Welcome to our roundup of news and current events related to ethics and international affairs! Here’s some of what we’ve been reading this past week:
Photo Credit: Seyed Mostafa Tehrani via Wikimedia Commons
.jpg#file){kind=link}
New York Times: Trump Supports the Protestors, Except Those Protesting Him
The eruption of protests and political violence in Iran has prompted messages of solidarity from President Trump. Simultaneously, Trump has responded with indignation concerning the protests in Minnesota against ICE operations and the death of Renee Good, labeling protestors as “anarchists.” While certainly different contexts, the rhetoric of Trump in these two instances highlight a larger trend in his presidency. While he denounces human rights abuses in Iran and Venezuela, he feigns ignorance toward abuses in Russia or Saudi Arabia. As he decries protestors in Minnesota as agents of “domestic terrorism,” he supports January 6th rioters and lauds them as a part of a “day of love.” As the NYT article emphasizes, “nothing taking place in Minnesota comes close” to the scale of violence in Iran. However, these contradictions from Trump risk deteriorating international norms and weakening American soft power.
Read more about protest and political violence in Ethics & International Affairs:
The Ethics of (Un)Civil Resistance(2019: 33-3)
In the Shadow of Democratic Violence (2025: 39-3)
Photo credit: Wilnel José Verdú Guerrero via Wikimedia Commons
Guardian: US plan to exploit Venezuela’s oil could eat up 13% of carbon budget to keep 1.5C limit
On January 9, President Trump told oil executives that “we’re going to be extracting numbers in terms of oil like few people have seen,” demonstrating the centrality of oil reserves in his administration’s decision to arrest Maduro and control affairs in Venezuela. An overlooked aspect of the capture of Maduro and Trump’s declaration of control over Venezuelan affairs is the disastrous climate effects, if Trump fulfills these pledges to expand drilling and exploit Venezuelan oil reserves. One analysis estimates that increasing Venezuelan oil production to nearly 1.5 million barrels by 2050, far short of the 3.5 million barrels a day produced during the Venezuelan oil boom of the 1990s, would consume 13 percent of the “total remaining carbon budget” to keep global heating within 1.5C. Environmental activists have condemned the U.S. plans to exploit Venezuelan oil as not only damaging to international norms, but as dangerous to the future of our planet.
Read more about Venezuela and climate change in Ethics & International Affairs:
Communities and Climate Change: Why Practices and Practitioners Matter (2022: 36-2)
International Law and the Humanization of Warfare (2024: 37-4)
Photo credit: Quintin Soloviev via Wikimedia Commons
BBC: Greenlanders brace for summit that could shape the Arctic's future - and their own
Trump’s focus on acquiring Greenland centers on a vague imperative of bolstering “national security.” The lives and perspective of Greenlanders too often seem an afterthought to the Trump administration. Interviews by the BBC with residents emphasize a pride in Greenland and that the country is “not for sale.” Akin to past decades of imperialist expansion, the United States risks prioritizing economic rationale and national security over the moral questions of disrupting local communities and livelihoods. Additionally, the acquisition, and possible invasion, of Greenland has greater repercussions for NATO. While NATO members have suggested a new maritime “Arctic Sentry” to protect the region, Trump’s rhetoric threatens to upend centuries of established alliances and international norms.
Read more about indigenous rights, NATO, and international norms in Ethics & International Affairs:
The Liberal International Order as an Imposition: A Postcolonial Reading (2024: 38-2)
Trump, Territory, and Greenland: Mixed Claims for Ownership, Rights, and Control (2025)
The Diffusion of Power and the Decline of Global Governance (2025: 39-2)
Photo credit: Ivcom via Wikimedia Commons
Al Jazeera: US and Ivory Coast sign $480m deal as part of ‘America First’ aid strategy
After drastic cuts to USAID and decades of U.S. support for health initiatives on the African continent, the Trump Administration’s “America First Global Health Strategy” envisions bilateral agreements as a new mechanism to assist countries seeking public health assistance. The Ivory Coast and the Trump administration signed a deal committing $480 million in public health aid. In the agreement, the Ivory Coast commits to provide an additional $300 million in public health funding by 2030. The agreement raises questions over the transactional nature of the Trump administration’s aid and the lack of clarity on how services will be protected if a country is unable to meet its commitments. This shift toward conditional health assistance raises serious moral concerns about global public health and the ethical implications of tying essential public health services to a country’s fiscal capacity, politics, or the imperatives of the Trump administration.
Read more about humanitarian aid and global health equity in Ethics & International Affairs:
Humanitarian Action and Ethics (2019: 33-3)
Humanitarian Diplomacy: The ICRC's Neutral and Impartial Advocacy in Armed Conflicts (2019: 33-1)