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In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

In the Human Interest – Mel Gurtov

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Tag: China

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Post #368: A Big Deal: China’s Middle East Diplomatic Coup

26 Mar 202325 Mar 2023
A Big Deal for Some By any stretch of the imagination, the March 10 announcement of China’s brokering of a Saudi Arabia-Iran agreement to resume diplomatic relations and exchange security…
BLOG

Post #367: Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington

18 Mar 202318 Mar 2023
The Mounting Danger Tensions on the Korean peninsula have reached a new level of intensity. North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement Feb. 17 in anticipation of another round of…
BLOG

Post #363: More on the China Balloon Episode: Much Ado About Very Little

13 Feb 202322 Feb 2023
(The China Balloon Incident has three phases. We have just exited Phase 2. In Phase 1, “Discovery,” the Biden administration went into action mode on finding that a Chinese “spy”…
BLOG

Post #358: China’s COVID Uprising

4 Dec 20227 Jan 2023
Significant dissent in China reared its head for the first time since the Tiananmen uprising in 1989. In many of China’s major cities, protesters joined hands to denounce the COVID…
BLOG

Post #357: The Biden-Xi Summit in Bali

22 Nov 202222 Nov 2022
Some Reasons for Optimism             The much-ballyhooed first in-person summit between Pres. Biden and Xi on November 14 went off pretty well. Biden clearly communicated the US belief that a…
BLOG

Post #343: China’s Surveillance State and Its Meaning for Us

5 Jul 202229 Jul 2022
The audio of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/64174/52-chinas-surveillance-state-and-ours.mp3 The Tools of Surveillance             In a recent commentary, I discussed the visit to China of the UN’s chief human rights official…
BLOG

Post #341: Co-opted: The UN’s Misguided Mission to Xinjiang

16 Jun 202215 Jun 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/62559/49-co-opted-the-uns-failed-mission-in-xinjiang.mp3. A Genocidal Policy The top UN human rights official recently traveled to Xinjiang province in China, hoping to persuade Beijing’s leaders…
BLOG

Post #340: The Arsenal, But Not of Democracy

4 Jun 202210 Jun 2022
The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/61577/48-an-arsenal-but-not-of-democracy.mp3    America is awash with weapons, and the tragic consequences are before us every day. The world is also awash with…
BLOG

Post #339: Biden, Taiwan, and Strategic Ambiguity

27 May 202228 May 2022
An audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/60974/47-biden-taiwan-and-strategic-ambiguity.mp3 Defending Taiwan At a stopover in Tokyo during his Asia trip, President Biden was asked whether the US would “defend Taiwan”…
BLOG

Post #335:   The Coming Old New Order

30 Apr 2022
From Cold War to Cold War             A principal lesson of the war in Ukraine is that the Cold War never ended. German reunification, the Soviet Union’s collapse, new entries…
BLOG

Post #333: Crimes of War

13 Apr 202211 Apr 2022
The audio version is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/56499/42-crimes-of-war.mp3 Mass Violence in Our Times In just the past few years, we have witnessed mass violence directed at innocent people in many places: China’s…
BLOG

Post #327: Putin’s War

24 Feb 202225 Feb 2022
           Shortly after Joe Biden took office, a distinguished political science professor (whom I won’t name) advised the new administration to engage with Russia in order to stop the Chinese threat.…
BLOG

Post #325: China’s Careful Dance Around the Ukraine Crisis

6 Feb 20225 Feb 2022
The podcast of this blog may be heard at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/50923/34-china-russia-relations-and-the-ukraine-crisis.mp3 Reports out of Washington suggest worry over a Russia-China partnership that would facilitate Vladimir Putin’s presumed ambition to absorb Ukraine…
BLOG

Post #323 – Destroying Democracy: China in Hong Kong

11 Jan 202211 Jan 2022
An audio version of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/48006/32-destroying-democracy-china-in-hong-kong.mp3 On July 1, 1997 the United Kingdom formally handed Hong Kong over to China under an agreement that was supposed…
BLOG

Post #318: Finding Common Ground with China

18 Nov 202117 Nov 2021
Readers note: An audio version of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/44104/26-finding-common-ground-with-china.mp3 “It seems clear to me we need to establish some common-sense guardrails,” President Biden told President Xi Jinping…
BLOG

POST #312: The China Initiative, A Flawed and Dysfunctional Policy

22 Sep 2021
            President Biden is continuing the disengagement policy toward China that began under Donald Trump, with strong bipartisan support. Many people may not be aware that the opposite policy once…
BLOG…

Post #305: Influence Peddling, A Threat to Democracy and a Humane Foreign Policy

1 Aug 2021
A shorter audio version of this blog is available at: https://www.podserve.fm/dashboard/episode_player_2/36759             Modern-day democracy has numerous weaknesses, as we’ve been made well aware: policy differences that cannot be resolved, corruption,…
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 #283: Mike Pompeo’s Crusade against the red menace

13 Dec 202012 Dec 2020
Thanks in good part to the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, McCarthyism is alive and well in the US.  Pompeo has become one of America’s leading dogmatist, ranting and railing…
BLOG

Post #279: In Defense of Confucius Institutes

30 Oct 202029 Oct 2020
Readers may be surprised to learn that while disputes between the US and China over trade, human rights, and the pandemic are making headlines, educational exchange programs are Washington’s chief…

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  • Post #368: A Big Deal: China’s Middle East Diplomatic Coup
  • Post #367: Deepening Tensions on the Korean Peninsula Demand New Thinking in Washington
  • Post #366: No Exit: Two Ukraine Peace Proposals Going Nowhere
  • Post #365: The Coup in Israel
  • Post #364: China and Europe: Profits versus Principles

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Jim Newcomer on Post #367: Deepening Tensions…
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