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

Can Trump Actually Cut (Good) Deals on Diplomacy?

From North Korea to Russia to the Middle East, there’s no shortage of deal-making needed. But beware the fine print of anything with Trump’s insignia.

How to Honor Otto Warmbier

How should the United States respond to the detention and subsequent death of an American student who visited North Korea?

Is America’s Violent Century Coming to an End?

Quite the contrary: the United States, Dower argues, may have refined its techniques, but it has done nothing to minimize the brutality.

‘RussiaGate’ Alone Isn’t Going to Put Progressives Back in Power

Progressives have to devise a comprehensive alternative that responds to both the challenge of Russia and the failures of liberalism.

All Signs Point to a Coming Conflict with Iran

Behind all of Trump’s boneheaded policies in the Middle East is an unmistakable urge for confrontation with Iran.

Is It Possible to Undo 2016?

Bureaucracy may constrain the worst of Trump and Brexit, but returning to the status quo won’t fix anything.

How Can South Korea Help Prevent a U.S. Attack on North Korea?

South Korea can take the lead in establishing better relations with North Korea.

Russia’s Not the Country Benefitting Most from Trump

If Trump is a Manchurian candidate, on whose behalf is he working?

Who Will Take America’s Place in Asia?

With a divided U.S., the way is clear for China to become the dominant power in Asia. But don’t sign up for a crash course in Mandarin quite yet.

When Trump’s Push Comes to Shove in Europe

In one video clip, a glimpse of the Trump team’s plan to divide Europe, cozy up to right-wing dictatorships, and rally the extreme right.

Trump’s Apology Tour

With plummeting ratings back home, Donald Trump is looking overseas for support. He’s going to have to apologize first, though.

The Nixonization of Donald Trump

In the aftermath of Watergate, the country turned to the left. Are progressives positioned to capitalize on Trump’s stumbles today?

How to Reinvent the European Left

Europeans want to upend politics as usual and the far right is still rising. If the left doesn’t come up with an unusual politics of its own, it will be upended as well.

The Godfather Approach to Trade

Trump wants to “renegotiate” trade deals like NAFTA. But there’s no evidence he wants to fix their corrosive impact on labor protections or environmental standards.

100 Days of Unprecedented Incompetence

Are Trump’s stumbles a brilliant ploy to “deconstruct the state,” a political performance, or actual incompetence?

The Hunger President

As famine descends on a huge swath of the globe, the White House is rolling back aid, ramping up conflict, and risking more climate chaos.

Brexit, a Wake-Up Call for Europe

Britain has a lot to lose from Brexit, but the EU will fare worse.

Trump’s New Foreign Policy Is the Worst of Both Worlds

It’s blustery nationalism plus the conventional pieties of the foreign policy establishment.

What Does Kim Jong Un Want?

It’s not too late for diplomacy with North Korea’s leader.

The Invasive Species Threatening Our Entire Ecosystem

We’re not getting green enough, fast enough, to made a big enough difference on the increase in global temperatures. Meanwhile, Trump is out to strangle anything and everything in his path.

Project Director and Associate Fellow

Epicenter, Foreign Policy in Focus

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

    GCTV with Bill Miller

    Global Connections Television (GCTV) | April 2, 2024

    Russia’s War in Ukraine

    KPFA | March 4, 2024

    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

    More...