Washington: Even as the world was recovering from the shock order barring Muslims from seven countries, US President Trump was at it again in the second week. This time, he roughly told off his Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in separate phone calls, which the incoming President makes to world leaders. Mr Trump’s spats with US allies are leaving his new secretary of state and others in his Cabinet to clean up a lot of potential damage. It’s a good-cop, bad-cop dynamic that could define America's foreign policy for the next four years.
Trump takes on a sitting judge, again
US President Donald Trump took to Twitter to lash out at a court ruling that suspended his controversial ban on travellers from seven Muslim countries, dismissing it as “ridiculous” and vowing to get it overturned. The order blocking the ban, issued by Seattle US District Judge James Robart, is valid across the United States, pending a full review of a complaint filed by Washington state’s attorney general. “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump wrote in a flurry of early morning tweets.
H-1b draft still haunts India
There was widespread concern in India over a legislation in the US House of Representatives which called for more than doubling the minimum salary of H-1B visa holders — from US$ 60,000 to US$ 130,000. This would make it difficult for companies to use the programme to replace American staff with foreign workers, including those from India. There are fears Trump’s rules would also impact spouses traveling along with H-1B visa holders.
Jud boss detained
Jammat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind of the Mumbai terror attack, was on placed under house arrest in Lahore on January 30. The terror chief promptly said it was the outcome of the telephonic conversation between US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Saeed has been under house arrest before, but to no avail. And as the week ended, the JuD, which is the Laskhar-e-Tayyaba by another name, had renamed itself. The plan was to call the outfit Tehreek Azadi Jammu and Kashmir.
Kuwait’s own ban
US President Donald Trump’s barring of entry to Muslims from seven Muslim-majority countries has turned out to be infectious. The Kuwaiti government said on February 2 that that it was barring visas to migrants from five nations — Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran. The additions in the Kuwaiti list were migrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan. The US had promised only “extreme vetting” for Muslims from these two countries. Kuwait had barred Syrian visitors as far back as in 2011.
