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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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30Nov 2018
3 Comments

Post #220: China Policy: Disappointment is No Excuse

Greg Sargent writes in the Washington Post (November 30): For years after Deng Xiaoping’s decisive turn toward modernization in the…

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31Oct 201830 Oct 2018
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Post #219: Is China a “Responsible Great Power”?

President Xi Jinping would like everyone to pay attention to how China is exerting leadership in world affairs as a…

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15Oct 2018
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Post #218: Getting Away with Murder

In March I wrote about the visit to Washington of Saudi Arabia’s new leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At…

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APB

What the Chinese are Saying About the Trade Summit

3 Dec 20183 Dec 2018
Kicking the can down the road is a familiar way to avoid dealing with a problem. That is what happened in the Trump-Kim talks in Singapore on denuclearization, and it…
APB

APB: The Play’s the Thing

16 Nov 201815 Nov 2018
The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a tragedy, and it is of a piece with the related tragedy of US-Saudi relations. Weeks ago I outlined a play in four…
APB

The Khashoggi Affair: A Murder Mystery in Four Acts

17 Oct 201817 Oct 2018
Act 1 (Washington, DC): Upon learning of the disappearance and possible murder of the Saudi journalist and critic, Jamal Khashoggi, Pres. Trump expresses concern and vows to get to the…
BLOG

Post #217: Waiting For Hitler

11 Oct 201819 Oct 2018
If there is one thing I have learned as a political analyst, it is that there is no such thing as "never again." Use of weapons of mass destruction against…
BLOG

Post #216: A Victory for Diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula

29 Sep 20182 Oct 2018
On September 18 leaders of North and South Korea signed a September Declaration to advance inter-Korean cooperation and the possibility of the North’s denuclearization. Critics immediately dismissed the agreement for…
BLOG

Post #215: On Dealing with China

18 Sep 201826 Sep 2018
(Note: A slightly different version of this article has been published as "The China Conundrum" at https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/the-china-conundrum.) A Self-Confident China Ever since China’s economic reforms began in 1978, the goal…
APB

Coming Apart? Maybe Not

6 Sep 20186 Sep 2018
Day by day the Trump administration is coming apart. Revelations abound about the dysfunctions of the Trump team, about Trump’s ignorance and incompetence, and now about a “resistance” group in…
APB

Another Week Under Trumpocracy

21 Aug 201820 Aug 2018
Some takeaways from another week under He Who Would Be Emperor: “All politics is local.” Speaking to local issues rather than echoing the official mantra may be the only way…
BLOG

Post #213: While Rome (and Most Everywhere Else) Burns

3 Aug 20182 Aug 2018
By now we’re accustomed to learning that every year brings record high temperatures around the world. Extreme weather, says Prof. Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, “is the face of…
BLOG

Post #212: Some Dare Call It Treason

19 Jul 201819 Jul 2018
Is Donald Trump not merely gullible, uninformed, and indifferent but actually treasonous when it comes to Russia? More and more high-profile people are saying so. He’s acting like “a Russian…
BLOG

Post #211: At Home and Abroad, Trump Abandons Human Rights (Part 2)

16 Jul 201814 Jul 2018
(Note: This is the continuation of Post #210, published July 7. The full version is available in The Asia-Pacific Journal/Japan Focus, https://apjjf.org/2018/15/Gurtov.html. Deceptive Reporting Discussion in the Trump administration of…
APB

“Gangsterism” or “Progress”? Examining North Korea’s Latest Statement on Denuclearization

9 Jul 20188 Jul 2018
Most US news reports are suggesting that the North Koreans may be backtracking on their commitment to denuclearization,calling the US position “gangster-like” following the visit of Secretary of State Mike…
BLOG

Post #210: At Home and Abroad, Trump Abandons Human Rights (Part 1)

7 Jul 20187 Jul 2018
In January 1941, with the prospect looming of US involvement in another European war, President Franklin Roosevelt spoke of America’s purpose in the world: to protect and promote “four freedoms.”…
BLOG

Post #209: After Singapore, is Iran the Next US Target?

23 Jun 201822 Jun 2018
Predictably, both sides at the Singapore summit are claiming victory. Kim Jong-un, having shared the stage with Donald Trump, can say that North Korea is now recognized de facto as…
BLOG

Post #208: What Happened? Assessing the Singapore Summit

13 Jun 201813 Jun 2018
“Peace and prosperity,” “lasting and stable peace,” “peace regime,” “denuclearization,” “new US-DPRK relations”—these fine words and phrases dominate the joint statement of Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un. Yet it’s difficult…

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Rick Crispino on What the Chinese are Saying Ab…
Deflated Dreams… on Post #219: Is China a “Respons…
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