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

Playing the Hawk With North Korea

The Obama administration needs to recognize an aggressive policy toward North Korea is as ineffective now as it was during Clinton and Bush.

Weapons: Our #1 Export?

Rising arms exports may soon make weapons the major U.S. contribution to the world economy.

Democratic Shocks

What happened to the inevitable wave of democracy reaching every shore?

Iran: Code Orange?

The lessons of Ukraine’s “revolution” don’t bode well for Iran’s democratic movement.

Iran’s Do-It-Yourself Revolution

Iranians need no lessons in democracy from the United States.

Maintaining Distance from Iran

The United States can best promote change in Iran by not actively promoting change.

Report: Pakistan’s Ideological Blowback

In its fight against the Taliban, the Pakistani government is battling a creature of its own making.

A New Approach to Intelligence?

The Obama administration has yet to make substantive change in the way the United States does intelligence work.

Pearl Harbor, Part II?

The Japanese attacked us 68 years ago. The Pentagon is bracing for Pearl Harbor, part II.

Propping Up Africa’s Dictators

France’s imperial footprint in Africa is large and not shrinking any time soon.

Dealing with North Korea’s Tests

Coming up with the proper response to North Korea’s recent actions requires a careful assessment of Pyongyang motivations and regional geopolitics.

The Obama-Lee Summit: Dangerous Consensus?

Washington and Seoul should coordinate policy. But they should also keep their eyes on the prize: resolving the current crisis with North Korea without resorting to force.

Global Land Grab

With the food crisis still a fresh memory, land-poor countries are staking huge claims to arable land in the Global South.

Trade Agreement Kills Amazon Indians

The U.S.-Peru free trade agreement has led directly to government crackdowns and the deaths of indigenous protestors, reports columnist Laura Carlsen.

Iran’s Twitter Revolution

Regardless of the outcome of its recent presidential election, youth and technology have combined to reshape Iranian politics.

Serbia: 10 Years Later

A decade after the United States bombed their country, Serbs are still dealing with the after-effects of the war.

The Dancing Cure

David Alan Harris tells the riveting story of how young men in Sierra Leone, who show no outward emotion about their past atrocities, slowly come to terms with their experiences — through dance.

Ahmadinejad’s Coup D’Etat

How did Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win the recent Iranian elections? And how should Iranians and the Obama administration respond?

‘Palestinians’ without ‘Palestine’

Netanyahu’s recent speech in favor of a Palestinian state contained several contradictory elements that cleverly undermined its central message.

Siding with the Barbarians

Two radical artists have set up an immigration agency, a political consulting firm, a Ponzi scheme for marketing contemporary art, and seven other enterprises. Welcome to the mock entrepreneurial art of Société Réaliste.

Project Director and Associate Fellow

Epicenter, Foreign Policy in Focus

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

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