Passive genocide, I think, is an appropriate phrase to describe the misguided, nonsensical and unconscionable actions recently taken by Donald Trump and his cadre of toadies in the Executive Mansion. Rather than directly targeting, bombing and massacring a certain group of people (i.e. Muslim refugees from the list of 7 countries), the syndicate in the White House has decided to simply cut off the escape route, thus allowing others to perform the butchery and savagery in the streets of distant war-zones. Under the moth-ravaged veil of security concerns, the administration has, for the near future at least, barred the door against a wave of humanity struggling to flee death and oppression. In the name of the American people, Donald Trump has quietly thrown away the key, providing the opportunity for fellow dictators and autocrats to pull the trigger. Whatever the rationale and excuses offered by the White House, the specific exclusion of people seeking refuge based largely, if not exclusively, upon their religious affiliation is within arm’s reach of proxy ethnic cleansing. The Executive Branch has taken the shaky position that the 27 January decree is not a ban on Muslims, a claim that has been undermined from the start with observations that the blacklisted countries are all majority Muslim:

Iran: 99.4% | Iraq : 99% | Libya: 96.6% | Syria: 87% | Yemen: 99.1% * **

The point made by the regime that other largely Muslim countries were not included in the travel ban is, frankly, beside the point and only further erodes the edict’s already weakened raison d’être. The events of 11 September 2001 (an event heavily referenced in the text) were carried out by individuals from non-targeted countries (most notably Saudi Arabia) and the subsequent War on Terror focused on terrorist interests in Afghanistan (another non-targeted country). Beyond the flimsy attempt to paint the 27 January order as something other than an attack on refugees and vulnerable families from a number of nations, the order also questions the motive of the administration as the Trump enterprise apparently has significant business ties to countries excluded, such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Incidentally, the United States has a long running tradition of selling military hardware to these states, even though they are run, respectively, by an Islamist leaning monarchy and an army general who has crushed opposition and dissent. The hypocrisy of Trump’s order is plain to see for anyone not caught up in the rhetorical misdirection perpetrated by the White House and capable of seeing through the promulgation of a deranged would-be despot.

*Source: The World Factbook (Central Intelligence Agency) | ** Percentages for Sudan and Somalia were unavailable but both are predominately Muslim countries as well.