Opinion

In 2016, the libertarian magazine Reason polled a few dozen staff, contributors, and allies on who would get their votes for president. Almost all planned to cast a ballot for Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. I was alone in stating a firm intention to vote for Hillary Clinton, for three …

The latest successful rocket test by SpaceX could mean we’ll see humans on Mars in the next decade, funded by private entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. But will they take charge of the newly conquered Red Planet too? On a clear night, there’s nothing better than gazing …

Trump’s ‘Axios on HBO’ interview proves how much he relies on marketing to counter reality The power of positive thinking can’t make the coronavirus crisis disappear — and neither can the president’s preferred charts or willful ignorance. In Donald Trump’s book “The Art of the Deal,” he offered readers a …

Bret Stephens: Gail, some of our readers may not know that, in addition to all of your journalism at The Times, you’re also the author of several distinguished works of history. Put on your historian’s hat and tell us what you think of Donald Trump’s tweet suggesting we delay the …

It is time to drop the Western exploitative neoliberal model and build a pan-African prosocial collaborative economy. In the wake of George Floyd’s killing by police officers in the United States and the global movement for Black lives, there has been a resounding call to re-examine the relationship between society …

Theology may be far from our minds during a pandemic in a seemingly secular age. Our interactions with the non-human world of microbial pathogens appear wholly at odds with our relations with another kind of non-human realm that we designate as divine. Yet, if the past teaches us anything, it …

On April 17, President Trump was asked by a misinformed reporter why the U.S. supported the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, which had been accused, without evidence, of engineering and possibly releasing COVID-19. The president responded that he was aware of it and would “end that grant very quickly,” …

When two countries who are supposed to be military allies fall out and almost get themselves into a shooting match, you know there’s going to be trouble ahead. The problem for NATO is, this time, it may prove terminal. For a story that involves high seas skullduggery, clandestine gun-running, a …

Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC) triumphantly said on 10 July that it was lifting force majeure on oil exports, heralding a new phase in a ruinous civil war that has ravaged the leading North African energy exporter. It proved embarrassingly premature as the state player was forced to reimpose the …

The statues that were erected to claim the public spaces around them for white people only are finally coming down. Towards the end of Mozart’s signature opera, Don Giovanni, the eponymous character meets his squire Leporello in a graveyard, next to a statue of “Il Commendatore”. In the very first …

All dictators and would-be dictators need enemies — the more villainous the better — to justify their seizure of power. President Trump, an aspiring authoritarian, based his 2016 campaign on fomenting fear of Mexicans and Muslims. In 2018 his midterm campaign was based on (unsuccessful) scaremongering about caravans of refugees …

On June 19, 1865, the news of emancipation finally reached Galveston, Texas. On that day, the crack of the master’s whip would no longer be sanctioned by the laws of the United States. Exercising the powers vested in him by President Lincoln, Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger, along with more than …

Referring to the effect of recent anti-racism protests on the upcoming US presidential election results, Sheridan said, “The choice in November facing US citizens is one of two devils.” George Floyd, an unarmed American black man died on May 25, 2020, after a police officer pressed his knee into his …

The scenes appear daily on social media, taking on the familiarity of ritual. A red-faced customer breathes contemptuously in a waitress’ face or tries to muscle past a green-aproned clerk. They’ve been asked to wear a mask and they don’t like it. “I have my rights,” they say. Claiming rights …

Boycotts can be extremely effective – as Facebook is finding out. In the late 18th century, the abolitionist movement encouraged British people to stay away from goods produced by slaves. It worked. Around 300,000 stopped buying sugar – increasing the pressure to abolish slavery. The Stop Hate for Profit campaign …

Trump’s supporters are deplorable. Now, before the 100-percent-proof progressives – who consider the former first lady and failed presidential candidate the “devil in a designer pantsuit” – have a fit of apoplexy or crucify yours truly for being an apostate, let me explain what I am convinced Hillary Clinton was …

The Black Power movements of the 1960s and 1970s can show the way for the Black Lives Matter movement. The murders of Ahmaud Arbury, Tony Mcdade, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd have triggered a rebellion in the United States, while solidarity protests have emerged across the world. The moment has …

Right now, we could all use some good news, and it came yesterday in the form of dexamethasone. This cheap steroid could significantly reduce deaths in critically ill Covid-19 patients by one-third for those on ventilators and by one-fifth for those on oxygen alone. The drug appears to stop the …

As the world was gripped by the shocking scenes of police brutality against the Black community in the United States and the aggressive posture adopted by President Donald Trump against the protestors, an important development was missed by many observers. On May 29, the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) …

This is not just ‘horrible stuff that happens in America’. Black people know we need to dismantle the same system here Pay attention to African Americans. The headlines are now describing the US as a nation in crisis. As the protests against the killing of African American George Floyd by …