News + Media

	In the News May 29, 2020 Experts explain: What triggered China’s recent LAC moves? Sushant SinghThe Indian Express M Taylor Fravel quoted: “China’s actions are hard to decipher, especially in the absence of any authoritative statements from Beijing. The simplest explanation perhaps is that China is responding to India’s efforts to bolster border-area infrastructure in Ladakh after the completion of the DSDBO road. After India’s move into Doklam in 2017, China is perhaps especially sensitive to Indian activity along the disputed border. Around Galwan, in particular, China may be seeking to pre-empt an Indian effort to improve its links to the LAC”, he added.
	In the News May 28, 2020 Chinese aggression in Ladakh also a message for domestic and external audience: Experts Snehesh Alex PhilipThe Print M Taylor Fravel quoted: “While I don’t think this alone would lead China to create an incident with India, I do think it helps to explain the scope, scale, and posture of China’s response,” he said. “In many issues this spring, China has sought to signal its resolve, especially when sovereignty is involved — Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the South China Sea.”
	In the News May 28, 2020 Robert Art retires as director of the Seminar XXI Program Michelle EnglishMIT News Robert Art is stepping down as director of the Seminar XXI Program, a post-graduate education program in the national security arena that has inspired graduates to apply the compelling insights of social science to the most pressing challenges of our times.
	In the News May 28, 2020 Amid a pandemic, China picks a border fight with India Sadanand DhumeWall Street Journal M Taylor Fravel quoted: M Taylor Fravel, a political scientist and China expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says "putting the border dispute in a box" has been "the great success of the India-China relationship." No soldier has died on the boundary since 1975.
	In the News May 28, 2020 What do the IG firings say about American democracy? WBUR On Point The president has fired at least five inspectors general. It may be his right, but what does it say about political accountability and American democracy? Joel Brenner weighs in.
	In the News May 27, 2020 Far from being weakened by coronavirus, China pursues sovereignty claims on all fronts Anna Fifield and Joanna Slater The Washington Post M Taylor Fravel quoted: The recent flare-up along the “line of actual control,” which has marked the unofficial border between China and India since they fought a war in 1962, prompted a response from President Trump. “We have informed both India and China that the United States is ready, willing and able to mediate or arbitrate their now raging border dispute,” he tweeted Wednesday.
	In the News May 27, 2020 Changing balance across LAC trigger for stand-off, says China expert Taylor Fravel Ananth KrishnanThe Hindu The spark for the current stand-off with China, with the ongoing face-off situations in the Galwan River valley, Pangong Lake and other areas, is the increasing infrastructure competition along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), says M Taylor Fravel.
	In the News May 24, 2020 Two years after Trump summit, Kim vows to boost North Korea’s nuclear deterrent Simon DenyerThe Washington Post Vipin Narang quoted: MIT professor Vipin Narang called the statement “alarming.” “I have no idea what this means but I am sure we won’t like it,” he tweeted.
	In the News May 22, 2020 US pulls out of open skies treaty Jeremy HobsonWBUR Here & Now The United States is pulling out of the Open Skies Treaty, the third major security accord the Trump Administration has scuttled. Host Jeremy Hobson speaks with security analyst Jim Walsh to explain the situation and talk about the potential consequences.
	In the News May 21, 2020 The ‘us and them’ pandemic shows America is still impervious to black pain Michele L Norris The Washington Post Evan Lieberman quoted: “It is not difficult to imagine that if covid-19 comes to be understood as a ‘Black’ epidemic,” he wrote, “this will create false impressions for many white Americans — in the United States’ racially polarized and effectively segregated society — that the virus is ‘not our problem,’ leading to decreased demand for and compliance with public health directives.”