John Feffer is director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies.

He is the author, most recently, of Aftershock: A Journey into Eastern Europe’s Broken Dreams (Zed Books). He is also the author of the dystopian novel Splinterlands (Dispatch Books) and its soon-to-be-released sequel Frostlands. He is the author of several other books, and his articles have appeared in The New York Times, Washington Post, USAToday, Los Angeles Review of Books, Salon, and many other publications.

He has been an Open Society fellow, a PanTech fellow in Korean Studies at Stanford University, a Herbert W. Scoville fellow, a writing fellow at Provisions Library in Washington, DC, and a writer in residence at Blue Mountain Center and the Wurlitzer Foundation.

He is a former associate editor of World Policy Journal. He has worked as an international affairs representative in Eastern Europe and East Asia for the American Friends Service Committee. He has studied in England and Russia, lived in Poland and Japan, and traveled widely throughout Europe and Asia.

John has been widely interviewed in print, on radio, and TV.

Learn more about him on his website.

Latest

A Memo to the Next President

The next president can’t just clean up Trump’s mess. They’ll have to prevent a resurgence of Trumpism — and learn from Obama’s mistakes.

COVID-19 and the End of Autocrats

The outbreak of COVID-19 initially looked like a gift to autocrats around the world — until they botched it.

What Will Trump Do to the World to Win Re-Election?

Trump shrugged at 150,000 U.S. COVID-19 deaths. Who’s to say he’s above starting a fight with China or Iran?

America’s Multiple Infections

Too many Americans belong to the cult of selfish individualism. In the COVID era, this has become a death cult.

The Pandemic Reveals a Europe More United than the United States

A world led by a unified Europe would be a significantly better place than one mismanaged by a fragmented United States.

COVID-19 Can Change International Politics Forever

Countries’ bungling their responses to the coronavirus as others seal themselves off could lead to a total transformation of geopolitics.

Feds Attack!

Trump’s use of federal paramilitaries is a classic tactic of autocrats to test how far they can push their authority in opposition-controlled regions.

Okinawa: Will the Pandemic Transform U.S. Military Bases?

An outbreak of COVID-19 among U.S. service personnel on Okinawa may help anti-base protesters stop construction of the replacement facility at Henoko.

Hamilton and the Iconoclasts of Tomorrow

What blind spots will future generations condemn us for as they tear down today’s statues tomorrow?

The Global Rushmore of Autocrats

It’s not Washington and Lincoln Trump imagines himself in the footsteps of — it’s Xi and Putin.

In the US, the Second Wave Is Already Here

While Europe and Asia track down three-digit infection spikes at worst, the U.S. is dealing with over 40,000 a day.

Time to Rethink the US-ROK Alliance

South Korea is trapped between a U.S. rock and a North Korean hard place. It should consider changing its relationship with the rock.

The De-Trumpification of America

What lessons can be learned from the end of the Confederacy, Nazi Germany, and Saddam’s Iraq?

Why Bolton Matters

You don’t need to lionize Bolton, a far-right hawk, to understand what makes his observations about Trump valuable.

Conservatives Are Comparing Racial Justice Protestors to Maoists

Right-wing “intellectuals” uncomfortable with the Black Lives Matter movement have latched onto a dubious historical analogy.

Emperor Trump Now Stands Partially Naked

Many of the establishment figures now turning on Trump have blood on their hands. But that’s the point.

The Descent of America

America’s racism is destroying its advanced status in real time — and with it, the most redeeming parts of liberal internationalism.

Is It Time to Boycott the United States?

The G7 kicked Russia out over its invasion of Crimea. Does the U.S. assault on international laws, treaties, and democracy warrant the same treatment?

Trump’s ‘Uncreative Destruction’ of the U.S.-China Relationship

Trump’s economic war on China comes in the shadow of an even deadlier military escalation. And it may not stop after November, no matter who wins the election.

Death and the Economy: A Dialogue

An (imagined) conversation on the trade-offs between lives and dollars.

Project Director and Associate Fellow

Epicenter, Foreign Policy in Focus

    Asia/Pacific, Military/Peace, NATO, North Korea, Northeast Asia, South Korea

    UpFront: Russia’s War in Ukraine

    KPFA | January 29, 2024

    Talkies

    KPFA | January 19, 2024

    Tensions High Over Russia’s War in Ukraine

    The Greenfield (MA) Recorder, The Tulsa (OK) World | October 23, 2023

    UpFront

    KPFA | October 2, 2023

    UpFront

    KPFA | September 18, 2023

    Technics and Civilization: Lithium and Society

    Korean IT Times | September 7, 2023

    More...