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In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

Critical appraisals of foreign affairs and politics from a global-citizen perspective

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10Apr 2026
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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…

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5Apr 2026
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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…

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27Mar 202627 Mar 2026
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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…

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BLOG

Post #370: A Political Lynching

7 Apr 20237 Apr 2023
            The Tennessee House of Representatives, dominated by a Republican supermajority, voted yesterday to expel two Black Democratic legislators who had participated in a peaceful public demonstration on behalf of…
BLOG

Post #369: The Climate Time Bomb

3 Apr 2023
The Bomb is Ticking             The odds are against us. That is the bottom line in the latest IPCC report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on global…
BLOG

Post #368: A Big Deal: China’s Middle East Diplomatic Coup

26 Mar 202325 Mar 2023
A Big Deal for Some By any stretch of the imagination, the March 10 announcement of China’s brokering of a Saudi Arabia-Iran agreement to resume diplomatic relations and exchange security…
BLOG

Post #367: Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington

18 Mar 202318 Mar 2023
The Mounting Danger Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached a new level of intensity. North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement Feb. 17 in anticipation of another round of…
BLOG

Post #366: No Exit: Two Ukraine Peace Proposals Going Nowhere

6 Mar 20235 Mar 2023
Two Very Different Paths to Peace Two proposals for bringing peace in Russia’s war on Ukraine were issued on nearly the same day last month: a UN General Assembly resolution…
BLOG

Post #365: The Coup in Israel

28 Feb 202328 Feb 2023
Israel has always been touted as America’s most reliable friend in the Middle East, a bastion of democracy in a region dominated by autocracies. Now that picture is fraying as…
BLOG

Post #364: China and Europe: Profits versus Principles

22 Feb 202320 Feb 2023
With all the attention on US-China relations, Beijing’s on-again, off-again relations with the European Union (EU) don’t receive the attention they deserve. In the short space of a few decades,…
BLOG

Post #363: More on the China Balloon Episode: Much Ado About Very Little

13 Feb 202322 Feb 2023
(The China Balloon Incident has three phases. We have just exited Phase 2. In Phase 1, “Discovery,” the Biden administration went into action mode on finding that a Chinese “spy”…
APB

APB: The Balloon is Up

3 Feb 20235 Feb 2023
            During World War I, British forces sent up hot-air balloons to spy on advancing enemy forces. Thus the expression, "the balloon is up." In recent times, a number of…
Podcasts

Russian Policy in the Middle East: A Conversation with Prof. Mark Katz

31 Jan 2023
Prof. Katz discusses Russia's relations with Iran, Syria, Israel and other countries; points out how Russia has effectively handled its Middle East ties in the midst of war in Ukraine;…
BLOG

Post #362: Risky Business: Japan Steps Out

25 Jan 202325 Jan 2023
(This blog is also available as a podcast at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/86207/67-risky-business-japan-steps-out-h1JT0.mp3) Background to a Changing Strategic Perspective Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has just visited Washington, drawing attention to how Japan…
BLOG

Post #361: Ukraine’s Future: Peace Through War?

14 Jan 202315 Jan 2023
Hopes and Realities Ukraine’s President Zelensky had a fairly successful visit to Washington last month, returning home with promises of more American weapons and unqualified US backing for Ukraine’s war…

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Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
wwmakers's avatarwwmakers on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
Russell White's avatarRussell White on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
larrykirsch's avatarlarrykirsch on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION

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  • Post #502: Trump’s Way of War
  • Post #501: Pete Hegseth’s Crusade
  • Post #500: No Exit in Iran
  • Post #499: Cuba is Trump’s Next Imperial Project
  • Post #498: Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War

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Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
wwmakers's avatarwwmakers on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
Russell White's avatarRussell White on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
larrykirsch's avatarlarrykirsch on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION

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Listen to my "Global Citizen" commentaries every Tuesday, 5:25 pm, on KBOO.fm (Portland area) and Wednesdays on KXCR.net (Florence, OR area). The Global Citizen International Digest of the week's news is on KBOO Thursdays at 5:30 pm and is also on SUBSTACK, free, via https://melgurtov.substack.com

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