in the Vox article, "Everything we actually know about the Moscow car bombing."

A 2019 study by Professor Shana Gadarian and Maxwell alum Logan Strother '13 M.A. (PSc)/'17 Ph.D. (PSc) was cited in the Vox article "What happens when the public loses faith in the Supreme Court?"