Cornell Expert Quotes | Cornell Chronicle

Cornell Expert Quotes

Cornellians weigh in on current events in the news

"As Trump showed, even negative buzz is good, especially for front runners, because it can suck attention away from challengers (remember during GOP debate when he talked about his ‘hands’)."

Drew Margolin

Assistant Professor

Topic	Name	Date
Law and Policy	Jens David Ohlin Vice Dean and Professor of Law	10/30/20
	Jens David Ohlin, interim dean of the Cornell Law School and professor of law, is an expert on election interference and international law and recently published a book entitled "Election Interference: International Law and the Future of Democracy." He is available to discuss election-day interference and its impact on international law. Media: Rachel Rhodes rer252@cornell.edu 202-434-8036 Related Tip Sheet: Cornell experts available to discuss election (10/30/20)
Law and Policy	Sabrina Karim Assistant Professor of Government	10/30/20
	Sabrina Karim, assistant professor of government, studies police and peacekeeping in post-conflict states and is currently working on a book entitled, "When Peace Makes States: How International Security Sector Assistance Shapes Post-Conflict State Building". She is available to discuss election-related violence. Media: Rachel Rhodes rer252@cornell.edu 202-434-8036 Related Tip Sheet: Cornell experts available to discuss election (10/30/20)
Law and Policy	Sarah Kreps Professor of Government	10/30/20
	Sarah Kreps, professor of government, studies misinformation and election interference and is author of the book “Social Media and International Relations.” She can discuss how foreign interference introduces “noise into the system” regardless of whether the culprits are identified. Media: Rachel Rhodes rer252@cornell.edu 202-434-8036 Related Tip Sheet: Cornell experts available to discuss election (10/30/20)
Law and Policy , International	Sarah Kreps Professor of Government	10/22/20
	“Not knowing what is authentic or inauthentic, voters may just verge toward universal distrust of governing institutions as a whole, which has pernicious implications for everything from accepting the results of the election to having confidence in a COVID-19 vaccine.” Media: Rachel Rhodes rer252@cornell.edu 202-434-8036 Related Tip Sheet: Voter intimidation plot succeeds regardless of culprit (10/22/20)
International , Law and Policy	Tamara Loos professor of history and Thai studies	10/16/20
	"The intensity and size of recent protests against the regime and the monarchy have reached a tipping point, demanding change. The world is watching to see how Thailand's king, who has yet to issue a public response, and its military regime will respond." Media: Rachel Rhodes rer252@cornell.edu 202-434-8036 Related Tip Sheet: Thai protests reach ‘tipping point’, king yet to respond publicly (10/16/20)
International , Arts and Sciences	Tamara Loos professor of history and Thai studies	09/25/20
	"Protesters are now willing to break the long-held taboo against publicly criticizing the monarchy. While the population respected the previous monarch as a moral exemplar, they see the new monarch, King Vajiralongkorn, as morally bankrupt. By contrast, the protesters, led by a courageous new generation, now hold the high moral ground." Media: Rebecca Valli rv234@cornell.edu 607-255-6035 Related Tip Sheet: Protestors, not monarchy, now hold moral high ground in Thailand (09/25/20)
International , Law and Policy , Arts and Sciences	Uriel Abulof visiting professor at Cornell University’s Government Department	09/15/20
	Abulof says: “As the genius businessman he prides himself to be, Trump knows how to cut his losses. With the Palestinians refusing to embrace Israel while it annexes substantial parts of the West Bank, Trump’s ‘deal of the century’ is all but dead. The ‘deal of the day’ will have to do – making peace between Israel and its two neighbors in calling codes: UAE 971, Israel 972, Bahrain 973. President Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the two monarchs are obvious bedfellows, with joint regional interest of combating political Islam, whether Sunni or Shiite. “While the Gulf leaders seek to gain favors with the American administration before a new one may step in, Trump and Netanyahu want to leave their mark, and save their skin, the former before the election, the latter leading his country to a COVID-19 chaos and facing an impending trial for corruption. The pact demonstrates that the ‘democratic peace’ theory – democracies rarely fight each other – has an evil twin: the ‘non-democratic peace’ theory – illiberal leaders often back each other.” Media: Rebecca Valli rv234@cornell.edu 607-255-6035 Related Tip Sheet: Middle East deal underscores foreign policy chasms in region (09/15/20)
International , Law and Policy , Arts and Sciences	Alexandra Blackman Assistant professor of government	09/15/20
	"The normalization of relations between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain further highlights the gap between the foreign policy of most Gulf states, which is guided by their enmity toward Iran, and the other Arab and Muslim countries that fear popular backlash to normalization more than they fear Iran." Media: Rebecca Valli rv234@cornell.edu 607-255-6035 Related Tip Sheet: Middle East deal underscores foreign policy chasms in region (09/15/20)
International , Law and Policy	Rebecca Slayton Associate Professor	09/08/20
	Slayton says: “At a glance, I am skeptical that this will have much impact outside China (or even inside). It appears that China is calling on other nations to oppose ‘mass surveillance against other states.’ which is likely a thinly-veiled criticism of well-known U.S. surveillance programs. “China is perfectly willing to conduct surveillance on its own people, however—particularly ethnic minorities—and I doubt that its intelligence agencies would forego opportunities to surveil individuals in other countries if they thought it would be useful. Arguably, Chinese disinformation campaigns (e.g. about COVID-19) already leverage the implicit surveillance system embedded in social media networks like Facebook and Twitter. “China also looks like it will be calling on companies not to install backdoors, but most companies already have a much stronger incentive not to do that—they would lose international market share if they were ever found to have done this. This statement also seems primarily aimed at public relations, particularly at a time when much of the world is concerned about backdoors or other untrustworthy aspects of products from Chinese telecommunications companies like Huawei and ZTE. Ironically, China is trying to reduce its dependence on Western IT products (just as the U.S. has been trying to reduce dependence on Chinese IT products), which is likely to erode any market power that China might have to establish standards.” Media: Rebecca Valli rv234@cornell.edu 607-255-6035 Related Tip Sheet: China’s global data security initiative is “wholly aspirational” (09/08/20)
Architecture, Art and Planning , International , Health, Nutrition & Medicine	Victoria Beard Professor of City and Regional Planning, Associate Dean of Research at AAP	09/08/20
	“Washing your hands for the recommended 20 seconds and social distancing is much more difficult, if not impossible in these cities.” Media: Gillian Smith gillian.smith@cornell.edu 607-254-6235 Related Tip Sheet: India’s COVID-19 surge reflects lack of sanitation, infrastructure (09/08/20)

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