Deportation Drama

The Left’s cultural wars have met their match in Donald Trump. That’s one way of looking at the Trump’s administration’s arrest and attempt to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old Palestinian born in a refugee camp in Syria who ended up as the guiding light of the pro-Palestinian student protests at Columbia University but was careful enough never to participate in the campus ‘encampments’ directly, aware that the university could revoke his student visa. Trump has vowed to deport all “terrorist sympathisers” on campus. As a green-card holder, Khalil has permanent residential status as well as First Amendment rights. But Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly relied on the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that grants him extraordinary powers to expel foreigners. The protests—and nowhere more so than at Columbia—crossed the boundary into anti-Semitism frequently although Khalil himself had criticised that tendency. Trump has said Khalil is just the first instance of more ICE-led deportations to come. While the legality is debated, Trump’s MO—such as demolishing the Black Lives Matter Plaza in DC—might just end up making heroes/martyrs of extremists. After all, it’s not clear what exactly Khalil has been detained for apart from activities “aligned to Hamas”.

Is China Stealing Argentina’s Fish?

First they depleted their own seas by overfishing for seafood. Then they crossed the Pacific and moved to the Atlantic, ending up off Argentina’s coast. Chinese fishing fleets have for long been resorting to illegal fishing so aggressively and in such numbers that Argentina has deployed its navy for close surveillance and pushing back vessels crossing into its EEZ, which happens often. According to a CNN investigation with the Argentine military, “More than 80% of the 198 vessels identified by CNN were sailing under the Chinese flag.” The Argentine government says the total number of Chinese vessels at any time is about 550, a floating city of lights at night as the vessels turn on powerful lamps to hunt for squid—compared to only about 70-75 Argentine fishing vessels inside the EEZ. The lights can be seen from space and have been captured by NASA satellites as a long, thick white line on the ocean’s surface. Illegal fishing and overfishing are a big international concern as these destroy ecosystems and deplete resources. But this is the only “short strip of ocean” where 550-plus vessels are “fishing without any regulation”.

Duterte’s Downfall

Philippine President Bongbong Marcos is sending his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte to the ICC in The Hague. Duterte had withdrawn the country from ICC which nevertheless claims jurisdiction for alleged crimes committed when the Philippines was still a member. For the former strongman the fall couldn’t be bigger. And it happened because the alliance between the powerful Marcos and Duterte families broke down—an arrangement by which ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ son became president while Sara, Duterte’s daughter, became vice president, all set to run for president in 2028. At issue are thousands of extrajudicial killings on Duterte’s watch in his so-called war on drugs.

ArgentinaBongbong MarcosChinafishinggeopliticsGlobetrotterMahmoud KhalilPalestiniansPhilippine President