The Wire with Castor

Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, following his clash with US President, Donald Trump, has once initiated discussions to move forward a minerals deal with his US counterpart.

During the original discussions, Trump, alongside US Vice President, JD Vance, berated Zelenskyy, which resulted in the Ukrainian President walking out of the Oval Office without signing a minerals deal between the two nations, which the White House says is a precursor to peace talks.

This all comes as the US has abruptly halted US military aid to Ukraine.

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the honorary academic and retired Associate Professor in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland, Stephen Hoadley, about this clash, and his opinion that Trump will do a u-turn and start providing military aid to Ukraine, despite the US aligning closer to Russia.

They started off by asking how important this minerals deal is regarding the relationship between the US and Ukraine.

For our weekly catch-up with the Labour party Wire Host Caeden speaks to Deputy Leader Carmel Sepuloni about recent issues with the school lunch programme and the introduction of legislation that would change parliamentary terms to 4 years. 

For International Desk, they speak to Professor Richard Jackson from the University of Otago about the instability of United States foreign policy.

And they speak to Nicole Wallace from the Tertiary Education Union and Sean Sturm (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Te Wairoa), Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, about today’s strike.

For City Counselling, News and Editorial Director, Joel, speaks to Councillor Shane Henderson about Auckland Council recommitting $15 million in funding to restore the historic St James Theatre, and plans to convert over half of Takapuna Golf Course into wetlands.

They also speak to Retired Associate Professor in International Relations at the University of Auckland, Stephen Hoadley, about Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Velenskyy and US President, Donald Trump’s spat at the Oval Office, and Zelenskyy pursuing a mineral trade between the two nations.

As global temperatures continue to rise through unprecedented global warming, the risk of urban and wildfires continues to expand. Many countries continue to fight increasing global warming by phasing out the sale of petrol cars. These countries include most in the European Union, and additionally Canada and China are expecting to do so by the 2030’s.

However, with the United States leaving the Paris Agreement following president Trump’s inauguration, the future of mitigating global warming becomes more unlikely. A temperature rise of four degrees is projected should we not take any action to reduce it.

Producer Sasha spoke with Professor Bruce Glavovic from Massey University about these issues in addition to urban fire planning in New Zealand. We talked about how we can avoid urban fire scenarios and the world’s state of global warming.

Recent developments within global politics have been under great scrutiny by many journalists and political thinkers, and now the meme phrase “nothing ever happens” may not be so true.

This past month has seen the inauguration of Trump into office and his cozying up with Putin and the billionaires. He has also implemented great tariffs onto many countries meaning everything will continue to rise in price.

Sasha spoke to Professor Robert Patman from the University of Otago, Dunedin, about these recent global developments and the implications for the world. We also briefly touched on New Zealand’s response and potential implications for AUKUS