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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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Tag: democracy

BLOG

Post #275: Saving Democracy

24 Sep 2020
Friends call it “impotent rage.” I share it. How is it possible that the president of a democratic country can get away with announcing, well in advance of an election,…
BLOG

Post #274: Defeating a Demagogue: A Reminder from History

22 Sep 202021 Sep 2020
It may be small comfort as we watch Donald Trump try to cheat and bully his way to a second term, but a recent study of his demagogic predecessor, Senator…
BLOG

Post #272: The Election: Concerns, Confidence, Candidates

31 Aug 202031 Aug 2020
Five things that worry me about the election: • Biden’s declining support among Latinos; • Trump’s law-and-order appeal amidst violence and destruction of property in protest marches; • Domination of…
BLOG

Post #270: The World Bank’s Poverty Illusion

12 Aug 202016 Aug 2020
What would you estimate is the minimum amount of money you need to get by every day? $100? $50? The figure, of course, depends very much on where you live…
BLOG

Post #266: Banana Republic or Constitutional Democracy? The US Military May Decide

24 Jun 202023 Jun 2020
Donald Trump’s appearance at the West Point graduation ceremonies a few weeks ago reminded some observers of the Class of 1986. That one class included several Trump appointees: Mark Esper…
BLOG

Post #265: Voting for the Human Interest: An Invitation to Readers

12 Jun 2020
We’re in a new and dangerous era now, described by Stephen Heintz, CEO of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, as one in which capitalism, the nation-state, and representative democracy have all…
BLOG

Post #264: America’s Tiananmen?

5 Jun 20206 Jun 2020
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."--Sinclair Lewis Yesterday, June 4, is usually best remembered for the 1989 suppression in Beijing…
BLOG

Post #263: Donald Trump’s Stealth Attack on America

2 Jun 20201 Jun 2020
Donald Trump has made the calculated decision to let the pandemic play out without need of a federal plan for disease treatment and economic recovery. Over 100,000 deaths mean nothing…
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 #254: India’s Failed Democracy

22 Jan 202021 Jan 2020
Citizenship Denied India is often billed as the world’s biggest democracy. But that title has worn thin: Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is becoming a nationalist state home to…
BLOG

Post #246: Will Trump Leave Quietly?

24 Oct 201923 Oct 2019
On October 23, about two dozen unhappy Republican congress members stormed a closed hearing that was part of the impeachment inquiry, determined to show their loyalty to Trump (who knew…
BLOG

Post #245: Overreach, the Achilles Heel of Autocrats

6 Oct 20196 Oct 2019
It Has Happened Here and Everywhere It seems like just yesterday that we were celebrating the democratic wave sweeping Europe in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse. It seems…
BLOG…

Post #240: Our Racist President

31 Jul 201930 Jul 2019
"Donald Trump lost the election because he veered so far off course from what it means to be a decent person, to be a leader, and to be an American.…
BLOG

Post #235: Impeach Trump

19 Jun 201918 Jun 2019
In a blog about a year ago (Post #212) entitled “Some May Call It Treason,” I referred to Donald Trump’s cozy relationship with Russia and the possibility that he has…
APB

APB: It’s War!

17 May 201917 May 2019
We’re at war, and I don’t mean in the Middle East. I’m referring to the war that the Trump administration, with support from an army of state and local legislators,…

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Journals with my recent articles

  • Asian Perspective Comments on the “Open Letter to the President and Congress on China Policy”
  • China-US Focus Chinese domestic and foreign policy; US-China relations
  • Counterpunch critical commentary from my blog on current affairs
  • Foreign Policy in Focus COVID-19 has contributed to US-China tensions instead of to cooperation.
  • Global Asia China’s flouting of human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang warrants US criticism, but not abandonment of engagement possibilities.
  • The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus Articles on US-China relations and the End-of-Poverty Illusion in East Asia

Virtual Talk, Sept. 22, 2020: Book talk, "America in Retreat: Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump," Noon, at World Affairs Council of Oregon, register at https://www.worldoregon.org.

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