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 #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 #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…
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…
BLOG… Post #119 – Too Close for Comfort: The Dangerous US-China Maritime Dispute 11 Jun 201627 Feb 2017 The Background Two recent close encounters between US spy planes and Chinese jets spell trouble for relations between Washington and Beijing. The first occurred over the South China Sea…
American Politics and the World… Post #113: Nuclear Insecurity 5 Apr 201627 Feb 2017 The fourth Nuclear Security Summit, hosted by President Obama, has just ended. The focus was on terrorism, a perfectly reasonable topic. But the larger question, not taken up by the…
BLOG… Post #108: Dark Spots, Light Spots, and Apple’s Protest 23 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 How’s this for bad choices? A recent study by a Harvard group contended with the position of US intelligence agencies that tracking possible terrorists was becoming more difficult because…
BLOG… Post #107 – Is US-Russia Engagement Still Possible? 11 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 President Obama’s failed attempt to “reset” US-Russia relations raises the question whether or not engaging Russia in the fullest sense is still possible. I think not, at least for the…
BLOG… Post #102 – Endless War, Undeclared and Undebated 27 Dec 201527 Feb 2017 The death of six US soldiers in Afghanistan on December 21 at the hands of a Taliban suicide bomber brings to twenty-one the number of US combat deaths there in…
BLOG… Post #97: Arming Dictators: An American Tradition 29 Oct 201527 Feb 2017 Last week the Obama administration announced another military aid package for Pakistan: eight F-16 fighter jets. Once again considerations of human rights and democratic values have been sacrificed to strategic…
BLOG… Post #86: With Friends Like These 6 Aug 201527 Feb 2017 The Pentagon Papers record a last-minute conversation between President Dwight Eisenhower and President-elect John F. Kennedy on Inauguration Day. The subject was the war in Indochina, which already was going…
American Politics and the World… Post #79: The Pentagon Slush Fund 1 Jun 201527 Feb 2017 Back in 1959, President Eisenhower and Soviet Premier Khrushchev took a break from their summit and walked in the woods around Camp David. Khrushchev, in his memoirs, relates a conversation…
BLOG… Post #55 – Obama’s Wars: Deeper into the Quagmire 25 Nov 201427 Feb 2017 President Obama continues to do everything to fulfill his prediction of September 12 that the Middle East wars will long outlast his administration. At that time (see my post #47,…
BLOG… Post #50 – The Lessons of Ebola 24 Oct 201427 Feb 2017 The battle against Ebola is in danger of being lost. A top official of MSF (Médecins Sans Frontières, or Doctors Without Borders), the lead NGO in West Africa with about…
BLOG… Post #47 – Mission Impossible 29 Sep 201427 Feb 2017 The New York Times editorial board has finally awakened to Obama’s “strategy” in the “war” (as it is officially called now) against ISIS. It is essentially the same strategy that…
BLOG… Post #42 – The Lone Ranger Rides Again: America’s Return to Iraq 26 Aug 201427 Feb 2017 In an interview with Thomas Friedman of the New York Times on August 8 (www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/opinion/president-obama-thomas-l-friedman-iraq-and-world-affairs.html?), President Obama stressed that the US was only fighting the Islamic State (IS, or…
BLOG… Post #25 – A Haircut in Yemen, and a Military That’s Everywhere 4 Jun 201427 Feb 2017 One might think that a liberal president who has tried to cultivate the image of someone devoted to diplomacy, engaging enemies, and respect for all cultures would have a strong…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 