A single emergency power accounts for 37 of the 40 national emergencies active today: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), which underlies most U.S. economic sanctions regimes. Although it was originally enacted to constrain the president during peacetime, Congress today has almost no ability to check presidential uses (or abuses) of this extremely broad power. Moreover, sanctions programs and targets have ballooned since IEEPA’s enactment, harming both Americans’ constitutional rights and the well-being of civilians abroad. The Biden administration has pledged to review the sanctions regimes currently in place, and voices inside and outside of government are calling for reform. A recent report released by the Brennan Center for Justice,
May 12, 2021
Palestinians from Gaza leaving the occupied West Bank to go to Jordan in 1968.Credit.Agence France-Presse Getty Images
By Peter Beinart
Mr. Beinart, a contributing Opinion writer who focuses on politics and foreign policy, is an editor at large of Jewish Currents, where a version of this essay appeared.
Why has the impending eviction of six Palestinian families in East Jerusalem drawn Israelis and Palestinians into a conflict that appears to be spiraling toward yet another war? Because of a word that in the American Jewish community remains largely taboo: the Nakba.
The Nakba, or “catastrophe” in Arabic, need not refer only to the more than 700,000 Palestinians who were expelled or fled in terror during Israel’s founding. It can also evoke the many expulsions that have occurred since: the about 300,000 Palestinians whom Israel displaced when it conquered the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967; the roughly 250,000 Palestinians who could not return to the West B
May 5, 2021
Credit.Illustration by The New York Times; photographs by Al Drago and Tom Brenner for The New York Times, and samxmeg/Getty Images
By Peter Beinart
Mr. Beinart is a contributing Opinion writer who focuses on U.S. foreign policy.
Media coverage of President Bidenâs foreign policy tends to focus on his efforts to withdraw from Afghanistan, get tough on Russia and negotiate with Iran. But none of those may prove as consequential as Mr. Bidenâs quiet, incremental, moves to establish official relations with Taiwan. Because only his policy toward Taiwan is meaningfully increasing the risk of world war.
Bye-Bye Beinart.
In October 2020, the
New York Timespromoted Peter Beinart to “contributing opinion writer” after Beinart renounced Zionism. Now, not even seven months later, the
Times appears to have unceremoniously dumped him overboard, announcing “an update to our roster of contributing opinion writers” with Beinart noticeably absent.
“A smaller roster of regular contributors will allow space for even more outside views,” a note from
Times opinion editor Kathleen Kingsbury said.
Beinart did not immediately reply to an email from the
Algemeiner seeking comment.
April 28, 2021 4:50 pm
Jewish readers are furious about a New York Times opinion writer who issued a tweet complaining that he can’t understand.
Here’s what we need to do if we want more Mitt Romneys and fewer Josh Hawleys.
By Peter Beinart
Jan. 15, 2021
Two of the few Republican senators willing to defy President Trump: Mitt Romney, left, and John McCain.Credit.Brooks Kraft/Corbis, via Getty Images
Now that Donald Trump has been defanged, leading Republicans are rushing to denounce him. It’s a little late. The circumstances were different then, but a year ago, only one Republican senator, Mitt Romney, backed impeachment. In a party that has been largely servile, Mr. Romney’s courage stands out.
Why, in the face of immense pressure, did Mr. Romney defend the rule of law? And what would it take to produce more senators like him? These questions are crucial if America’s constitutional system, which has been exposed as shockingly fragile, is to survive. The answer may be surprising: To get more courageous senators, Americans should elect more who are near the end of their political careers.