In response to Nancy Pelosi’s visit this week to Taiwan, China has applied an expanded political, military and economic coercion toolkit to punish Taipei. That points to Beijing’s desire to increase the cost on Taiwan for attempting to expand its international space and further solidify the U.S.-Taiwan bilateral relationship.
International condemnation is growing against Morocco and Spain as more details emerge about the violent deaths of at least 37 migrants during an attempt last week to cross Morocco’s border with the Spanish enclave of Melilla. According to media reports, more than 2,000 people attempted to enter the enclave from the Moroccan city of Nador. Moroccan authorities initially claimed that the migrants died in a stampede or as a result of falling from the high, barbed-wire fence that separates Melilla from Moroccan territory. But human rights groups threw cold water on those claims, and video footage quickly emerged and circulated on [...]
If there were a contest for leaving office in the most undignified way possible, Fabrice Leggeri would surely be an odds-on favorite to win. After a long battle to hold onto his position as director of Frontex, the European Union’s border and coast guard agency, Leggeri was forced to resign on April 29 under murky circumstances. Faced with accusations that he had covered up attempts by Greek coast guard units assisted by Frontex to “push back” rather than rescue refugees at sea, Leggeri had spent months engaged in desperate career maneuvers that had more than a passing resemblance to episodes [...]
