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In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

Critical appraisals of foreign affairs and politics from a global-citizen perspective

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4Jun 2023
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Post #376: The Taiwan Imbroglio

What’s Going On? In my previous blog (Post #375) I reported on the worrying signs of a large gap in…

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21May 202322 May 2023
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Post #375: Out of Touch: The US-China Communications Gap

Among the many troubling trends in US-China relations these days is the lack of high-level diplomatic engagement. Until a few…

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10May 20239 May 2023
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Post #374: China’s Aid to Russia Under the “No Limits” Partnership    

        “No Limits” Has Limits In the war in Ukraine, the China-Russia relationship is a wildcard. The notion persists, going…

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APB

APB: Kissinger at 100

27 May 2023
            At the ripe age of 100, Henry Kissinger remains an icon of the governing class and the foreign policy establishment. Amazingly, his advice is still sought, he writes lucidly…
BLOG

Post #372: TikTok and US National Insecurity

22 Apr 2023
High-tech spying is in the news because of the one-sided, hypocritical debate in Congress on whether the popular app TikTok is actually a tool for Chinese government data collection on…
BLOG

Post #371: France’s Diplomatic Disaster in China

13 Apr 202312 Apr 2023
“Strategic Autonomy,” French Style French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen just visited China. You can bet Joe Biden and his national security team are…
BLOG

Post #370: A Political Lynching

7 Apr 20237 Apr 2023
            The Tennessee House of Representatives, dominated by a Republican supermajority, voted yesterday to expel two Black Democratic legislators who had participated in a peaceful public demonstration on behalf of…
BLOG

Post #369: The Climate Time Bomb

3 Apr 2023
The Bomb is Ticking             The odds are against us. That is the bottom line in the latest IPCC report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on global…
BLOG

Post #368: A Big Deal: China’s Middle East Diplomatic Coup

26 Mar 202325 Mar 2023
A Big Deal for Some By any stretch of the imagination, the March 10 announcement of China’s brokering of a Saudi Arabia-Iran agreement to resume diplomatic relations and exchange security…
BLOG

Post #367: Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington

18 Mar 202318 Mar 2023
The Mounting Danger Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached a new level of intensity. North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement Feb. 17 in anticipation of another round of…
BLOG

Post #366: No Exit: Two Ukraine Peace Proposals Going Nowhere

6 Mar 20235 Mar 2023
Two Very Different Paths to Peace Two proposals for bringing peace in Russia’s war on Ukraine were issued on nearly the same day last month: a UN General Assembly resolution…
BLOG

Post #363: More on the China Balloon Episode: Much Ado About Very Little

13 Feb 202322 Feb 2023
(The China Balloon Incident has three phases. We have just exited Phase 2. In Phase 1, “Discovery,” the Biden administration went into action mode on finding that a Chinese “spy”…
BLOG

Post #362: Risky Business: Japan Steps Out

25 Jan 202325 Jan 2023
(This blog is also available as a podcast at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/86207/67-risky-business-japan-steps-out-h1JT0.mp3) Background to a Changing Strategic Perspective Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has just visited Washington, drawing attention to how Japan…
BLOG

Post #361: Ukraine’s Future: Peace Through War?

14 Jan 202315 Jan 2023
Hopes and Realities Ukraine’s President Zelensky had a fairly successful visit to Washington last month, returning home with promises of more American weapons and unqualified US backing for Ukraine’s war…
BLOG

Post #360 The Threat Business: China or Russia?

2 Jan 20233 Jan 2023
Dual Enemies For those in charge of US national security, the central challenge is identifying threats and determining how to counter them. The Biden administration has cast China and Russia,…
BLOG

Post #359: The Iran Protests and US Policy

13 Dec 202212 Dec 2022
"Women, Life, Freedom" Streets in dozens of Iran cities are filled with angry people in popular protests that have already gone on much longer—three months and counting—than those in 2009…
BLOG

Post #358: China’s COVID Uprising

4 Dec 20227 Jan 2023
Significant dissent in China reared its head for the first time since the Tiananmen uprising in 1989. In many of China’s major cities, protesters joined hands to denounce the COVID…
BLOG

Post #357: The Biden-Xi Summit in Bali

22 Nov 202222 Nov 2022
Some Reasons for Optimism             The much-ballyhooed first in-person summit between Pres. Biden and Xi on November 14 went off pretty well. Biden clearly communicated the US belief that a…
BLOG

Post #356: A Post-Election Caution

15 Nov 2022
Reasons for Concern             What a difference a day makes, as the old song goes. The day before Election Day, liberals and progressives feared the worst: a solidly MAGA takeover…
BLOG

Post #355: Israel’s Religious Terrorists

10 Nov 20229 Nov 2022
Note to Readers: Larry Kirsch is co-author of this blog. He is a consulting economist who focuses on economic and social justice, consumer protection, and public finance. Note to Readers…
BLOG

Post #354: Time to Reset Military Relations with Saudi Arabia

4 Nov 2022
An Uneven Balance Sheet             Saudi Arabia and OPEC have decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day. The President is miffed, and has signaled that he’s…
BLOG

Post #353: Europe’s Far-Right Lurch

23 Oct 202222 Oct 2022
The struggle to save democracy is proving even more difficult in Europe than here in the US. Virtually every European country is bedeviled by rising conflict between traditional political parties…
BLOG

Post #352: Can Russia’s Use of a Nuclear Weapon in the Ukraine War Be Prevented?

13 Oct 202225 Oct 2022
(The podcast of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/76143/62-on-dealing-with-russia-nuclear-weapons-and-the-off-ramp.mp3)             President Biden surprised his top advisers along with everyone else when, at a fundraising event, he referred to “Armageddon” in the…
BLOG

Post #351: Predictions of a Ukraine Victory are Premature

29 Sep 202229 Sep 2022
For the podcast of this blog, see the archive at https://wordpress.com/post/melgurtov.com/2247 Putin Under Fire Something extraordinary is happening in the course of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin is taking a…
BLOG

Post #350: Two on China: Xi Does Well in Central Asia, Taiwan Fares Well in the US Senate

20 Sep 202219 Sep 2022
The Limits of “No Limits”  In the course of his Central Asia tour, Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin for what some analysts thought would be a reprise of their…
APB…

ANNOUNCEMENT: MY NEW BOOK ON CHINA

8 Sep 202214 Oct 2022
Dear Readers: On October 15, Engaging China: Rebuilding Sino-American Relations will be published by Rowman & Littlefield. As you know from my blogs on US-China relations, I am at once…
BLOG

Post #349: Brazil’s Election and the Future of the Amazon

4 Sep 202217 Sep 2022
(The podcast of this and all other blogs is athttps://wordpress.com/post/melgurtov.com/2247.) The Candidates: Worlds Apart On October 2 we will have a presidential election in Brazil of enormous consequence for the…
BLOG

Post #348: Another Missed Opportunity in US-China Relations

24 Aug 202223 Aug 2022
            The Washington Post reports that Xi Jinping personally asked President Biden to find a way to put off House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/20/nancy-pelosi-biden-taiwan/) . According to…
BLOG

Post #347: The Great Energy Game in Europe

12 Aug 202214 Aug 2022
The audio of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/67441/56-the-great-energy-game-in-europe.mp3  The Politics of Russia’s Energy Exports             It won’t be long before winter descends on Europe. Before it does, most European countries…
BLOG

Post #346: Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip: A Needless Provocation

3 Aug 20223 Aug 2022
The audio version of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/66494/55-nancy-pelosis-taiwan-trip-a-needless-provocation.mp3          House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was intent on visiting Taiwan, and did so despite President Biden’s misgivings and criticisms from many China…
APB

Five Reasons Why Nancy Pelosi Should Postpone a Trip to Taiwan

28 Jul 2022
            House Leader Nancy Pelosi seems intent on visiting Taiwan. That might not seem like a big deal to Americans, but these are dangerous times in US-China relations. That makes…
BLOG

Post #345: Back to the Future: Biden in the Middle East

23 Jul 202229 Jul 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/65600/54-back-to-the-future-bidens-middle-east-trip.mp3             President Biden has now completed his first visit to the Middle East. The trip was billed as an opportunity to…
BLOG

Post #344: Water, Water, No Longer Everywhere

14 Jul 202214 Jul 2022
The audio of this blog may be accessed at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/64815/53-water-water-no-longer-everywhere.mp3 Drought and Scarcity "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” Coleridge’s “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is only halfway…
BLOG

Post #343: China’s Surveillance State and Its Meaning for Us

5 Jul 202229 Jul 2022
The audio of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/64174/52-chinas-surveillance-state-and-ours.mp3 The Tools of Surveillance             In a recent commentary, I discussed the visit to China of the UN’s chief human rights official…
BLOG

Post #342: Europe’s Uneasy Unity on the War in Ukraine

28 Jun 202226 Jun 2022
The audio of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/63347/50-europes-uneasy-unity-in-the-ukraine-war.mp3.             Welcoming the leaders of Finland and Sweden to Washington on May 19, President Biden said that “what makes NATO strong…
BLOG

Post #341: Co-opted: The UN’s Misguided Mission to Xinjiang

16 Jun 202215 Jun 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/62559/49-co-opted-the-uns-failed-mission-in-xinjiang.mp3. A Genocidal Policy The top UN human rights official recently traveled to Xinjiang province in China, hoping to persuade Beijing’s leaders…
BLOG

Post #340: The Arsenal, But Not of Democracy

4 Jun 202210 Jun 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/61577/48-an-arsenal-but-not-of-democracy.mp3    America is awash with weapons, and the tragic consequences are before us every day. The world is also awash with…
BLOG

Post #339: Biden, Taiwan, and Strategic Ambiguity

27 May 202228 May 2022
An audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/60974/47-biden-taiwan-and-strategic-ambiguity.mp3 Defending Taiwan At a stopover in Tokyo during his Asia trip, President Biden was asked whether the US would “defend Taiwan”…
BLOG

Post #338:North Korea: Missiles Over Human Security

24 May 202224 May 2022
Omicron Catches Up with North Korea After having proclaimed for over two years that the country was untouched by the coronavirus, North Korea now faces a potential health catastrophe.  Its…
BLOG

Post #337: It’s “Now or Never” on Climate Change

17 May 20226 Jun 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/59656/45-its-now-or-never-on-climate-change.mp3 On Track for Disaster The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) working group report gives us until 2030 to stop…
BLOG

Post #336: Loose Lips Can Sink Peace   

9 May 20228 May 2022
   During World War II, US sailors were warned: Loose lips sink ships. A similar warning should have gone out to all US officials in recent days—and the President should…
BLOG

Post #335:   The Coming Old New Order

30 Apr 2022
From Cold War to Cold War             A principal lesson of the war in Ukraine is that the Cold War never ended. German reunification, the Soviet Union’s collapse, new entries…
BLOG

Post #334: Take the Gloves Off

22 Apr 2022
Many of you have no doubt watched a video of Michigan state senator Mallory McMorrow’s forthright response to a far-right colleague’s attempt to paint her as a “groomer” for the…
BLOG

Post #333: Crimes of War

13 Apr 202211 Apr 2022
The audio version is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/56499/42-crimes-of-war.mp3 Mass Violence in Our Times In just the past few years, we have witnessed mass violence directed at innocent people in many places: China’s…
BLOG

Post #332: Big Oil’s War Bonanza

6 Apr 20224 Apr 2022
The audio of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/55789/41-the-war-a-bonanza-for-big-oil.mp3 In case you haven’t noticed, a major consequence of the Ukraine war is the bonanza it has provided for the oil and…
BLOG

Post #331: When Will It End, and How?

30 Mar 202229 Mar 2022
The podcast of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/55380/40-when-will-it-end-and-how.mp3 How will it end? In the wake of Ukraine’s stunning and stubborn resistance to Putin’s invasion, the question whose answer once seemed…
BLOG

Post #330: An Engagement Moment for the US and China

20 Mar 202222 Mar 2022
Listen to this blog at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/54894/39-an-engagement-moment-with-china-on-ukraine.mp3 One of the more interesting developments in Putin’s war on Ukraine is the retreat of China from full-fledged support of Russia. When the Russian…
BLOG

Post #329: Thinking About the Unthinkable in the Ukraine Crisis

11 Mar 202212 Mar 2022
 The audio version is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/54040/38-thinking-about-the-unthinkable-in-the-ukraine-crisis.mp3 We might be inclined to think that the most urgent decisions on Ukraine have been made: decisions on military aid to the Ukraine government,…
BLOG

Post #328: Putin’s Nightmare

4 Mar 20224 Mar 2022
Audio version available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/53431/37-putins-nightmare.mp3. Three Silver Linings In the midst of a crisis with great loss of life and property, it might be unseemly to suggest that there are…
BLOG

Post #365: The Coup in Israel

28 Feb 202328 Feb 2023
Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. Now that picture is fraying as…
BLOG

Post #364: China and Europe: Profits versus Principles

22 Feb 202320 Feb 2023
With all the attention on US-China relations, Beijing’s on-again, off-again relations with the European Union (EU) don’t receive the attention they deserve. In the short space of a few decades,…
APB

APB: The Balloon is Up

3 Feb 20235 Feb 2023
            During World War I, British forces sent up hot-air balloons to spy on advancing enemy forces. Thus the expression, "the balloon is up." In recent times, a number of…
Podcasts

Russian Policy in the Middle East: A Conversation with Prof. Mark Katz

31 Jan 2023
Prof. Katz discusses Russia's relations with Iran, Syria, Israel and other countries; points out how Russia has effectively handled its Middle East ties in the midst of war in Ukraine;…

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