29 Nov, 2021
The US and Yemen: Putting a Disreputable Policy Right
In Yemen, Saudi Arabian and Iranian interests collide, a civil war involving multiple parties has devastated the country, important issues of international law...
29 Nov, 2021
18 Nov, 2021
Finding Common Ground with China
“It seems clear to me we need to establish some common-sense guardrails,” President Biden told President Xi Jinping in their November 16 virtual summit. Xi reportedly replied to his “old friend”...
13 Nov, 2021
Israel’s new leadership offers nothing new to Palestinians
How have Israeli-Palestinian relations changed since the end of the right-wing Netanyahu government? The short answer: Not much; a right-wing government is still in charge...
30 Oct, 2021
Dim Prospects for Climate Mitigation
Just in time for the COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden administration has released the National Intelligence Estimate: Climate Change and International Responses Increasing Challenges to US National Security Through 2040...
21 Oct, 2021
Gravy train: Corporate profiteering on national defense
A long time ago, Gordon Adams introduced the term “iron triangle” to characterize the interlocked relationship of the Pentagon’s military services, the corporations that contract with it to build weapons and provide services, and the Congressional committees that vote on military appropriations—in short...
12 Oct, 2021
Dissecting North Korea’s missile tests
Dissecting North Korea’s missile tests by Mel Gurtov 902 words North Korea is carrying out one missile test after another...
2 Oct, 2021
Dim Prospects for Climate Mitigation
Just in time for the COP26 UN climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden administration has released the National Intelligence Estimate: Climate Change and International Responses Increasing Challenges to US National Security Through 2040...
28 Sep, 2021
Donald J. Trump: Traitor
The Coup Attempt
“There is an unfolding assault taking place in America today,” President Biden said in Philadelphia on July 13. “An attempt to suppress and subvert the right to vote in fair and free elections, an assault on democracy, an assault on liberty, an assault on who we are — who we are as Americans.”...
24 Sep, 2021
The China Initiative, a flawed and dysfunctional policy
President Biden is continuing the disengagement policy toward China that began under Donald Trump, with strong bipartisan support...
15 Sep, 2021
The US and Yemen: Putting a disreputable policy right
Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Houthis, bombing, UNICEF, Obama, Trump, Biden, starvation, MBS...
19 Aug, 2021
Game of Thieves in the Amazon
The UN-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has issued a new report, based on the latest scientific findings...
17 Aug, 2021
The Afghanistan debacle
Over a nearly 20-year period, the war in Afghanistan is estimated to have cost about $2.2 trillion and resulted in more than 240,000 deaths, military and civilian, on all sides...
9 Aug, 2021
Pegasus and the global surveillance business
We have just learned about a powerful spyware known as Pegasus, manufactured and leased by the Israeli company NSO Group and capable of extracting just about every kind of data stored in a smart phone...
1 Aug, 2021
Influence peddling, a threat to both democracy and a humane foreign policy
Modern-day democracy has numerous weaknesses, as we’ve been made well aware: policy differences that cannot be resolved, corruption, manipulation of voting and elections, and the refusal...
14 Jul, 2021
Presidential prerogatives
Once upon a time, American leaders only went to war when, in accordance with the Constitution, Congress declared it.