On February 21, 2023, President Putin addressed the nation discussing the war with Ukraine as well as the nuclear treaty with the United States. “We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” President Putin said in a speech days before the war’s first anniversary on Friday. Ukraine “has become hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.” President Putin blames the west for the war in Ukraine, stating that they instigated the war in order to defeat Russia. Therefore President Putin has suspends participation in the last remaining arms control treaty between Russia and the United States - the New Start. The New Start treaty was implemented in 2010 and designed to last until 2026.  It caps the number of strategic nuclear warheads that Russia and the U.S. can deploy as well as includes regular inspections to ensure neither side deploy a nuclear weapon without the other knowing. As such, the termination of the New Start treaty creates uncertainty during a time of war, especially at a time where President Biden is in eastern Europe.  

• Putin Rages Against the West

• Putin Terminates Russia's Involvement in the New Start Treaty 

• Biden's Response to Putin's Speech

On February 6, 2023 (local time), a 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck Turkey and Syria. The death toll has reportedly jumped to 4,300 after just 22 hours since the devastating earthquake. Countless building collapsed and rescuers in both Turkey and Syria worked overnight in near-freezing temperatures to search the rubble for survivors.

Turkey is especially susceptible to earthquakes, as the country is placed directly over a major fault line, however the region of south central Turkey has not encountered a quake this powerful since 1939. Prior to the incident seismologists, such as Fatih Bulut, with the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul, had begun to suspect the region was due for a major earthquake. However, seismologists are unable to predict exactly when earthquakes will occur and can only recommend seismic codes. Seismic codes attempt to prevent buildings from collapsing, but are unable to prevail against earthquakes of such magnitude. Continued aftershocks are likely and the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced a three-month state of emergency to allow  allow relief workers and financial aid into the affected regions.

• Earthquake Death Toll 

• How Turkey's Fault System Causes Earthquakes 

• A Seismologist Report of the Earthquake

• Turkey Announces a State of Emergency 

On January 8, 2023 thousands of Brazilian rioters marched the Palácio do Planalto, the Brazilian capitol. Protesting the inauguration of the new leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, protestor seeked to keep the former far right  President Jair Bolsonaro in power. President Lula authorized federal intervention, calling the attack on the capitol a "terrorist attack". Even without any evidence, the rioters accused the government of election fraud and demanded that the Brazilian government oust President Lula and reinstate President Bolsonaro. Former President Bolsonaro, who has been in Florida since December 30th, is the head of these riots to destabilising President Lula’s government, which was unsuccessful. In retaliation, President Biden, alongside Mexico's president and Canada's prime minister, released a statement standing with the Brazilian transfer of power and requesting that President Bolsonaro leave the United States. Under President Lula's orders, over 1,500 of the rioters were arrested and more rioters are to be prosecuted in the coming days.

• Brazilian Rioters Storm the Capitol

• Prosecution Demands 

• Biden Responds to President Bolsonaro

• Footage of the Brazilian Riots

On October 8, 2022, Ukrainian Secret Service and civilians bombed the key Crimea bridge. Acting as a link between the Crimean peninsula and the Russian mainland, bombing the bridge hit a critical supply route for Russia. After calling the attack on the bridge a "terrorist attack", Putin retaliated by bombing over a dozen Ukrainian cities, several of which were greatly unprepared as they had not seen an attack since the spring. Continuing the conversation Volodymyr Zelensky started with the United Nations on September 21st, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainians Defense Minister, said that the strikes on civilian areas are "war crimes" and urges the United Nation to take action.

• Crimean Bridge Explodes

• Putin Calls Ukraine "Terrorists" 

• Putin Retaliates 

• Ukrainian Citizen's Reponses to the Bridge Explosion  

On September 21, 2022, world leaders gathered at the United Nations General Assembly. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has come up once again, discussing the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of this year. Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the assembly, along with many other world leaders. He urged the assembly to punish Russia for their actions, as they have violated multiple UN charters. Additionally, he stated that Russia is engaging in a war that no one else supports; everyone wants peace at this point. This plays in with Joe Biden's address to the general assembly, as seen in the video to the right. However, many other world leaders were unsatisfied with how other issues were being pushed away in the name of the Russo-Ukrainian War, concluding that each topic should have an equal amount of consideration.

• Zelensky Statement

• World Leader Complaints

• Russia "had no choice" (Associated Press)

• 77th Session Overview

On February 21, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a "special military operation" in Ukraine, which is a cowardly way of saying Russia declares war on Ukraine. The tension between Russia and Ukraine has been going on for several years, and can't be explained in one post. To the right is a powerful speech given by Kenyan ambassador Martin Kimani regarding the invasion. Below are resources to learn more about and keep up-to-date with the Russo-Ukranian War:

• Why Russia is Invading Ukraine (YouTube Video)

• Al-Jazeera Overview

• Live Updates (NBC)

• UN Security Council Meeting Overview

As the Fossil Ridge Conference nears closer, we will be discussing one of the more uncommon topics that occur within a more domestic scope. Here are pointers.

• CNN - There is a strong correlation between states with weaker gun laws and firearm-related homicides and suicides.

• Consider gun violence and laws in other countries. How are they handling it? Can the United States model its future gun laws after those of its allies?

• Forbes - Second Amendment interpretation and taxes that are spent caring for people who have suffered a firearm-related injury.

• Research the person you are representing [obviously] and the platform they represent [helps you cater to a specific audience].

• FOX - Is an always amendment absolute? How should the gun laws be interpreted in order to attain best favor?

Refresh/Background: Article

• Russia wants to assert its geopolitical relevance, and taking control of Ukraine would be a major part of that. This would be done so that Russia can increase the resistance against NATO. 

• Ukraine has also been resisting Russia following the fall of the Putin-backed president in 2014, removing Russian-based political proponents from power.

Current Status: Article - Article - Article

• At this current point, the militaries on both the Ukrainian and Russian are so built up to the point where war could occur at any moment.  

• Although there is a clear, high-risk military presence, Russia has been understating the threat that it poses to Ukraine. Although negotiations between the U.S. and Russia have delayed Russia's plans, sanctions are near as Russia does not seem to plan to stop doing what it is doing until their concerns are met. 

• The State Counsellor of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi, was sentenced to prison for four years, which was later halved for incitement allegedly violating COVID-19 restrictions.

• The problem is that Myanmar was overthrown by a military coup in February of this year, after they felt like the election results of November 2020 were invalid.

• Suu Kyi is a strong democratic icon, winning a Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, and paving the way for human rights and democracy in Myanmar.

• Because of this militaristic control, the public fears that  Suu Kyi's conviction is politically motivated since the justice system is operated under a new set of policies.

• The UN and countries such as the UK have condemned her imprisonment, calling for her release. Suu Kyi and President Win Myint are essentially hostages, held in illegitimate control by the Union Solidarity and Development Party

• For more information, check out this article.

• Here is a supporting article as well.

• Migrants are trapped on the border between the two countries, fleeing in attempts to escape barbed wire and tear gas.

• Beforehand, the European Union imposed sanctions on Belarus because of the human rights violations that were discussed at a previous model UN meeting.

• As this crisis continues, human rights advocates, such as Liz Throssell, are speaking on the violation of international human rights refugee laws.

• Throssell adds that the "politically charged responses on both sides" have led to a significant increase in militaristic action, which conversely decreased the safety of the migrants.

• Although the political agenda of countries involving migrant policies is a different issue, they should not be used in order to complete political goals, as it is unacceptable.

• For more information, check out this article.

• The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks the prices of multiple articles of food internationally, has increased for the third month in a row. This time at a rate of 3.9% One drastic increase is vegetable oil, which increased by 9.6%

• This connects to cereal? In response to a rapidly growing population, the global wheat consumption rises in order to produce more of all of the available types of cereal. Cereal consumption is currently at 1.7%

• This doesn't stop at cereal. While this is primarily an economic crisis, these prices directly affect the climate of the world. Approximately 33% of our greenhouse gas emissions are because of people eating various products.

• Because of this, there are calls and suggestions towards researching more efficient farming equipment, better data collection on energy and finances, and improving agricultural designs.

• For more information, check out this article.

• The United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) reports that terrorist & organized crime groups are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by "expanding their activities and jeopardizizing the efficacy and credibility of response measures by governments." 

• There are cases in which right-wing extremist groups explicitly ask supporters to cough on minorities and persecuted individuals, using COVID-19 as an improvised bioweapons. 

• Terrorist groups are using social media to disseminate misinformation and conspiracy theories to advance their agendas. 

• Luckily, the UNICRI reports that fact-checking apps and artificial intelligence help combat disinformation, but they say human involvement is still crucial.

• For more information, check out this article

It's been approximately a month since the AUKUS agreement was implemented. It is important to understand the purpose and the actions of this agreement. Not only this, but the reactions of other countries and organizations are important towards understanding the entire situation.

• AUKUS and its Implications (The Guardian) 

• France's Reaction (BBC)

• EU discusses Defense, the US, and China (Associated Press)

• Taiwan's Support of AUKUS & The Threat of War with China (Sydney Morning Herald)

• China's AUKUS Response (The Diplomat)

• Japan and AUKUS (The Diplomat)