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 #292: the Navalny case and US-Russia relations 21 Mar 202121 Mar 2021 (Note to Readers: This blog is the long version of my "Global Citizen" broadcast #4, which will be available March 23.) Joe Biden has barely had time to get reacquainted…
BLOG Post #288: A Progressive Agenda for Biden’s Foreign Policy 27 Jan 202126 Jan 2021 (Note to Readers: This overview of the challenging issues faced by the new administration will be followed by other blogs that examine US policy in greater detail, starting with the…
BLOG Post #286: Biden and the World: A First Look at His Foreign Affairs Team (Part 2) 31 Dec 20202 Jan 2021 In the previous post, I introduced the president-elect’s team: a group of serious professionals dedicated to halting and reversing America’s retreat from the world. But, I asked, will they…
BLOG Post #283: Mike Pompeo’s Crusade against the red menace 13 Dec 202012 Dec 2020 Thanks in good part to the Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, McCarthyism is alive and well in the US. Pompeo has become one of America’s leading dogmatist, ranting and railing…
BLOG Post #280: Biden’s Jobs 1-10 8 Nov 2020 In the next several weeks, President-elect Joe Biden will be preoccupied with creating a 100-day action agenda. It might be called "Operation Renewal." Here are my top-10 choices, in no…
BLOG Post #278: Trumpism Has Brought Democracy to Its Knees 19 Oct 202020 Dec 2020 In what we can only hope is its terminal phase, the Trump administration is doing everything it can to make a mockery of American democracy. Friendly foreign observers bemoan the…
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 #257: NUKES: The Unmentionable Election Issue (Part 2) 17 Mar 202015 Mar 2020 Getting to Zero Where are the Democrats? Why isn’t the present nuclear danger front and center in the Democrats’ presidential debates? I can think of a few reasons. First, Democrats…
APB APB: Embarrassing Moments from Trump’s Visit to India 25 Feb 2020 Donald Trump abroad never ceases to entertain with his ignorance and misstatements. As India’s leaders learned from Trump’s previous visits to Saudi Arabia and China, all it takes is pomp…
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 #249: Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and the Insecurity of China’s Leadership 5 Dec 20195 Dec 2019 Hong Kong is in chaos, with no sign that the protesters will yield on their demands. Mass incarceration and indoctrination of Uyghurs and other Chinese Muslims has become so widely…
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…
