News + Media

	In the News June 17, 2020 Ladakh face-off \| China’s Foreign Minister blames India ‘for deliberately provoking’ border clash Ananth KrishnanThe Hindu Taylor Fravel quoted: China was unlikely to confirm the number, said M Taylor Fravel, an expert on the Chinese military at MIT. “I can think of no armed conflict involving China where it has released casualty figures publicly at the time of the conflict,” he said. “Usually, they are published years or decades later,” he noted on Twitter, pointing out that casualties from the 1962 were only revealed for the first time in an internal history published in 1994.
	In the News June 17, 2020 A watershed moment in India-China relations, says MIT's Vipin Narang Kaushik VaidyaBloomberg \| Quint Vipin Narang was interviewed and heavily quoted in this article about the "violent face-off" in the Galwan Valley on Monday night in which 20 Indian armymen were killed in action. The political mood over the next several days in both countries will be critical he says.
	In the News June 17, 2020 India and China trade barbs after ‘gang war’ high in the Himalayas Joanna Slater and Gerry ShihThe Washington Post M Taylor Fravel quoted: China probably has “little interest in further escalation,” said M Taylor Fravel, an expert on the People’s Liberation Army who heads the Security Studies Program at MIT. “China’s main competitor in East Asia and beyond is the United States, not India.”
	In the News June 17, 2020 Himalayan flashpoint could spiral out of control as India and China face off Julian BorgerThe Guardian Vipin Narang quoted: “Now domestic politics and public opinion, especially nationalist pressure to avenge their deaths and escalate, becomes a dangerous force,” Vipin Narang, a security studies professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said. “It will be hard for India at least, with a relatively open media, to de-escalate as easily now.”
	In the News June 16, 2020 India-China clash: An extraordinary escalation 'with rocks and clubs' Soutik BiswasBBC News Vipin Narang quoted: "It is looking bad, very bad," says security analyst Vipin Narang, of the deadly clash between Indian and Chinese soldiers in Ladakh on Monday night. The most serious face-off on the world's longest unsettled land border in nearly half a century left 20 Indian soldiers dead. India says both sides suffered casualties. "Once fatalities are sustained, keeping everything quiet becomes hard on both sides. Now public pressure becomes a variable," Dr Narang, a security studies professor at MIT, told me. "The scale, scope and swathe of the pressure across the border is seemingly unprecedented."
	In the News June 16, 2020 North Korea blows up joint liaison office with South Robin YoungWBUR Here & Now North Korea blew up an inter-Korean liaison office building just north of the heavily armed border with South Korea on Tuesday. The dramatic display of anger sharply raises tensions on the Korean Peninsula, and puts pressure on Washington and Seoul amid deadlocked nuclear diplomacy. Host Robin Young speaks with security analyst Jim Walsh about the implications.
	In the News June 12, 2020 Russia, China and the US: Who has the best Middle East policy? Dale SprusanskyWashington Report on Middle East Affairs, June/July 2020, pp 58-59 The Middle East Institute held an online discussion with two renowned scholars of international affairs on April 16 to assess the role of the US, China and Russia in the Middle East, which included SSP's Barry Posen. Here is a recap with some highlights and quotes from the event.
	In the News June 12, 2020 Two years after Trump-Kim meeting, little to show for personal diplomacy David E Sanger and Choe Sang-HunThe New York Times Vipin Narang quoted: “Trump has told himself this was a win, and so has Kim,” said Vipin Narang. “Trump keeps repeating, ‘There wasn’t a war.’” “For Kim Jong-un it was also a win because he is able to take the air out of the maximum pressure campaign” to crush the country economically, he said, “while he is still expanding his missile and nuclear force.”
	Analysis + Opinion June 9, 2020 Tension high, altitude higher: Logistical and physiological constraints on the Indo-Chinese border Aidan MilliffWar on the Rocks Are India and China on the path to war in the Himalayas? Or will recent tensions over their disputed border fade into history like dozens of other standoffs that were resolved diplomatically? Aidan Milliff explores the issues in a recent War on the Rocks essay.
	In the News June 5, 2020 Fingers, boots, and lines: Understanding the 2020 India-China border tensions Ankit PandaThe Diplomat The Diplomat’s Asia Geopolitics podcast host Ankit Panda speaks to M Taylor Fravel, the Arthur and Ruth Sloan Professor of Political Science and Director of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, about the ongoing India-China tensions along the Line of Actual Control.