Prof. Minxin Pei was interviewed by Australia’s Defence Connect for a story on China’s stake in the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The in-depth piece builds on Pei’s assessment that “Beijing may be 6,500 kilometers from Kyiv, but the geopolitical stakes for China in the escalating crisis over Ukraine’s fate couldn’t be higher.”
Prof. Jack Pitney was quoted in an article for The Paradise after Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer announced his retirement about how rare it has been in recent years for a Senate of one party to confirm a Supreme Court nominee from a president of the other party. Pitney expressed slight optimism about a future cross-party confirmation. “An opposing-party Senate might approve a nominee in the next several years, provided that the nominee is a moderate who would not shift the ideological makeup of the court,” he said.
Prof. Jack Pitney was interviewed by The Mercury News about proposed sports betting measures for the November California ballot. The revenue from some of these initiatives could provide financial relief for the state’s homelessness and mental health programs, similar to the California Lottery helping to fund public education. But according to Pitney, voters know that the Lottery has not fixed the education system, and homelessness is a hard problem to solve, which may make passing the sports wagering measures more difficult. “I wouldn’t take this as a sure bet,” Pitney said.
Prof. Minxin Pei wrote an op-ed for Bloomberg about why China can’t afford to decouple from the United States.
Prof. Minxin Pei wrote a piece for Nepal24Hours.com about how China views the Ukraine crisis. “While China obviously stands to benefit if a Russian invasion of Ukraine forces the United States to divert strategic resources to Eastern Europe, a peaceful resolution of the crisis will likely leave it worse off,” he said.
Prof. Andrew Busch wrote a guest editorial for Penn Live Patriot-News on the question of how contentious the battle over Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer’s replacement will be. “One thing is almost certain to be true: No matter who is nominated by President Joe Biden, there will be no 87-9 favorable vote—the tally when Breyer was nominated by Bill Clinton in 1994,” he said.
In an interview with The Atlantic, CMC Prof. Angela Vossmeyer explained how higher Federal interest rates might affect Americans in their everyday lives. In general, “individuals seeking bank loans or lines of credit to purchase a car, remodel their home, expand their business, or even purchase retail items with credit cards will see monthly interest payments higher than what we have seen in the last two years,” Vossmeyer said. “On the other hand,” she pointed out, “with interest rates going up, Americans will have safe and meaningful outlets for saving again.”
Prof. Jack Pitney was quoted in a Daily Beast piece recognizing the Jan. 6 Committee as “a model of congressional congeniality among members with differing ideologies.” Pitney said, “This is what grown-ups look like. You have Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger who have very conservative voting records, but they understand this is different, that it’s separate from their policy differences with the Democrats. And their loyalty to country and the institution trumps loyalty to party.”
