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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 #274: Defeating a Demagogue: A Reminder from History

22 Sep 202021 Sep 2020
It may be small comfort as we watch Donald Trump try to cheat and bully his way to a second term, but a recent study of his demagogic predecessor, Senator…
BLOG

Post #273: Trump’s China Diversion

12 Sep 202020 Dec 2020
The Trump administration’s orchestrated attack on China is commonly assumed to stem from upset over China’s human rights violations and its aggressive behavior in the South China Sea and along…
BLOG

Post #272: The Election: Concerns, Confidence, Candidates

31 Aug 202031 Aug 2020
Five things that worry me about the election: • Biden’s declining support among Latinos; • Trump’s law-and-order appeal amidst violence and destruction of property in protest marches; • Domination of…
BLOG

Post #271: The Israel-UAE Agreement: Good for a Few, Bad for Most

26 Aug 202025 Aug 2020
The Real Deal Commentators evidently desperate for good news are touting the Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreement as a welcome path to Middle East peace. The agreement trades Israel’s promise…
BLOG

Excerpt from my new book, “America in Retreat: Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump”

21 Aug 202021 Aug 2020
[Note to the Reader: The following excerpt is from the final chapter of the book. It was written earlier this year, but I think everything that has happened since gives…
BLOG

Post #270: The World Bank’s Poverty Illusion

12 Aug 202016 Aug 2020
What would you estimate is the minimum amount of money you need to get by every day? $100? $50? The figure, of course, depends very much on where you live…
BLOG

Post #269: Falling Behind: COVID, Climate Change, and Chaos

2 Aug 20205 Aug 2020
Multiple Crises, Multiple Obstacles COVID-19 and the protests for racial justice have drawn attention away from the mostly bad news about the environment. Yes, the skies in most parts of…
BLOG

Post #268: The Trump Nightmare

23 Jul 202023 Jul 2020
By now it is an established fact that Donald Trump may, or may not, accept the results of the presidential election. He will definitely accept a win, and he “will…
APB

APB: Trump’s Occupy Portland Gambit

17 Jul 202019 Jul 2020
Federal troops in camouflage, without identification, heavily armed, uncommunicative, roving in unmarked cars, seizing and incarcerating peaceful protesters without charging them. Acting without invitation. No reporting of this deployment to…
BLOG

Post #267: In China, Your DNA Belongs to the State

7 Jul 202019 Jul 2020
The roundup and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people of a specific ethnic or religious group has all too many precedents in modern history. The fact that the group…
BLOG

Post #266: Banana Republic or Constitutional Democracy? The US Military May Decide

24 Jun 202023 Jun 2020
Donald Trump’s appearance at the West Point graduation ceremonies a few weeks ago reminded some observers of the Class of 1986. That one class included several Trump appointees: Mark Esper…
BLOG

Post #265: Voting for the Human Interest: An Invitation to Readers

12 Jun 2020
We’re in a new and dangerous era now, described by Stephen Heintz, CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as one in which capitalism, the nation-state, and representative democracy have all…

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