Maxwell School News and Commentary

“This is a mix we haven’t seen before, and it does represent a new wrinkle,” says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, of the types of munitions the Navy is intercepting and the sustained nature of the threat.

"The ongoing attacks by the Houthi fighters in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, increased activity by Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, and the steady attacks on U.S. and coalition forces in Syria and Iraq represent a clear risk of escalation throughout the region," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs.

With little indication that the U.S. will attempt to assert leverage over Israel, Blinken’s latest trip to the Middle East is fundamentally “performative,” says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. “There is a face-saving domestic consumption element for [the Biden administration] and a separate face-saving element to allow Israel to claim some kind of victory,” he says.

Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs, warns that the attacks in the Red Sea could easily drag on for the whole of 2024. “In the mind of the Houthi, this is all connected to what’s happening in Gaza,” says Murrett. “And the operations in Gaza could last for the rest of this calendar year.”

"Drones have been a feature of war for several decades, but today’s conflicts such as the Israel-Hamas war and the Ukraine war show how the technology is changing modern combat. Ever more powerful drones have become cheaper and easier to fabricate and deploy," writes William Banks, professor emeritus of public administration and international affairs.

“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.

"One of the challenges that's coming out of the COP is a focus on language rather than actual politics," says Farhana Sultana, professor of geography and the environment. "So we can talk about abated/unabated [fossil fuels], whether there's possibilities for different forms of use, which source it's coming from. But I think what we really need to focus on is the overall production."

"The Abraham Accords did not achieve peace in the Middle East or help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," says Osamah Khalil, professor of history. 

“At several different levels, this is just a pure pipe dream,” Osamah Khalil, professor of history, says of handing Gaza to the Palestinian Authority. Khalil says the Biden administration is facing mounting pressure over its support for Israel, due to the atrocities it is accused of committing in Gaza.

"It's a tough balancing act," says Vice Adm. Robert Murrett (Ret.), professor of practice of public administration and international affairs. "The big issue is responding to attacks that are being done by Iranian surrogates in a measured way that has a deterrent effect but does not cause the tension that exists in the area in the conflict to expand to the next level."