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

Bulgarians Wear Their Pessimism as a Badge

In 2009, Bulgarian pessimism was worse than that of Iraqis and Afghans.

Bulgaria’s Educated Among Those Most Likely to Discriminate Against Roma

The Roma continue to be marginalized in Bulgaria.

Afghanistan: Avoiding Default

Three scenarios for how the U.S. might manage its involvement in Afghanistan between now and 2014.

North Korea’s Nuclear Theater

The latest rocket launch creates an illusion for the people of North Korea that they live, if not in paradise, then at least in a country that holds its own.

The Oracle of Belgrade

Activist Sonja Licht took no pleasure in correctly predicting the tragedy of Yugoslavia.

Reconnecting the Balkans

“There is no success in the Balkans without reconnecting everything except politics.”

Serbia’s Future: Back to the Past

Sonja Biserko, an early critic of Slobodan Milosevic, remains resolute in her critique of Serbian nationalism.

Name that Foreign Policy Legacy

Under Obama’s leadership, Washington is finally coming to terms with the world’s multipolarity.

Bulgaria’s New Left

A major change that has taken place in East-Central Europe in the last few years is the emergence of a new left.

Obama: The Legacy Term?

Obama’s real legacy could be accepting America’s changing place in the world.

The Surrealism of the Everyday in Serbia

The author interviews Aleksandar Zograf, who first gained notoriety for his political cartoons during the NATO bombing of Serbia.

What Happened to Europe?

These days, membership in the European Union comes with no guarantees.

The Idea of Europe

The European Union has turned out to be not that different from the American neoliberal economic model.

What’s Not at the Museum of Broken Relationships: The Yugoslavian Six-way Marriage

The six-way marriage (of Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia) lasted for more than four decades before it fell apart in the least amicable way possible.

Reading the Yugoslav Tribunal Prosecutor’s Memoir While in Serbia and Croatia

As chief prosecutor of the Yugoslav and Rwandan tribunals Carla Del Ponte found herself struggling uphill against institutional indifference and opposition.

On the Margins in Serbia

Gay Pride week in Serbia saw its unfair share of controversies.

Balkan Blues

“He insisted that I couldn’t understand Bulgaria until I’d listened to the Balkan blues.”

From Pacific Pivot to Green Revolution

Here’s a proposal for putting the environment smack at the center of security, beginning with Asia.

Belgrade: Gritty City

Belgrade is gritty — in both senses of the word.

The Islamophobe Fringe

The deeper reason for the heated response from the Muslim world is not so much Western rhetoric but Western policy.

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

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    UpFront

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