ESKOP
Weekly Political Updates
From The Youth, For The Youth
Weekly Updates
Domestic
Political Landscape
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January 27th: All government staff at the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) have received an official order to stop all contact with the WHO (World Health Organization). This was initiated by President Donald Trump as a part of his nearly 200 executive orders. Complete withdrawal is pending congressional approval and requires at least 1 year of notice.
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Experts say this may hurt current efforts to stop the spread of Mpox and Marburg virus in Africa and bird flu globally.
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Part of the reason for Trump's decision is his allegations that the WHO had censored early covid-19 origins.
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Further, the economic aspect to Trump's reasoning - The US has been the leading contributor to WHO funds; the US has contributed over $1 billion from 2022-2023. Despite China’s population being more than double the US population, China was only required to pay $115 million as of 2022-2023 while the standard was $219 million for the US.
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CDC - Federal U.S. agency that monitors and protects American health
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WHO - an international agency apart of the UN that monitors global public health
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February 28th: President Donald Trump and V.P. J.D. Vance met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval office to discuss the role of the United States in Ukraine affairs. For one, the meeting served to discuss a deal that would give the U.S. greater access to earth minerals in Ukraine (Trump claimed the mineral deal would help Ukraine pay the U.S. back for the over $180 million sent in martial (military) aid to Ukraine). However, discussion on whether the U.S. would continue to provide Ukraine with Financial Aid grew tense in Vance's accusation that Zelensky was “ungrateful” for U.S. aid thus far.
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What did they disagree on?
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Did Putin break ceasefire and U.S. agreements?
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Zelensky claims yes
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Trump commented that he doesn't know about what occurred with past U.S. presidents, but Putin had never broken an agreement with Trump himself.
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What's the desired way to end the Russo-Ukraine war?
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Zelensky wants security guarantees before negotiating peace and the U.S. mineral agreement.
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Trump claims the mineral agreement will strengthen Ukraine's economy and self-sufficiency which consequently helps their defense against Russia - this is a more indirect approach than claiming official U.S. support for either side, which Trump claims he wants to avoid.
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Sources
- https://apnews.com/article/cdc-who-trump-548cf18b1c409c7d22e17311ccdfe1f6
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/21/world/world-health-organization-trump-withdraw-explainer-intl/index.html
- https://www.voanews.com/a/security-experts-highlight-pros-cons-of-ukraine-us-minerals-deal-/7989174.html
- https://www.wfaa.com/ (visit youtube for the meeting video)
- https://apnews.com/article/zelenskyy-security-guarantees-trump-meeting-washington-eebdf97b663c2cdc9e51fa346b09591d
- https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/trump-zelensky-ukraine-news-03-01-25/index.html
- https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-trump-economic-deal-faf1ff881802c923370053e539ec26e4
Global Affairs
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March 6th: In his first few weeks in office, Trump has expressed a desire to bring Canada, Greenland, the Panama Canal, and the Gaza Strip under direct American control.
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“Canada should become our Cherished 51st State. Much lower taxes, and far better military protection for the people of Canada—AND NO TARIFFS!” he wrote on Truth Social.
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It took the Trump administration four weeks to break Moscow’s international isolation and bring Russian officials to Riyadh for negotiations on Ukraine’s future—without the involvement of the Ukrainian government or European allies. Prior to that, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dismissed the possibility of Ukraine joining NATO or receiving U.S. security guarantees—effectively shifting the responsibility for Ukraine’s defense onto Europe. President Trump has motioned to stop all U.S. aid to Ukraine.
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The UN Human Rights Council has just alleged Israel of commiting violations such as sexual assault in Gaza during the Israel Gaza war. These allegations partially stem from the destruction of maternity wards and fertility clinics in Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has rejected all allegations and criticized the Human Rights Council as “an antisemitic, rotten, terrorist-supporting and irrelevant body”.
Sources
- https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/03/06/russia-ukraine-trump-expansionism/
- https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/politics/hegseth-ukraine-rules-out-nato-membership/index.html
- https://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/paradox-trumps-economic-weapon
- https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/clyr154314vo
Technology
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Engineers are starting to use AI to preserve indigenous cultures that are rapidly decaying because of the globalized state of the current world.
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Chinese AI assistant Deepseek is performing at a greater scale, according to professionals, than other current AI companies. Deepseek rose to the #1 spot on the app store.
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February 25th: Microsoft released a new quantum computing chip, along with it inventing a new state of matter, shortening the expected use of quantum computing to happen in the next few years instead of next few decades.
Environmental
News
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Dozens who failed to escape were killed in Los Angeles, CA wildfires. With fires spreading at a rate of five football fields a minute, hundreds of families were deeply devastated.
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Wildfire and climate scientist at Yale school of the environment, Jennifer Marlon believes there were many great factors that contributed to the cause of the wildfires. One being the warmest summer recorded in California which led to the drying out of vegetation that fueled the flames
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Tory Fielder, Red Cross disaster mental health manager, states that a majority of survivors often feel a sense of guilt and helplessness after disasters, especially ones of such great magnitude like the CA wildfires, from inability to help others
Trump’s First Month in Office:
- The Trump Administration, specifically Elon Musk and his DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) team, have begun the mass firing of federal employees. More than 110,000 workers have been fired by the Trump Administration. These firings were made to cut federal government spending.
- The annual inflation rate is currently 4.5% which is considered “a sign that inflation is heating up again after having cooled for much of 2024.” according to The Labor Department and The Federal Reserve
The Economy
- The stock market is typically a reflection of the current economic state of the country. In the Month of February, Indexes (a collection of stocks that track the performance of companies) had shown the following: NASDAQ has fallen 4% and Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 1.4%.
- Nasdaq and Dow Jones Industrial Average are considered two of the most well recognized Indexes in the market. The reason why the Nasdaq has fallen more than Dow Jones is because the Nasdaq has more representation of riskier tech companies. Dow Jones is more of a representation of lower risk economic staples so the price doesn’t vary as much.
Persecuted Communities
The persecution committed against the Sikh people, both within India and worldwide, is becoming increasingly prevalent; to cite current events such as the assassination of Sikh Canadian leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023. After his killing in Canada, Prime Minister Trudeau had accused the Indian government of being involved. India has denied these allegations further contributing to pre-existing Sikh-Indian tensions.
The Indian army launched Operation Blue Star on June 5, 1984, which aimed at arresting and even killing militants holed up in the Golden Temple in Amritsar. This resulted with the murder of thousands of Sikh pilgrim. Anti-Sikh violence broke out in various parts of India after that, further straining relations. This has left an indelible mark on the Sikh psyche and hence their continuing grievances and enormous burden of injustice.
In India, Sikhs have been persistently excluded from mainstream political and social life because of their radical demands for autonomy. This desire began the time of their spiritual teacher, Guru Nanak. In spite of being a sizable minority, they feel disenfranchised to the point of a separate state, Khalistan. And to the Indian government, such demands aroused suspicions and hope of repression especially during the 1980s.
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autonomy - to right of a nation to self-govern
Sikhs are one of the most contributory populations to Indian society. Making up only 2% of the population in India, Sikhs make up most of the Indian army. The Sikh majority state, Punjab, covers about 2% of India's land, yet the state supports the Indian agricultural market produces nearly 20% of the nation's wheat and 12% of its rice. Further, Punjab sources 95% of India's woollen knitwear production. Despite this, Sikhs remain brutally persecuted.
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