Maxwell School News and Commentary

"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.'"

“Because the consequences are so dire, this high-stakes game of debt-limit chicken always ends the same way: Congress raises the borrowing cap just before calamity strikes. The theater does little more than waste money and generate a lot of breathless commentary,” Leonard Burman, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs, wrote in a 2021 analysis.

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, says the disappearance of the submersible underscores the dangers associated with operating in deep water and the recreational exploration of the sea and space, “two environments where in recent past we’ve seen people operate in hazardous, potentially lethal environments,” Murrett tells the AP.

“The whole huachicolero [fuel theives] phenomenon, it’s been in play for a long time in Mexico,” explains Gladys McCormick, associate professor of history and Jay and Debe Moskowitz Endowed Chair in Mexico-U.S. Relations.

Grant Reeher, professor of political science, tells Newsweek that a crowded primary field benefited Trump in 2016 when the higher number of candidates allowed Trump to win the primary with only about 45 percent of the vote.

"He’s [Prigozhin] clearly trying to draw a sharp contrast between his presence directly on the battlefield, his engagement with his soldiers, and the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, which he frequently attacks as being out of touch elitists who are damaging the war effort," says Brian Taylor, professor of political science.

While Trump’s “most diehard supporters are always going to be supporters no matter what…some people who are on the margins, part of the 40 percent that voted for him a couple of times, will tend to peel away,” says William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

When there is less precipitation than normal, warmer temperatures cause vegetation to dry out more quickly, says Ethan Coffel, assistant professor of geography and the environment.

To ensure long-term efficacy, sanctions are often better left as a threat and not actually carried out, says Daniel McDowell, associate professor of political science. 

What is clear is that the Canadian wildfires are a product of man-produced climate change and climate disasters are going to become more commonplace, says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment.