BLOG Post #361: Ukraine’s Future: Peace Through War? 14 Jan 202315 Jan 2023 Hopes and Realities Ukraine’s President Zelensky had a fairly successful visit to Washington last month, returning home with promises of more American weapons and unqualified US backing for Ukraine’s war…
BLOG Post #341: Co-opted: The UN’s Misguided Mission to Xinjiang 16 Jun 202215 Jun 2022 The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/62559/49-co-opted-the-uns-failed-mission-in-xinjiang.mp3. A Genocidal Policy The top UN human rights official recently traveled to Xinjiang province in China, hoping to persuade Beijing’s leaders…
BLOG Post #333: Crimes of War 13 Apr 202211 Apr 2022 The audio version is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/56499/42-crimes-of-war.mp3 Mass Violence in Our Times In just the past few years, we have witnessed mass violence directed at innocent people in many places: China’s…
APB APB: Repression in Myanmar (and an Invitation to a Presentation) 22 Mar 202125 Mar 2021 Democracy in Myanmar suffered a severe setback on February 1 when the Tatmadaw, the country’s military, seized power. The coup did not come as a complete surprise: the National League…
BLOG Post #269: Falling Behind: COVID, Climate Change, and Chaos 2 Aug 20205 Aug 2020 Multiple Crises, Multiple Obstacles COVID-19 and the protests for racial justice have drawn attention away from the mostly bad news about the environment. Yes, the skies in most parts of…
BLOG Post #267: In China, Your DNA Belongs to the State 7 Jul 202019 Jul 2020 The roundup and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of people of a specific ethnic or religious group has all too many precedents in modern history. The fact that the group…
BLOG Post #225: Trump’s Crusade in Latin America 28 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 What we are witnessing in Venezuela is a Latin America policy that draws from the Cold War and the era of US interventions, when regard for democracy and international law…
BLOG Post #224: The Shame of the 1 Percent Continues 21 Jan 201927 Jan 2019 Speaking at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Sir David Attenborough called on government and business leaders to support, with practical plans, “United Nations decisions on…
BLOG Post #219: Is China a “Responsible Great Power”? 31 Oct 201830 Oct 2018 President Xi Jinping would like everyone to pay attention to how China is exerting leadership in world affairs as a “responsible great power.” While the Trump administration is in retreat,…
BLOG Post #211: At Home and Abroad, Trump Abandons Human Rights (Part 2) 16 Jul 201814 Jul 2018 (Note: This is the continuation of Post #210, published July 7. The full version is available in The Asia-Pacific Journal/Japan Focus, https://apjjf.org/2018/15/Gurtov.html. Deceptive Reporting Discussion in the Trump administration of…
BLOG… Post #128: The Dark Side of United Nations Peacekeeping 15 Sep 201627 Feb 2017 United Nations peacekeeping operations (PKOs) involve over 125,000 soldiers deployed in sixteen countries, with a total budget of nearly $8 billion. Their missions range from interposing themselves between combatants…
BLOG… Post #106: Deadlock: North Korea’s Nuclear Test and US Policy 2 Feb 201627 Feb 2017 North Korea continues to rattle the cages of both friend and foe. Despite near-universal condemnation of its fourth nuclear test and a deplorable human rights record, Kim Jong-un defiantly disregards…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 