Jim Lobe first became involved in international news as part of a group of volunteers working with community radio in Seattle in the latter part of the 1970s and served on the boards of the local World Affairs Council and UN Association, and on the regional peace education committee of the American Friends Service Committee.

In 1979, he was asked by Inter Press Service, a small, Rome-based international news agency that focused primarily on what was then called the “Third World” to open its Washington DC bureau. He served in that position from 1980 until 1985 and again from 1989 until last year. In 2007, IPS launched LobeLog, a blog devoted mostly to US foreign policy and particularly to the influence of the neoconservative movement on US policy in the Greater Middle East. In recent years, the blog has depended heavily on contributions by recognized experts, including former US diplomats, on both Middle East policy and on the region itself.

Jim Lobe's Lobelog

A proud native Seattleite, he received his BA with highest honors in history from Williams College in 1970 and his law degree from UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall School of Law) in 1974.