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

MH17: Cold War Replay?

The last time the U.S. accused Russia of downing a civilian airliner, nuclear war nearly broke out.

Mowing the Lawn in Gaza

Israel believes it can bomb Gazans into changing their interests. How long will Obama support this delusion?

Speaking Openly in Serbia

Serbians who live with HIV report that they are stigmatized and have difficulties gaining access to treatment.

Competitive Suffering

As we focus on a particularly appalling human rights problem within its own context, we must remember the old labor slogan that ‘an injury to one is an injury to all.’

Two Cheers for the Serbian Government

Residual anti-communist beliefs that current state structures are only cosmetically altered versions of the old system have had to be overcome.

Finding a Normal Path in Serbia

Many ethnic Serbs fled — or were expelled from — Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo during those conflicts of the 1990s.

Slovenia and Bulgaria: a Tale of Two Reforms

Slovenia has achieved the most economic success among East-Central European states transitioning from communism, Bulgaria the least.

Hungary: A Cancer in the Middle of Europe

Something is dreadfully wrong with Hungary–and it could spread to the rest of Europe.

Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Divorce

As is the case with most divorces, the “children” — Czechs and Slovaks — were not consulted.

Restoring Slovenia’s Erased

A year ago, the European Court of Human Rights mandated that Slovenia pay compensation to the 25,000 people stripped of residency in the wake of the country’s independence.

The City and the City

Central Europe has become an Apartheid region where Roma and non-Roma inhabit increasingly separate and decidedly unequal worlds.

Yugoslavia: When a Country Actually Is Wiped Off the Map

For many the decomposition of Yugoslavia into its constituent republics in the early 1990s was anything but smooth.

Infantalizing North Korea

It’s time for us to grow up in our assessments of North Korea.

High Times in Yugoslavia

During global protests in 1968, Yugoslavian youth protested communist privileges and economic inequalities.

Rock the Regime: The Velvet Revolution

There wasn’t always samizdat. But there was always rock ‘n roll.

You Don’t Know Squat

When the Berlin Wall fell, squat culture expanded as Berliners took over abandoned properties in East Berlin.

The Real North Korea

Only North Koreans can change North Korea.

Bands Like Laibach a Powerful Amplifier of Former Yugoslav Social Discontent

“There was a very peculiar alliance between the punk music scene and the intellectuals, who tried to justify the appearance of this punk music.”

The Paradoxes of the Pacific Pivot

The U.S. needs to come up with a new and different Pacific pivot that places peace and prosperity on the Korean peninsula at the top of the list of priorities.

Bulgaria’s Podkrepa Made the Same Mistake as Solidarity

The nineties were challenging years in Bulgaria for trade unions affiliated with the political opposition.

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

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    UpFront

    KPFA | September 18, 2023

    Technics and Civilization: Lithium and Society

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