this post was submitted on 24 May 2025
553 points (100.0% liked)

World News

47217 readers
2000 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Princess Elisabeth has completed first year of master’s degree but Trump administration’s crackdown may jeopardise studies

Princess Elisabeth, the 23-year-old future queen of Belgium, has just completed her first year at Harvard University but the ban imposed by Donald Trump’s administration on foreign students studying there could jeopardise her continued attendance.

The US president’s administration revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students on Thursday, and is forcing current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status in the US, while also threatening to expand the crackdown to other colleges.

“Princess Elisabeth has just completed her first year. The impact of [the Trump administration’s] decision will only become clearer in the coming days/weeks. We are currently investigating the situation,” said a spokesperson for the Belgian royal palace, Lore Vandoorne.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 215 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

I'm sure this will work wonders for American soft power on the world stage.

Having a literal fucking queen with fond memories of America from her youth is political influence that money cannot buy. What an idiotic fumble.

[–] [email protected] 87 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

What soft power? We pissed that all away months ago.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 2 weeks ago

Fuck! I'm living in the past.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

every day that passes it gets harder and harder to just say “lol sorry” and the world to have the memory of a goldfish and just reply “ahhhh water under the bridge” as soon as a suitcase of money is waved under our collective noses

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Yeah... electing Trump a second time kind of ruined that

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 85 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Belgian chiming in, people here really have* developed a strong distaste for the US. I'd say 90% of people I know don't care at all for the monarchy, but this is blasted in the news as an example no one is safe from USA's shenanigans.

Professors and Universities are condemning this, it's such a major step in the wrong direction once again.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

people here really have* developed a strong distaste for the US

And rightly and deservedly so...
🤷‍♂️ 🙄 🖕

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, we hate us too, friend

[–] [email protected] 30 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I personally know two people who've cancelled US trips, one of which is because she's gay.

Really wondering when they'll realise just how fucked they are.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

When you say they, do you mean Americans paying attention, Trump voters and supporters, or the assholes making these decisions?

The first group are painfully aware of how fucked we are, the second MIGHT when they lose their home/job or have a loved one hauled away to a concentration camp but even then they might never because pro American propaganda has burrowed itself so deeply into their minds they truly believe the exceptionalism horseshit, the third either knows and is fine with it because they are just trying to consolidate power or is one of the ignorant true believers like the second group.

I fucking hate my country

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Mostly the people making the decisions, but don't feel too bad, the EU is rapidly shifting to the right as well. The main positive takeaway is I've never seen the EU this unified.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's soft power for the country, he doesn't care what happens to the country

[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Also the effects aren’t immediate so he doesn’t understand nor care about them

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 73 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I am anti-monarchy and I don't particularly give a shit that this woman has to change universities or whatever, but quite frankly I'm shocked by the amount of comments here hoping for horrific things to happen to a woman just for being born into a family they don't like.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago (4 children)

It's the toxic cesspool of the anonymous internet. All these communities are the same.

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 73 points 2 weeks ago

If the Trump admin wasn't obviously a fascist dictatorship I might be able to feel good about Belgian royalty being treated the same as anyone else. However, this has nothing to do with traditional American values of an even playing field, because the Trump admin just refuses to recognize any royalty except Trump.

[–] [email protected] 63 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (3 children)

Someone told me this whole attack on Harvard is all because Harvard rejected Baron trump and while I haven’t looked into it that would make so much sense

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Trump doesn't care about anyone but himself. This is because Harvard is refusing to bend the knee.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago

Narcissists are likely to treat offspring as a personal extension into the future.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 56 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Of all the people suffering from Trump's deranged actions, European royalty are probably not the most deserving of pity.

[–] [email protected] 81 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think you're missing the point. It's not about pitying her, but bringing more attention to the utterly stupid things happening

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago (5 children)

And I think you're missing my point. To the Crown Princess, this is a mild inconvenience and will probably eventually turn in to an interesting anecdote. She can slide right into any other Ivy League university if she wants to, or she can head home to a local university without worrying about applications, grants or anything else of that boring stuff. To many other students, this might wreak havoc on their academic careers and their economies. That is some of the utterly stupid stuff that should be brought to attention. Tell me their stories.

Admittedly, I'm a European republican, i.e. in the non-US sense of the word, but still. This article reads more like a gossip piece than international news.

[–] [email protected] 44 points 2 weeks ago (11 children)

I did not miss your point, I agree completely and couldn't care less about this princess. The point of articles like this is to get more general public eyes on these issues. The point of this is to get some racist white Americans to maybe actually pay attention.

load more comments (11 replies)
[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (4 children)

something i've learned by observing people who like the swedish royal family is that they all really like them. there are no casual royalists. the fact that this happens to a royal introduces this issue to an entire group of voters whose entire news intake consists solely of "what did the royal family do today".

personally i would fully support converting my country to a republic if we hadn't designed our entire legal system to make the head of state completely useless. instating a president would put a politician in charge of the country, instead of the way it is now where the king basically doesn't know what goes on in the riksdag and has no say in what happens there. so nobody can even begin to aspire to lead the country, which i like.

the exorbitant amounts of money the royals get from the state is a bit of an issue, but i do kind of like the novelty. one of my favourite dedications of a book is from Fairy Tales for Children Over 18, which is dedicated to "Mr. The King, whose mere existence proves that we live in a fairy land"

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 45 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Fuck off! She's rich AF, who's really suffering is the bright and poor immigrant that got this one chance to have a good education

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

It's less that it's bad for her and more that it's another way the US is dismantling their own soft power. There are long term advantages to having the rich and powerful from around the world get their upper education in your universities.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why does he have the power to ban people from going to a private university?

[–] [email protected] 32 points 2 weeks ago

Because the executive branch has power over student visas.

[–] [email protected] 37 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

what a toxic piece of shit, he is like the most obnoxious type of kid who screams, flails arms and legs when he loses a game and gets confronted about his shitty behaviour. except he is also the president of the US

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Why do we care about whether a princess can study in another country? Fuck princesses, they're nepo baby billionaires plus a "divine right" to oppress people.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 week ago (14 children)

Hey, don't put any random rich-ish person from Europe into the same US billionaire basket

load more comments (14 replies)
[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 weeks ago (7 children)

Honestly. If a couple bourgeoisie take some strays for Trump's awful policies I'm not gonna shed a tear. Who the fuck cares about a Belgium queen? I care about the working class kid that isn't gonna graduate. Fuck the Queen.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 week ago (3 children)

I care about the working class kid that isn't gonna graduate.

There's a near zero amount of working class kids studying abroad at Harvard

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

This however highlights the fact that foreign students used to be a source of revenue for the USA. This is wealthy European money that was getting spent in America but now will likely be spent somewhere else.

This is also denying American Harvard business students the opportunity to establish lucrative connections with European money. You've heard of "it's not what you know, it's who you know"? Poor Harvard students on a full scholarship who plan on setting up their own business someday could have benefitted from being classmates with the future queen of Belgium.

My point being that even if you fully subscribe to "America first", this is still a really dumb policy that's shooting America in the foot. Foreign students studying in America were, by definition, bringing money into America. No longer.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (3 children)

It does raise the question of why her royal highness could not deign to attend a Belgian university in the first place lol

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Considering her future job as queen will involve a lot of diplomatic and ceremonial functions it does kind of make sense to me that you'd want her to gain some international experience.

Also on a personal level i'd imagine it is much easier to have some resemblance of a private life in a foreign country, especially at a prestigious institution where plenty of others share notable backgrounds, compared to going to a local university where everyone knows who you are. In a small country like Belgium you probably don't even have much choices as to which university even offers a good program in your chosen field.

Edit:

Elisabeth initially studied at St John Berchmans College in Marollen, Brussels from September 2004 until August 2018. This marked a significant change in Belgian royal tradition, being the first time that a future Belgian monarch's education has begun in Dutch

In May 2020, the Belgian Royal Court announced that Elisabeth would undertake military training. On 31 August 2020, Elisabeth entered the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, studying social and military sciences

- wikipedia

Really seems like the worst candidate to make this accuse against

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Because the rich go to university primarily to network.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago

Because going to another country where she'll learn to deal with another cultures is important and will be a huge part of her future. You raise a question when the answer should be easily understood.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

On the one hand I wish anything bad that's possible on anyone who's royalty. On the other hand this might shine a light on Trumps bullshit in a way that even his supporters might start questioning.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

even his supporters might start questioning

Lol nope. Have you ever met a trump supporter who didn't have resentment towards higher education? I sure haven't.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Why would your heart be so dark as to wiah bad on someone just because of who their parents are? That's not okay.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)
load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›