Letter From the Editors

Welcome to the September issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

Precedent is a powerful force; it is both a weight and a warning. From Hong Kong to Uzbekistan, forces of change clash with the tides of history. In Australia, harsh immigration rules have been tested and perfected, setting a model for policies adopted around the world. And on the high seas, North Korea keeps expanding on its own past precedent in finding clever ways around international sanctions.

In Hong Kong, a summer of unrest rattles the city in much the same way as the protests that sparked the Umbrella Movement in the fall of 2014, but with significant, purposeful differences. Compared to 2014, this summer’s demonstrations have been marked by a sense of desperation and willingness to employ violence. Jessie Lau, a journalist specializing in identity, human rights, and politics in China, explores how the social forces unleashed by the Umbrella Movement, stemming from deep divides within the city, culminated in today’s anti-extradition bill movement.

In Uzbekistan, a sweeping reform program enters its third year following the 2016 death of Islam Karimov, but much work remains to be done. Steve Swerdlow, a senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, writes that Tashkent under Shavkat Mirziyoyev has made progress in a handful of difficult areas. But, Swerdlow notes, there remain thorny issues – LGBT rights, property rights, and political pluralism – that need to be addressed. More than anything, the test is for Tashkent to transform modest positive steps into lasting institutional change.

Australia has some of the world’s harshest immigration policies. For example, it is the only country that mandates immigration detention for “unlawful” arrivals, even those seeking protection as refugees. The country’s immigration policies have set a dark standard for the world, Claire Loughnan, a criminologist at the University of Melbourne’s School of Social and Political Sciences, writes. And under a re-elected Liberal government, manned by those proudly responsible for the existing policy of “stopping the boats,” it seems unlikely to change.

Finally, in our last lead story, Cameron Trainer charts the ways in which North Korea evades international sanctions at sea. Trainer, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Washington, D.C., lays out the game of cat and mouse Pyongyang plays on the waves. As sanctions tighten, North Korea’s efforts at evasion intensify.