POLITICS -Academics in Chinese studies discuss Chinese Students

Greetings. I have been busy with several projects, mostly good, including non-political, non-Asian studies writing, maintaining a normal life, and with doing what I can locally about the current political situation.

Things are moving awfully fast in the USA right now. Things are heading for a crisis in Los Angeles as our glorious leader seems eager to escalate things and impose martial law and use the military on civilians. Very bad. Very serious things are happening. But I am not in Los Angeles. I am on the other side of the nation. I am doing what I can here, and we will see where it all winds up.

As stated, things are happening very fast, and it is difficult to follow them. This is by design.

I realized this weekend that June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, passed without my remembering the event or even the significance of the day and the event. This has never happened before.

As for the mass deportations, personally I think Trump enjoys the cruelty of it, I think he is motivated by racism and a belief in White supremacy (at this point if you can’t see that Trump is racist, you’re only fooling yourself), and I think he is trying to create a giant system that can be used to disappear anyone he wishes, immigrant or non-immigrant, legal or not. The last few months, i have often asked myself “Am I making sense? Does this fit the facts? Superficially it looks like the writings of a crazy, conspiracy theorist.” I am well aware that many people make very strange statements that make no sense and insist that they are true. (Heck, you can even find examples of this in past comment sections on my political columns.) Then I check the facts and ask around and decide that crazy as it sounds, what I have been writing and believing is, at the very least, a possible interpretation of reality.

On the positive side, the name Curtis Yarvin is starting to enter the mainstream and several prominent forums have had discussion of the man and his ideas. As you may recall, Curtis Yarvin is a (formerly?) obscure blogger who argues that democracy is undesirable and should be replaced with corporate style dictatorships. Why should you care about who he is? Because his fans include Peter Thiel, JD Vance, and Elon Musk, and if you were paying attention to Elon Musk and Donald Trump’s actions over the last few months, they include such things as destroying the efficiency of the federal government so that people will become so frustrated they embrace a dictator who promises efficiency. As anyone who really understands what is happening is asking, “Why is the government doing these insane, unhealthy, counter-productive things that endanger citizens, harm the economy, and destroy or damage our international reputation and standing?” One explanation for all this lies in the writings of Curtis Yarvin. (do an internet search on it.)

You can check out my old essay from April, POLITICS - Elephant in the Living Room - Is Donald Trump trying to destroy the American economy? Why or why not?, April 8, 2025 but at this point, the issue is much greater than the economy. It seems like our President, an alleged Russian asset who has surrounded himself by people who advocate a new kind of dictatorship, is trying to destroy not just the economy but our international standing and our technological and scientific prowess as well.

(Paradoxically, Trump clear wishes a strong military that can dominate and intimidate other nations. However, if the recent Ukranian drone attack on the Russian bomber fleet shows, in the 21st century, military campaigns will often hinge on the ability of smart, tech-savvy people to think outside the box and put pieces together in new patterns to achieve unprecedented results. Guns and tanks will be less important than ever. By destroying universities, scientific research, and education in general Trump is weakening our national defense and war fighting capabilities.)

And a major part of this is attacks on universities and these are taking the form of attacks on foreign students. As for the threat of China, if one is really worried about this, then one should embrace the way Biden handled things (international coalitions framed to assert traditional international norms of behavior), and do everything you can to stop and undo the damage that Elon Musk did, actions that often actually helped China, a nation where he has large business operations. (do an internet search on “USAID programs China benefits” and then “Elon Musk China ties” —play with these terms but you will soon see what I mean)

I am completely convinced that the benefits the US gets from Chinese and other foreign students greatly outweighs any problems. I wrote about this once before a bit in my piece on Linda Sun, the Chinese spy in NY who was paid partially with Nanjing Salted Ducks last September where I spoke of the benefits of getting top talent from around the globe. But, honestly, even the laziest, stupidest foreign students provide a benefit to our economy as they all are screened prior to getting a visa to ensure that they can pay for years of housing, food, healthcare, and, of course, tuition in our country. As a newspaper reporter in the less economically thriving regions of upstate New York years ago, there are community colleges that give presentations on their English as a Second Language programs for foreign students and 80% of those presentations focus on the dollars the students pump into beautiful,upstate New York, small towns in the rust belt that lost their mills and factories a couple generations ago and where the motivated young people move out to seek better opportunities when they turn 18.

As offered in the presentation below, it’s likely that these attacks on universities and foreign students are part of a plan by a wannabe dictator to destroy America’s universities so they cannot be a center of resistance to his attempts to takeover and impose his will on our nation. Or maybe it’s just childish tantrum violence because his son was not admitted to an elite university when Donald Trump and Jerad Kushner were both able to use family ties and family wealth to play the system and get admitted to high prestige, Ivy League schools. (Do an internet search on “jared kushner harvard donation” and “donald trump wharton admission how” or play around with those terms.) For the record, there’s no documented proof yet that Barron Trump applied to Harvard but why would he not? Donald Trump has spoken of his son in law’s Harvard degree as a sign of great ability and if there’s one thing you can say about Donald Trump, he aims high and pursues lofty goals.)

Finally, check this out if you have time. "Chinese Exclusion 2.0?" A UCLA Center for Chinese Studies Teach-in. It’s long, over two hours, but very informative.(I had a long drive on Sunday and listened to it. Many great insights, interesting background, nothing here that I disagree with. Even listening to just part is very informative.

Finally, a note on comments on my political posts, I don’t want to censor anyone but if you post lengthy, multiparagraph statements I look at the first paragraph and if it shows a complete lack of what I have been trying to say, I then skim quickly. If I see five to eight paragraphs using unreliable citations and poorly explained logic and statements like “watch this video to learn everything that is wrong with the Democratic party. The key ideas are the 40 minute point.” And I never even mentioned the Democratic party in my piece, I don’t read much further (for the record, at this point it’s clear to thinking people that Donald Trump, in his words, is a “RINO, a Republican In Name Only.” He’s no more of a Republican than Kim Jong Il, a man he admires and pretends he is friends with, is a Republican.) I am not going to give your statement more than a minute or two of thought if this happens, and even that thought will not be on the content but wondering about the form and emotional motivation behind making such posts was.