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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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30Oct 202029 Oct 2020
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Post #279: In Defense of Confucius Institutes

Readers may be surprised to learn that while disputes between the US and China over trade, human rights, and the…

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19Oct 202018 Oct 2020
6 Comments

Post #278: Trumpism Has Brought Democracy to Its Knees

In what we can only hope is its terminal phase, the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make…

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11Oct 2020
4 Comments

Post #277: Our Deranged President

In 2016 America’s electoral college gave Donald Trump the presidency.  Within a few months we came to realize that this…

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APB

APB: “Standing Up” for Hong Kong

24 May 2020
Has Xi Jinping finally overplayed his hand? The new security law for Hong Kong may be just that. Whereas the “cultural genocide” in Xinjiang, the roundup of lawyers and journalists…
BLOG

Post #262: Weaponizing the Virus

22 May 202021 May 2020
China is “the central threat of our times,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in January 2020. Since then, the Trump administration has done everything it can to pump up…
BLOG

Post #261: For Trump, It’s Mission Accomplished

12 May 2020
“We have met the moment and we have prevailed,” Donald Trump said at a news briefing May 11. “The moment” is quite a departure from Dr. Anthony Fauci’s idea that…
BLOG

Post 260: The Coming New World Disorder

3 May 20202 May 2020
After the demise of the Soviet Union and the US intervention that crushed Saddam Hussein’s attack on Kuwait in 1991, President George H. W. Bush pronounced a new world order.…
BLOG

Post #259: AWOL: Trump’s Disappearing Leadership

19 Apr 202019 Apr 2020
Who's In Charge? Donald Trump’s political strategy during the coronavirus pandemic is simple: insist the federal government only plays a backup role when it comes to providing needed services and…
BLOG

Post #258: Putin Forever!

3 Apr 20202 Apr 2020
(Note to Readers: Authoritarian leaders everywhere—yes, that includes the US—are exploiting internal challenges such as the coronavirus pandemic to expand their power to repress their citizens. These power grabs also…
APB

APB: Trump’s Cure and Our Disease

26 Mar 202026 Mar 2020
The surgeon-general said so. The federal reserve chairman said so. Epidemiologists across the US said so. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the most credible member of Trump’s coronavirus task force, said so.…
APB

APB: Derelict Leadership on Health Security

21 Mar 202021 Mar 2020
If one event shows both Trump’s flawed character and his ineptitude, it would have to be his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. It is all about him, claiming superior knowledge…
BLOG

Post #257: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 2)

17 Mar 202015 Mar 2020
Getting to Zero Where are the Democrats? Why isn’t the present nuclear danger front and center in the Democrats’ presidential debates?  I can think of a few reasons.  First, Democrats…
BLOG

Post #256: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 1)

9 Mar 20208 Mar 2020
Overkill More is Better One of these days, national security policy will get a few minutes of campaign debate time. And when that day occurs, perhaps—just perhaps—attention will turn to…
APB

APB: Embarrassing Moments from Trump’s Visit to India

25 Feb 2020
Donald Trump abroad never ceases to entertain with his ignorance and misstatements. As India’s leaders learned from Trump’s previous visits to Saudi Arabia and China, all it takes is pomp…
APB

APB: Poor Bill Barr

14 Feb 202017 Feb 2020
Attorney General William Barr’s interview the other day in which he said Trump’s constant tweeting had made his job “impossible” has gotten mixed responses in the media. Some think the…
BLOG

Post #255: Donald Trump’s Fantasy World

5 Feb 2020
House speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up Donald Trump’s speech, saying he was “shredding the truth.” It was quite a moment, and though she took some heat for such an impertinent…
BLOG

Post #254: India’s Failed Democracy

22 Jan 202021 Jan 2020
Citizenship Denied India is often billed as the world’s biggest democracy. But that title has worn thin: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is becoming a nationalist state home to…
APB

APB: Thanks to Trump, Iran Has the Upper Hand

8 Jan 20208 Jan 2020
The assassination of General Soleimani is proving to be a resounding success for Iran. It accomplished what the ayatollah could not: common ground between Iran and Iraq, Iraq’s invitation to…

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  • The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Articles on US-China relations and the End-of-Poverty Illusion in East Asia

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