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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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27Mar 202627 Mar 2026
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Post #500: No Exit in Iran

A Hopeless US Proposal Donald Trump thinks a 15-point plan will end the war with Iran. Seems like a hope…

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22Mar 2026
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Post #499: Cuba is Trump’s Next Imperial Project

Another Nonexistent Threat Regime change in Cuba may be the next stop for the Trump war machine. Here’s what he…

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14Mar 202614 Mar 2026
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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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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…
American Politics and the World…

Post #118: Cowgirl Diplomacy? Foreign Policy Under Hillary Clinton

24 May 201627 Feb 2017
America’s mainstream media, ever attracted to the splashy rather than the serious, has a new topic to occupy the time until Election Day: President Trump.  What will he do first? …
BLOG…

Post #117: Evaluating Obama’s Foreign Policy Record

15 May 201627 Feb 2017
So you’re not excited by Donald Trump’s announcement of his first foreign-policy acts as president: building the Mexico Wall, the No-Muslims Wall, the End-of-NATO Wall, and the China Trade Wall. …
BLOG…

Post #116: Sanctions and Defiance in North Korea (Part 2)

3 May 201627 Feb 2017
(This is the second of two posts; the first appeared as #115. The two together have also been published in the Asia-Pacific Journal, http://apjjf.org/2016/09/Gurtov.html.) Part 2: North Korea’s New Weapons:…
BLOG…

Post #115: Sanctions and Defiance in North Korea

23 Apr 201627 Feb 2017
Part 1: Sanctions—A Failed Strategy (Note: This is the first of a two-part commentary on North Korea.  The second part will discuss the North’s latest weapons programs, which have evidently…
BLOG…

Post #114: The Panama Papers and the 1%

15 Apr 201627 Feb 2017
One of the many tools at the disposal of multinational corporations (MNCs) for maximizing profits and undermining state sovereignty is moving operations to low-tax countries.  Global companies do not simply…
American Politics and the World…

Post #113: Nuclear Insecurity

5 Apr 201627 Feb 2017
The fourth Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by President Obama, has just ended.  The focus was on terrorism, a perfectly reasonable topic.  But the larger question, not taken up by the…
American Politics and the World…

Post #112—The Republicans: Cowardice in High Places

27 Mar 201627 Feb 2017
Jeb Bush endorses Ted Cruz.  So do Marco Rubio and Mitt Romney. Chris Christie endorses—in fact, practically fawns all over—Donald Trump. Ben Carson suddenly thinks Trump would make a great…
BLOG…

Post #111: China–Broken Rice Bowls, Stifled Voices

23 Mar 201627 Feb 2017
Amidst the economic downturn in China, two developments that are not “in the human interest” stand out: rising unemployment among workers in state-owned enterprises (SOEs), and repression of criticism of…
American Politics and the World…

Post #110: Trump and China

15 Mar 201627 Feb 2017
Donald Trump says he “knows” China. He “likes” China, in fact “loves” China.  And so long as the Chinese do exactly as he wants, he’ll continue loving China.  And that’s…
American Politics and the World…

Post #109: Donald Trump—From One Tyrant to Another

3 Mar 201627 Feb 2017
One thing I discovered long ago about tyrants: they love other tyrants. They’re a mutual admiration/suffering society.  When one succeeds by extinguishing dissent, the others applaud; and when one falls,…

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Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
wwmakers's avatarwwmakers on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
Russell White's avatarRussell White on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
larrykirsch's avatarlarrykirsch on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION

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  • Post #500: No Exit in Iran
  • Post #499: Cuba is Trump’s Next Imperial Project
  • Post #498: Unexpected Gifts: Beijing and Moscow Gain from Trump’s War
  • ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION
  • Post #497: Aggression in Iran

Recent Comments

Mel Gurtov's avatarMel Gurtov on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
wwmakers's avatarwwmakers on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
Russell White's avatarRussell White on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
larrykirsch's avatarlarrykirsch on Post #500: No Exit in Iran
bombless's avatarbombless on ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW PUBLICATION

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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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