Asia is a very important region of the world. It hosts the second and third largest economies of the world as well as five of the eight most populated countries. Two of the most serious nuclear threats, i.e. North Korea and the Chinese-Indian-Pakistani standoff, also make Asia an important destination, among many other things. Consequently, a visit from the US President to Asia should capture the attention of both Asians and Americans, but Donald Trump’s first visit to the continent largely lacks any true significance. Unfortunately, Trump’s five nation tour lacks importance, because the Trump Administration lacks a meaningful foreign policy agenda, especially toward Asia.
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Billionaire and TD Ameritrade founder John "Joe" Rickett despises unions. He hates unions so much that he decided to close his online local news companies DNAinfo and Gothamist one week after 25 of his 27 employees at his New York properties voted to join the Writers Guild East. In a letter explaining his decision, he stated “businesses need to be economically successful,” which is true and hints at the failures of his business model. In an earlier blog post, however, he also created a scathing rant against unions, concluding “unions exert efforts that tend to destroy the Free Enterprise system.” It would be easy to simply demonize Rickett, but he should be credited for his honesty, especially since he outright violated the right of workers to organize and seek representation in the workplace, thereby potentially placing himself in legal jeopardy.
The New York Truck Attack was perpetuated by a man who rented a truck with the expressed purpose of killing people in the name of the Islamic State. Terrorism is violence intentionally directed at a civilian population. It is violence that has been designed by individuals, groups of individuals, or governments to force a particular ideology or policy onto a targeted population. The New York Truck Attack is, therefore, an act of terrorism. It is one of a growing list of terrorist attacks that have taken place inside the United States. The style of this high-profile attack, however, makes it particularly alarming.
Even if the rampage had simply been a violent crime motivated by any number of things or it had been conducted by a non-immigrant, police would be obliged to minimize the possibilities of such attacks. Unfortunately, the simplicity of the terrorist attack and utilization of a widely available ‘weapon,’ i.e. a truck, makes it very difficult to stop these kind of terrorist attacks. If terrorist groups can commit a number of these small-scale terrorist attacks on random targets, their collective impact on a population can be far more devastating than that of a large-scale attack terrorist on a high-profile target. It is, after all, the potential to be a victim that makes terrorism so frightening to most people. |
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April 2020
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