BLOG Post #384: China’s (Un)popularity 4 Aug 2023 One of Xi Jinping’s signature initiatives is the idea of China’s renaissance—“the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” as he puts it. Part of that effort is to arouse the loyalty…
BLOG Post #383: Russia, Niger, and Coup Politics in Africa 31 Jul 20231 Aug 2023 If head counting is any indication, Russian diplomacy in Africa is slipping. A Russia-Africa summit meeting held in St. Petersburg drew only 21 African heads of state, far fewer than…
BLOG Post #382: The Widening Breach, in Israel and in Israel-US Relations 24 Jul 202324 Jul 2023 The Growing Divide Israel’s Knesset, or parliament, has passed the first law to scale back judicial independence, in line with the ambitions of Benjamin Netanyahu’s largely far-right, ultra-religious cabinet.…
BLOG Post #381: Assessing Treasury Secretary Yellen’s Beijing Journey 12 Jul 202316 Jul 2023 Updated version now available on my podcast: https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/106476/87-assessing-treasury-secretary-yellens-china-trip.mp3 Rhetoric and Reality “I believe that my bilateral meetings — which totaled about 10 hours over two days — served as a…
BLOG Post #380: Who Needs Chinese Scientists? America Does 9 Jul 20239 Jul 2023 This blog is also available in my podcast at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/105809/86-who-needs-chinese-scientists-america-does.mp3 Unfair and Dysfunctional Xie Xiaoliang is one of Harvard’s premier scientists, a biophysical chemist known for his work on DNA.…
BLOG Post #379: The Coup that Wasn’t 30 Jun 202329 Jun 2023 A Narrow and Costly Escape Tensions between the Russian defense ministry and the head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeniy Prigozhin, had been running high for months, mainly because of…
BLOG Post #378: Modi’s Game, and Ours 25 Jun 202324 Jun 2023 China on Their Minds President Biden welcomed India’s prime minister Narendra Modi with much pomp and ceremony the other day. One senior US official said “there is no partner more…
BLOG Post #377: Trump Indicted 17 Jun 202317 Jun 2023 I dedicate this blog to the memory of my friend and former colleague, Daniel Ellsberg, who passed away Friday. He and I were among the authors of the top-secret…
BLOG Post #376: The Taiwan Imbroglio 4 Jun 2023 What’s Going On? In my previous blog (Post #375) I reported on the worrying signs of a large gap in communications between the US and China. But I also noted…
BLOG Post #375: Out of Touch: The US-China Communications Gap 21 May 202322 May 2023 Among the many troubling trends in US-China relations these days is the lack of high-level diplomatic engagement. Until a few weeks ago, only John Kerry, Biden’s special envoy on climate…
BLOG Post #374: China’s Aid to Russia Under the “No Limits” Partnership 10 May 20239 May 2023 "No Limits” Has Limits In the war in Ukraine, the China-Russia relationship is a wildcard. The notion persists, going back to the Putin-Xi meeting in Beijing just before Putin…
BLOG Post #373: Nuclear Politics: The US-South Korea “Washington Declaration” 5 May 20235 May 2023 The US-Republic of Korea (ROK) alliance began in 1953, at the end of the Korean War. Now seventy years later, President Biden and Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol met to cement…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 
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