Maxwell School News and Commentary

"I just think that he [Biden] has been given, by his team, a false binary choice: either we stay indefinitely with a massive commitment, or we leave," says Mark Jacobson, assistant dean for Washington Programs who served in Afghanistan with both the Army and Navy reserves. "And there's a lot of areas in between, a lot of work we can do that is beyond that binary choice."

The killings of Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Deputy Chairman of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units, "were a dangerous and ill-advised escalation by the United States," Osamah Khalil, associate professor of history and Middle East expert, told USA Today. " Khalil also talked to other outlets about this development, stating that "Their deaths will make it more difficult to resolve the ongoing tensions between Washington and Tehran and will only destabilize Iraq further."

Osama Khalil, associate professor of history, discusses the current state of U.S.-Iran relations, arguing that the U.S.'s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal has made it more difficult to achieve a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

In the wake of President Trump's recent tweets about four Democratic congresswomen of color, Margaret Susan Thompson, associate professor of history and political science, assesses that coded racial language began to be used as a political strategy under President Richard Nixon.

Osamah Khalil, assistant professor of history, says that "President Obama rhetorically argues that he is in favor of democracy in the region...and yet, the actual reality on the ground is that the United States is siding with very conservative forces in the region, particularly those in the Persian Gulf."