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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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APB

Who’s To Blame if the US-North Korea Summit Isn’t Held?

16 May 201817 May 2018
Virtually everyone in the US faults North Korea for threatening to cancel the Trump-Kim summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. No one, including the liberal media, bothers to address…
BLOG

Post #205: Breaking the Iran Deal: the Delusion of Victory

10 May 20189 May 2018
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has undoubtedly been sipping Champagne these days in celebration of his successful effort to lobby Donald Trump over the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu’s crude interventions to…
BLOG

Post #204: The Korean Summit and After: What the Experts Say, and Miss

1 May 201830 Apr 2018
In the wake of the inter-Korean summit meeting, analysts are having a field day taking apart the Panmunjom Declaration of Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in and speculating about how Donald…
DOCUMENTS & REPORTS

The Three Inter-Korean Summit Final Statements

29 Apr 2018
(1) June 15, 2000 Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il Declaration: The leaders of the South and the North, recognizing that the meeting and the summit talks were of great significance…
BLOG

Post #203: Will Abe Shinzo “Make Japan Great Again”?

24 Apr 201822 Apr 2018
(Note: A somewhat shorter version of this article appears in China-US Focus, April 20, 2018, https://www.chinausfocus.com/peace-security/japans-shifting-security-posture-under-abe.)   Abe Shinzo, Japan’s prime minister, has now held his sixth meeting with Donald Trump.…
ARTICLES

“Unpacking a US Decision to Engage North Korea”

16 Apr 201826 Jun 2018
A special report of 38 North, co-authored with Carla Freeman and available at https://www.38north.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/38-North-SR-1804_Freeman-Gurtov.pdf   From the report: "Understanding what North Korea really wants is essential because hope that progress toward denuclearization…
BLOG

Post #202: The Syrian Quandary

11 Apr 2018
Donald Trump’s threat of another missile attack—or any attack—on Syria cannot improve the rebels’ position on the ground, affect use of chemical weapons, change Russia’s and Iran’s policies, or alter…
APB

APB: A Dangerous Game of Chicken

6 Apr 20186 Apr 2018
As the “tit-for-tat” trade fight between the US and China escalates, Donald Trump is likely to find that he doesn’t “know China” the way he once thought.  When he said…
BLOG

Post #201: The Coming Crisis with Iran

3 Apr 20183 Apr 2018
With the appointments of Mike Pompeo as secretary of state and John Bolton as national security adviser, Donald Trump has signaled his preparedness by the May 12 deadline to withdraw…
BLOG

Post #200: A Blank Check for Repression? A Saudi Leader Visits Washington

21 Mar 201824 Mar 2018
It’s a classic narrative: the foreign dignitary of a US ally visits Washington, the Pentagon and State Department are intent on selling him a large weapons package, a munitions maker…
BLOG

Post #199: Trump’s War on the Environment—Part 2, Resistance and Innovation

12 Mar 201813 Mar 2018
(Note to readers: This is the second of a two-part commentary, continuing reporting of good and bad news on the environment that began with my very first blog in 2014.…
APB

Defying the Hawks on the Way to a Trump-Kim Summit

9 Mar 20189 Mar 2018
Donald Trump’s extraordinary decision to meet with Kim Jong-un has taken all the policy hawks by surprise—and led them to issue all kinds of warnings of impending disaster.  Trump’s decision…

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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
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  • 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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