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In today’s edition:
- Being Jewish means standing up to any war crime anywhere
- A new Indo-Pacific alliance and a new Japan within it
- Time to break America’s sports-betting addiction
- Trump just lowered his election chances
Reckoning with Israel
“Atrocities tend to rhyme,” writes journalist Peter Maass in an op-ed arguing that Israel is committing war crimes against Gaza.
Maass reported decades ago on the genocide against Bosnia’s Muslims, and he writes that so many of the outrages the world has seen in Gaza remind him of the horrors of Sarajevo, where he witnessed a civilian sniped right outside his hotel window.
Maass has a connection to the Gaza conflict, too: He is Jewish, and previous generations of his family helped finance the creation of Israel. Like Noah Feldman’s recent book excerpt on Jews’ forced reckoning with Israel, Maass’s essay asks: “What’s a Jew to do now?”
And he is immediately clear: “Everyone makes their own choices, but my experience of war crimes taught me that being Jewish means standing against any nation that commits war crimes. Any.” Partly, Maass explains, that also means standing against U.S. weapons support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extremist government” ruling Israel.
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In a joint op-ed, the leaders of Jordan, France and Egypt are making their own stand: King Abdullah II, Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fatah El-Sisi demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. (Or, at least, in classic international-speak, they “call for the immediate and unconditional implementation” of the United Nations’ demand for a cease-fire.)
Then, beyond the immediate necessity of a cease-fire, the three leaders throw their support behind the two-state solution. “It is the only credible path to guaranteeing peace and security for all,” they write, “and ensuring that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis ever have to relive the horrors that have befallen them since the Oct. 7 attack.”
Chaser: In another war disproportionately punishing civilians, Russian glide bombs are still falling on Ukraine — while the House of Representatives dawdles on aid, the Editorial Board writes.
Allies assemble
Meanwhile, another trilateral project is taking shape to stand against China’s power consolidation in the Pacific, Josh Rogin reports. Japan’s prime minister and the Philippines’ president will meet on Wednesday with the U.S. president as a duo for the first time ever.
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The combo has a lot of potential to join other powerful permutations of states allied in the Pacific, including the Quad (United States, Japan, Australia and India) and AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom and United States). The fact that JAROPUS — Japan, the Republic of the Philippines and the United States — is the first acronym to qualify as a pangram is only the beginning of its strengths.
Josh explains how the partnership adds deterrence to China, especially as its “9-dash line” of maritime claims in the South China Sea hugs the shores of the Philippines. “The subtext is clear,” Josh writes: “As China’s appetite for power and territory grows, Indo-Pacific allies are teaming up and asking for U.S. help.”
Japan’s national security adviser, Takeo Akiba, underscores the point in his own op-ed reintroducing Japan to the world. As with the Meiji Restoration more than 150 years ago, he writes, Japan’s global role is changing, this time into “one of maintaining universal values and protecting the international order based on the rule of law.”
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Akiba describes all the defense investments and security innovations powering this transformation. This includes a staggering 50 percent increase in defense spending over recent years.
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Akiba also writes that Japan intends to introduce “security clearance legislation [that] will enable us to further deepen cooperation with other countries.” In other words, get ready; JANZAUSROPUS, SOKOJAROP and TAISINUSJA are all on their way.
From the Editorial Board’s analysis of an industry spinning out of control. America, it writes, is getting hooked on sports betting.
Even the sports leagues themselves, which once tried to stay well away from gambling — remember Pete Rose? — have embraced it.
Betting’s recent legalization ought to come with the benefit of regulation, the board writes, but “the gaming industry has resisted virtually all proposals for regulation,” and Congress has shown little appetite to fight the point.
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The board doesn’t need regulators to go double or nothing (sorry). Instead, it suggests a few reasonable rules that could take effect immediately and perhaps save some people from a dangerous addiction.
More politics
Could Florida actually be in play this election? Gene Robinson thinks it’s possible, and it’s all Donald Trump’s fault.
The reason is abortion, which thanks to the former president’s work overturning Roe v. Wade will soon be severely restricted in Florida — though perhaps not for long. The subject will go to a referendum on the state’s ballot in November, and as Gene points out, measures protecting abortion rights have been wildly popular even in red states.
They’re also very good at motivating Democrats and rights-minded independents to the polls — and as long as they’re already in the voting booth, they might as well fill out the rest of the ballot, too, right?
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Add in today’s news of Arizona’s abortion restriction and yet another state might end up with a turnout-boosting fall referendum. Or, “from Trump’s point of view,” Gene writes: “Uh-oh.”
Chaser: The topic for discussion in Alexi McCammond’s latest Prompt 2024 newsletter: Why is it so hard to find a winning third-party candidate?
Smartest, fastest
- Trump’s business falsification trial begins next week in New York, and Jen Rubin says the case has five key aspects many are overlooking.
- Electric vehicles have a Democrat problem, Catherine Rampell writes.
- Is Kenya poised for an economic takeoff? Keith Richburg thinks so, as long as the country can rein in its corruption.
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
O Janzausropus!
Rise, mighty leviathan
And straddle the sea!
***
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
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You’re reading the Today’s Opinions newsletter. Sign up to get it in your inbox.
In today’s edition:
“Atrocities tend to rhyme,” writes journalist Peter Maass in an op-ed arguing that Israel is committing war crimes against Gaza.
Maass reported decades ago on the genocide against Bosnia’s Muslims, and he writes that so many of the outrages the world has seen in Gaza remind him of the horrors of Sarajevo, where he witnessed a civilian sniped right outside his hotel window.
Maass has a connection to the Gaza conflict, too: He is Jewish, and previous generations of his family helped finance the creation of Israel. Like Noah Feldman’s recent book excerpt on Jews’ forced reckoning with Israel, Maass’s essay asks: “What’s a Jew to do now?”
And he is immediately clear: “Everyone makes their own choices, but my experience of war crimes taught me that being Jewish means standing against any nation that commits war crimes. Any.” Partly, Maass explains, that also means standing against U.S. weapons support for Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extremist government” ruling Israel.
In a joint op-ed, the leaders of Jordan, France and Egypt are making their own stand: King Abdullah II, Emmanuel Macron and Abdel Fatah El-Sisi demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. (Or, at least, in classic international-speak, they “call for the immediate and unconditional implementation” of the United Nations’ demand for a cease-fire.)
Then, beyond the immediate necessity of a cease-fire, the three leaders throw their support behind the two-state solution. “It is the only credible path to guaranteeing peace and security for all,” they write, “and ensuring that neither the Palestinians nor the Israelis ever have to relive the horrors that have befallen them since the Oct. 7 attack.”
Chaser: In another war disproportionately punishing civilians, Russian glide bombs are still falling on Ukraine — while the House of Representatives dawdles on aid, the Editorial Board writes.
Meanwhile, another trilateral project is taking shape to stand against China’s power consolidation in the Pacific, Josh Rogin reports. Japan’s prime minister and the Philippines’ president will meet on Wednesday with the U.S. president as a duo for the first time ever.
The combo has a lot of potential to join other powerful permutations of states allied in the Pacific, including the Quad (United States, Japan, Australia and India) and AUKUS (Australia, United Kingdom and United States). The fact that JAROPUS — Japan, the Republic of the Philippines and the United States — is the first acronym to qualify as a pangram is only the beginning of its strengths.
Josh explains how the partnership adds deterrence to China, especially as its “9-dash line” of maritime claims in the South China Sea hugs the shores of the Philippines. “The subtext is clear,” Josh writes: “As China’s appetite for power and territory grows, Indo-Pacific allies are teaming up and asking for U.S. help.”
Japan’s national security adviser, Takeo Akiba, underscores the point in his own op-ed reintroducing Japan to the world. As with the Meiji Restoration more than 150 years ago, he writes, Japan’s global role is changing, this time into “one of maintaining universal values and protecting the international order based on the rule of law.”
Akiba describes all the defense investments and security innovations powering this transformation. This includes a staggering 50 percent increase in defense spending over recent years.
Akiba also writes that Japan intends to introduce “security clearance legislation [that] will enable us to further deepen cooperation with other countries.” In other words, get ready; JANZAUSROPUS, SOKOJAROP and TAISINUSJA are all on their way.
From the Editorial Board’s analysis of an industry spinning out of control. America, it writes, is getting hooked on sports betting.
Even the sports leagues themselves, which once tried to stay well away from gambling — remember Pete Rose? — have embraced it.
Betting’s recent legalization ought to come with the benefit of regulation, the board writes, but “the gaming industry has resisted virtually all proposals for regulation,” and Congress has shown little appetite to fight the point.
The board doesn’t need regulators to go double or nothing (sorry). Instead, it suggests a few reasonable rules that could take effect immediately and perhaps save some people from a dangerous addiction.
Could Florida actually be in play this election? Gene Robinson thinks it’s possible, and it’s all Donald Trump’s fault.
The reason is abortion, which thanks to the former president’s work overturning Roe v. Wade will soon be severely restricted in Florida — though perhaps not for long. The subject will go to a referendum on the state’s ballot in November, and as Gene points out, measures protecting abortion rights have been wildly popular even in red states.
They’re also very good at motivating Democrats and rights-minded independents to the polls — and as long as they’re already in the voting booth, they might as well fill out the rest of the ballot, too, right?
Add in today’s news of Arizona’s abortion restriction and yet another state might end up with a turnout-boosting fall referendum. Or, “from Trump’s point of view,” Gene writes: “Uh-oh.”
Chaser: The topic for discussion in Alexi McCammond’s latest Prompt 2024 newsletter: Why is it so hard to find a winning third-party candidate?
It’s a goodbye. It’s a haiku. It’s … The Bye-Ku.
O Janzausropus!
Rise, mighty leviathan
And straddle the sea!
***
Have your own newsy haiku? Email it to me, along with any questions/comments/ambiguities. See you tomorrow!
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