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In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

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2Aug 20205 Aug 2020
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Post #269: Falling Behind: COVID, Climate Change, and Chaos

Multiple Crises, Multiple Obstacles COVID-19 and the protests for racial justice have drawn attention away from the mostly bad news…

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23Jul 202023 Jul 2020
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Post #268: The Trump Nightmare

By now it is an established fact that Donald Trump may, or may not, accept the results of the presidential…

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7Jul 202019 Jul 2020
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Post #267: In China, Your DNA Belongs to the State

The roundup and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people of a specific ethnic or religious group has all too…

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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…
BLOG

Post #253: Normal Nation?

6 Jan 20205 Jan 2020
With the assassination of Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Donald Trump has arguably done more to undermine US interests in the Middle East and sow the seeds of a region-wide war than…
BLOG

Post #252: No Room for Dialogue

3 Jan 20203 Jan 2020
“Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak, and he’s ineffective. So the only way he figures that he’s going…
APB

APB: The Democrats’ Scarlet Letter Strategy

20 Dec 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has evidently decided not to turn over the articles of impeachment to the Senate until Congress resumes its work January 7. Some observers think that’s a…
BLOG

Post #251: When It Comes to Corporate Taxes, It’s Always Christmas

19 Dec 201918 Dec 2019
As we all know, the largest US corporations and their chief executives were the main beneficiaries of Trump’s so-called tax reform in 2017. A new report from the Institute of…
BLOG

Post #250: The Afghanistan Pentagon Papers

10 Dec 20199 Dec 2019
The war in Afghanistan, America’s longest, has cost about 2,300 US lives, over 20,000 wounded, and about $1 trillion. Now, thanks to the persistence of the Washington Post, we have…
BLOG

Post #249: Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the Insecurity of China’s Leadership

5 Dec 20195 Dec 2019
Hong Kong is in chaos, with no sign that the protesters will yield on their demands. Mass incarceration and indoctrination of Uyghurs and other Chinese Muslims has become so widely…
BLOG

Post #248: Getting Rid of Treacherous Friends

17 Nov 201916 Nov 2019
Backing the Wrong Horse, Again The United States has a long record of befriending the wrong people—authoritarian leaders who rely on military and police power to enforce social inequality and…
BLOG

Post #247: From President to Autocrat

6 Nov 20195 Nov 2019
An Autocrat Like All Others A recent special issue of Foreign Affairs is devoted to profiling some of the world’s most prominent autocrats: Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan,…
BLOG

Post #246: Will Trump Leave Quietly?

24 Oct 201923 Oct 2019
On October 23, about two dozen unhappy Republican congress members stormed a closed hearing that was part of the impeachment inquiry, determined to show their loyalty to Trump (who knew…
BLOG

Post #245: Overreach, the Achilles Heel of Autocrats

6 Oct 20196 Oct 2019
It Has Happened Here and Everywhere It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the democratic wave sweeping Europe in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. It seems…
BLOG

Post #244: Listen to the Children

23 Sep 201922 Sep 2019
The Republicans are on the sidelines on the climate crisis.  Government scientists are muzzled.  Leading Democrats—though not all—are cautious.  CEOs of some of America’s biggest corporations are pledging action while…

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