WASHINGTON (OCEAN CONSERVANCY) —-Trump administration order issued in response to trade war with China built on flawed business case; threatens to unleash piracy of ocean floor minerals, experts say Ahead of a congressional hearing on deep-sea mining this week, the U.S government has issued an executive order enabling U.S companies and subsidiaries to apply for […]
Category: Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Is China’s new cable-cutter a game-changer, or just hype?
By Hannah Jose BEIJING (ABC NEWS) — China has been repeatedly accused of deliberately severing Taiwan’s undersea telecommunications cables. So, when Beijing’s powerful new cable-cutter was revealed in March this year, it made headlines and was met with consternation from Western analysts. Reported to be able to slice through the most fortified undersea telecommunications cables […]
Posted inOpinion
Trump is stripping protections from marine protected areas – why that’s a problem for fishing’s future, and for whales, corals and other ocean life
By David Shiffman, Faculty Research Associate in Marine Biology, Arizona State University WASHINGTON (THE CONVERSATION) —The single greatest threat to the diversity of life in our oceans over the past 50 years, more than climate change or plastic pollution, has been unsustainable fishing practices. In much of the ocean, there is little to no regulation […]
Posted inOpinion
How Many Are We, Really? The Questions the Census Might Finally Answer
I, for one, am looking forward to the results of the upcoming 2025 Household Census. You might ask—what’s so interesting about a census? For starters, we might finally get an accurate count of how many Palauans are actually living in Palau. Just last week, I read three different articles about Palau. One described the country […]
Posted inOpinion
The Silent Majority
by Alonzo Kahalic/ alkahalic6801@gmail.com Dear Editor, Addressing the Source, Not Just the Symptoms: Palau’s Economic Reality As Palau’s government heads into its fifth month of this administration, one thing has become painfully clear: ‘our leaders are still only addressing the symptoms of our economic struggles, not the root causes.’ While our elected officials debate the […]
Posted inOpinion
The U.S harms its image in the Pacific with aid cuts and tariffs
Blake Johnson, Astrid Young SYDNEY (THE STRATEGIST) —USAID cuts and tariffs will harm the United States’ reputation in the Pacific more than they will harm the region itself. The resilient region will adjust to the economic challenges and other partners will fill gaps, but what will last is the memory of being a non-factor in […]