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☆ Opinion | Israel’s Moral and Political Dilemmas
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

But nowhere does he mention the deep visceral hatred of Hamas and associated groups toward Israel. It was always apparent that not long after the Oct. 7 massacre Israel would lose the public relations war. Israel does not deliberately target civilians. No serious defender of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 massacres argues that the lives of Israeli children are worth more than those of Gazan children. Hamas would be considered “heroes” in the eyes of most of the world and its leadership would have attained political legitimacy.

Persons: Thomas L, Friedman, Friedman’s, ”, Alan Metz, Nicholas Kristof, Mr, Kristof, Israel, Kristof’s, Yishai Schwartz, Re, Bret Stephens, Marc Bloom Princeton Organizations: Winer Tel, West Bank, Hamas, Re “ Hamas Bears Locations: Israel, Winer Tel Aviv, Gaza, Hill, N.C, Bina Westrich Teaneck, N.J, Frankfurt

☆ What Joe Biden Did Right on Israel and Hamas - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

That the massacres were “pure, unadulterated evil.” That there is “no excuse” for what Hamas did. Four days after the Hamas attacks, Trump also called Hezbollah, without reprobation, “very smart.” About Vladimir Putin, he said, “I got along with him very good.”Very good. Now Biden is going to Israel. That path is a long one, but Biden gets the big thing right — the former is the basic precondition for the latter. No Israeli leader can ever allow a Palestinian state to exist if a group like Hamas has even the whisper of a chance of gaining power.

Persons: “, ”, Israel, Donald Trump’s, Netanyahu —, Biden, Trump, Vladimir Putin, It’s Organizations: Hamas, Trump, Republican Locations: Israel, United States, Palestinian

Not saying I want that to happen, but if it does, glad the shame will go in the right direction. Although, whenever I think the Republicans are harming themselves, I … turn to the Democrats. Gail: Don’t think anybody feels the current border policies are anything close to perfect, but it’s a question of what else to do. President Obama did that pretty robustly, and I don’t remember any of my liberal friends claiming it was an assault on human rights. But a de facto open border doesn’t advance the cause of a liberal immigration policy.

Persons: Bret, McCarthy, Gail, Don’t, Obama Organizations: Democrats, Republicans, House Republicans, Bret, Democratic Party Locations: United States, America

☆ Opinion | How to Make Russia Really Pay for Invading Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington this week to give thanks to the United States for its generosity — while asking for $24 billion more, which is what the Biden administration is seeking from Congress in additional military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. That will bring the total amount of American aid to $135 billion, which so far has been $223 million a day since the war began, according to one calculation. Maybe it’s time to open a new funding source before American largess runs out — this time from Russia. As the former Treasury secretary Larry Summers has put it, “Bank robbers should not expect banks to honor their safe deposit boxes.”So far, the Biden administration has disagreed. “It would not be legal now in the United States for the government to seize” Russia’s assets, Janet Yellen, the Treasury secretary, said in May 2022.

Persons: Volodymyr Zelensky, Biden, Larry Summers, Janet Yellen Organizations: Bank, Economist Locations: Washington, United States, Ukraine, Russia, Russian

☆ September Is the Cruelest Month? It Is if You’re Joe Biden. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-18 | by ( Gail Collins | Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gail Collins: Bret, September is one of my favorite months, and I’ve always kinda wished Congress would stay out on vacation longer. Let’s start with — oh God, the impeachment inquiry. You’re in charge of the Republicans, no matter how you feel about Donald Trump. Bret Stephens: Gail, if this impeachment inquiry were any more premature, it would be a teenage boy. And it’s no excuse to say the Trumps did worse.

Persons: Gail Collins, Bret, I’ve, Donald Trump, Bret Stephens, Gail, I’m, Hunter, —, Joe, Biden, isn’t Organizations: Republicans

☆ Opinion | Can Samantha Power Win the Battle for Ukraine’s Future?
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Years ago, during the George W. Bush administration, I shadowed another U.S.A.I.D. Despite some notable gains, especially in areas such as girls’ education, it was clear the agency was struggling. In the end, approximately $145 billion in assistance — about $20 billion of which was administered by U.S.A.I.D. Would the story turn out similarly in Ukraine, a state that last year ranked alongside Angola in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index? That’s what I went to Ukraine to see for myself.

Persons: I’ve, George W, Bush, Henrietta Fore, ” —, Sam’s, — Organizations: American Embassy, U.S.A.I.D, Angola Locations: Afghanistan, Ukraine

☆ Which Crisis Should We Talk About First? - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Gail Collins | Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

New York City alone is sheltering and feeding an average of 59,000 migrants a day. There are job openings many newcomers could fill in areas like food service, if they’re given the ability to work. And the federal government needs to give stressed-out regions — particularly New York City — a whole lot more help when it comes to housing. Over the long run, we absolutely have to open up options for multifamily housing in suburban areas that have long resisted it. The administration has expanded federal border resources in an effort to make processing families faster.

Persons: Bret Stephens, Gail, Biden, Gail Collins, Bret, I’m Organizations: Democratic Locations: New York City

☆ Opinion | A Performance Review for President Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “Why So Many Americans Are So Down on Biden,” by Bret Stephens (column, Sept. 6):Sure, the president is old, but, boy, has the country improved. Foundations for the country’s future have been established (Inflation Reduction Act, Chips Act, etc.). C’mon, forget an occasional stumble, or less than polished speech — it’s action and leadership that should be noted, and applauded. To the Editor:All things considered, I believe that Joe Biden has done a fantastic job as president. And because we project our national identity onto our president, he does not sate our desire for a robust, optimistic leader.

Persons: Biden, ”, Bret Stephens, Tim Neale Amherst, Joe Biden Organizations: America, Foundations Locations: Mass

☆ Opinion | Why So Many Americans Are So Down on Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-05 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

By August, arrests of migrants who crossed the border with family members had hit a monthly record of 91,000. In New York City alone, more than 57,000 migrants seek food and shelter from the city’s social services on an average night. Nobody can say for certain how many migrants who crossed the border during Biden’s presidency remain in the U.S., but it’s almost certainly in the millions. The president deserves credit for arming Ukraine, as he does for brokering a strategic rapprochement between Japan and South Korea. Easy to see are tents under overpasses, from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in New York to the I-5 in Seattle.

Persons: ”, Vladimir Putin Organizations: Brooklyn - Queens Locations: New York City, U.S, Ukraine, Japan, South Korea, Afghanistan, Taiwan, Brooklyn, New York, Seattle

☆ Opinion | How Do We Manage China’s Decline?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Optimists think the crisis won’t affect Western countries too badly because their exports to China account for a small share of their output. Real estate and its related sectors account for nearly 30 percent of China’s gross domestic product, according to a 2020 paper by the economists Ken Rogoff and Yuanchen Yang. Last month Donald Trump described the rule of China’s president, Xi Jinping, as “smart, brilliant, everything perfect.” The truth is closer to the opposite. China’s richest people have also left the country in increasing numbers during Xi’s tenure — a good indication of where they think their opportunities do and do not lie. President Biden was off the cuff but on the mark this month when he said of China’s leaders that “when bad folks have problems, they do bad things.” In other words, as China’s economic fortunes sink, the risks to Taiwan grow.

Persons: don’t, Optimists, Ken Rogoff, Yuanchen Yang, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, Xi, “, ”, Xi’s, Biden Locations: China, Taiwan, South China, United States, Ukraine, Russia, Beijing, Taiwan Strait

Now I’m sure you’re going to say the same thing about my beloved F-35s, B-21s, SSN-774s and so on. Gail: That reminds me — during the Republican debate, when the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they believed human activity causes climate change, nobody was brave enough to do it. I know you don’t agree with our friend Ramaswamy, who called the climate change agenda “a hoax.” But do you feel yourself moving toward our oh-lord-this-is-a-world-crisis side? Conservatives could have something meaningful to contribute if they acknowledged that climate change was real and that big-government solutions aren’t the way to go. We could support a carbon tax and offset it with a reduction in income tax.

Persons: Gail, it’ll, Bret, they’d, me, Haley, Ramaswamy, Teddy Roosevelt Organizations: Republican, biodiesels Locations: California, San Francisco, San Jose, Burbank, United States

☆ Opinion | Winners and Losers of the First Republican Debate
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-24 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +22 min

Welcome to Opinion’s commentary for the first Republican presidential primary candidate debate, held in Milwaukee on Wednesday night. Gail Collins: She seemed generally reasonable and wow, when the debate turned to education and she actually brought up reading. If there’s any life left in the old G.O.P., Haley gave it hope. Perhaps more important, in taking on the glib and callow Ramaswamy on Ukraine, she showed anger and dominance, essential qualities in a Republican debate. Any debate that doesn’t feature Chris Christie at the front of the highlight reel is a bad night for Christie.

Persons: Jamelle, Nikki Haley, Haley, Gail Collins, Matthew Continetti, G.O.P, Michelle Cottle, —, Trump —, Ramaswamy, suburbanites, Ross Douthat, David French, Reagan, Michelle Goldberg, callow Ramaswamy, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg, Katherine Mangu, Christie, “ Trump, “ Donald Trump, Daniel McCarthy, Vivek, Bret Stephens, Mike Pence’s, Mike Pence, Pence, Mike, Vivek ”, Vivek Ramaswamy, Trump, ”, he’ll, Jesus, Ramaswamy —, ChatGPT —, you’ve, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, He’s, Joe Biden, Martha MacCallum, Ron DeSantis, Hunter Biden, DeSantis, Donald Trump, MAGA, pander, smartly, Sharp, Biden, refighting, Ron, Hutchinson, clearheaded, Still, Scott, Tim Scott, Meh, ” Daniel McCarthy, Pleasant, Donald Trump’s, wasn’t, I’d, Ramaswamy’s, callow, I’m, insufferable, Preening, Doug Burgum, Achilles, Burgum, he’s, Asa Hutchinson, Trump’s, Asa Hutchinson didn’t, didn’t Organizations: Republican, Republican Party, Trump, Ramaswamy, Pence, Pious, Trump Republicans, MSNBC, Fox, Department of Justice, United Nations, Energy, Department of Education, Republicans Locations: Milwaukee, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ukraine, America, Mexico, Florida, Covid, China, MAGA, Arkansas

Bret Stephens: Before we get to Donald Trump’s indictment in Georgia or the upcoming G.O.P. Gail Collins: Maui is going to be hard for any of us to forget. There are certainly a heck of a lot of serious questions about whether the folks who were supposed to be responsible did their jobs. Bret: There’s a story in The Wall Street Journal that made me want to scream. The weather’s been awful in all sorts of scary ways this summer, all around the planet.

Persons: Bret Stephens, Donald Trump’s, Gail Collins, Bret, There’s, Gail Organizations: Street, Electric Locations: Georgia, Hawaii, Maui

☆ Opinion | How Much Is an American Hostage Worth?
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Biden administration agreed last week to a deal with Iran that, if all goes according to plan, paves the way for five American citizens to come home after long imprisonments on spurious charges. It’s likely that the agreement is also tied to efforts to resume nuclear talks with Iran, though the administration insists the nuclear and hostage files remain separate. And it is not a sign of weakness when democratic governments pay what seem like exorbitant amounts to free hostages. In Israel, Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu each released hundreds of Arab prisoners to obtain the release of a single living Israeli hostage. There is also Shahab Dalili, a U.S. permanent resident whose wife and sons are Americans and who has been imprisoned in Tehran since 2016.

Persons: Morad Tahbaz, Siamak Namazi, Ariel Sharon, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shahab Dalili, Paul Rusesabagina Organizations: Biden, Tehran, U.S . Embassy, Rwanda Locations: Iran, South Korea, U.S, Tehran, It’s, Israel, “

☆ Opinion | The ‘Never-Again Trumper’ Sham
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-08 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In 2015, Ryan, the House speaker then, denounced Trump’s proposed Muslim ban as “not conservatism,” “not what this party stands for” and “not what this country stands for.” Then-Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana privately complained that Trump was “unacceptable,” according to the G.O.P. Their point was simply that Trump couldn’t win. So why oppose Trump in 2024? “Because I want to win,” Ryan said, “and we lose with Trump.

Persons: midterms, eked, Paul Ryan, ABC’s Jonathan Karl, Trumper, ”, Ryan, Donald Trump, Trump’s, ” “, Mike Pence, Indiana, Trump, Dan Senor, Ted Cruz, Heidi, “ Donald Trump, they’ve, ” Ryan Organizations: Republicans, Trump, Democrat, Republican, ABC Locations: ”

Bret: And yet there are some crimes that are so premeditated, hateful and cruel that I think society has to respond in the severest way possible. The country can get past a president who breaks the law in his private life, hides official documents and hides the evidence that he hides official documents. Bret: I thought the right remedy for Jan. 6 was political, via immediate impeachment and conviction, as I wrote at the time. Gail: All this drama keeps bringing me back to Mike Pence — and believe me, I never thought I’d be in a world where I wanted to be back with Mike Pence in any way, shape or form. But when the critical moment came, he followed through and declared the actual election winner the actual election winner.

Persons: Bret, Gail, Adolf Eichmann, Ted Bundy, Timothy McVeigh, Bowers, Trump, We’ve, he’s, Donald Trump, Mike Pence —, I’d, Mike Pence Organizations: Trump

☆ Oregon’s Hard-Drug Decriminalization Policy Is a Disaster - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-01 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

How soon is too soon to call a progressive and libertarian policy obsession a public policy fiasco? In the case of Oregon’s Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, better known as Measure 110, the moment can’t come soon enough. The Drug Policy Alliance, which spent millions to help pass the measure, called it “the biggest blow to the drug war to date” and celebrated its supposed success in a slick video. “Often, she says, someone is passed out in front of the lobby’s door, blocking her entrance. The other day, a man lurched in, lay down on a Forte couch, stripped off his shirt and shoes and refused to leave.”

Persons: “, Jennifer Myrle, Jan Hoffman, Jordan Gale, ” Organizations: Drug Policy Alliance, Forte Portland Locations: Oregon, Forte

And, of course, the Hunter Biden saga plays right into that narrative …. Bret: If Hunter had been poor and Black, would the justice system have been as indulgent? And, while Republicans are jumping to conclusions without rock-solid evidence, I’m not entirely confident that Joe Biden really had no inkling of what his son was up to or that the larger Biden family didn’t benefit from Hunter’s shenanigans. Gail: Absolutely no evidence Joe Biden knew about Hunter’s lawbreaking. But one charge I’d bet on is that Hunter dropped dad’s name a lot when trying to do business with foreign honchos.

Persons: Gail, Bret, Trump, Hunter Biden, you’d, Hunter, who’s, Hmmmm, —, Biden, I’m, Joe Biden, Hunter’s Organizations: Republican

☆ Opinion | Israel’s Self-Inflicted Wound
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-25 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

A demagogue sacrifices his nation for himself. The crisis in Israel is sometimes described as a battle of left against right, secular against religious, Ashkenazi against Mizrahi Jews. Israel’s demographic challenges are well known, but there’s a challenge within the challenge: If the people who made Israel the “Startup Nation” are heading for the exits, the long-term basis of Israel’s power will erode. Prayers won’t save Israel if it lacks a world-class economy to sustain a regionally dominant military. Israelis have a penchant for hyperbole, and this week has brought a lot of lamentations about the “end of Israeli democracy.” That’s an unwarranted counsel of despair as well as an overstatement: Israeli democracy has survived worse.

Persons: Israel wouldn’t, Netanyahu weren’t, Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, There’s, ” Organizations: “ Locations: Israel

Bret: I’d be opposed to No Labels if I were convinced that all they will do is take votes from Joe Biden and throw the election to Trump. But that depends on who takes the No Labels slot: If it’s a former Democrat, it probably hurts Biden. So any party that represents our views is good for democracy, not a threat to it. A vote for the Green Party, for instance, is a vote that Biden would probably have gotten otherwise. Which means the Green Party is helping Trump.

Persons: Bret, Lieberman, Gail, you’d, I’d, Joe Biden, Biden, it’s, Trump, you’re Organizations: Crow Coalition, Bret, Trump, Republican, Green Party, Party Locations: American

☆ Opinion | What I Learned in Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-23 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

I learned that every member of the American Embassy staff in Kyiv, led by our courageous and cleareyed ambassador, Bridget Brink, volunteered for the duty. I learned what it was like to sit in conference rooms and walk along corridors that would soon be shattered by Russian ordnance. I learned that Ukrainians have no interest in turning their victimization into an identity. I learned that, for all the aid we’ve given Ukraine, we are the true beneficiaries in the relationship, and they the true benefactors. NATO countries are paying for their long-term security in money, which is cheap, and munitions, which are replaceable.

Persons: Bridget Brink, general’s, Samantha Power, Power, Anatoliy Fedoruk, ”, aren’t, Ben Wallace, Britain’s Organizations: American Embassy, Marshall, United States Agency for International Development, Port Authority, Serbian, NATO Locations: Kyiv, Odesa, Belgrade, Kosovo, Bucha, Moscow, Budapest, Russia, Minsk, Ukraine

☆ Opinion | Speech We Loathe Is Speech We Must Defend
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the late 1950s, the Rhode Island legislature created a commission “to encourage morality in youth.” One of its practices was to send notices to out-of-state distributors and retailers of publications it deemed obscene, asking for “cooperation” in suppressing them. The notices warned that the commission had circulated lists of objectionable materials to local police departments, and that it would recommend prosecution against those found to be purveying obscenity. The case went to the Supreme Court. With one dissent, the justices in Bantam Books Inc. v. Sullivan (1963) held that the “informal censorship” violated the 14th Amendment. They also noted that it didn’t matter that the Rhode Island commission had no real power beyond “informal sanctions.”“People do not lightly disregard public officers’ thinly veiled threats to institute criminal proceedings against them if they do not come around,” noted Justice William Brennan, a fierce liberal, in his opinion.

Persons: Sullivan, ’, ”, William Brennan, Biden, Terry Doughty Organizations: ”, Supreme, Bantam Books Inc Locations: Rhode, Missouri, Louisiana

What the administration was doing seems to me like a serious infringement on people’s freedom of speech, but I’d like to know your view. And it’s not as if the Biden folks marched in and removed a bunch of posts themselves. Conferring with the social media companies seems like something they ought to do. Bret: One good way of thinking about the issue is putting the shoe on the other foot. Look — the whole world changed with the advent of social media.

Persons: Gail, Biden, Gee, Steele, illicitly, Hillary Clinton, Trump, Rachel Maddow, you’ve Organizations: Biden, Democratic National Committee, MSNBC

☆ Opinion | What We Celebrate When We Celebrate the Fourth of July
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-04 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the spring of 1859, Abraham Lincoln was invited by a committee of Boston Republicans to attend a festival in honor of Thomas Jefferson’s birthday. Instead, he sent a letter that explains, perhaps better than anything else Lincoln wrote except for the Gettysburg Address, what it is that we celebrate when we celebrate the Fourth of July. Lincoln began by noting a historical irony: Roughly 70 years earlier, America’s two main political parties had gotten their start. The Democrats of his day held “the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing, when in conflict with another man’s right of property,” Lincoln wrote. “Republicans, on the contrary, are for both the man and the dollar, but in cases of conflict, the man before the dollar.”

Persons: Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson’s, Lincoln, “, ” Lincoln, John C, Calhoun, Stephen Douglas Organizations: Boston Republicans, Gettysburg, Democratic, Republicans, Federalists, “ Republicans

Bret Stephens: Gail, happy Almost Independence Day. Gail Collins: Well gee, Bret, happy Almost Independence Day back. If you’re thinking of the Supreme Court, I’m happy to join in any hand-wringing. Public education: broken. And the most broken thing of all: public trust.

Persons: Bret Stephens, Gail, Gail Collins, gee, Bret, Hope you’re, you’ve, Alana Newhouse Organizations: Roman Catholic Locations: Lebanon, Brazil

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