Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Robert E. Hunter
Biden should use what remains of his presidency to act in the Middle East
The writer was US ambassador to Nato, 1993-98 With last Tuesday’s election in the US, President Joe Biden officially became a lame-duck,...
Time to start thinking about walking away from NATO invite to Ukraine
Original story republished with permission from The Messenger Ukraine will not join NATO — not now, and most probably not ever. Even continuing to float the idea has immediate negative consequences. This is a basic fact, for at least one reason: Joining NATO takes the agreement of all 31 current alliance members — a consensus. Several, including France and Germany, say that they will never agree.
Tina Sablan soundly lost once again—and that is a CNMI win - Saipan Tribune
While Tina Sablan and company have worked overtime to attempt to frame the gubernatorial win by the Palacios-Apatang team as a win for her and Democrats, not only is this thoroughly insulting to the good lieutenant governor and mayor who won the election, it attempts to reframe reality. That reality is that she came out last in a three-way race, and by a large margin.
Tina Sablan soundly lost once again — and that is a CNMI win
WHILE Tina Sablan and company have worked overtime to attempt to frame the gubernatorial win by the Palacios-Apatang team as a win for her and democrats, not only is this thoroughly insulting to the good Lt. Governor and Mayor who won the election, it attempts to reframe reality. That reality is that she came out last in a three-way race, and by a large margin.
This year's NATO summit should be postponed
Last year, NATO scheduled a summit meeting in Madrid for this June 29-30. At the time, it made sense. Now, with war in Ukraine, it doesn’t. The summit needs to be postponed. President Joe Biden has done a mostly artful job in managing the various pieces of the West’s response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine. That has been based on dealing with the allies either individually or in short bursts on Zoom. But bringing them all together is highly risky.
How Would NATO Fare on the Battlefield with Russia?
On February 24, President Vladimir Putin of Russia ordered an invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces attacked on multiple fronts, only to meet fierce resistance. In response, the Russian Army has shifted gears. It is now advancing slowly and methodically, executing a war of attrition against the Ukrainian Army. The outlook for Ukraine is grim. Russia seems certain to achieve victory, albeit with heavy losses and with massive damage to Ukraine's infrastructure and population.
The future of bank overdraft fees
Twitter Join the conversation on Twitter using #Overdraft Bank overdraft fees have been on the rise for many years as income volatility rises and more Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck. Federal bank regulators have done little to help American families, failing to speed up America’s payment system to address one of the many root causes of overdrafts (slow deposit times) while giving a thumbs-up to banks who choose to increase profits at the expense of those living on the financial edge.
The Trick to Exiting Afghanistan
In Afghanistan, the Biden administration is risking its first foreign policy miscue. Indeed, given the odds against success, it is hard to understand why the Biden team is pushing so hard at this time. The Trump administration promised to have all U.S. troops out of the country by May 1, and most Americans would welcome the end of U.S. combat involvement in the country’s “longest war.” But May 1 was always an arbitrary date, with no regional political, military, or strategic significance.
Sugar Magnolia by The Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead originally released Sugar Magnolia written by Robert Hunter and Bob Weir and The Grateful Dead released it on the album American Beauty in 1970. It was also covered by Music Box Mania, Yoga Pop Ups, 8-Bit Misfits, Lullaby Baby Trio and other artists.
We’ve got to get past all those fears!
Fear of COVID, fear of economic loss, fear of losing some freedoms, fear of those who are sworn to protect us from danger, fear of politicians from “that other party,” fear of people from “that other religion,” fear of people from other cultures — they’re all there. And they’re pervasive. We’re told by psychologists that our fear of something or someone creates negative feelings that turn to resentment and anger because that fear keeps us from feeling comfortable, from feeling good about life.
Gov. Dunleavy is no friend to health care in Alaska
You don’t need to be a medical professional to understand that COVID-19 has a firm foothold in Alaska and our hospitals and clinics are now on the front lines. As physicians bracing for this emerging crisis, we write to remind you that Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s fiscal policies have been no friend to health care in our state.
Governor Dunleavy is no friend to health care in Alaska
You don’t need to be a medical professional to understand that COVID-19 has a firm foothold in Alaska and our hospitals and clinics are now on the front lines. As physicians bracing for this emerging crisis, we write to remind you that Governor Dunleavy’s fiscal policies have been no friend to health care in our state.
LETTER: Governor Dunleavy is no friend to healthcare in Alaska
You don’t need to be a medical professional to understand that COVID-19 has a firm foothold in Alaska and our hospitals and clinics are now on the front lines. As physicians bracing for this emerging crisis, we write to remind you that Governor Dunleavy’s fiscal policies have been no friend to healthcare in our state.
Impeachment and Damage to U.S. Foreign Policy
By Robert E. Hunter Russia, and especially Ukraine, have been centerpieces of the House impeachment hearings, as well as of massive media coverage. But largely lost in the domestic politics focused disarray is serious discussion of the foreign policy aspects of American engagement with these two countries. Factors relating to both are of course “fair game” for critics of President Trump’s tenure in office. But there is risk of “throwing the baby out with the bathwater,” as the saying goes.
A Fitting Tribute to the Fall of the Berlin Wall
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 30 years since the Berlin Wall “fell,” heralding the end of the Cold War that supposedly was going to last forever. Within a short time, hundreds of millions of people in Central and Eastern Europe no longer lived under communism and the heel of the Soviet Union and its satraps.
Brexit and the Irish Issue-the American Dimension
by Robert E. Hunter In a cliffhanger just before the summit meeting of European Union leaders, the EU and the British government have finally (and once again) reached a deal on the terms and conditions under which the United Kingdom will leave the EU, scheduled for no later than October 31. But the game is not over until it’s over, and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland has said it will oppose the deal at a rush session of the British parliament this Saturday (October 19).
The Persian Gulf Crisis: Beyond the Carter Doctrine
by Robert E. Hunter On January 23, 1980, President Jimmy Carter stood before the U.S. Congress and presented his annual State of the Union message. Its core analysis: The region which is now threatened by Soviet troops in Afghanistan is of great strategic importance: It contains more than two-thirds of the world’s exportable oil.
A U.S.-Israeli Mutual Defense Treaty: It Won’t Happen
by Robert E. Hunter In the Middle East, there is an old admonition: be careful what you wish for. Winning the war against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq in 2003 was a prime example, in that it created a continuing mess that does not promise to get better anytime soon. Now in the Levant, President Donald Trump has taken yet another step designed to help Benjamin Netanyahu win Israel’s elections on September 17. Trump will do whatever he can to help put Netanyahu over the top.
Scalable synthesis of dispersible iron carbide nanoparticles by ‘nanocasting’
This article is Open Access Please wait while we load your content... Something went wrong. Try again?
Sanctioning Zarif Further Undermines U.S. Diplomatic Credibility
by Robert E. Hunter In the latest tit-for-tat in the battle between the United States and Iran, this week the Treasury Department, at the behest of the State Department, imposed sanctions on the Iranian foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif. This follows Donald Trump’s June 24 Executive Order 13768, which imposed sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Husseini Khamenei.
Apollo 11 and U.S. Foreign Policy
by Robert E. Hunter Fifty years ago, when man walked on the moon, there was a host of suggestions for other major national projects. If we can go to the moon, the argument went, why can’t we end poverty on earth, cure cancer, build world peace? Even at the time there was debate about whether the Moon Shot was worth the funds and focus that might otherwise have been devoted to these and other worthy efforts.
The Ambassador Resigns: Brexit’s Collateral Damage
Sir Kim Darroch in 2016 (UK government via Wikimedia Commons) by Robert Hunter Sir Kim Darroch, until recently British ambassador to the United States, is collateral damage in two battles that are part of the same war. It’s called Brexit. The ambassador’s comments in classified cables to London were scathing about President Donald Trump and his administration. When they were leaked, the U.S. president reacted as many of his predecessors would have done, but in more pungent language.
Two Linked Crises in the Persian Gulf
by Robert E. Hunter Iran shot down a Global Hawk U.S. surveillance drone and crowed about it. President Donald Trump says that he decided to strike back at Iran but called it off with 10 minutes to spare. Thus, the most dangerous international game of “chicken” in recent times came within moments of supreme folly by Iran and the United States, with disastrous consequences across the Middle East and in the global economy.
Meniscus repair can be done inexpensively, relatively easily for certain cases, tear patterns
Surgical Technique Orthopedics Today, June 2019 Robert E. Hunter, MD Meniscus repair is being done more frequently and applied to tear patterns that just a few years ago were thought to be irreparable. However, instrumentation may be expensive and repair techniques require advanced arthroscopic skills. In some cases of mid-third and anterior-third tears, repair can be done with little added instrumentation and by anyone who can do basic knee arthroscopy.
Queen Elizabeth Gets D-Day Commemoration Right
by Robert E. Hunter In the midst of D-Day oratory this last week, it was left to Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace state dinner to preach the lesson that most mattered, not about the past, but about the present and the future: After the shared sacrifices of the Second World War, Britain and the United States worked with other allies to build an assembly of international institutions, to ensure that the horrors of conflict would never be repeated.
Dealing with Iran: Today’s Yellow Journalism?
by Robert E. Hunter At long last, the U.S. mainstream media (print division), much of Congress, and the Washington think-tank commentariat are waking up to the prospect of a war with Iran and not liking what they see. Iran as a problem? Yes. But worth yet another Middle East war? No thanks. This epiphany is coming none too soon. It is already the eleventh hour, if not the eleventh hour and fifty-ninth minute, something worthy of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists’ Doomsday Clock.
NATO Came and NATO Went
by Robert E. Hunter Lasts week’s NATO mini-ministerial in Washington was designed to inject new lifeblood into the alliance, demonstrate solidarity, and send a message to President Donald Trump. Even though NATO didn’t hold a summit meeting on the occasion of its seventieth birthday because of the risk that Trump would be the skunk at the alliance’s picnic as he was the last two years, NATO leaders wanted to reassert that the alliance is alive and well.
Digging into DotA2: bigger, bolder, more addictive than ever
By Robert Hunter on 26 August, 2013 DotA or Defense of the Ancients was first created using a Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos world editor, this allowed anyone who owned the game to create their own map. With the editor, you had access to all the games units and buildings, and could change almost all properties of that unit or building such as damage, speed, armour, set waypoints and so on. You could also manipulate the landscape by adding rivers, cliffs and trees.
Waiting for Mueller-and Losing on Russia
by Robert E. Hunter Long-running anticipation of Robert S. Mueller III’s report on the 2016 presidential election has become like a Samuel Beckett play. Indeed, near the end of Waiting for Godot is the following exchange: Estragon: I can’t go on like this. Vladimir: That’s what you think. In that jest lies problems for the United States, especially in dealing with Russia. The fate of President Donald Trump may hang on what the Mueller Report will say—and what it will not say.
Goodbye, INF Treaty. Hello, New Arms Race?
by Robert E. Hunter This past week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States will start the formal process of renouncing the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty concluded by the United States and the Soviet Union (with Russia as legatee).
If Brexit Now Fails, the West Will Gain
by Robert E. Hunter The massive defeat for Brexit in the British Parliament by more than 200 votes means that the whole issue gets sent back to the drawing board. There are only 73 days before the magic moment when, on March 29, the UK is scheduled to depart from the European Union. But even that is no longer certain. With the clock ticking, debate now continues in haste, with a wide range of alternatives to be considered.
The only clear gainer from Brexit: Vladimir Putin
While America's allies in Europe wonder what President Donald Trump will do next to weaken NATO and other key elements of the Atlantic alliance, they have not focused sufficiently on another threat to European security. This threat is Brexit: the impending British withdrawal from the European Union. Most debate is about the economic elements and what Brexit will do to Britain. But largely lost in the debate is Britain's future role in European security. It is already diminishing.
Will the United States Ever Think Seriously About the Middle East?
by Robert E. Hunter Troops to depart suddenly from Syria. Troop strength in Afghanistan to be halved. James Mattis to resign as Secretary of Defense. Last week was a week of turmoil that likely presages worse to come. But is it certain to be deadly poison for the interests of the United States in and around the Middle East, as well as those of its friends and allies?
Hunter: For 130 years Weber State has strengthened the community
As Weber State University nears its 130th birthday, Jan. 7, this is a good time to reflect on its history and its impact here at home and on the international scene. Founded in 1889 as Weber Stake Academy, the institution gradually matured to become a state junior college in 1933, eventually moving eastward from downtown Ogden to a beautiful new campus at the foot of the mountains and becoming Weber State College. The first baccalaureate degree was awarded in 1964.
Bush’s Legacy Is Today’s Challenge
by Robert E. Hunter President George H.W. Bush’s death has led to reflection on his leadership, policies, and his (many) achievements and (fewer) failures. But it is also a moment to think about he conducted foreign policy. Even though he made some serious misjudgments, his administration stands out as exemplar of the means by which things should be done in foreign policy, as opposed to the sorry mess today.
The Only Clear Gainer from Brexit: Vladimir Putin
by Robert E. Hunter While America’s allies in Europe wonder what President Donald Trump will do next to weaken NATO and other key elements of the Atlantic Alliance, they have not focused sufficiently on another threat to European security. This threat is Brexit: the impending British withdrawal from the European Union. Most debate is about the economic elements and what Brexit will do to Britain. But largely lost in the debate is Britain’s future role in European security. It is already diminishing.
HUNTER: Advice for newly elected officials and all of us
It’s over. The election’s over. Now what? Hopefully, the answer is not, “More of the same.” The contention and lack of tolerance in political circles and public dialogue has reached a boiling point. Too many so called leaders are not only practicing but also encouraging incivility. Some would say, “Lighten up. It’s always been that way, sometimes even worse.” That may or may not be true, but the truth is, it doesn’t have to be that way. The truth is, it shouldn’t be that way.
Khashoggi Affair: Will US Now Put Its Interests First in Middle East?
Yesterday, President Donald Trump snapped back all sanctions on Iran that were removed as the U.S. part of the bargain under the July 2015 nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). That agreement trammeled for years ahead any aspirations Iran might have to build nuclear weapons. But Trump’s act puts the United States in direct violation of the JCPOA, even though on May 12 he unilaterally withdrew from that agreement.
The Khashoggi-gate Opportunity
The shock of the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi is finally bringing U.S. Middle East policy out in the open, where it should be thoroughly examined for the first time in years. The United States first struck a deal with the House of Saud in 1945 when, on his way home from Yalta, Franklin Roosevelt met with King Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud). With the onset of the Cold War, Saudi oil became steadily more important. Riyadh played the role of swing producer within OPEC.
Khashoggi-gate and U.S. Persian Gulf Strategy
The October 2 kidnapping and probable execution of Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul continues as the number one topic in the Western media. It is not just the grisly details emerging from Turkish sources, now apparently confirmed by U.S. intelligence. Much of the attention derives from who Khashoggi is, or more likely, was: a journalist. And not just any journalist, but one living mostly in the United States and writing for The Washington Post.
Trump at the UN: Through a Glass Darkly
For decades, the United Nations General Assembly has been treated to annual sermons by the president of the United States. Almost all the world’s nations—outside the old Communist bloc—saw these sermons as demonstrating America’s leadership and support for the international system it largely created and fostered. Not so with President Donald Trump.
Washington Gets It Wrong in Middle East…Again
By announcing this past week that it is cutting off all U.S. support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNWRA), the Trump administration knocked the props from under this 70-year-old international program to help support five million Palestinian refugees from various Arab-Israeli conflicts who are located across the region. The response has been swift.
Helsinki’s Top Lesson: No US-Russia Cold War
No U.S. president in living memory has been so pilloried for his foreign policy actions as has President Donald Trump since he met with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. A former head of the CIA called his performance “nothing short of treasonous.” There has also been public criticism by the director of the FBI and the director of national intelligence, who do not usually make unauthorized public comments on sensitive issues, whether in support or critical of the sitting president.
Trump goes to Europe: Performing triage
As The Washington Post argues, there could be a "catastrophe". NATO leaders meet in Brussels on July 11-12 and then President Donald Trump meets with Russia's president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16. Most commentators see the two events as inextricably linked.
Trump Goes to Europe: Performing Triage
The next two weeks are potentially decisive for US relations with Europe and especially NATO. As The Washington Post argues, there could be a “catastrophe.” NATO leaders meet in Brussels on July 11-12 and then President Donald Trump meets with Russia’s president Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on July 16. Most commentators see the two events as inextricably linked.
Trump’s Necessary Encounters with Kim and Putin
By the middle of next month, President Donald Trump will have defied both protocol and US elite opinion by meeting with leaders of two countries who, to put it mildly, do not wish the United States well. In both cases, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Trump has faced intense criticism in the United States and in some other countries.
Pompeo on Iran: Making Matters Worse
By withdrawing the United States from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), President Trump struck a blow that may yet prove fatal to the most important strategic achievement in the Middle East since the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. Most ignominious is the likelihood that Trump acted as he did to continue his efforts to scrap anything achieved by President Barack Obama.
Iran Deal: When The Tumult and the Shouting Dies
Shakespeare said that “old men forget.” And so, it seems, do societies. Fifteen years ago, a US administration, from the president through his top aides, lied the nation into invading Iraq, and the region and the world still suffer the consequences. Thousands of Americans died along with hundreds of thousands of local peoples in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, and elsewhere as a direct consequence. The financial cost to the United States has been measured in the trillions.
Thinking about the Thinkable
The late Herman Kahn created a major stir in 1962, when he published a comprehensive and deeply unsettling study on thermonuclear war, Thinking About the Unthinkable. Fortunately, his propositions about what was understood, in retrospect, to be US-Soviet mutual insanity were never tested. The threats the US faces today pale in comparison. But still the United States is compelled to think about these challenges and what to do to keep the nation secure and preserve American interests.
The Syrian Timebomb is Ticking More Loudly
The conflict in Syria could soon take on dimensions that no one outside of that country really wants and with consequences that will have destructive effects far beyond the local issues at stake, notably intensifying US-Russian confrontation. Who will rule Syria is the key local issue: the minority Alawites or the majority Sunni (and other) elements. But this classic struggle for national power long since took on broader proportions.
Show More
loading
Actions
Is this you?
As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.Get in touch with Robert E.
Contact Robert E., search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack