Trump’s Travel Ban 2.0

Donald Trump’s first travel ban had targeted people from seven Muslim-majority countries. It was challenged and underwent several amendments before being upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018. The ban announced this week is subtler and prevents travel from 12 countries while partially banning travel from another seven. The US president has a case: the ban is on “open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter”; countries that don’t have adequate safeguards for issuing passports; countries whose nationals tend to overstay their visas. The trigger was the recent Colorado fire-bomb attack against a gathering in support of Israeli hostages. The attacker was an Egyptian but Egypt is kept out of the ban. Instead, Myanmar is in and human rights activists argue that those travelling to the US are usually pro-democracy activists fleeing persecution. The secretary of state can make case-by-case exemptions but athletes are generally exempted, which is important given that the US is a co-host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Olympics. Unrelated but similar is another executive order restricting foreign student visas for Harvard.

The King of Drones

Russia will undoubtedly seek revenge for Ukraine’s audacious drone attack on its airbases across the country that took 18 months to plan and was a spectacle when it unfolded. Ukraine may have made matters more difficult and postponed peace. But that, too, is to miss the point. It was a message for the West, especially the White House: We are still in this war, not defeated. So don’t tell us we have six more months or no cards left. In fact, a Ukrainian journal proclaimed: “Ukraine does have some cards after all. Today Zelensky played the King of Drones.” Donald Trump has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin will not let this go. He won’t. Although Kyiv’s claims of causing $7 billion worth of damage is difficult to verify, if Operation Spider’s Web took out anywhere close to 40 of Russia’s 120-odd strategic bombers, that’s a big deal. Those Tu-95, Tu-22, and Tu-160 aircraft are no longer in production. It will be difficult to repair them and impossible to replace them. Clubbed with the attacks on the Kerch Bridge and the sinking of the flagship Moskva earlier, Ukraine has never been out of it. But is the most daring attack to date a tactical success or strategic suicide?

A Tale of Two Presidents

After the Trump effect cost conservatives winnable elections in Canada and Australia, Poland has chosen 42-year-old historian Karol Nawrocki, backed by the conservative Law and Justice Party, as president. Nawrocki is Trump’s guy. Despite his ceremonial role, the president can veto legislation. Liberal Prime Minister Donald Tusk already had his task cut out with his shaky coalition and outgoing conservative President Andrzej Duda has kept him from keeping his election promises. South Korea’s liberal President-elect Lee Jae-myung doesn’t have it much easier with his pledge to unite the country thrown into chaos by impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol’s attempt to impose martial law. Both presidents will have to navigate the age of American uncertainty.

AustraliaCanadaDonald TrumpPolandUS politicsVolodymyr Zelensky