As he had 'amply indicated'
while reacting after the terror attack on London Tube or the city's rapid
transit system on September 15, he is now there, well in advance, with new and
'tougher' version of his government's favourite but highly controversial policy
decision.
Trump, though had denounced
the terror attack and the attackers, he made his intentions clear when he went
on defaming the London Police for being inactive and made a pitch for his
government’s controversial travel ban plan that puts restrictions on migrants
and refugees from some Muslim majority nations.
Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
The travel ban into the
United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly,
that would not be politically correct!
4:24 PM - Sep 15, 2017
Unlike its previous version,
Donald Trump's new travel ban will now target two more countries - Iran,
Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya are the old targets with new addition of Chad,
North Korea and Venezuela while Sudan's name has been struck off - and the new,
tougher measures will come into effect from October 18.
Chad is again a Muslim
country so the number of Muslim countries hasn't come down from the previous
tally of six.
The addition of North Korea
and Venezuela have both possibilities.
The US North Korea relations
have hit bottom with both countries threatening to wipe out each other. That
may be a reason to put North Koreans under travel ban restrictions.
But how many North Koreans
really travel to America? The US has no diplomatic relation with North Korea,
no embassy, no consulate and the number of travellers between the countries are
negligible.
Most North Koreans who end up
in the US are those victims who somehow escape its brutal regime and
concentration camps. The Trump Administration, in the zeal of its misplaced
priorities, is now going to block them.
And Venezuela! The decision
to include Venezuela can be termed a political one based on ideological
differences. True, Venezuela is going through a phase of unrest with a
communist dictator overtaking the country but then Venezuela is not going to be
the first dictatorship or communist country the US would snap ties with. China
is the biggest example of this dichotomy. The communist dictatorship is the largest
trade partner of the US.
That leaves us to the natural
conclusion then that the inclusion of North Korea and Venezuela in Trump's scheme
of things is just a cosmetic measure that falsely believes that doing so would convince
the US courts and opponents - that the refurbished
travel ban is aimed at broadening the travel ban from being exclusively
anti-Muslim to anti-terrorism.
But the very inclusion of
these two countries raises serious questions that it is again a convoluted
version of a convoluted document that owes its origin to a convoluted thought
process.
Donald Trump's travel ban
plan has always been controversial, right from its first introduction in
January.
Following ban by various
federal courts, the Trump administration was forced to dilute it but even the
diluted version was rejected. It was finally given a go ahead by the US Supreme
Court on June 26.
Accordingly, the travel ban
plan that expired on September 24 targeted people from six Muslim majority
nations for 90 days, i.e., Syria, Libya, Sudan, Iran, Yemen and Somalia. It
also put restrictions on all refugees for 120 days that is set to expire on
October 24. The next Supreme Court hearing, which will deliberate on the
legality of the travel ban plan, is set for October 10.
©SantoshChaubey
