BLOG Post #262: Weaponizing the Virus 22 May 202021 May 2020 China is “the central threat of our times,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in January 2020. Since then, the Trump administration has done everything it can to pump up…
BLOG Post 260: The Coming New World Disorder 3 May 20202 May 2020 After the demise of the Soviet Union and the US intervention that crushed Saddam Hussein’s attack on Kuwait in 1991, President George H. W. Bush pronounced a new world order.…
BLOG Post #252: No Room for Dialogue 3 Jan 20203 Jan 2020 “Our president will start a war with Iran because he has absolutely no ability to negotiate. He’s weak, and he’s ineffective. So the only way he figures that he’s going…
BLOG Post #234: Why the Trade War with China is So Dangerous 4 Jun 20193 Jun 2019 The trade war with China that Trump so confidently predicted would result in a great new deal now threatens to become a permanent feature of US-China relations. Why that is…
APB What the Chinese are Saying About the Trade Summit 3 Dec 20183 Dec 2018 Kicking the can down the road is a familiar way to avoid dealing with a problem. That is what happened in the Trump-Kim talks in Singapore on denuclearization, and it…
BLOG Post #215: On Dealing with China 18 Sep 201826 Sep 2018 (Note: A slightly different version of this article has been published as "The China Conundrum" at https://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/the-china-conundrum.) A Self-Confident China Ever since China’s economic reforms began in 1978, the goal…
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 #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 #104 –Engaging and Apologizing: Two Exercises, Different Results 18 Jan 201627 Feb 2017 The art and wisdom of engaging and apologizing to adversaries was on display in recent days in two very different settings, one in East Asia and the other in the…
BLOG… Post #56 – What is to be Done? Six Paths to a New US Policy in the Middle East 1 Dec 201427 Feb 2017 If I am correct that the United States has once again fallen into a quagmire in the Middle East, one with some of the same features that marked the Vietnam…
BLOG… Post #51 – Back to Basics on an Israeli-Palestinian Peace 1 Nov 201427 Feb 2017 The September 2014 issue of Harper’s carried a fascinating dialogue among eight prominent Israeli and Palestinian citizens on the future of their relationship. It took place against the background of…
BLOG… Post #46 – Scotland’s Vote, Our (Possible) Future 22 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 Scotland’s vote for independence fell well short of victory. But pro-independence Scots will surely try again, just like les Québecois. From a practical point…
BLOG… Post #26-What Works? Good Neighbors Find Common Ground 9 Jun 201427 Feb 2017 It’s a powerful story of grassroots organizing. “Jane Kleeb vs. Keystone” details the tenacious efforts of one person in Nebraska to reach across the usual environmentalist-conservative divide in order to…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 