ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION
China Inside and Out: Politics and Policies in a Turbulent World (Bloomsbury Academic). THIS BOOK OF FOCUSED READINGS AND DOCUMENTS COVERS BOTH INTERNATIONAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS OVER ROUGHLY THE LAST 20 YEARS, WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON US-CHINA RELATIONS. WRITTEN WITH UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS…
Post #497: Aggression in Iran
Conduct that Defies Logic, Law, or Sound Purposes As the invasion of Iran grinds on and its boundaries expand, the House and Senate have rejected resolutions that would bring the savagery to a halt. I have to ask: What will it take to finally…
Post #496: War on Iran
Two days ago I did a podcast on the prospects for war with Iran. Here is what I wrote, followed by a brief update as the US and Israel launched attacks on several Iranian cities. The Illogic of War The Trump administration reportedly…
Post #495: Trumped on Tariffs
Reacting to Defeat Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” just got squashed. The Supreme Court on February 20 denied, by a 6-3 decision, the Trump administration’s power to impose tariffs under the 1977 International Economic Emergency Powers Act (IEEPA). The ruling invalidates tariffs for around one…
Post #494: Bored of Peace
A Board Like None Other Donald Trump has turned the presidency into a vanity project, putting his name and image all over Washington (most recently, a banner of him atop the department of justice), campaigning for the Nobel Peace Prize, pimping for cybercurrency. He’s…
Post #493: Purges in the Chinese Military
The Anti-Corruption Campaign China’s purge of Gen. Zhang Youxia, long considered a confidante of Xi Jinping and a vice-chairman of the powerful Central Military Commission (CMC), and General Liu Zhenli, has set off a wide range of interpretations. Officially, Gen. Zhang, the lone CMC…
Post #492: TACO Time or Wartime? Examining Trump’s Latest Threats
Donald Trump is on the warpath again, threatening Greenland, Iran, Canada, and Cuba. Will he be TACO—Trump Always Chickens Out—or will he carry through on the threats—seizing Greenland, seeking to overthrow the Iran and Cuba regimes, destabilizing Canada? Let’s take a look. Greenland: A…
Post #491: The Second American Declaration
WHEN in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary to decide that a government that purports to represent the union of states has failed to do so; that the unalienable rights of Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness have been trampled upon…
Post #490: The United States is an International Lawbreaker
The illegality of US intervention in Venezuela has been amply cited with reference to its attacks on alleged drug boats, its declaration of an oil blockade, and its kidnapping of Venezuela’s leader. When it comes to the US invasion, I have not seen reference…
APB: Regime Change in Venezuela
America First; Who’s Next? The US has overthrown the Maduro regime in Venezuela, captured its leader, Nicolas Maduro, and occupied the country. Continuing a long history of US interventions in Latin America, Trump has vowed to “run the country until such time that we…
Post #489: The Year in Review
A podcast of this post is available at https://melgurtov.substack.com/p/global-citizen-international-digest-916 The reelection of Donald J. Trump is clearly the most notable event of 2025. We thought we knew him and what to expect of him. But we, and the world, discovered that we had grossly…
Post #488: Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Crusade
The New Know Nothings In the mid-19th century, an influential political party, the Know Nothings, carried on about the dangers of immigration—not from African slaves but from Europe. The Know Nothings faded out with the Civil War, but they have made a comeback—today’s Republican…
Post #487: The National Security Strategy Paper on China
The Trump administration’s National Security Strategy paper released this month is filled with nasty, nativist language and half-truths straight out of the Project 2025 playbook. But amidst the bluster about historic success in strengthening national security and claims about resolving wars is a stark…
Post #486: The US National Security Strategy Paper Puts Europe on Edge
The Trump administration has issued a National Security Strategy (NSS) document that fundamentally transforms US relations with Europe. Traditional closeness is out; open hostility to liberal governments and alignment with far-right parties are in. Europe, says the document, is facing the “stark prospect of…
Post #485: The Trump Peace Plan: A Study in Diplomatic Malfeasance
Coaching Russia The official US line on how the peace plan to end the Ukraine war emerged has Steve Witkoff, Trump’s special envoy, and Jared Kushner developing it, Marco Rubio endorsing it, and then Russia assenting to it. But that story does not hold…
Post #484: Zelensky’s Predicament
A Plan for Ukraine Without Ukraine’s Consent The US has forged a peace proposal with Russia that, as the French are putting it, amounts to Ukraine’s capitulation. For President Volodymyr Zelensky, the worst possible world stares him in the face—a world in which Ukraine…
Post#483: Wag the Dog in Venezuela
Analysis of why countries go to war sometimes argues that leaders are motivated by problems at home. They attack another country to divert attention from an economic crisis, an unlawful act, or—as in the Robert De Niro movie, Wag the Dog—a sex scandal. In…
Post #482: Trump’s War on America
The Abuse of “National Security” Throughout much of the post-World War II history of American foreign policy, national security has meant international security—that is, defense of the US homeland was believed to require a global military presence, the world’s highest military spending, and regular…
Post #481: No Big Deal: The Trump-Xi Meeting in Korea
Promises, Promises The much-awaited meeting in Korea between Pres. Trump and Pres. Xi Jinping promised—according to Trump—a major trade deal. The Chinese seemed prepared to offer much less. In remarks to Trump, Xi repeated Chinese refrains about the need for cooperation, stressed that the…
Post #480: Gunboat Diplomacy in the Caribbean
Disproportionate Force, Hidden Motives The Trump administration has now conducted ten known strikes on boats off the Venezuelan and Colombian coasts that supposedly carry drugs destined for the US. The administration has now amassed a veritable armada in the region—several attack boats, a nuclear-capable…
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In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 