On Monday, Thailand’s King Vajiralongkorn stripped his royal consort – Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi – of her official ranks for “repeated disobedience and attempts to of interference with royal affairs.” The palace order comes three months after Sineenat – rumored to be the king’s longtime mistress – was given the official title of royal consort. Tamara Loos, professor of history and Thai studies at Cornell University, says the move is a sign of the King’s newfound absolutism.

International

Arts and Sciences

---

Following pressure from China, Apple decided to pull HKmap.live from the App Store. The app allowed users to track police presence in Hong Kong, where antigovernment protesters have been demonstrating for months. The removal was announced shortly after Beijing criticized the tech giant in a strongly worded editorial on Wednesday.  Thomas Jungbauer, professor of economics in the SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, studies tech firms and high-skilled labor markets. He says that tech companies are walking a fine line as they attempt to develop their Chinese markets

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

International

Economics and Business

---

Kristin Roebuck, professor of history at Cornell University, is a historian of modern Japan and says that procedures around Emperor Akihito’s abdication highlight the power of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to both preserve and modernize elements of the royal tradition. 

International

Law and Policy

Arts and Sciences

---

Sarah Kreps, professor of government, and Drew Margolin, professor of communication, comment on efforts by Congress to limit access to TikTok on government devices and the larger security issues surrounding the Chinese-owned social media company.

Law and Policy

---

Top officials from the U.S. and China will meet in Anchorage on Thursday and Friday for the first high level summit after President Biden took office. Cornell University experts, Allen Carlson and Robert Hockett, are available to discuss the political and economic implications of the summit.

International

Arts and Sciences

Law School

---

Lori Khatchadourian, comments on the political upheaval and street protests that have gripped Armenia over the last two weeks, prompting the resignation of the country’s prime minister, Serzh Sargsyan.

International

Law and Policy

Arts and Sciences

---

Sarah Kreps, professor of government and international relations at Cornell University, says moving Pentagon money to the Overseas Contingency Fund is a way for leaders to avoid answering questions about open-ended overseas operations.

Law and Policy

International

---

European Union leaders are meeting on Thursday to discuss how to power the bloc’s economic recovery and help its hardest-hit members weather the current crisis. Christopher Way, associate professor of government and an expert in European politics and political economy, says that the task at hand for European leaders is not easy. 

International

Arts and Sciences

---

Karl Lagerfeld, fashion designer and creative director of the House of Chanel – among other luxury brands – died in Paris on Tuesday. Mukti Khaire, studies the business of creative industries, including fashion at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business and Cornell Tech. Her book Culture and Commerce: The Value of Entrepreneurship in Creative Industries” details the ways artistic worth is converted to economic value. Khaire, who interviewed Karl Lagerfeld as background for a case study titled: “Coco Chanel: Creating Fashion for the Modern Woman,” says Lagerfeld was wildly creative but also understood business.

Economics and Business

International

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Cornell Tech

---

Arthur Wheaton, professor of labor at Cornell University and an expert on the automotive sector, comments on the announcement that German automaker Volkswagen is considering replacing its upper management, including CEO Matthias Muller.

Economics and Business

International

Industrial and Labor Relations

---