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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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20Jul 2026
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Post #517: Armed Conflict is Surging, Peacemaking is Flagging

A Record-Setting Pace Wars in Iran, Ukraine, and Israel have drawn attention away from a stark fact: armed conflict is…

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16Jul 202616 Jul 2026
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Post #516: The Retreat from Global Warming and Environmental Protection

Walking It Back We once took for granted that everyone concerned with global warming outside the Trump administration’s orbit accepted…

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12Jul 202616 Jul 2026
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Post #515: Putin’s Predicament

Three Policy Directions President Vladimir Putin’s increasingly problematic position in the war with Ukraine would seem to lead Russia in…

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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…
BLOG

Post #360 The Threat Business: China or Russia?

2 Jan 20233 Jan 2023
Dual Enemies For those in charge of US national security, the central challenge is identifying threats and determining how to counter them. The Biden administration has cast China and Russia,…
BLOG

Post #359: The Iran Protests and US Policy

13 Dec 202212 Dec 2022
"Women, Life, Freedom" Streets in dozens of Iran cities are filled with angry people in popular protests that have already gone on much longer—three months and counting—than those in 2009…
BLOG

Post #358: China’s COVID Uprising

4 Dec 20227 Jan 2023
Significant dissent in China reared its head for the first time since the Tiananmen uprising in 1989. In many of China’s major cities, protesters joined hands to denounce the COVID…
BLOG

Post #357: The Biden-Xi Summit in Bali

22 Nov 202222 Nov 2022
Some Reasons for Optimism             The much-ballyhooed first in-person summit between Pres. Biden and Xi on November 14 went off pretty well. Biden clearly communicated the US belief that a…
BLOG

Post #356: A Post-Election Caution

15 Nov 2022
Reasons for Concern             What a difference a day makes, as the old song goes. The day before Election Day, liberals and progressives feared the worst: a solidly MAGA takeover…
BLOG

Post #355: Israel’s Religious Terrorists

10 Nov 20229 Nov 2022
Note to Readers: Larry Kirsch is co-author of this blog. He is a consulting economist who focuses on economic and social justice, consumer protection, and public finance. Note to Readers…
BLOG

Post #354: Time to Reset Military Relations with Saudi Arabia

4 Nov 2022
An Uneven Balance Sheet             Saudi Arabia and OPEC have decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day. The President is miffed, and has signaled that he’s…
BLOG

Post #353: Europe’s Far-Right Lurch

23 Oct 202222 Oct 2022
The struggle to save democracy is proving even more difficult in Europe than here in the US. Virtually every European country is bedeviled by rising conflict between traditional political parties…
BLOG

Post #352: Can Russia’s Use of a Nuclear Weapon in the Ukraine War Be Prevented?

13 Oct 202225 Oct 2022
(The podcast of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/76143/62-on-dealing-with-russia-nuclear-weapons-and-the-off-ramp.mp3)             President Biden surprised his top advisers along with everyone else when, at a fundraising event, he referred to “Armageddon” in the…

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  • Post #513: The Missing Art of the Deal with Iran

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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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  • Making China a U.S. enemy is counterproductive
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  • Canada’s PM Sets an Independent Course
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