Post #525: Losing Hand in the Iran War
The Good Soldier When asked by reporters at the White House on Thursday whether the intense and sustained air campaign by American forces would be over by the midterm elections, Vice President JD Vance replied: “I wouldn’t call it a war.” What Vance didn’t…
Post #524: The Arsenal
Behind the rise in international conflict and the decline of peacemaking efforts discussed above lie weapons and the money that finances them. They provide the fuel for civil wars, wars of choice, and other forms of conflict. The world is awash with weapons, and…
Post #523: Canada Rejects US “Ownership”
While Iran was being threatened by Donald Trump with economic D-Day, Canada was being threatened with a political D-Day. While a dispute over tariffs had appeared to be the cause of a breakdown in negotiations, Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested that something else was…
Post #522: Trump’s Threats and Alliance Realities
As global crises descend around him, Donald Trump seems increasingly incapable of a rational response. He rants and rails, threatens and indulges in delusions—and then retreats to one or the other of his vanity projects. This is not a president in control of himself…
Post #521: Trump’s Bromance Dream Undermines Relations with South Korea
A South Korean Peace Initiative Likely to Go Nowhere South Korean’s President Lee Jae Myung used the occasion of the country’s Liberation Day, which marks the end of Japan’s colonial rule, to propose to North Korea that the two Koreas officially end the state…
Post #520: Netanyahu at War as an Election Looms
Netanyahu Rejects Trump’s Gaza Plan The Trump-led Board of Peace claimed it had concluded an “historic” deal with Hamas and Israel under which Hamas agreed to disarm and turn over its weapons to a Palestinian entity and Israel agreed to withdraw from Gaza. But…
Post #519: A Bad Deal with Saudi Arabia
A Deal Without Safeguards The Trump administration has approved a deal with Saudi Arabia under which the US will provide the material and technical capacity for that country to build a nuclear power plant. The deal, said to last 30 years, gives US nuclear…
Post #518: Forever War
A Widening War After nearly three weeks of resumed warfare, it is safe to say not only that the cease-fire is over but so is the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). An Iranian official said Iran would no longer carry out its obligations under the…
Post #517: Armed Conflict is Surging, Peacemaking is Flagging
A Record-Setting Pace Wars in Iran, Ukraine, and Israel have drawn attention away from a stark fact: armed conflict is on the rise worldwide in and between states. Two Swedish think tanks with impeccable credentials report the depressing figures: the Uppsala Conflict Data Program…
Post #516: The Retreat from Global Warming and Environmental Protection
Walking It Back We once took for granted that everyone concerned with global warming outside the Trump administration’s orbit accepted the scientists’ conclusion that 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming was the critical threshold. Following on its pullout from the Paris Accords, the administration has…
Post #515: Putin’s Predicament
Three Policy Directions President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly problematic position in the war with Ukraine would seem to lead Russia in three possible directions: stay the course and keep throwing soldiers and missiles at Ukraine; accept a cease-fire and enter peace talks; or embark on…
Post #514: Out of Control
Mentally Unstable Ordinarily, July 4 would be a time to celebrate the virtues of America. But whatever virtues we once possessed, Donald Trump and his inner circle of family and sycophants have abandoned them. Blind ambition, greed, and notorious self-promotion of the would-be king…
Post #513: The Missing Art of the Deal with Iran
Understanding the MOU Most of the critical commentary on the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran centers on the specific commitments each side is supposed to have made and intends to carry out. But the MOU is not a peace agreement; it…
Post #512: Dissecting the US-Iran Agreement
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU) has now been revealed, and it is clear why it took days before a US official read it out to reporters in advance of the signing ceremony. The deal commits the US to steps Trump vowed never to…
Post #511: Lebanon, Netanyahu’s Nightmare and Opportunity
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s chances of reelection hinge on carrying on the war Hezbollah and keeping the fires burning with Iran. At the same time, he must assuage Donald Trump, who has called Netanyahu “crazy” for undermining US-Iran peace talks by continuing military…
Post #510: Defeats in the Middle East, One Place at a Time
President Donald Trump hates to lose, but he is on a losing streak in the Middle East—not just in Iran, where his illegal war has been a strategic and diplomatic disaster, but also in Gaza, Lebanon, and the US Congress. Israel’s military is out…
Post #509: The Crimes of the Trump Regime
(Note to the Reader: This is the fourth iteration of a blog originally posted after the first two weeks of the Trump administration. It is intended as a catalogue in six parts of the outrageous policies, actions, and behaviors of Donald Trump and his…
Post #508: This Reported End-of-War Agreement Shows Its Pointlessness
We’ve seen this movie several times already: Trump issues threats, Iran refuses to kneel, negotiators rush to Qatar, Trump or Rubio announces an imminent deal, and then optimism evaporates as it becomes clear that the two sides are miles apart. At which point the…
Post #507: The Trump-Xi Summit and the New World Order
A Transformed Relationship A study of five decades of US-China summitry by the Asia Society finds that “these meetings rarely transform the relationship. What they can do, when handled well, is make a potentially dangerous rivalry less volatile.” Breakthroughs are rare, but reducing tensions…
Post #506: China Plays It Smart in the Iran War
China has played a cautious hand on Iran. It has chosen not to try to defend a country that is a major source of oil and officially a “comprehensive strategic partner.” Instead, it has urged a diplomatic solution that will reopen the Strait of…
Post #505: Cuba’s Fate Should Not be in US Hands
Another Venezuela? Negotiations are ongoing between the US and Cuba as the Trump administration decides whether or not to apply the Venezuela model to Cuba. The US embargo remains in effect, with only one oil tanker—a Russian ship, loaded with 730,000 barrels of oil—allowed…
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In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 