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☆ Opinion | Prigozhin’s Mutiny Against Putin’s Reign of Lies
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But something went wrong in Putin’s approach, and it wasn’t just the incompetence of his military, the bravery of Ukrainians or the intercession by the West. In a nutshell, the problem is this: A monopoly on truth can be sustained only through a monopoly on violence. Big Brother can tell the Big Lie only if he has the Big — and only — Gun. But it creates risks, including the risk that someone from one of those centers of power will be willing to tell an inconvenient truth. And it may be why he appeared to have been treated as a hero, almost a liberator, in Rostov-on-Don.

Persons: what’s, Putin, Prigozhin’s Wagner, Ramzan Kadyrov, Prigozhin, ” —, ” Organizations: Newsweek, Ministry of Defense, NATO Locations: Ukraine, Rostov, Moscow

Bret: I’d have a much easier time accepting affirmative action if the principal criterion was class, not race. Gail: You can’t leave race out, but yes, it’s important to mix it with other parts of a biography. Diversity is also about making sure universities don’t become ideological monocultures where people look different but share nearly all the same opinions and assumptions. Gail: To me, diversity is a very, very important goal — you don’t want to be living in a world in which all the folks of one race or class never interact with folks from another. Bret: Diversity can be a virtue, but it doesn’t have to apply in every conceivable setting or override other considerations, especially academic excellence.

Persons: Bret, I’d, Gail Locations: East, South Asia

☆ Opinion | Take Bobby Kennedy Jr. Seriously, Not Literally
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Liberals have come to like Biden more during his presidency, whereas they came to like Johnson a lot less. McCarthy was a serious man who had held a high office for nearly 20 years when he challenged Johnson. Now that he’s running, the safe call seems to be to rally behind him, lest a challenger help sink his chances. That’s what another Kennedy, Teddy, helped do to another Democratic incumbent, Jimmy Carter, in 1980. Sixty-six percent of registered voters think Biden is too old to be president and 59 percent have doubts about his mental fitness, according to a Harvard CAPS-Harris poll conducted last week.

Persons: aren’t, Biden, Johnson, McCarthy, Kennedy’s, Donald Trump, Nixon, Kennedy, Teddy, Jimmy Carter, he’s, Kamala Harris, Harris, Trump Organizations: Democratic, Trump, Harvard

☆ On Trump: Lock Him Up - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-13 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

candidate would give President Biden his best shot at re-election and that another Trump presidency would be an orgy of petty political retribution and reckless policymaking that would make his first term seem, by comparison, responsible and tame? But the people who argue that Comey’s recommendation was a travesty of justice cannot now argue that Trump should be let off on far more serious charges. That’s essentially what Trump threatened to do against Clinton. It remains true that the federal prosecution of Trump, along with his potential conviction and incarceration, will be a fateful moment in American history. If Trump can be above the law, in a case of this kind, then we will have lost the rule of law.

Persons: Trump, Biden, There’s, That’s, Clinton, Trump’s Organizations: winnable Senate, Trump, Records, Biden, Hunter Locations: United States, Ukraine

☆ Where Presidential Hopes Go to Die - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Gail Collins | Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But speaking of forest fires, shall we get to that latest Trump indictment? Gail: We’re obviously in history-making territory — first former president indicted in a criminal case brought by the federal government. And this one, which involves trying to stash away official papers he’d been told were government property, is certainly a classic Trump combination of shocking and stupid. That may be about as close to a slam dunk, legally speaking, as we’re ever going to get in a case like this. Bret: The second thought is that a special counsel appointed by President Biden’s attorney general is bringing a criminal case against the president’s presumptive opponent in next year’s election.

Persons: Gail, We’re, he’d, Bret, I’m, ” Gail, Jack Smith, Trump, Biden’s, Damon Organizations: Georgia

☆ Opinion | An Endgame for Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Kremlin may try to encourage this line of thinking by again rattling its nuclear saber, this time even louder. The reason Putin hasn’t used tactical nuclear weapons in this war thus far isn’t because of moral scruples that might vanish if he feels cornered. As for Ukraine, it would have to become a garrison state even as its economy has been crippled by the war. The goal has been both hindered and advanced by President Biden’s fluctuating willingness to provide Kyiv with the tools it needs to win. It has also been stymied by his own ambivalence about the outcome he really desires, other than to not let Russia win and to not blow up the world in the process.

Persons: Putin, Putin hasn’t, Biden, Biden’s Organizations: Russia Locations: Russia, Ukraine, South Korea, North Korea

A recent CNN poll shows that 20 percent of Democrats favor Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for the party’s nomination, 8 percent want Marianne Williamson and another 8 percent want someone else. Do you think this is some kind of polling fluke or an ominous political sign for Joe Biden? Gail: I am absolutely sure that a lot of the people raising their hands for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. or Marianne Williamson have no idea who either of them actually is. Obviously, they recognize the Kennedy name, but I’ll bet most don’t know about his new career as an anti-vaxxer. Williamson touched a nerve — or summoned a spirit — as the “dark psychic force” lady from the last Democratic primary.

Persons: Bret Stephens, Gail, Robert F, Kennedy Jr, Marianne Williamson, Joe Biden, Gail Collins, Bret, it’s, he’s, Kennedy, ., Williamson Organizations: CNN, vax, Democratic Locations: America

☆ University of Chicago Graduates: Go Forth and Argue - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

On Friday, I was the invited speaker for the Class Day Ceremony at the University of Chicago, my alma mater. Campus political groups issued a statement of protest and a few students walked out of the ceremony. To those of you who are protesting or planning a walkout, I thank you for not seriously disrupting my speech. And though I’m sorry you won’t hear me out, I completely respect your right to protest any speaker you dislike, including me, so long as you honor the Chicago Principles. It is one of the core liberties that all of us have a responsibility to uphold, protect and honor.

Persons: Bob Zimmer, John Boyer, charitably, — Organizations: University of Chicago Locations: Chicago

☆ Opinion | Turkey’s Election Is a Warning About Trump
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And it should serve as a warning about other places — including the Republican Party — where autocratic leaders, seemingly incompetent in many respects, are returning to power through democratic means. That’s not quite the way Erdogan’s close-but-comfortable victory in Sunday’s runoff over the former civil servant Kemal Kilicdaroglu is being described in many analyses. The president, they say, has spent 20 years in power tilting every conceivable scale in his favor. Erdogan has used regulatory means and abused the criminal-justice system to effectively control the news media. He has exercised his presidential power to deliver subsidies, tax cuts, cheap loans and other handouts to favored constituencies.

Persons: Jean, François Revel, “, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, Erdogan, Ekrem Imamoglu Organizations: Republican Party — Locations: French, Turkey, Sunday’s, Turkish, Istanbul

“I remember total silence,” she says. “Even the babies realized this was a special moment.” Then a plane landed, its seats removed to make way for as many passengers as possible. Kanotopsky, who is now 46 and works for the Jewish Agency for Israel, told me her life story a few weeks ago as we sat aboard an Ethiopian Airlines jet flying from Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv. By June, this chapter of aliyah, Jewish immigration to Israel, will end, and this door to Ethiopians will be closed, at least for now. The problem is, there are still anywhere from 9,000 to 12,000 people in Ethiopia who practice Judaism and believe themselves to be Jews — even if the state of Israel believes their familial ties to Judaism are too weak.

It looks like we’ll be getting two new campaign launches soon in the race for the Republican presidential nomination: Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and Gov. Gail Collins: Gee, Bret, I guess they could both could use a little help being faster on their feet when they’re surrounded by curious reporters. Bret: Gail! Gail: Scott hasn’t been a serious enough possibility for me to worry about. Give me a little more time to judge what looks like it will be a growing throng.

☆ Opinion | At 75, Israel Has Plenty to Celebrate
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Jewish state turned 75 on Sunday, mostly in a sour mood. The country is governed by a coalition that includes political extremists, proud homophobes, ideological monomaniacs, and the merely corrupt. Its peer group of countries includes Syria, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and North and South Korea. As with Israel, many of those problems still dog most of those states. Those who think the Palestinian issue is unique should consider the situation of Kashmiris in India, Tamils in Sri Lanka, or Kurds in Syria.

Before we get to the border or the budget, though, let me admit I’m shallow and start with the Trump town hall on CNN. Bret Stephens: Not shallow, Gail. Gail: Trump lost your Republican vote a long time ago, but if you were still on the fence, was there anything on display that evening that would have had an impact? That said, I would guess that if you’re the sort of voter who liked 80-proof Trump, you’re gonna love 120-proof Trump. And that’s what he was in that CNN town hall: more mendacious, more shameless, more unapologetic, more aggressive, nastier.

☆ Opinion | The Curious Conservative Case Against Defending Ukraine
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Is there a coherent philosophical grounding for these antiwar conservatives? From Vietnam to Iraq, the antiwar left (both in the United States and abroad) tended to be united by a kind of instinctive pacifism, a belief that war was almost never the right answer. There has also often been a fair amount of anti-Americanism on the left — the Chomskyite view that Washington’s foreign policy is generally a force for neo-imperialism and rapacious capitalism. But that’s not the case with the antiwar right. Much of this incoherence is partly explained via the George Costanza school of modern conservatism: If a Democrat is for it, they’re against it.

You know I’m no fan of Kevin McCarthy’s. Gail Collins: Bret, with your strong feelings about fiscal responsibility, you of all people should be offended by McCarthy’s ploy. But McCarthy now wants to use it as a hostage — attaching his wish-list of spending cuts (weaken the I.R.S.!) Bret: I don’t think anyone wants Uncle Sam to default on his debts — except, well, the nuttier Republicans who hold the balance of power in the House. McCarthy had to pass a bill that could garner their support.

Gail Collins: Well, Bret it looks like Joe Biden will be announcing his re-election bid this week. Gail: I know you disagree with him on many issues, particularly relating to the economy. But given the likely Republican presidential candidates, any chance you’ll actually be able to avoid voting for him? It says something about the state of the Republican Party that the two current front-runners — let’s call them Don Caligula and Ron Torquemada — are nonstarters for a voter like me. And I’m a guy who believes in low taxes, a strong military, broken-windows policing, entitlement reform, a border wall and school choice.

☆ Tucker Carlson and the Tragedy of Fox News - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

In the summer of 2011, Rupert Murdoch stopped by my small office at The Wall Street Journal, where I was a columnist and editor. The scandal ultimately resulted in the closure of News of the World, at one point one of the world’s biggest-selling English-language newspapers. It was to leave no trace that investigators might use for evidence against him, his family or his favorite lieutenants. “Sidney Powell is lying by the way,” Carlson told fellow host Laura Ingraham on Nov. 18, 2020, referring to the infamous election conspiracy theorist. “Terrible stuff damaging everybody, I fear,” Murdoch told the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott.

No matter how much Kevin McCarthy swears that won’t involve cuts to Social Security or Medicare, it’s almost impossible to imagine they aren’t on the table. If Congress cuts spending to balance the budget as some Republicans have suggested, it could mean big cuts to very popular programs like Social Security and Medicare. Bret: Other than trying to find ways to slow the rate of spending growth, I can’t imagine there would be cuts to either program. They’re popular with Republican voters, too, after all. For some reason, Social Security payroll taxation stops at about $160,000.

☆ Joe Biden's biggest successes and failures in his second year in office
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | Brent D. Griffiths | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +15 min

His second year in office was marked by historic legislative achievements despite Democrats' razor-thin majority in Congress. Here are some of the highs and lows from Biden's second year:Success: UkrainePresident Joe Biden talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy outside the White House. Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens in September called the "staggering gains" by Ukrainian forces "a victory for Joe Biden, too." Universal pre-K was included in a sweeping spending plan passed by House Democrats until their Senate colleagues cut that out too. Failure: InflationPresident Joe Biden arrives for an event focused on inflation and the supply chain at the Port of Los Angeles in June.

☆ Climate Change Is Real. Markets, Not Governments, Offer the Cure. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( Bret Stephens | Mr. Stephens Is An Opinion Columnist. Mr. Winter Is A Staff Photographer On Assignment In Opinion. | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +32 min

worse-case, highest-carbon-emission scenario.” (The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is the U.N. body that assesses climate change.) How do we weigh the risks of underreacting to climate change against the risks of overreacting to it? While he’s not an expert on climate change, he has spent decades thinking deeply about every manner of risk. That’s particularly true if climate change is akin to cancer — manageable or curable in its earlier stages, disastrous in its later ones. Maybe, I realized, in assessing my newfound concerns about climate change, my long-held beliefs might provide a solution — look to the market.

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