BLOG… Post #115: Sanctions and Defiance in North Korea 23 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 Part 1: Sanctions—A Failed Strategy (Note: This is the first of a two-part commentary on North Korea. The second part will discuss the North’s latest weapons programs, which have evidently…
BLOG… Post #114: The Panama Papers and the 1% 15 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 One of the many tools at the disposal of multinational corporations (MNCs) for maximizing profits and undermining state sovereignty is moving operations to low-tax countries. Global companies do not simply…
American Politics and the World… Post #113: Nuclear Insecurity 5 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 The fourth Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by President Obama, has just ended. The focus was on terrorism, a perfectly reasonable topic. But the larger question, not taken up by the…
BLOG… Post #111: China–Broken Rice Bowls, Stifled Voices 23 Mar 201627 Feb 2017 Amidst the economic downturn in China, two developments that are not “in the human interest” stand out: rising unemployment among workers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and repression of criticism of…
American Politics and the World… Post #110: Trump and China 15 Mar 201627 Feb 2017 Donald Trump says he “knows” China. He “likes” China, in fact “loves” China. And so long as the Chinese do exactly as he wants, he’ll continue loving China. And that’s…
BLOG… Post #107 – Is US-Russia Engagement Still Possible? 11 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 President Obama’s failed attempt to “reset” US-Russia relations raises the question whether or not engaging Russia in the fullest sense is still possible. I think not, at least for the…
BLOG… Post #105: Time for a Reset in US-Saudi Relations 27 Jan 201627 Feb 2017 The growing rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran is reportedly causing great consternation in US policymaking circles (www.nytimes.com/2016/01/05/us/politics/us-struggles-to-explain-alliance-with-saudis.html). Once again, US officials are called upon to decide whether to…
BLOG… Post #102 – Endless War, Undeclared and Undebated 27 Dec 201527 Feb 2017 The death of six US soldiers in Afghanistan on December 21 at the hands of a Taliban suicide bomber brings to twenty-one the number of US combat deaths there in…
American Politics and the World… Post #101: The Paris Climate-Change Agreement: Hold the Champagne 15 Dec 201527 Feb 2017 Ban Ki-moon called it “a monumental success for the planet and its people.” Secretary of State Kerry said it was “a tremendous victory for all of our citizens—not for…
BLOG… Post #100: China in Paris 7 Dec 201527 Feb 2017 Xi Jinping is a lucky man: He got to spend a few days in Paris, at the UN Conference on Climate Change, while his fellow Beijingers suffered under some of…
BLOG… Post #99: After Paris, What? 21 Nov 201527 Feb 2017 In the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, the community of security experts in the US and abroad seems already to have formed a consensus about what happened, why it…
BLOG… Post #98: Reality Check on China 13 Nov 201527 Feb 2017 Will the real China please stand up? In the US media, most stories about China raise questions that amount to threat-mongering. How can China’s “aggressiveness” in the South China Sea…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 
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