Post #504: Where We Are and Where We Need to Be on Iran
As another week of Trump’s war begins, it becomes ever more clear that all his presumptions about how the war would go have proven wrong. Iran’s economy has bent but not folded despite a blockade of its ports. Its ability to control the Strait…
Post #503: Why the US-Iran Talks Failed
The first face-to-face high-level talks between the US and Iran since 1979 have ended without agreement. Hardly surprising; both sides put forward positions not subject to actual bargaining. On the US side, according to JD Vance: “We need to see an affirmative commitment that…
Post #502: Trump’s Way of War
Stretching Presidential Power Donald Trump has made waging war more centered than ever before on presidential prerogative. The same president who once fulminated against his predecessors’ penchant for going to war has turned into an imperial leader who can’t get enough of it. He…
Post #501: Pete Hegseth’s Crusade
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.” – Sinclair Lewis Sinclair Lewis would have recognized Pete Hegseth immediately—a Christian nationalist whose religious beliefs, tattoos, and now his policies let everyone know he’s on a crusade…
Post #500: No Exit in Iran
A Hopeless US Proposal Donald Trump thinks a 15-point plan will end the war with Iran. Seems like a hope and a prayer. Predictably, Iran rejected it out of hand and has put forward its own plan, which the US will surely reject. Negotiations…
Post #499: Cuba is Trump’s Next Imperial Project
Another Nonexistent Threat Regime change in Cuba may be the next stop for the Trump war machine. Here’s what he told CNN in an interview March 6: “Cuba is gonna fall pretty soon . . . They want to make a deal, and so…
Post #498: Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War
I have previously commented about the strategic blunders the Trump regime has made in its war on Iran. Add this one: the gains both China and Russia have made at US expense. While the war has had costs for both those countries, on balance…
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…
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In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 