The US government led by President Donald Trump is at war, but not with another country, terrorist organisation, or even amorphous threats like poverty or drugs. Instead, it is conducting an assault against arguably the most prestigious, and certainly most famous, US university: Harvard. The school long predates the republic and has educated generations of its leaders. But now it is besieged by Washington.
This confrontation is best understood through a series of ever-widening concentric circles, broadening from the most granular to near-totalising Trump goals.
As with so many things connected with this President, it all begins with a blunder. But beyond the blunder, there’s a perennial US political theme at the core of this tragicomedy: anti-Palestinian animus.
At heart, it’s a power struggle. Mr Trump is making good on his campaign pledge to act as an American strongman, so he’s lashing out in all directions to bring to heel any sources of authority or potential challenge beyond his direct control. It’s a stereotypical strongman's power play, yet unprecedented in US history.
Within the executive branch, he’s going after independent agencies, inspectors general, and anyone viewed as insufficiently loyal to him personally. He is attempting to squeeze law firms into providing free services to his allies and refusing to represent his opponents. He is using all available means to intimidate the media. He is continuously inveighing against courts and judges he doesn’t deem to be co-operative enough. And he is attempting to gain control over the US higher education system.
The Harvard confrontation began on April 11, when the administration sent a letter demanding direct oversight of much of the school’s operations, because it had supposedly not done enough to tackle “anti-Semitism” following Israel’s attack on Gaza. The letter was later confirmed to have been a draft issued by mistake, but the administration followed up with even more sweeping demands that the university surrender to the White House.
Ultimately, even ideological conformity can’t be enough. Control over the entire register of truth beckons as the absolute guarantor of authority
Harvard has flatly refused to submit, and it is suing the government. The university’s president, Alan Garber, put the case bluntly: “No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
The Trump administration does not deny that this is what it seeks, and it has effectively confirmed this by suspending virtually all co-operation in response. Harvard is under at least eight new federal investigations and faces almost $4 billion in frozen or eliminated grants. In its latest escalation, the government is trying to block Harvard from accepting any international students on the grounds that it has “created a hostile learning environment for Jewish students”.
This administration appears to conflates all support for Palestine or Palestinians with anti-Semitism, as indicated by a new compliance review based on media reports of medical students wearing Palestinian scarves or pro-Palestinian buttons. Since March, US consular officers have been required to scour social media accounts of prospective international students seeking visas for signs of sympathies towards extremist and terrorist organisations, effectively defined as anything indicating support for the Palestinians.
The Trump administration, though, includes several recent appointees alleged to have track records in right-wing anti-Jewish rhetoric and conspiracy theories, including Kingsley Wilson, the new deputy Pentagon press secretary. By framing the assault on Harvard as a battle against Hamas-supporting anti-Semitism, the administration has prompted some of its critics to insist that they, too, are appalled by anti-Gaza war protests. But nobody is fooled.
Some supporters of Israel are extreme and cynical enough to applaud even this kind of backing. But most Jewish Americans, including diehard supporters of Israel at Harvard, understand that efforts to gain a stranglehold on higher education have nothing to do with Israel. These efforts will obviously be at the expense, and not in defence, of Jewish Americans, especially in the long run.
The attack on Harvard is part of a broader pressure campaign against a range of universities around the country, with losses to Cornell of more than $1 billion, Princeton $210 million, Northwestern $800 million, Johns Hopkins $800 million, and so on. But Harvard is leading the pushback, and it may have the resources and credibility to prevail.
Beyond the originating error, the mendacity of conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, and the drive to control colleges, suggest that the war on Harvard is a subset of the administration’s generalised battle against knowledge and verifiable, objective fact.
The vast majority of cuts already made to executive agencies and departments have been at the expense of knowledge-production and its translation into policy. There is a drive to obliterate politically incorrect parts of history, aspects of current reality like climate change, or even public values like accurate weather forecasting or basic public health data collection.
The attack on the US higher education system by this administration is all the more bizarre because it claims to be seeking to revive the American manufacturing economy and bolster global competitiveness. But the apparent perceived political threat from independent institutions and higher education seems to override those obvious considerations.
Worse, the excellence of US higher education is one of the country’s most meaningful competitive advantages. The Trump administration is threatening this invaluable legacy, along with the long-standing US ability to attract the world’s best minds and spirits. The viciousness and anti-Semitism of Nazi Germany and the repression and intellectual suffocation of the Soviet Union were invaluable assets to the US, especially when contrasted with relative US freedom and openness.
The Trump administration vows to “remove improper ideology” from institutions like the Smithsonian Museum network while demanding “viewpoint diversity” at Harvard and other universities. This effectively means, “say — and do — what we want, or else … ” Ultimately, though, even ideological conformity can’t be enough. Control over the entire register of truth inevitably beckons as the only absolute guarantor of authority.
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The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Globalization and its Discontents Revisited
Joseph E. Stiglitz
W. W. Norton & Company
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Business Insights
- As per the document, there are six filing options, including choosing to report on a realisation basis and transitional rules for pre-tax period gains or losses.
- SMEs with revenue below Dh3 million per annum can opt for transitional relief until 2026, treating them as having no taxable income.
- Larger entities have specific provisions for asset and liability movements, business restructuring, and handling foreign permanent establishments.
Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
'Cheb%20Khaled'
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The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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3.
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UAE
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4.
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Japan
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5
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Norway
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6.
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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Diriyah%20project%20at%20a%20glance
%3Cp%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%201.9km%20King%20Salman%20Boulevard%2C%20a%20Parisian%20Champs-Elysees-inspired%20avenue%2C%20is%20scheduled%20for%20completion%20in%202028%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20Royal%20Diriyah%20Opera%20House%20is%20expected%20to%20be%20completed%20in%20four%20years%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20Diriyah%E2%80%99s%20first%20of%2042%20hotels%2C%20the%20Bab%20Samhan%20hotel%2C%20will%20open%20in%20the%20first%20quarter%20of%202024%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20On%20completion%20in%202030%2C%20the%20Diriyah%20project%20is%20forecast%20to%20accommodate%20more%20than%20100%2C000%20people%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20The%20%2463.2%20billion%20Diriyah%20project%20will%20contribute%20%247.2%20billion%20to%20the%20kingdom%E2%80%99s%20GDP%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20It%20will%20create%20more%20than%20178%2C000%20jobs%20and%20aims%20to%20attract%20more%20than%2050%20million%20visits%20a%20year%0D%3Cbr%3E-%20About%202%2C000%20people%20work%20for%20the%20Diriyah%20Company%2C%20with%20more%20than%2086%20per%20cent%20being%20Saudi%20citizens%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The biog
Name: Timothy Husband
Nationality: New Zealand
Education: Degree in zoology at The University of Sydney
Favourite book: Lemurs of Madagascar by Russell A Mittermeier
Favourite music: Billy Joel
Weekends and holidays: Talking about animals or visiting his farm in Australia
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
