January 6: The Somber Capitol And Trudeau’s Farewell, Elon Musk Wants To Own Europe, Fires And Quakes Oh My

A detailed recount mixed with meme comedy to mark our times at Week 2 of 2025 featuring source material from Jentry Chau Vs The Underworld, Lower Decks, No. 7 West Mars Street, and Hailey’s On It!

Jan 12, 2025

Maple Leaf Chaos - Trudeau Says Goodbye

Right before the beginning of the week, Canadian media reported that Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was preparing to resign as the leader of the country and of the Liberal Party. Reports vary on whether the resignation date is Monday or Wednesday, but that was quickly settled as Trudeau made the announcement on his political future by Monday morning. After months of pressure and several political breaking points, Trudeau announced “It has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election.” Although Trudeau said he would stay on as an interim leader for the moment, his resignation kickstarted a search for a new Liberal leader before the end of March. Many have already considered former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, Transport Minister Anita Anand, and former central banker Mark Carney as the top contenders. The ex-leader also announced that the governor-general had granted his request to shut down Parliament until March 24, generating more uncertainty about how Trump’s return would affect its neighbor. Speaking of Donald Trump, he again suggested Canada becoming the 51st state of the US hours after his resignation.

By Tuesday morning, news had already spread that Mark Carney was considering entering the leadership race. Meanwhile, the outgoing PM said Canada has “Not a snowball's chance in hell” in joining the US as its 51st state, this comes after Donald Trump openly pondered using economic force to merge the two nations. In Canadian politics, politicians have generally stopped treating Trump’s comments as a dismissable joke, except for a few. Green Party leader Elizabeth May trolled Trump by offering to take in California, Oregon, and Washington as the new Canadian states, while Ontario Premier Doug Ford offered to purchase Alaska and Minnesota as a counteroffer. By the end of the week, we know Transport Minister Anita Anand, Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc, and former Premier of New Brunswick Brian Gallant will not run for leadership. Those who are considering joining the race include Mark Carney, former British Columbia Premier Christy Clark, and the current leader of the Government in the House of Commons Karina Gould.

The Worst Political Case Study On Earth - Convicted Felon Gets In Four Years After 2021

Four years after Donald Trump unleashed a mob of his supporters to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory, the electoral college certified his victory on Monday, a dramatic turn of events that would be re-examined time after time again by political scientists and historians. Vice President Kamala Harris oversaw the congressional joint session to count electoral votes, restoring a broken norm from the first time Trump took office and denied the election results. In a Washington Post op-ed published on that day, Biden wrote about what Americans need to remember: “In time, there will be Americans who didn’t witness the Jan. 6 riot firsthand but will learn about it from footage and testimony of that day, from what is written in history books and from the truth we pass on to our children. We cannot allow the truth to be lost.” In a video message first obtained by NBC News, Vice President Kamala Harris called her role in certifying the election a “sacred obligation” that she will uphold, saying it is “guided by love of country, loyalty to our Constitution and my unwavering faith in the American people.” Under tight security and little drama, the election results were officially certified. It makes Kamala Harris the first VP to certify her loss in a peaceful transfer of power and marks the first certification process since the January 6 Capitol Riots in 2021, a grim and dark note indeed. Outside of Congress, Donald Trump’s lawyers tried to halt Friday’s hush money case sentencing indefinitely, arguing it would force their client to be “forced to deal with criminal proceedings for years to come.” In the meantime, former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was held in civil contempt of court twice for failing to adequately respond to requests for documents and information sought by two Georgia polling workers, who won a $148 million defamation verdict against him in 2023.

After successfully failing to block the sentencing for the hush money case, Trump and his allies urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to block the final report by outgoing special counsel Jack Smith. As Donald Trump organized a deranged press conference saying he won’t rule out using military or economic coercion to obtain Greenland and the Panama Canal, his son Don Jr and influencer Charlie Kirk visited the island on Tuesday, claiming he was visiting as a tourist. Just in case that isn’t alarming enough, Trump wants to call the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America,” while claiming January 6 was caused by the terrorist group Hezbollah. It was a very mixed day for Trump’s legal troubles, a New York appeals court denied Trump’s bid to halt his hush money sentencing, while Trump’s concierge judge Aileen Cannon blocked Jack Smith’s reports on Trump’s two federal cases from being immediately released. The House of Representatives passed the Laken Riley Act, making it easier to deport unauthorized immigrants for minor crimes.

Wednesday saw Trump meeting with congressional leaders in a bid to sow unity and coordinate their policy agenda, this happened while House Republicans have begun setting limits and potential dealbreakers for the massive fiscal legislation proposed by the president-elect and House Speaker Mike Johnson. In legal news, Trump filed a last-minute bid to block the sentencing of his hush-money case by sending it to the Supreme Court. The DOJ announced they plan to only release the special counsel report on the January 6 attacks, given that the classified documents report is stuck in legal limbo thanks to Aileen Cannon the day before. Missing through the headlines, we learned from an internal watchdog reporter that Trump DOJ officials may have tried to influence the 2020 election through media leaks, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito spoke with Trump not long before the president-elect’s lawyers asked the Court to delay his sentencing about a job reference for one of his former clerks, while excerpts from a new book on Trump’s 2024 win revealed he was fed questions in advance before a town hall hosted by Fox News. In an exit interview with USA Today, Joe Biden reiterated his claim that he could defeat Trump in the past election while admitting he could not serve another four years, the president also claimed Trump had privately praised his predecessor for his economic policies. Looking at international relations, the leader of the Panama Canal Authority denied Trump’s claims that China controls the canal, adding the president-elect’s request to get preferential rates for US ships “will lead to chaos.” Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum rebuked Trump’s desire to call the “Gulf of Mexico” the “Gulf of America,” proposing they should call “North America” “América Mexicana”

As President Biden delivered former President Jimmy Carter’s eulogy at a state funeral, the somber moment showed rare signs of presidential unity, from Presidents Obama and Trump laughing together, to the president-elect shaking hands with Mike Pence for the first time since January 6. It was a wild legal news day, the highest court in New York ruled against Trump’s request to block the hush money case verdict on Friday, while the president-elect’s lawyers told a federal appeals court to block the release of the full special counsel report claiming it would violate his right to an orderly transition to the presidency. Funny enough, the appeals court allowed the full special counsel’s report on the election interference case to be publicly released. The Biden administration also faced a legal blowback, as a federal judge scrapped proposed regulations that prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. Republican Senator Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that Trump is preparing nearly 100 executive orders that would be signed when he comes into office, as the Financial Times reported the president-elect seems to be showing support for Ukraine after pushing back his campaign pledge to end the Ukraine war in “24 hours” to several months. In the Senate, Democrats overwhelmingly helped advance the Laken Riley Act, the first legislation this year targeting illegal immigration. Meanwhile, Democratic Senator John Fetterman faced blowback after accepting Trump’s invitation to meet at his residency at Mar-A-Lago. Following up on Don Jr’s visit to Greenland, MeidasTouch reported that Trump’s Greenland “supporters” were homeless and socially disadvantaged and were bribed with hotel dinners in exchange for participating in propaganda videos with the president-elect’s son.

After a Thursday night decision by the hyper-conservative Supreme Court ruled 5-4 against Trump’s request, the Friday hush money sentencing was nonetheless seen as a symbolic act as Judge Merchant grants the president-elect unconditional release. Despite facing no jail time or fines for his crimes, Donald Trump is officially the first convicted felon to be elected into the White House. In the Supreme Court, TikTok desperately tries to save itself as justices heard arguments to decide whether to ban the Chinese-owned app by January 19. During the oral arguments, Chief Justice John Roberts asked how the Court could ignore its owner ByteDance’s connections with Chinese authorities. By the end of the arguments, the justices seem to lean towards upholding the ban. For the second time in less than a week, a judge held Rudy Giuliani in contempt for continuously defaming two Georgia election workers. As Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy’s new government agency is already dispatching agents throughout the government, Musk said DOGE probably can’t find $2 trillion in federal budget cuts. The new AP-NORC poll found Americans have a dimmer view of Biden’s presidency than both Donald Trump and Barack Obama during the end of their terms, which is damning in and of itself given Donald Trump instigated an insurrection by the end of his term. If that’s not enough, the December jobs report saw the US experiencing strong growth by the end of last year. Biden took a swipe at Trump’s deportation policies, issuing sweeping protections that allow nearly 1 million people from Sudan, Ukraine, El Salvador, and Venezuela to stay in the country temporarily. Inside the Trump Organization, the group issued a new ethics agreement that claimed would govern how the family and the president-elect would conduct themselves in the new administration.

Over the weekend, we learned Biden will deliver his farewell address on Wednesday, January 15. Jack Smith officially resigned from the Department of Justice, finishing both federal investigations against Donald Trump. In a surprising move, JD Vance believes “violent” January 6 rioters should not be pardoned, which is a hell of a statement to make given these political times.

Europe Mania - Fighting Mr. Musk

At the beginning of the week, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer made an impassioned defense of his colleague Jess Phillips, who was attacked by Elon Musk last week over the grooming gang scandals. In his rebuke against the “whipping up of intimidation and of threats of violence” spread by the billionaire and online agitators, Starmer said: “Those who are spreading lies and misinformation as far and as wide as possible are not interested in victims, they're interested in themselves.” Outside of the UK, leaders from Norway, France, and Germany have warned against Musk’s influence in domestic politics following the billionaire’s support of the AfD and Reform UK. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said on Monday "I find it worrying that a man with enormous access to social media and huge economic resources involves himself so directly in the internal affairs of other countries. This is not the way things should be between democracies and allies.” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a speech to French ambassadors “Ten years ago, who could have imagined it if we had been told that the owner of one of the largest social networks in the world would support a new international reactionary movement and intervene directly in elections, including in Germany.” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz expressed his concern by noting “I find it much more worrying than such insults that Musk is supporting a party like the AfD, which is in parts right-wing extremist, which preaches rapprochement with Putin’s Russia and wants to weaken transatlantic relations,” adding “You have to stay cool” and “don’t feed the troll.” Musk’s attack on UK politicians have only grown, including making baseless claims against former PM Gordon Brown, and referred to Lib Dem leader Ed Davey as a “sniveling cretin” after he called on the US ambassador to answer why an incoming US official is suggesting the UK government should be overthrown. In her first interviews since Musk called her a “rape genocide apologist,” Labour’s Jess Phillips said the billionaire’s disinformation has affected her life, and told ITV News that “The thing that annoys me the most about it is – it takes up so much bandwidth of my time from a man who knows absolutely nothing about the subject he’s talking about, when the only thing I ever want to be doing is being able to use all of my brain power to focus on the hundreds of girls I have supported over the years who have been victims of grooming gangs and what needs to happen to make their lives better.” By Wednesday, the Telegraph reported the EU has been considering legal action against Musk over his election interference in German elections. Concerning the grooming gangs scandal, the UK government prepared to set up a new victims panel to hear about the abuse by grooming gangs. Speaking to Sky News, Jess Phillips said "Nothing is off the table," including a new national inquiry if the victims want one. In the House of Commons, Labour MPs blocked a Conservative amendment calling for a national inquiry into grooming gangs, which others argue is a cynical ploy by the Tories that would ruin the positive effects of the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill. On Thursday, the Financial Times reported Musk is examining ways to oust Starmer before the next election, believing “Western civilization” was under threat and building support for alternative parties to force a change. At the same time, Musk heaped praise on the co-leader of Germany’s far-right AfD party Alice Weidel during a live talk on Twitter (X), repeating his claim that “only the AfD can save Germany.” During that live talk, Weidel actually claimed that Adolf Hitler is a “communist” and was not "right-wing," which is just alarmingly false.

Back in actual domestic UK politics, a poll by British phone-in and talk radio station LBC showed a quarter of voters regret backing Sir Keir Starmer during the last election, believing his axing of winter fuel payments was worse than the Partygate scandal during the Boris Johnson administration. Things are also not good at the Conservatives’ side, as former Tory party leadership candidate and now shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick advocated on TV to limit migration from “alien cultures with medieval attitudes,” claiming “I have always said, and it is a point made by Kemi Badenoch, the leader of my party, that not all cultures are equal. We should be very careful about who is coming into this country and the scale of immigration.” In a bit of hilarity, former UK PM Liz Truss sent a cast and desist letter to current PM Keir Starmer, telling him to stop making the claim that she “crashed the economy.” Speaking of economic warning signs, Chancellor Rachel Reeves faced increased pressure as the pound fell more amid economic uncertainty. Online manosphere influencer Andrew Tate, who was criminally charged under two separate cases of sexual misconduct, launched the BRUV party in a bid to become UK Prime Minister. However, the misogynist seems to make a basic error in comparative politics. In a parliamentary democracy, nobody can just “run” to be PM, the party with the most seats in the House of Commons gets to form the government, with the party leader becoming the national leader.

On Tuesday, the longtime face of the far right, Jean-Marie Le Pen died at the age of 96. The founder of the infamous National Rally party, the older Le Pen always liked to court with controversy and dabbled with Holocaust denial during his political career. Le Pen was convicted and fined several times for contesting crimes against humanity, such as calling the Holocaust a “mere detail of history,” describing the Nazi occupation of France as “not particularly inhumane,” telling one Jewish critic “We will put a batch in the oven next time,” and suggesting the Ebola virus could be a solution to the global population explosion in 2014. A year later, Jean-Marie’s daughter Marine kicked him out of the party in a bid to rehabilitate the party’s image, which observers would argue was indeed successful. In the later years of his life, both Jean-Marie and Marine were charged with allegedly embezzling money from the European parliament with fake jobs. France also marked ten years since al-Qaida-associated gunmen attacked the offices of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 people a decade ago. As politicians like the French President and Paris mayor led tributes at the site of the attack, the magazine published a special edition with the caption writing: "Indestructible!"

Looking at other headlines from Europe, Giorgia Meloni’s office reported the good news that Italian journalist Cecilia Sala has been freed from detention in Iran after weeks in detention, and has flown back to her home country. Greenland's leader met with the Danish king in Copenhagen on Wednesday after Trump’s repeated desires to buy the island, while both Germany and France lodged their warnings against the US president-elect’s potential desires to take the island by force.

War Watch - Genocide In Sudan

Volodymyr Zelensky scored a media coup after his interview with podcaster Lex Friedman, which was released late last week. The interview included the Ukrainian leader having to answer hard-hitting questions like, “Can’t Ukrainians just forgive Russia?” As Ukraine continues to push its new offensive in the Kursk region, Russian forces claim they have deterred the “worrying progress” discussed on Russian blogger sites. In the Black Sea, missile-toting drone boats blew up two Russian helicopters and severely damaged a third one, Ukrainian troops claim it marks a world first and opens the advantage Ukraine has in the drone wars. On Wednesday, the city of Zaporizhzhia experienced the deadliest single attack in months, as more than 13 people were killed in a Russian bomb strike. As Trump showed willingness to support Ukraine, Zelensky told European allies to “not drop the ball,” as well as urging for sustained military support. Addressing his supporters at Mar-A-Lago, Trump said a meeting is being arranged between himself and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the sentiment was soon consigned by the Kremlin. In the meantime, the US imposed new sanctions on Russia’s energy sector, targeting its “shadow fleet” and taking steps to curb oil and gas production. On the weekend, Ukraine announced it had captured two wounded North Korean soldiers in Russia's Kursk Oblast, Zelensky said the two men are receiving "necessary medical assistance" as well as being in the custody of the nation’s security services. It is not an easy feat, Zelensky pointed out on social media that “Russian forces and other North Korean military personnel usually execute their wounded to erase any evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the war against Ukraine.”

While Antony Blinken is visiting Seoul, he told reporters that he wants a ceasefire deal to be completed before Biden leaves office, adding “If we don’t get it across the finish line in the next two weeks, I’m confident that it will get its completion at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later, and when it does, it will be on the basis of the plan that President Biden put forward.” The BBC reported a senior Hamas official has shared a list of 34 hostages it is willing to release in the first stage of a potential ceasefire agreement with Israel. Still, Israel says there is no indication of how many of them are alive or sick. Reuters reported on Tuesday that the United Arab Emirates has discussed a post-war Gaza government with Israel and the United States, setting up a provincial administration until a reformed Palestinian Authority could take control. On the military front, Israel has signed deals to make their own heavy bombs, as the country’s defense ministry said one of the key lessons learned from the recent war is to reduce reliance on weapons from other countries. During Trump’s deranged press conference on Tuesday, the president-elect again warned that “all hell will break” in the Middle East if the hostages are not released. On Wednesday, Axios reported the State Department warned Trump’s transition team of a looming humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza, as a new Israeli law barring contact with UNRWA takes effect at the end of the month. Following a Brazilian court’s decision to investigate war crime allegations against a soldier visiting the country, the IDF announced new media engagement rules for its members by requiring the names and faces of its soldiers to be obscured. The West Bank experienced escalated violence as an Israeli drone strike killed 3 cousins, including 2 children, in the occupied territory. The Israeli army also reported they found the body of Yousef Zyadna, one of the remaining hostages in Gaza. On Thursday, the Gazan Health Ministry reported more than 46,000 people have been killed since October 7, and the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would sanction ICC officials involved in prosecuting Israeli leaders. We also learned Polish President Andrzej Duda demanded immunity for Netanyahu to travel to Poland this month to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz, arguing PM Donald Tusk should not enforce the ICC warrant that would require them to arrest the Israeli leader for alleged war crimes charges. In nearby Lebanon, the country’s parliament elected the commander of the Lebanese military Joseph Aoun as its new president. On Friday, Israel and its allies ramped up strikes at ports and a power plant, in an escalating effort to take down the Houthi Rebels. New research published in the medical journal Lancet estimates the actual death toll in the Gaza war is 40% higher than the Health Ministry records, suggesting the death toll could actually be more than 60,000.

Finally, some prominent Sudan news came out of the headlines. The US formally declared Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, the country’s paramilitary force, have committed genocide during its ongoing civil war. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken painted a picture of systematic violence and abuse, writing in a statement: “The R.S.F. and allied militias have systematically murdered men and boys — even infants — on an ethnic basis, and deliberately targeted women and girls from certain ethnic groups for rape and other forms of brutal sexual violence. Those same militias have targeted fleeing civilians, murdering innocent people escaping conflict, and prevented remaining civilians from accessing lifesaving supplies.” Blinken also imposed sanctions on the RSF commander Mohammad Hamdan Daglo, nicknamed Hemedti, over “systematic atrocities” perpetrated mostly in west Darfur.

Voterama 2025 - Opening Elections For The New Year

On Sunday, the first two elections of 2025 happened in Croatia and Comoros. Let’s start with Croatia, which expects to see its incumbent President Zoran Milanovic win outright after getting the most votes during last month’s first round. Dubbed “Croatia’s Trump” for his isolationist views and combative style of communication with political opponents, the left-leaning Milanovic is also the most popular politician in the country. Facing up against the incumbent is the ruling conservative HDZ party’s Dragan Primorac, who came in second place. Without a hitch, Milanovic won decisively in the runoff election, winning more than 74% of the vote.

In Comoros, the Indian Ocean archipelago voted for its representatives in its 33-seat parliament. However, opposition parties have said they would boycott the poll in the weeks and months leading up to the election, citing the ruling party’s increasingly authoritarian stance and voting integrity. Back in January 2024, the country re-elected its incumbent President Azali Assoumani, which was rejected by the opposition, citing instances of ballot stuffing voting ending or the official closing time.

Because I’m Too Busy For Memeing: A Global Wrap-Up

Dateline Seoul, South Korea:

January 6 brings another meaning to South Korea, as the arrest warrant for disgraced President Yoon Suk Yeol supposedly expired on Monday at 8 p.m. local time. In an attempt by the anti-corruption agency, authorities requested the police take over efforts to detain Yoon. The courts approved the request, prolonging the expiry date for the arrest. As Wednesday saw a renewed push by authorities to arrest Yoon, the impeached president found allies in young conservative men, who adopted MAGA hats and “Stop The Steal” slogans which echoed discontent similar to Trump’s conservative movement.

Dateline Caracas, Venezuela:

Venezuela’s “iron lady” and key opposition figure María Corina Machado was “violently intercepted” by regime officials, as the prominent opposition leader sneaked out of her hideout and led a major protest against authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro on the eve of his inauguration. This followed news earlier in the week that Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia’s son-in-law was kidnapped in Caracas, in a sign of Maduro’s crackdown on his political opposition since the 2024 election. On Friday, the US set up a $25 million bounty on Maduro’s head.

Dateline Meta Headquarters, Silicon Valley:

In a worrying note for truth and reality, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced a series of major changes to the company's moderation policies and practices, including an end to its fact-checking program. Zuckerberg’s suggested replacement is a “Community Notes” system similar to the one adopted by Twitter (X) under Elon Musk, which will affect the 2 billion users on Facebook and Instagram. The tech mogul criticized "governments and legacy media" for allegedly pushing "to censor more and more,” saying that the election felt like a "cultural tipping point" that prompted the company to “get back to our roots and focus on reducing mistakes, simplifying our policies and restoring free expression on our platforms.” Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen said Mark Zuckerberg has “heard the message” from Donald Trump on restricting online content, adding the platforms hosted by Meta will intervene “less and less” on users. In the same week, UFC CEO and Trump ally Dana White joined the board of Meta, while Zuckerberg terminated DEI policies and blasted the Biden administration on Joe Rogan’s podcast. They are all showing signs of a closer connection between the next Trump administration and the tech company, perfectly encapsulated in Ann Telenaes’ rejected cartoon that was supposed to be on the Washington Post, but didn’t.

Dateline The World:

Barely a week since 2025 began, and the natural disasters were knocking on the door. Tuesday saw a 7.1-magnitude earthquake striking China’s Tibet region, killing at least 126 people in the area near Nepal’s border. In America, California firefighters were battling uncontrollable wildfires sweeping the hillsides near Los Angeles thanks to strong winds. The numerous fires have forced more than 180,000 people, including many celebrities, to evacuate. Firefighters said on Wednesday that the fire has grown uncontrollable, with at least 16 people dying from the fires and damaging countless homes. Hollywood celebrities like Billy Crystal and Paris Hilton watched their houses burning down to the ground, with government officials saying the fires had grown larger and unstoppable by the hour. Joe Biden canceled the final overseas trip of his presidency for Italy and the Vatican, hours after Biden declared the fire as a major disaster and met his first great-grandchild in Los Angeles. Being the statesman he is, Donald Trump called the California Governor Gavin Newsom as “Gavin Newscum,” blaming him for the disaster. On Thursday, officials said more than 10,000 structures (Many of them homes) had been burned in the Los Angeles area fires, and the latest wildfire incident was investigated as an arson case after locals detained a possible suspect. Friday saw California Governor Gavin Newsom calling for an investigation into the city’s water supplies, as dry fire hydrants are hampering firefighting efforts, while Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was heavily criticized for being missing in action when the devastation took place. Canada and Mexico have sent their firefighting forces to battle the Los Angeles blazes, which have continued to force evacuations as the fires expanded over the weekend, partly thanks to strong winds fueling them. Donald Trump has called officials handling the fire “incompetent,” with Governor Newsom saying the president-elect threatened local firefighters he could withhold aid if he wants. In the MAGA conservative space, aside from obsessively pointing out that the heads of the LA Fire Department are all not men, many have resorted to blaming anything but climate change as the cause of the fires (E.g. Lesbians, Ukraine, DEI).

Nobody was surprised on Friday as the EU’s Copernicus Climate Service and the UK Met Office officially announced that 2024 is the hottest year on record, it was how hot the Earth was that caused real alarm. The planet warmed by 1.6 degrees Celcius, exceeding the 1.5C limit set by scientists and policymakers as the threshold for limiting global warming in the Paris Agreement. The big question puzzling scientists is the speed of the recent jump in global temperature, what is behind the faster-than-expected increase caused scientists to debate whether the recent developments are a spiky blip in the record or the start of a more lasting acceleration.

In the annual Top Risks for 2025 by Eurasia Group, authors Ian Bremmer and Cliff Kupchan outline the new challenges facing the world in the coming year. The top risk is the potential issues coming out from a G-Zero world, which Bremmer and Kupchan define as “when no one power or group of powers is both willing and able to drive a global agenda and maintain international order.” Expect new and expanding power vacuums, emboldened rogue actors, and heightened risks everywhere. The second top risk is Trump’s second term, and how the consolidation of power will “stretch the norms of Washington to their breaking point.” The third top risk is a breakdown of US-China relations, as tensions over tariffs and Taiwan threaten to destabilize the fragile peace Biden built up with Xi over the past few years. Other major threats include a continuously rogue Russia, a weakened Iran, and a standoff between the US and Mexico.