Decoding Trump: Disintegrating World Order
The Hindu Huddle 2025 Day 1 LIVE updates
Dr. Srinath Raghavan says that United States is losing out on soft power, noting that Donald Trump is going after universities. He is responding to a question about students no longer being as interested in studying in American universities.
Mr. Tirumurti said, 'In trying to make Make America Great Again, Trump shouldn't make China great again.'
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Economic Times
13 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Free speech stops at the border? ‘Anti-American' scrutiny is raising the bar for immigrants
iStock Immigration authorities in the US are widening the net of discretionary review. New guidance tells officers to treat 'anti-American activity' and antisemitic ideologies as overwhelmingly negative when deciding on visas, work permits, and green cards. At the same time, a new memorandum on 'good moral character' (GMC) has raised the bar for naturalization, requiring applicants to demonstrate active civic commitment rather than simply avoiding crime. Together, these moves show how free speech, while constitutionally protected for citizens, can become a liability for immigrants. International students have already seen their visas abruptly cancelled over alleged ideological sympathies, while naturalization applicants face new uncertainty over how their personal conduct will be judged. The First Amendment protects expression, but many immigration benefits are discretionary and, for those outside the US, largely non-reviewable. The new USCIS guidance and recent moves against international students show how speech-adjacent conduct can negatively affect visas, status extensions, and green-card cases, even when criminal laws are not at issue. 'America's benefits should not be given to those who despise the country and promote anti-American ideologies,' USCIS spokesman Matthew Tragesser said. 'Immigration benefits—including to live and work in the United States—remain a privilege, not a right.' A sharper edge to discretion The Good Moral Character (GMC) memorandum issued on August 15, 2025, complements the anti-American activity guidance. It empowers adjudicators to go beyond criminal records, assessing lifestyle choices, online activity, and social affiliations. Rajiv Khanna, writing in The Economic Times, warned that the apparent flexibility masks a tougher standard. 'The fundamental shift appears to be this: it may no longer be enough to simply lack a criminal record. The new policy explicitly states that an absence of 'bad deeds' does not, by itself, equate to good moral character,' he wrote. Khanna noted the deeper implications: 'The clean slate you thought you had may now be viewed as a blank slate—and a blank slate may not be considered good enough.' The 'anti-American' filter By linking discretionary analysis to anti-American and antisemitic activity, USCIS has inserted ideology into adjudication. Expanded social-media vetting is designed to flag such content. What counts as 'anti-American,' however, is left undefined, giving officers wide discretion. Khanna's caution on vagueness applies here too. 'This introduces a dangerously vague and subjective standard,' he wrote of the GMC memo, adding that interpretation is now left to individual officers rather than says officers must consider whether an applicant has 'endorsed, promoted, supported, or otherwise espoused' views of a terrorist group, or promoted anti-American or antisemitic ideologies, and weigh that strongly against approval in any discretionary analysis. The change also clarifies how discretion applies in EB-5 investor matters involving national-interest threats, fraud, or criminal misuse, and affirms that extensions or changes of F/M student status involve discretion. The update is effective USCIS says it has expanded the set of benefit requests that receive social-media screening, adding reviews for 'anti-American activity.' The agency states this activity will be 'an overwhelmingly negative factor' in discretionary decisions. Student visas as a test case The stakes are already visible in the student visa arena. Reports of mass F-1 cancellations this year illustrate how quickly status can change when protests, associations, or online posts are read as hostile to US values. Some revocations were later rolled back, but the episode highlights the limited protections available to in the year, the White House signaled a harder line: officials said visas of 'Hamas sympathizers' on campuses would be cancelled, and launched broader initiatives to combat antisemitism across schools. These steps form the backdrop to today's USCIS direction that folds perceived ideological activity into case-by-case immigration judgments. For students and professionals, it means that speech that would be lawful for Americans can carry life-changing consequences for their own though the updated USCIS policy does not rewrite the First Amendment, it reframes immigration discretion. For non-citizens who need the government to grant, extend, or convert a status, expression that officials read as anti-American or antisemitic can now carry decisive weight—even if it would be lawful speech for a US citizen. That is why, in practice, free-speech protections often do not shield immigrants from adverse immigration outcomes. (Join our ETNRI WhatsApp channel for all the latest updates) Elevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea. How an auto giant trapped global investors in an INR1,000 crore heist Fortis Healthcare still heals portfolios, but valuations are running hot. Swiggy, Tencent backer Prosus gets Rajinikanth fan to script India AI play IndiGo's GIFT City unit: Simple expansion or is there more to it than meets the eye? Stock Radar: Rico Auto stock showing signs of bottoming out after about 40% fall from highs; what should investors do now? 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Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
‘Stupidest tactical move in US foreign policy': Jeffrey Sachs slams Trump's tariffs on India
United States economist Jeffrey Sachs slammed US President Donald Trump's additional tariffs on India, calling them 'the stupidest tactical move'. Sachs highlighted that the tariffs had resulted in deteriorated diplomatic relations between the US and India.(Hindustan Times podcast) 'The imposition of thee 25 per cent penalty tariff on India was the stupidest tactical move from US foreign policy for a long that's saying a lot by the way,' Sachs said in an interview with Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on the Breaking Points show. Sachs highlighted that the tariffs had resulted in deteriorated diplomatic relations between the US and India, one that had been cultivated for years. The economist further said that the Indians had learned their lesson that they could not trust the US. 'Going after India, a country that the US has been cultivating for strategic and diplomatic relations, and Trump ended it overnight. Because by the way, even if this 25 per cent penalty is removed, and I think it probably will be, the Indians learned a lesson that I was trying to tell them for years, you cannot trust the United States,' Sachs said. Trump was the great unifier for BRICS, says Sachs Sachs said that Trump had been the 'great unifier' for the BRICS countries. The BRICS is a forum for cooperation among a group of emerging economies. It includes ten countries – Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russian Federation, South Africa, United Arab Emirates. 'What it (additional tariffs) did overnight was unify the BRICS countries as never before. Within 24-48 hours there was a flurry of calls – Brazil with India, Brazil with Russia, Brazil with China, China with India, China with Russia. Donald Trump was the great unifier of the BRICS,' Sachs said. The economist said that Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham and the US President's trade adviser Peter Navarro had unified the BRICS countries. 'There is no ability to have a trusting relationship with the US. This is improv land and you are not gonna get the kind of relationship that you think. Everybody in India understands that,' Sachs said.
Hindustan Times
13 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
India, Russia agree to boost trade ties after foreign ministers meet in Moscow
MOSCOW -India and Russia agreed to boost trade ties on Thursday as their foreign ministers met in Moscow, giving little indication that U.S. President Donald Trump's hefty tariffs on India for buying Russian oil would disrupt their relations. India, Russia agree to boost trade ties after foreign ministers meet in Moscow Indian goods face additional U.S. tariffs of up to 50%, among the highest imposed by Washington, due to New Delhi's increased purchases of Russian oil. Western countries boycotting Russian crude say India's purchases are helping to fund Moscow's war in Ukraine. But New Delhi says its purchases are purely commercial transactions, and accuses the U.S. and European Union of double standards, noting that they continue significant trade with Moscow themselves. "We have good results in cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector, in the supply of Russian oil to the Indian market. And we have a mutual interest in implementing joint projects for the extraction of energy resources, including in the Russian Federation - in the Far East and on the Arctic shelf," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a joint news conference with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Jaishankar said that relations between the two countries had been among the steadiest of major nations in the world since World War Two, referring to a close friendship going back to the days of the Soviet Union. The two countries reaffirmed their ambition to expand bilateral trade, including by increasing India's exports to Russia, Jaishankar said, according to a statement from India's foreign ministry. "This requires swiftly addressing non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments," Jaishankar said. "Enhancing Indian exports to Russia in sectors like pharmaceuticals, agriculture and textiles will certainly help to correct the current imbalance." Russia was able to divert its exports of oil, a significant source of state revenue, away from Europe and mainly to China and India after the West imposed sanctions on Moscow over its conflict in Ukraine. India and China are the biggest buyers of Russia's oil. Russian embassy officials in New Delhi said on Wednesday that Russia expected to continue supplying oil to India despite pressure from the United States, adding that Moscow hoped trilateral talks with India and China would soon take place. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
