Opinion Today: The future of genocide

July 21, 2026

A cartoon illustration of a hand, emerging from a blue suit, dropping money into a box full of sundries like a plant, papers, a picture frame and a mug.

Vincent Kilbride

Notable

Giving Americans a stake in A.I. companies is a terrible idea. “The better response to the A.I. jobs threat is tax reform, which, to be fair, OpenAI also advocates.”

— Sebastian Mallaby, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations

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Fashion is stuck. “Fashion slop is the logical next step in the evolution of ready-to-wear clothing.”

— Amy Odell, the author of the Back Row newsletter

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The Maduro case may be about to take a hairpin turn. “If the United States honors its agreement, it could well be forced to release its prized captive.”

— Michael Rips, a lawyer and writer

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Spotlight

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Laura Scott

The Future of Genocide

What we have seen unfold in Gaza appears to portend a new future for the crime.

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ICYMI

A.I. drones are coming. America is not ready. “The fear of body bags has been one of the greatest deterrents to conflict in history. Mass-produced, expendable robots do not carry the human or financial costs that have tempered the urge to go to war for centuries.”

— W.J. Hennigan, an Opinion writer

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More in Opinion

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On top of everything else, the president is inept.

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Maine Democrats Are Replacing an Oysterman With a Lumberjack. It Might Just Work.

For the state’s progressives, Graham Platner was tempting. Troy Jackson is tested.

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This Is Why Our Fresh Produce Keeps Making Us Sick

Cyclospora outbreaks are just a small part of a much larger food safety crisis linked to fresh produce.

By Timothy D. Lytton

In Your Words

Re: “America Has 2 Political Parties but 8 Political Tribes”

David

British Columbia

The US has one political party, the Capitalist Party. It runs candidates under two brand names, Democrats and Republicans. The brands sell themselves with different logos and colours but at the core level of ideology there is not a dime's worth of difference.

It is the same with cornflakes. Kelloggs, Post, whatever. Boxes on grocery shelves each come with different colours and promises, but the product inside is identical.

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