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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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9Jan 20218 Jan 2021
4 Comments

Post #287: The End of American Exceptionalism

Sedition Whatever you want to call the violent assault in Washington on January 6, 2021—a mob action, a siege, a…

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31Dec 20202 Jan 2021
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Post #286: Biden and the World: A First Look at His Foreign Affairs Team (Part 2)

           In the previous post, I introduced the president-elect’s team: a group of serious professionals dedicated to halting and reversing…

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27Dec 202024 Dec 2020
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Post #285: Biden and the World: A First Look at His Foreign Affairs Team (Part 1)

Dream Team?             President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his foreign policy and national security team, and it is certainly a…

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APB

APB: Our National Embarrassment

15 Jan 2021
It is not enough that under Donald Trump the United States has withdrawn from major international organizations at a time of global need; that its president has humiliated and withdrawn…
BLOG

Post #282: Restoring Democracy, Strengthening the Right to Vote

27 Nov 202027 Nov 2020
            As Americans look forward to a new era without Donald Trump, one thing stands out: the gap between the real and the ideal in American-style democracy is far larger…
BLOG

Post #281: Trump’s Game

13 Nov 202012 Nov 2020
            What is Trump’s game?  In defying the vote numbers and urging rejection of a Biden victory, does he seriously believe his own narrative about voter fraud?  I doubt it;…
BLOG

Post #278: Trumpism Has Brought Democracy to Its Knees

19 Oct 202020 Dec 2020
In what we can only hope is its terminal phase, the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make a mockery of American democracy.  Friendly foreign observers bemoan the…
BLOG

Post #277: Our Deranged President

11 Oct 2020
In 2016 America’s electoral college gave Donald Trump the presidency.  Within a few months we came to realize that this man has serious mental problems. Within a year, some psychologists…
BLOG

Post #276: Trump Unmasked

3 Oct 20203 Oct 2020
"I just want to say that the end of the pandemic is in sight,” Donald Trump said Thursday night.  A day later he was airlifted to Walter Reed Hospital, down…
BLOG

Post #273: Trump’s China Diversion

12 Sep 202020 Dec 2020
The Trump administration’s orchestrated attack on China is commonly assumed to stem from upset over China’s human rights violations and its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and along…
BLOG

Excerpt from my new book, “America in Retreat: Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump”

21 Aug 202021 Aug 2020
[Note to the Reader: The following excerpt is from the final chapter of the book. It was written earlier this year, but I think everything that has happened since gives…
APB

APB: Derelict Leadership on Health Security

21 Mar 202021 Mar 2020
If one event shows both Trump’s flawed character and his ineptitude, it would have to be his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It is all about him, claiming superior knowledge…
BLOG

Post #257: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 2)

17 Mar 202015 Mar 2020
Getting to Zero Where are the Democrats? Why isn’t the present nuclear danger front and center in the Democrats’ presidential debates?  I can think of a few reasons.  First, Democrats…
BLOG

Post #256: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 1)

9 Mar 20208 Mar 2020
Overkill More is Better One of these days, national security policy will get a few minutes of campaign debate time. And when that day occurs, perhaps—just perhaps—attention will turn to…
APB

APB: Embarrassing Moments from Trump’s Visit to India

25 Feb 2020
Donald Trump abroad never ceases to entertain with his ignorance and misstatements. As India’s leaders learned from Trump’s previous visits to Saudi Arabia and China, all it takes is pomp…
APB

APB: Thanks to Trump, Iran Has the Upper Hand

8 Jan 20208 Jan 2020
The assassination of General Soleimani is proving to be a resounding success for Iran. It accomplished what the ayatollah could not: common ground between Iran and Iraq, Iraq’s invitation to…
BLOG

Post #247: From President to Autocrat

6 Nov 20195 Nov 2019
An Autocrat Like All Others A recent special issue of Foreign Affairs is devoted to profiling some of the world’s most prominent autocrats: Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,…
BLOG

Post #244: Listen to the Children

23 Sep 201922 Sep 2019
The Republicans are on the sidelines on the climate crisis.  Government scientists are muzzled.  Leading Democrats—though not all—are cautious.  CEOs of some of America’s biggest corporations are pledging action while…
BLOG

Post #243: No War for Saudi Oil!

17 Sep 201922 Sep 2019
Even if US intelligence decisively shows that some of the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields originated in Iran, a decision to go…
BLOG…

Post #240: Our Racist President

31 Jul 201930 Jul 2019
"Donald Trump lost the election because he veered so far off course from what it means to be a decent person, to be a leader, and to be an American.…
APB…

APB: The Caging of Human Rights

13 Jul 2019
At a hearing yesterday (July 12) on the Trump administration’s immigration policies, Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia was appropriately livid: "I never thought as a member of Congress — as…
APB

APB: The Gang Leader Speaks

4 Jan 20214 Jan 2021
Donald Trump’s telephone  conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state will go down in history as a classic case of election interference, totally in keeping with Trump’s disdain for democratic processes…
BLOG

Post #283: Mike Pompeo’s Crusade against the red menace

13 Dec 202012 Dec 2020
Thanks in good part to the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, McCarthyism is alive and well in the US.  Pompeo has become one of America’s leading dogmatist, ranting and railing…
BLOG

Post #280: Biden’s Jobs 1-10

8 Nov 2020
In the next several weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will be preoccupied with creating a 100-day action agenda.  It might be called "Operation Renewal." Here are my top-10 choices, in no…
BLOG

Post #279: In Defense of Confucius Institutes

30 Oct 202029 Oct 2020
Readers may be surprised to learn that while disputes between the US and China over trade, human rights, and the pandemic are making headlines, educational exchange programs are Washington’s chief…
BLOG

Post #275: Saving Democracy

24 Sep 2020
Friends call it “impotent rage.” I share it. How is it possible that the president of a democratic country can get away with announcing, well in advance of an election,…
BLOG

Post #274: Defeating a Demagogue: A Reminder from History

22 Sep 202021 Sep 2020
It may be small comfort as we watch Donald Trump try to cheat and bully his way to a second term, but a recent study of his demagogic predecessor, Senator…
BLOG

Post #272: The Election: Concerns, Confidence, Candidates

31 Aug 202031 Aug 2020
Five things that worry me about the election: • Biden’s declining support among Latinos; • Trump’s law-and-order appeal amidst violence and destruction of property in protest marches; • Domination of…
BLOG

Post #271: The Israel-UAE Agreement: Good for a Few, Bad for Most

26 Aug 202025 Aug 2020
The Real Deal Commentators evidently desperate for good news are touting the Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreement as a welcome path to Middle East peace. The agreement trades Israel’s promise…

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