A lot has happened in the world of politics this week. What should we be paying attention to?
Theresa May’s Brexit deal is on thin ice and her resignation looms. Trump’s Saudi Arabian visit provided some insights into his foreign policy.
Here at topnewsdesk.com/ has some more information about what is happening in the world of politics.
The California wildfires are getting worse and people are fleeing their homes in droves. Meanwhile, North Korea continues to back down from the US and Kim Jong-Un mysteriously disappears from public view for a second time this year.
Here are plenty of other stories happening in the world. But what do they mean for us?
1. UK: Theresa May’s resignation.
24 hours after it was announced her Brexit deal would be voted on in the never-ending Brexit saga, it has been shot down by much of her own party. This means we could be heading for a second referendum as early as March. This has created many problems.
- Firstly, people who voted for Britain to leave the EU now don’t like it because they think there was no plan and that the UK will be stuck indefinitely in ‘Brexit purgatory’.
- Secondly, those who want to remain now want to stay almost entirely at the expense of having any say over their future position.
This has created a huge split in opinion, with people on both sides of the argument having very different opinions about it.
One of the main reasons for this is that Brexit itself is very hard to do in any way that benefits all parties.
2. US: Trumps visit to Saudi Arabia
It’s not exactly clear what Trump meant regarding his controversial Saudi Arabia trip in regards to freeing innocent Saudi women imprisoned in their country’s repressive regime.
But the President did imply he would use his visit to try and abolish statutes which condemned homosexuality, which would need the assent of the House of Saud before they could become law. This came after Trump famously said he believed being gay was a “choice”.
It is extremely important to remember that Saudi Arabia is one of the most oppressive regimes in the world when it comes to women and homosexuals.
And yet Trump has recently also become very close with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who does not seem to care about human rights in the slightest.
This might be a good reason for Trump not to take his words seriously.
The controversial trip was still generally praised in America, with many people believing it was a positive step in the right direction, though there were many uncomfortable moments when reporters questioned Trump’s friendliness towards bin Salman.
3. North Korea: meeting with South Korean president
Trump’s historic meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un earlier this month was, while generally peaceful, a masterclass in how not to do diplomacy.
It led to confusion about what had been agreed between the two leaders and hurt Trump’s credibility.
In this week’s meeting with South Korean president Moon Jae-In, Kim seemed to display a more positive attitude, holding a flower to his counterpart and being much more agreeable.
However, he did say that complete denuclearisation was still a distant goal.
It seems that while North Korea have been playing games with the US and South Korea for years now, it is possible they are serious about wanting a united peninsula.
However, their long-term plans for reunification are still unclear and may or may not involve using the US as a pawn in their political games.
4. California: wildfires and evacuations
The deadliest wildfires in California’s history have killed 40 people and more than 200 people are missing after the inferno swept through in just 12 hours.
Thousands of buildings in the town of Paradise and surrounding areas in northern California were destroyed when they were engulfed by embers on Thursday, with many dead found inside their burned-out cars trying to get away from the firestorms.
More than 50,000 people have been forced to evacuate from their homes since the fires began on November 8th.
The wildfires have been extremely destructive to the California economy, leading to a slump in the value of the US stock market. In a statement, California governor Jerry Brown said: “In California, we have been through this before.”
5. Russia: Trump’s presidential victory
Many people have expressed their views regarding Donald Trump’s presidency in a negative way. However, he is most likely going to win a second term this year and none of the top four candidates will stand against him.
The view that he won unlawfully has not been taken seriously by many who believe that Russia is responsible for it being so close to the election day and for his close relationship with Vladimir Putin.
