BLOG Post #319: The US and Yemen: Putting a Disreputable Policy Right 29 Nov 202128 Nov 2021 An audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/44803/27-the-us-and-yemen-putting-a-disreputable-policy-right.mp3 In Yemen, Saudi Arabian and Iranian interests collide, a civil war involving multiple parties has devastated the country, important issues of…
BLOG Post #317: Israel’s New Leadership Offers Nothing New to Palestinians 13 Nov 202112 Nov 2021 A podcast of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/43705/25-israels-mistreatment-of-palestinians-continues.mp3 How have Israeli-Palestinian relations changed since the end of the right-wing Netanyahu government? The short answer: Not much; a right-wing government…
BLOG Post #311: The US and Yemen: Putting a Disreputable Policy Right 15 Sep 202114 Sep 2021 In Yemen, Saudi and Iranian interests collide, a civil war involving multiple parties has devastated the country, a humanitarian crisis has been going on for several years, and important issues…
BLOG Post #310: The Road to Afghanistan is Littered with Bad Calls 2 Sep 20211 Sep 2021 Inevitably, given the sorry state of American politics these days, Joe Biden will be blamed by many people for the humiliating US defeat and withdrawal from Afghanistan. But he is…
BLOG… Post #306: Pegasus and the Global Surveillance Business 9 Aug 202110 Aug 2021 Listen to an audio version of this blog at https://www.podserve.fm/dashboard/episode_player_2/37159 We have just learned about a powerful spyware known as Pegasus, manufactured and leased by the Israeli company NSO Group…
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 #298: After the Cease-fire: Peace or War? 24 May 202123 May 2021 This blog is also available as a podcast via podserve.fm: https://www.podserve.fm/dashboard/episode_player_2/31406 U.N. Secretary General António Guterres urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to go “beyond the restoration of calm to start…
BLOG Post #271: The Israel-UAE Agreement: Good for a Few, Bad for Most 26 Aug 202025 Aug 2020 The Real Deal Commentators evidently desperate for good news are touting the Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreement as a welcome path to Middle East peace. The agreement trades Israel’s promise…
BLOG Post #255: Donald Trump’s Fantasy World 5 Feb 2020 House speaker Nancy Pelosi tore up Donald Trump’s speech, saying he was “shredding the truth.” It was quite a moment, and though she took some heat for such an impertinent…
APB APB: Thanks to Trump, Iran Has the Upper Hand 8 Jan 20208 Jan 2020 The assassination of General Soleimani is proving to be a resounding success for Iran. It accomplished what the ayatollah could not: common ground between Iran and Iraq, Iraq’s invitation to…
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 #250: The Afghanistan Pentagon Papers 10 Dec 20199 Dec 2019 The war in Afghanistan, America’s longest, has cost about 2,300 US lives, over 20,000 wounded, and about $1 trillion. Now, thanks to the persistence of the Washington Post, we have…
BLOG Post #248: Getting Rid of Treacherous Friends 17 Nov 201916 Nov 2019 Backing the Wrong Horse, Again The United States has a long record of befriending the wrong people—authoritarian leaders who rely on military and police power to enforce social inequality and…
BLOG Post #243: No War for Saudi Oil! 17 Sep 201922 Sep 2019 Even if US intelligence decisively shows that some of the drones and cruise missiles used in the attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil fields originated in Iran, a decision to go…
BLOG Post #237: The Trump Way of War 29 Jun 20191 Aug 2019 Notice how similar are the Trump administration’s interactions with Iran and North Korea? The pattern in both cases is dangerous, ill-informed, and bound to fail. US adversaries by now understand…
BLOG Post #236: Iran—Who and Where is the Threat? 21 Jun 201921 Jun 2019 The official US narrative on Iran is that it is an escalating threat to “peace and security” in the Middle East and must be stopped. Step by step, with Mike…
BLOG Post #233: Another Fake “Emergency” 25 May 201924 May 2019 Just a few months ago Saudi Arabia’s leader, Mohammed bin-Salman (MBS), was on the defensive. He had authorized the murder of an independent journalist, his domestic “reforms” had turned out…
BLOG Post #232: Baiting Iran 14 May 2019 Ever since Donald Trump became president, regime change in Iran has been a prominent US aim. Trump began by backing out of the nuclear deal and imposing harsh sanctions, setting…
BLOG Post #222: Road to Ruin: Trump’s Middle East Retreat 22 Dec 201822 Dec 2018 The flight of the generals is now complete with the resignation of General James Mattis—the last of the four generals to depart, and the last to give up the naïve…
APB APB: The Play’s the Thing 16 Nov 201815 Nov 2018 The murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi is a tragedy, and it is of a piece with the related tragedy of US-Saudi relations. Weeks ago I outlined a play in four…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 