BLOG… Post #46 – Scotland’s Vote, Our (Possible) Future 22 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 Scotland’s vote for independence fell well short of victory. But pro-independence Scots will surely try again, just like les Québecois. From a practical point…
BLOG… Post #45 – America on Crusade: Now It’s Obama’s Turn 14 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 George F. Kennan, one of America’s greatest statesmen, warned in his classic American Diplomacy (1951) and many times thereafter of the country’s tendency to universalize its self-conceptions and its aims,…
BLOG… Post #44 – Democracy Under the Gun: Hong Kong and Other Asian Stories 7 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 “Communist Party, you choke people,” reads the placard raised by a demonstrator in Hong Kong the other day. He and a few thousand others belonging to Occupy Central (in Chinese,…
BLOG… Post #43 – Peacemaking or Provocations in Ukraine’s Crisis? 1 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 Call it aggression, invasion, incursion, or an illegal border crossing—whatever you call it, the fact remains that Russia has now become a direct participant in Ukraine’s civil war. To his…
BLOG… Post #42 – The Lone Ranger Rides Again: America’s Return to Iraq 26 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 In an interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times on August 8 (www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/opinion/president-obama-thomas-l-friedman-iraq-and-world-affairs.html?), President Obama stressed that the US was only fighting the Islamic State (IS, or…
BLOG… Post #41 – The US-China Tangle Over the South China Sea 21 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 The best way to describe the latest round of U.S.-China dispute over the South China Sea (SCS) is “déjà vu all over again.” (See post #23 for background.) The setting…
BLOG… Post #40 -The Coup in Baghdad 13 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 “What coup?” you ask. “How could I have missed it?” No, you didn’t exactly miss it; it’s just that the media didn’t call it a coup, describing Prime Minister Nouri…
BLOG… Post #39 – What Works? Microfinance: Financing Dignity 11 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 Back in the 1970s, Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh had a brilliant idea. He would found a bank to provide seed money to poor people who otherwise would have no way…
BLOG… Post #38 – Smoke and Mirrors in Gaza 4 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 One of the cardinal lessons of international conflict resolution is that two warring parties will not be interested in a peaceful settlement if they believe continuing to fight is worth…
BLOG… Post #37 – War’s Other Casualties: The Situation in Gaza and the Global Refugee Crisis 28 Jul 201427 Feb 2017 I ended a recent post by asking when someone would step forward to bring about a cease-fire. Well, John Kerry eventually answered the call. But by the time he left…
BLOG… Post #36 – What Works? Person- and Planet-centered Development 22 Jul 201427 Feb 2017 The usual script for international development is the provision of aid—mostly in loans, occasionally in outright grants—by a “developed” country or international institution to an “underdeveloped” one. The money goes…
BLOG… Post #35 – Mr. Xi Goes to Seoul 17 Jul 201427 Feb 2017 China and Korea watchers jumped to attention when it was announced that Xi Jinping would visit South Korea from July 3-4, rather than visit North Korea first. Although the trip…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 
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