Experts in the News

President Trump on Thursday announced a U.S.-brokered deal between Morocco and Israel to normalize relations. To get the pact done, Trump overturned decades of U.S. policy by recognizing Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara — which Morocco has been fighting for control of against the territory’s Indigenous Sahrawi people. On Friday, former Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, released the following statement on the issue: "While I strongly support the Abraham Accords, the proper way to implement them was the way it was done with the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan, and not by cynically trading off the self-determination rights of the people of Western Sahara. I agree with Senator James Inhofe when he characterized this development as 'shocking and deeply disappointing.' It would appear that the United States of America, which was founded first and foremost on the principle of self-determination, has walked away from that principle regarding the people of Western Sahara. This is very regrettable."

As demand for oil and gas falls and world leaders and businesses pledge to fight climate change, it is possible that major oil industry players could come up with new uses for carbon dioxide, like strengthening concrete or making carbon fiber, which could replace steel and other materials. If they can "crack those nuts, the entire discussion about hydrocarbons changes,” said Ken Medlock, senior director at the Center for Energy Studies. “That kind of change is slow until it’s not. Think about wind and solar, which were slow until they weren’t.” Medlock is the James A. Baker, III, and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics.

George Abbey, senior fellow in space policy, talked about the future of commercial space development in San Antonio.

President-elect Biden's pick to head the Department of Health and Human services, Xavier Becerra, could signal hope for migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., said fellow Tony Payan. Payan is the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies.

Houston's COVID-19 case count recently surpassed 100,000, but the Thanksgiving surge has yet to peak, said health policy fellow Peter Hotez.