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The Challenge of Maritime Sovereignty: Japan’s Nuclear Wastewater Discharge
The determination of sovereignty of the sea isn’t as easy as creating barriers on land, since the sea is always fluid and has an unbounded nature. Unlike land, where barriers can define clear territories, under the continuous flow of ocean, the establishment of maritime borders could be extremely elusive. One of the disagreements that recently came to sharp focus is Japan’s decision to release treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the
April Liu
Apr 188 min read


The Dragon at the Gates: A Longitudinal Analysis of Hutchison Whampoa, the Panama Canal, and Great Power Competition (1997–2026)
This work examines the strategic expansion of Hutchison Whampoa (now CK Hutchison Holdings)—a Hong Kong-based conglomerate often viewed in Washington as a commercial proxy for the People’s Republic of China (PRC), or “the Dragon”—and how its port operations reshaped the geopolitical role of the Panama Canal from 1997 to 2026. The research is based on a long-term case study examining the controversial privatization of the Balboa and Cristobal ports, the associated legal benefi
Jerry Zhang
Apr 129 min read


TFF ThinkTank | Billie Eilish’s Outcry: Igniting the Immigration Legitimacy Debate
Billie Eilish’s denunciation of ICE, distilled into a slogan-like line—“No one's is illegal on stolen land”—lands like a verdict. It stings because it ignites two emotional charges at once: shame and anger over colonial history, and anxiety and fear about border governance today. It names certain truths, yet it also smuggles in a leap of reasoning. If the conversation is to move from mutual condemnation to legitimacy, it must begin with a simple concession: moral intuition ca

Shirley Ma
Mar 57 min read
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