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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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Post #498: Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War

I have previously commented about the strategic blunders the Trump regime has made in its war on Iran. Add this…

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9Mar 2026
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ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION

China Inside and Out: Politics and Policies in a Turbulent World (Bloomsbury Academic). THIS BOOK OF FOCUSED READINGS AND DOCUMENTS…

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7Mar 2026
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Post #497: Aggression in Iran

Conduct that Defies Logic, Law, or Sound Purposes As the invasion of Iran grinds on and its boundaries expand, the…

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American Politics and the World…

Post #130: Notes from the First Debate

28 Sep 201627 Feb 2017
Now that a few days have passed since the first Clinton-Trump debate, I want to offer a few evaluations.  Prior to the debate, pundits said that Trump needed to moderate…
BLOG…

Post #129: Carrots or Sticks? Addressing North Korea’s Fifth Nuclear Test

20 Sep 201627 Feb 2017
As many experts predicted, North Korea (DPRK) followed another ballistic missile test with its fifth nuclear-weapon test on September 9.  The event continues a pattern of testing increasingly sophisticated weapons…
BLOG…

Post #128: The Dark Side of United Nations Peacekeeping

15 Sep 201627 Feb 2017
  United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) involve over 125,000 soldiers deployed in sixteen countries, with a total budget of nearly $8 billion.  Their missions range from interposing themselves between combatants…
BLOG…

Post #127: Mission Impossible in the Middle East

1 Sep 201627 Feb 2017
We all know from personal experience how difficult it is to burn the candle at both ends when we’re trying to satisfy two people who are at odds with one…
American Politics and the World…

Post #126: How Trump Deals

16 Aug 201627 Feb 2017
The revelation from a New York Times investigation that Donald Trump’s chief campaign adviser, Paul Manafort, was on the take with the former pro-Russian Ukraine president should come as no…
BLOG…

Post #125: Our Deteriorating Environment: Is Anybody Listening?

5 Aug 201627 Feb 2017
Since beginning my blog in January 2014, I have written several pieces on the urgency of dealing with climate change and other large-scale environmental challenges—challenges that I have argued constitute…
American Politics and the World…

Post #124: Break-in: The Kremlin-Trump Connection

26 Jul 201627 Feb 2017
Richard Nixon had “The Plumbers.”  Donald Trump, it seems, has the Russians—either the FSB (Federal Security Service, formerly the KGB), the GRU (military intelligence), or some pro-Moscow outside group.  Nixon…
American Politics and the World…

Post #123: Donald Trump—A “Unique and Present Danger”

23 Jul 201627 Feb 2017
“There can be no prosperity without law and order.”  If you saw Donald Trump delivering those words—he repeated “law and order” three more times—you had every reason to think you…
BLOG…

Post #122: China’s Bad Day in Court

13 Jul 201627 Feb 2017
As had been widely expected, the Permanent Court of Arbitration under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) ruled on July 12 in favor of the Philippines’…
BLOG…

Post #121: Unintended Consequences and the Warfare State

7 Jul 201627 Feb 2017
“The danger is, as ever with these things, unintended consequences.”  So wrote Prime Minister Tony Blair to President George W. Bush in 2002, as Bush prepared to invade Iraq (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/07/06/full-text-annotated-tony-blairs-2002-iraq-memo-to-george-bush). …
BLOG…

Post #120: Is Brexit the End of the World?

27 Jun 201627 Feb 2017
To judge from a New York Times front-page article that appeared two days after the British vote to withdraw from the EU, the entire post-World War II global financial and…
BLOG…

Post #119 – Too Close for Comfort: The Dangerous US-China Maritime Dispute

11 Jun 201627 Feb 2017
The Background              Two recent close encounters between US spy planes and Chinese jets spell trouble for relations between Washington and Beijing.  The first occurred over the South China Sea…

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bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION
Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #497: Aggression in Iran
Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #492: TACO Time or Wartim…
chiefbeardf273823bee's avatarchiefbeardf273823bee on Post #492: TACO Time or Wartim…
Unknown's avatarPortland State Unive… on Post #219: Is China a “Respons…

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  • Post #498: Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War
  • ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION
  • Post #497: Aggression in Iran
  • Post #496: War on Iran
  • Post #495: Trumped on Tariffs

Recent Comments

bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION
Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #497: Aggression in Iran
Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #492: TACO Time or Wartim…
chiefbeardf273823bee's avatarchiefbeardf273823bee on Post #492: TACO Time or Wartim…
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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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