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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: peace

APB

APB: Trump’s Occupy Portland Gambit

17 Jul 202019 Jul 2020
Federal troops in camouflage, without identification, heavily armed, uncommunicative, roving in unmarked cars, seizing and incarcerating peaceful protesters without charging them. Acting without invitation. No reporting of this deployment to…
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 #256: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 1)

9 Mar 20208 Mar 2020
Overkill More is Better One of these days, national security policy will get a few minutes of campaign debate time. And when that day occurs, perhaps—just perhaps—attention will turn to…
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 #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…
APB

APB: Farewell, John Bolton

11 Sep 2019
The firing (or, he insists, the resignation) of John Bolton as national security special assistant is being treated by some observers as a great loss for coherence and professionalism in…
BLOG

Post #238: Trump-Kim III: Making History Without Making Progress?

2 Jul 20192 Jul 2019
Taking a few steps onto North Korean soil, and posing for pictures with a friendly dictator, seem to fit Trump-era diplomacy better than a carefully laid out process. But unless…
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 #231: National Security—A Dangerous Confusion

7 May 201927 May 2019
This blog also appeared in Informed Consent, May 6, 2019, https://www.juancole.com/2019/05/backward-ignoring-interference.html There is a dangerous confusion in US national security policy when evaluating relations with Russia and China. The Trump…
BLOG

Post #226: On China, the US Public Stands Apart

5 Feb 20194 Feb 2019
Why isn’t the American public as agitated about China as are the Trump administration, the mainstream media, and even many China specialists? In a recent article (www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/01/31/china-gap/), Daniel Drezner, a…
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

“Gangsterism” or “Progress”? Examining North Korea’s Latest Statement on Denuclearization

9 Jul 20188 Jul 2018
Most US news reports are suggesting that the North Koreans may be backtracking on their commitment to denuclearization,calling the US position “gangster-like” following the visit of Secretary of State Mike…
American Politics and the World…

Post #140: The Diplomacy of Donald J. Trump

27 Dec 201627 Feb 2017
Oblivious to Tradition and Good Sense Those of us who appreciate the unconventional have to have second thoughts after watching Donald J. Trump in action.  All the more so when…
BLOG…

Post #136: The Trump Team: Loyal and Dangerous

15 Nov 201627 Feb 2017
Personnel appointments provide a useful glimpse into what policy will be.  Senior-level appointees are the policy shapers, and from what we have seen thus far, we are right to have…
BLOG…

Post #134: Voting Against Peace in Colombia

28 Oct 201627 Feb 2017
Those of us who study how to end wars rather than find new ways to prosecute them must be stunned, like many Colombians, by a popular vote there on October…

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  • Asian Perspective Comments on the “Open Letter to the President and Congress on China Policy”
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  • 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

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  • MY RECENT BOOKS “America in Retreat: Foreign Policy Under Donald Trump” (Rowman & Littlefield); “Engaging Adversaries: Peacemaking and Diplomacy in the Human Interest” (Rowman & Littlefield)
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