As I write more OpEds or Blog posts, I will update them here with a brief description. Click on the underlined part to read the original OpEds themselves. Unpublished OpEds and lengthy opinion pieces can be found on my blog page – https://infinnyovens.blogspot.com
The Next World War Might Start in Brčko – 6/10/2025 – antiwar.com
The crisis nobody in the West is talking about is starting to boil over again. The Dayton Accords are unraveling as the Republika Srpska moves towards independence from Bosnia, the federal authorities recently convicted RS president Milorad Dodik of ignoring decisions by the German High Representative annulling laws passed by the RS Assembly, and sentenced him to a year in prison and banned him from public office. He laughed, as the Federal authorities have been unable to arrest him, and declared that their future lies with Belgrade not Sarajevo. This article analyzes the risks and the possible paths forward in Bosnia.
In Defense of Whataboutism, The Scientific Method of Justice – 5/26/2025 – antiwar.com
This OpEd provides a defense of “whataboutism” as the scientific method applied to international relations and political “science” as a means to analyze and critique the lack of consistency in the rules applied to different actors in effectively parallel situations.
Whataboutism Toolkit – A Bukkake of Evidence from a World Without Rules – 5/25/2025 – infinnyovens
This article provides an incomplete but exhaustive list of examples to expose hypocrisy in international relations and concepts of justice. This accompanies the Op-Ed In Defense of Whataboutism, The Scientific Method of Justice, and provides a critical toolkit for anyone engaging in arguments about hypocrisy, giving a plethora of examples to establish that one need not cherrypick examples to demonstrate the ubiquitous folly of the “We wear white hats, they wear black hats” mantra the West commonly uses to defend its inconsistencies.
Free Speech for Me, Deportation for Thee – 5/13/2025 – antiwar.com
This Op-Ed is a response to the overreaction my earlier defense of free speech received on facebook. Basically everyone claims the first amendment is violated when people they agree with are censored, but they approve of censorship when it goes against their team’s political views. I argue that free speech has to be content-independent, and passport-independent. My previous essay had the pro-Gaza folks calling me a genocide-enabler, while the pro-Israel folks called me anti-Semitic. I guess I did something right if everyone things I am against their team… The only speech worth defending is the speech you dislike! Otherwise you are just opportunistic and playing team sports political games….
How Kursk Changed Everything and Opened a Window for Peace in Korea – 5/6/2025 – antiwar.com
The announcement by Russian and DPRK media that troops from North Korea had been fighting in the Kursk region of Russia to repel the Ukrainian incursion presents an opportunity for peace. They signaled clearly that DPRK is not going to cross the Russian border to fight in Ukraine, sending a message that in the event of conflict on the Korean peninsula, Russian troops would not cross the DMZ either. This opens the possibility of Trump and Putin working together to promote peace in Korea as well.
The Marketplace of Ideas Works Only If We Leave the Doors Open – 5/1/2025 – antiwar.com
In this piece, I criticize the recent crackdown on free speech on university campuses, referencing the case of Alexander Yakovlev, a Soviet student who studied at Columbia University in the 1950s in an early academic exchange program, and who went on to become the architect of Perestroika and Glasnost. The point being that free speech needs to be for everyone, not just those with the right passport.
Trump isn’t a threat to our democracy, he’s the proof that ours is stronger than Europe’s! – 4/5/2025 – infinnyovens
Trump has been called undemocratic and a threat to democracy, but in this short piece, I explain why he’s the exact opposite of that – while countries all over Europe are succeeding in subverting the will of the people to choose their leaders through various forms of lawfare, America’s constitution made it possible for the people to elect the president the public wanted. Europe denigrates candidates the people like as “populists” and uses their legal system to disqualify leading opponents of the left liberal Euro mainstream, just as they tried to do in the US, but our democracy was sufficiently resilient to resist that effort, unlike many EU nations…
Oops, Trump Just Bankrolled the Protesters He Intended to Silence – 3/18/2005 – Mises Institute – Power& Market
This OpEd deals with the chaos at Columbia University, my free speech absolutism, and the absurdity of the way conservative media (which I normally enjoy) hyping the Columbia protests, giving them all the attention and publicity they could want, while exaggerating their numbers and sizes by creative use of drones and photography tricks. then Trump gave them real world power by cutting funding to Columbia-based scientists, many of whom are ironically Jewish themselves. Great strategy to silence protesters by giving them exactly what they want…
Kosovo, Taiwan… Abkhazia? Self-Determination Shouldn’t Be Selective – 3/11/2025 – antiwar.com
– In context of the recent Presidential elections in the Republic of Abkhazia, I talk about the history of the country, and the way US foreign policy is making things worse rather than better for both Abkhazia and Georgia.
Why Trump’s slashing of NIH overhead rates is a good thing for science! – 3/10/2025 – Infinny Ovens
In February, the Trump administration decided to slash overhead rates (indirect costs) on NIH research grants from 60%+ to a flat 15%. In this OpEd, I describe in detail why this strategy is a good thing for science in the long run, though its abrupt and chaotic implementation may have done more short-term harm than was necessary to universities and researchers. I also outline several other proposals for NIH extramural funding reform to make science more efficient, higher quality, and more removed from control of government technocrats, who typically are not themselves the best research scientists who have disproportionate power to tell active scientists what they must research if they wish to get funding – better to return this to the marketplace of ideas.
Torjuntavoitto: The Finnish Strategy That Could Save Ukraine – 2/22/2025 – antiwar.com
Finland lost 12% of their territory to the USSR, including their only Arctic Ocean access, and agreed to remain neutral. As such, they traded with both sides throughout the Cold War and today are one of the happiest countries in the world. In this article, I explain why this should serve as a model for peace and happiness in Ukraine.
Greenlandic Grievances With Denmark and Trump’s Annexation Plan – 2/20/2025 – antiwar.com
I present an overview of Greenlandic history, politics and society, showing why they want independence rather than to be colonized by either Denmark or the US. With US assistance in defense and investment, they can achieve independence sooner than if they remain self-reliant or dependent on Denmark for subsidies. Working out a mutually beneficial deal would be a win for Greenland and for US dreams of access to the Northwest Passage.
Is Trump’s Plan To Take Greenland To Control Arctic Shipping Lanes? – 2/14/2025 – antiwar.com
In this article, I review concepts from the UN convention on the law of the sea in context of Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland and Nunavut. At present Russia and Canada claim exclusive territorial rights over the Northern Sea Route and Northwest Passage, and Trump envisions control over Arctic shipping as a key to future propserity.
How the US Uses and Abuses Latin America – 1/22/2025 – antiwar.com
The recent decision to up the reward for the capture of Venezuelan President Maduro is discussed, by comparison to Manuel Noriega in Panama. I refer to my extensive experience working in Venezuela on the Maracaibo Aging Project throughout the collapse of the economy and civil society there over the last 30 years.
Sue Mi Terry: When FARA Applies to US Allies – 1/14/2025 – antiwar.com
The strange story of Sue Mi Terry, a Washington insider if there every was one, who was arrested and charged under FARA as an alleged agent of South Korea. While I disagree with her about virtually everything, when it comes to Korea, her arrest is a terrifying example of the swamp devouring its own.
How the Foreign Agents Law Is Used To Silence American Dissidents – 1/6/2025 – antiwar.com
The history of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938 and how this law, designed to defend against Nazi influence, has been repurposed to go against anyone who expresses opinions the government disagrees with, from civil rights activists to foreign media outlets, even as we decried the jamming of American shortwave radio propaganda by the Soviets throughout the Cold War.
Friends With (Geopolitical) Benefits: How Russia and North Korea Are Changing the Game – 12/29/2024 – antiwar.com
I overview the history of Russia – DPRK relations, culminating in the recent marriage of convenience between the two countries. I discuss the evidence for and against the allegations of DPRK troop involvement in pushing Ukrainian forces from Russia’s Kursk region. The wide-ranging nature of their new partnership is discussed as well as its implications for Trump’s possibilities to reignite peace talks with the US and DPRK once the Ukraine War ends.
How Yoon’s Martial Law Blunder Could Help Trump Make Peace – 12/6/2024 – antiwar.com
In the early months of Trump’s first term, South Korean conservative president Park Geun-Hye was impeached and removed from office, and replaced by progressive Moon Jae-In to take over in Seoul, paving the way for the détente between Trump and Kim Jong-Un. Now just as his second term begins, history seems to be repeating itself as conservative South Korea President Yoon Suk-Yeol has been impeached and faces removal. Could this be a second chance the stars aligned for Trump and Kim?
No, Kim Jong Un did not close the door to diplomacy with the US – 12/3/2024 – antiwar.com
The New Republic recently reported that “North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has no interest in anything Donald Trump has to say.” However, I see this as a misreading of the actual statements and speeches of Kim. I argue that Trump can try to engage, but needs to stop insisting on complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization, as that is a non-starter. Instead he should be thinking about incremental gains he can make that would be irreversible when the US changes administrations. I make several concrete proposals as to what Trump can do in that direction, and he has already acted on some of them…
Russia Finally Says ‘Nyet’ to Continued DPRK Sanctions Enforcement – 4/4/2024 – antiwar.com
In the UN Security Council, Russia vetoed the annual renewal of the UN Panel of Experts on DPRK Sanctions, signaling an end to their continued enforcement thereof, in light of their new partnership agreement with the DPRK. I review the history of sanctions on the DPRK, and why this is a positive move for peace in Northeast Asia, despite the unhappiness about the change in Washington and Seoul.
In Defense of TikTok – 3/29/2024 – Merion West
I argue that in banning TikTok, the US is contradicting both decades of US policy critical of foreign countries trying to ban our propaganda networks, Supreme Court precedent about the right of American citizens to receive propaganda from hostile nations by mail and by radio. Furthermore, the biggest threat to privacy in the US is not China getting our personal information, but Washington obtaining it under the excesses enabled by the Patriot Act.
Lockdown cannot last forever – is mass civil disobedience on the horizon? – 5/20/2020 – Infinny Ovens
In this post, I talk about the likelihood of civil disobedience in response to overly strict Covid lockdowns and other restrictions on our lives. I accurately predicted that we would not continue to tolerate the draconian conditions we were forced to live under, in the name of “15 days to stop the spread.”
Mother Nature and globalization to blame for Covid-19 crisis – 3/16/2020 – Asia Times
In this article I argued that pandemics like this one are inevitable with global connectivity and the rapid economic development of the PR China. And because of China’s population density, any infectious disease which appears there will rapidly spread all around the world, whether malicious or by accident. I advocated (at the beginning of COVID) that we avoid demonizing China and try instead to work together on solutions as this (fortunately mild) disease was a chance to exercise the world’s public health system and only if we work together can we make it better for the next more lethal pandemic which will inevitably show up…
Diversity of Ideas – 2/26/2020 – Infinny Ovens
I took a course in January 2017 on OpEd writing at Columbia University, taught by some young journalists, who promised to support diversity of ideas, saying that noone should be criticized for their viewpoints. Then they said, well maybe now is an exception because of the coming crisis (Trump’s first term). I wrote an OpEd for our first homework assignment about how this was self-contradictory, and if anything on a university campus they should want to hear from Trump supporters even more than normal so they can understand why we disagree. Note that every Columbia faculty member taking the class took my side and agreed with me about this, even as the class teachers (who were not Columbians themselves) protested.
Blocking nuclear war would be a win for both the US, North Korea. – 12/7/2017 – Washington Times
At the height of Trump and Kim Jong Un’s 2017 war of words over whose button was bigger, I wrote this OpEd while Dennis Rodman and I were on Guam as human shields to protect Guam. In the OpEd I argued that Trump was the one guy who could go to the DPRK and make peace like Nixon went to China, because he was the kind of person who believed in peace and was willing to deal with anyone. Everyone laughed at me for suggesting this would happen, imagining we were more likely to go to war with Pyongyang, but less than half a year after I was called a naive academic for writing such a ridiculous idea, Trump and Kim met in Singapore and Dennis and I were there…
Luennointia ja urheiludiplomatiaa Pjongjangissa. 1/2014 – Korean Ystävät – lehti
This Finnish language OpEd described our meetings with Kim Jong Un and Dennis Rodman in 2013 and 2014.
A Rebound for Rodman – 12/26/2013 – Watertown Daily News
John Doldo and I wrote about our work behind the scenes on Dennis Rodman’s planned trip to Pyongyang with a team of NBA all-stars comparing the situation to Ping-Pong diplomacy with China before Nixon’s outreach to the PRC. While at the time we were mocked for this, just four years later, Trump was shaking hands with Kim Jong Un in Singapore.
Thoughts on Life and Science in Finland – 9/9/2008 – Infinny Ovens
This English language version of an article I published in the magazine of the Finnish Academy after receiving a Finland Distinguished Professor Grant to fund my collaboration with Finnish geneticists. In this article I wrote about the things I both loved and hated about the “lady of Finland” viewed from the perspective of a libertarian ex-pat on a society that is more socialist than libertarian.
The rise and fall of human genetics and the common variant – common disease hypothesis – 8/28/2008 – Infinny Ovens
This post deals with the evidence against the common variant-common disease hypothesis in genetic epidemiology, which was the motivation for huge NIH investment in the Human Genome Project, and especially in Genome-wide Association Studies, under the leadership of Francis Collins. This article reviews the evidence and clearly demonstrates that already in 2008 we knew this approach would not lead anywhere of value – and yet 17 years later, people are still funded to do this nonsense…
De facto States and Western Hypocrisy over the South Ossetian Crisis – 8/15/2008 – Infinny Ovens
This long-form discussion deals with issues of inviolability of borders and de facto separatist pseudo-states. This was written just after the Georgian troops attacked peacekeepers on the Georgia – South Ossetia ceasefire line in August 2008. Significantly this event was my “aha” moment in realizing that Western media often distorts the truth to promote our government’s narratives, not so different from what I listened to as a kid from Radio Moscow in the 80s.
