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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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BLOG

Post #295: North Korea is Back on the US Agenda

23 Apr 202119 Apr 2021
North Korea is rattling America’s cage again.  It sent a reminder call when it recently fired off multiple short-range missiles after denouncing Washington for going forward with joint military exercises…
BLOG

Post #294: Ending the Race to the Bottom in Corporate Taxation

12 Apr 202112 May 2021
Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has proposed that the US and other countries that host multinational corporations (MNCs) impose a “global minimum corporate tax rate” that would help pay for Biden’s…
BLOG

Post #293: The US-China Dialogue of the Deaf in Alaska

30 Mar 202128 Mar 2021
Rules-Based Order? Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he knew, going into the first face-to-face meetings with China’s top two foreign affairs officials on March 17, that “we are fundamentally…
APB

APB: Repression in Myanmar (and an Invitation to a Presentation)

22 Mar 202125 Mar 2021
Democracy in Myanmar suffered a severe setback on February 1 when the Tatmadaw, the country’s military, seized power.  The coup did not come as a complete surprise: the National League…
BLOG

Post #292: the Navalny case and US-Russia relations

21 Mar 202121 Mar 2021
(Note to Readers: This blog is the long version of my "Global Citizen" broadcast #4, which will be available March 23.) Joe Biden has barely had time to get reacquainted…
BLOG

Post #291: Where We Are and Where We’re Headed

5 Mar 20214 Mar 2021
            As the Biden administration settles in, let’s pause to take stock of where American politics now stands.  It’s not a pretty picture, but it has the potential for improvement. …
BLOG

Post #290: Biden’s Opportunity with China

23 Feb 202121 Feb 2021
The dominant view of China in both Washington and in American public opinion is that the United States faces an increasingly ruthless Chinese leadership, requiring that US policy restrain if…
BLOG

Post #289: United We Fail

4 Feb 2021
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhereThe ceremony of innocence is drowned;The best lack all conviction, while the…
BLOG

Post #288: A Progressive Agenda for Biden’s Foreign Policy

27 Jan 202126 Jan 2021
(Note to Readers: This overview of the challenging issues faced by the new administration will be followed by other blogs that examine US policy in greater detail, starting with the…
APB

APB: Our National Embarrassment

15 Jan 2021
It is not enough that under Donald Trump the United States has withdrawn from major international organizations at a time of global need; that its president has humiliated and withdrawn…
BLOG

Post #287: The End of American Exceptionalism

9 Jan 20218 Jan 2021
Sedition Whatever you want to call the violent assault in Washington on January 6, 2021—a mob action, a siege, a coup attempt, a riot, domestic terrorism, an insurrection—the fault clearly…
APB

APB: The Gang Leader Speaks

4 Jan 20214 Jan 2021
Donald Trump’s telephone  conversation with Georgia’s secretary of state will go down in history as a classic case of election interference, totally in keeping with Trump’s disdain for democratic processes…

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  • Post #517: Armed Conflict is Surging, Peacemaking is Flagging
  • Post #516: The Retreat from Global Warming and Environmental Protection
  • Post #515: Putin’s Predicament
  • Post #514: Out of Control
  • 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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