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 #360 The Threat Business: China or Russia? 2 Jan 20233 Jan 2023 Dual Enemies For those in charge of US national security, the central challenge is identifying threats and determining how to counter them. The Biden administration has cast China and Russia,…
BLOG Post #359: The Iran Protests and US Policy 13 Dec 202212 Dec 2022 "Women, Life, Freedom" Streets in dozens of Iran cities are filled with angry people in popular protests that have already gone on much longer—three months and counting—than those in 2009…
BLOG Post #357: The Biden-Xi Summit in Bali 22 Nov 202222 Nov 2022 Some Reasons for Optimism The much-ballyhooed first in-person summit between Pres. Biden and Xi on November 14 went off pretty well. Biden clearly communicated the US belief that a…
BLOG Post #355: Israel’s Religious Terrorists 10 Nov 20229 Nov 2022 Note to Readers: Larry Kirsch is co-author of this blog. He is a consulting economist who focuses on economic and social justice, consumer protection, and public finance. Note to Readers…
BLOG Post #354: Time to Reset Military Relations with Saudi Arabia 4 Nov 2022 An Uneven Balance Sheet Saudi Arabia and OPEC have decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day. The President is miffed, and has signaled that he’s…
BLOG Post #350: Two on China: Xi Does Well in Central Asia, Taiwan Fares Well in the US Senate 20 Sep 202219 Sep 2022 The Limits of “No Limits” In the course of his Central Asia tour, Xi Jinping met with Vladimir Putin for what some analysts thought would be a reprise of their…
BLOG Post #346: Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan Trip: A Needless Provocation 3 Aug 20223 Aug 2022 The audio version of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/66494/55-nancy-pelosis-taiwan-trip-a-needless-provocation.mp3 House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was intent on visiting Taiwan, and did so despite President Biden’s misgivings and criticisms from many China…
BLOG Post #345: Back to the Future: Biden in the Middle East 23 Jul 202229 Jul 2022 The audio version of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/65600/54-back-to-the-future-bidens-middle-east-trip.mp3 President Biden has now completed his first visit to the Middle East. The trip was billed as an opportunity to…
BLOG Post #342: Europe’s Uneasy Unity on the War in Ukraine 28 Jun 202226 Jun 2022 The audio of this blog is available at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/63347/50-europes-uneasy-unity-in-the-ukraine-war.mp3. Welcoming the leaders of Finland and Sweden to Washington on May 19, President Biden said that “what makes NATO strong…
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 #338:North Korea: Missiles Over Human Security 24 May 202224 May 2022 Omicron Catches Up with North Korea After having proclaimed for over two years that the country was untouched by the coronavirus, North Korea now faces a potential health catastrophe. Its…
BLOG Post #336: Loose Lips Can Sink Peace 9 May 20228 May 2022 During World War II, US sailors were warned: Loose lips sink ships. A similar warning should have gone out to all US officials in recent days—and the President should…
BLOG Post #335: The Coming Old New Order 30 Apr 2022 From Cold War to Cold War A principal lesson of the war in Ukraine is that the Cold War never ended. German reunification, the Soviet Union’s collapse, new entries…
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…
BLOG Post #330: An Engagement Moment for the US and China 20 Mar 202222 Mar 2022 Listen to this blog at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/54894/39-an-engagement-moment-with-china-on-ukraine.mp3 One of the more interesting developments in Putin’s war on Ukraine is the retreat of China from full-fledged support of Russia. When the Russian…
BLOG Post #329: Thinking About the Unthinkable in the Ukraine Crisis 11 Mar 202212 Mar 2022 The audio version is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/54040/38-thinking-about-the-unthinkable-in-the-ukraine-crisis.mp3 We might be inclined to think that the most urgent decisions on Ukraine have been made: decisions on military aid to the Ukraine government,…
BLOG Post #327: Putin’s War 24 Feb 202225 Feb 2022 Shortly after Joe Biden took office, a distinguished political science professor (whom I won’t name) advised the new administration to engage with Russia in order to stop the Chinese threat.…
BLOG Post #326: Employing Confidence Building Measures in the Ukraine Crisis 18 Feb 2022 The audio of this blog is at https://www.podserve.fm/episodes/52277/35-confidence-building-measures-in-the-ukraine-crisis.mp3. Last week a tiny back-page item in the New York Times reported that the president of Ukraine had come to believe…
BLOG Post #324 – How to Avoid War Over Ukraine 21 Jan 2022 The threat of a major war hangs over eastern Europe. Four different negotiating forums between Russia and NATO on the Ukraine situation have not gone well. The two sides…
In the Human Interest - Mel Gurtov 