There are travel restrictions all over the world currently due to the COVID-19 situation. People are not allowed to travel from one city to another in the same country without proper documents. Lots of countries are not even allowing international flights at this point. To tie this in just with US passport is simply politically motivated.
It is the mix of current US sentiments, its leadership combined with the total chaos going on in this country - journalists are doing a disservice by perpetuating and provoking tribal instincts of nationalism. They're hyping up the downfall of the United States and hoping to get more clicks.
Folks who are non-Americans are getting a spicy juicy dose of some anti-US sentiments which is being drank in large quantities overseas.
It is perfectly serviceable for reading, though it may lack some of the reading oriented features of other eink devices. I love the large size for some of my documents, which are unpleasant to read on smaller devices.
Based on other comments here, it seems that the Remarkable is missing several features that some people enjoy in their eReaders. The only one I can cite definitively is the lack of backlight. I can't speak to other allegedly missing features because I haven't investigated the issue. I am satisfied with the features I do use when I want to read certain docs on the large remarkable screen.
I don't think it's that great for reading. It does not have a backlight. I own both the reMarkable and Kindle Paperwhite and I prefer to read books on the Kindle.