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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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12Apr 202612 Apr 2026
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Post #503: Why the US-Iran Talks Failed

The first face-to-face high-level talks between the US and Iran since 1979 have ended without agreement. Hardly surprising; both sides…

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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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Post #316: Dim Prospects for Climate Mitigation

30 Oct 2021
An audio version of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/42834/23-dim-prospects-for-climate-mitigation.mp3. Just in time for the COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden administration has released the National…
BLOG

Post #315 – Gravy Train: Corporate Profiteering on National Defense

21 Oct 202110 Nov 2021
A podcast of this blog is also available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/42179/22-gravy-train-corporate-profiteering-on-national-defense.mp3 A long time ago, Gordon Adams introduced the term “iron triangle” to characterize the interlocked relationship of the Pentagon’s military…
BLOG

Post #314 – Dissecting North Korea’s Missile Tests

12 Oct 202112 Oct 2021
            North Korea is carrying out one missile test after another lately, at the same time indicating (or is it?) interest in talks with South Korea about reducing tensions.  Late…
BLOG

Post #313 – Donald J. Trump: Traitor

28 Sep 202127 Sep 2021
The audio of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/40623/20-donald-trump-traitor.mp3. The Coup Attempt “There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today,” President Biden said in Philadelphia on July 13.…
BLOG

POST #312: The China Initiative, A Flawed and Dysfunctional Policy

22 Sep 2021
            President Biden is continuing the disengagement policy toward China that began under Donald Trump, with strong bipartisan support. Many people may not be aware that the opposite policy once…
BLOG

Post #311: The US and Yemen: Putting a Disreputable Policy Right

15 Sep 202114 Sep 2021
In Yemen, Saudi and Iranian interests collide, a civil war involving multiple parties has devastated the country, a humanitarian crisis has been going on for several years, and important issues…
BLOG

Post #310: The Road to Afghanistan is Littered with Bad Calls

2 Sep 20211 Sep 2021
Inevitably, given the sorry state of American politics these days, Joe Biden will be blamed by many people for the humiliating US defeat and withdrawal from Afghanistan.  But he is…
APB

FYI Afghanistan

27 Aug 2021
Here are a few sources from recent days with hopefully interesting ideas about the current situation in Afghanistan. A Zoom interview with Benon Sevan, a longtime senior official with the…
BLOG

Post #309: Game of Thieves in the Amazon

19 Aug 202127 Aug 2021
Here is the audio version (broadcast August 17, 2021): The UN-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a new report, based on the latest scientific findings, that once…
BLOG

Post #308: The Afghanistan Debacle

16 Aug 2021
An audio version of this blog is available at: https://www.podserve.fm/dashboard/episode_player_2/37657 Over a nearly twenty-year period, the war in Afghanistan is estimated to have cost about $2.2 trillion and resulted in…
BLOG

Post #307: Reclaiming Patriotism

13 Aug 2021
             In an interview August 12 on MSNBC, Dr. Anthony Fauci commented that one way to be patriotic is to get vaccinated.  That view prompted a thought I’ve been having…
BLOG…

Post #306: Pegasus and the Global Surveillance Business

9 Aug 202110 Aug 2021
Listen to an audio version of this blog at https://www.podserve.fm/dashboard/episode_player_2/37159 We have just learned about a powerful spyware known as Pegasus, manufactured and leased by the Israeli company NSO Group…

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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

  • A philanthropist makes a grand pledge for conservation
  • Making China a U.S. enemy is counterproductive
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  • Canada’s PM Sets an Independent Course
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