aacj

March 3 2025

Trump-Zelenskyy clash; US aluminum falters; Nuclear plant life extension; Cartels reel; Shop classes boom

Greg Loving

03 Mar 2025 • 6 min read

Trump-Zelenskyy Talks Collapse After Remarkable White House Confrontation

US Aluminum Sector Has Declined Since Peaking in Early 1980s

Aging Nuclear Plants Gain New Life

Cartels Reel From Recent Crackdown

Shop Class Revival Underway

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FLASH…Israel Halts Entry of Goods Into Gaza as Cease-Fire Talks Falter…Cuomo Enters N.Y.C. Mayor’s Race, Upending Contest to Unseat Adams…

1. Trump-Zelenskyy Talks Collapse After Remarkable White House Confrontation

A White House meeting aimed at ending the Russo-Ukrainian War between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday deteriorated rapidly, highlighting tensions that threaten diplomatic efforts to resolve the ongoing war in Ukraine. Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with world war three,” criticizing the Ukrainian leader’s repeated requests for security guarantees from the U.S. without agreeing to peace terms. The confrontation ended abruptly as Trump cut short the session, urging Zelenskyy to return only when he was “ready for peace.” According to an exclusive poll reported on by Mark Halperin of 2way, American viewers who watched the 10-minute exchange sided with Trump’s handling of the meeting by a significant margin, 67% to 33%.

Following the contentious encounter in Washington, European nations attempted to step in to facilitate a peaceful resolution, though their efforts quickly exposed internal dysfunction. French President Emmanuel Macron proposed an initial one-month truce between Russia and Ukraine, aiming to stabilize the conflict. However, the United Kingdom distanced itself from Macron’s proposal, and Ukraine itself expressed caution about entering a ceasefire without solid security guarantees. These diverging positions underscore Europe’s difficulty in forming a unified approach, complicating diplomatic efforts further in the wake of the fractured Trump-Zelenskyy talks.
Source: citizen journal

2. US Aluminum Sector Has Declined Since Peaking in Early 1980s

The Magnitude 7 Metals aluminium plant near the banks of the Mississippi is eerily quiet these days, its electrolysis cells dark and devoid of people, its once white-hot smelters cold to the touch. “It breaks my heart, ‘cos I’ve seen it in all its glory,” said Greg Lester, the facility’s manager, gesturing upwards to its cavernous vaults. The plant, a short drive from New Madrid in the economically depressed Missouri Bootheel, symbolises the decline of US heavy industry. It is a slump that President Donald Trump is determined to arrest and reverse. His instrument of choice is tariffs. Last month, Trump announced he was increasing levies on aluminium from 10 per cent to 25 per cent, saying imports of the metal were threatening to impair US national security. But it will take more than that to restore the fortunes of Magnitude 7, or Mag7 as it is known. The downturn in the US industry is being driven above all by high energy costs. And they show no sign of abating.

Source: FT

3. Aging Nuclear Plants Gain New Life

Most of the world’s operating nuclear power plants, around 400, were built in the 1970s to 1990s and are now coming to the end of their projected lives or original licence periods. Yet the power they provide is urgently needed. The International Energy Agency estimates demand for electricity could more than double by 2050. Alongside this, the need to fuel the power-hungry data centres owned by technology companies is creating an immediate pull in many regions. While building new reactors on time and on budget in western countries is proving to be a struggle, extending the lives of power stations beyond their typical 40-year licences can be achieved more quickly and at a fraction of the cost. In the US, all reactors aged 30 or above have applied for an extra 20-year licence, according to the IEA, boosted by financial help under former president Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. His administration created a $6bn Civil Nuclear Credit fund, which granted $1.1bn in funds to help Diablo Canyon Power Plant in California to stay open after 2025.
Source: FT

4. Cartels Reel From Recent Crackdown

One cartel leader says he’s trying to figure out how to protect his family in case the American military strikes inside Mexico. Another says he’s already gone into hiding, rarely leaving his home. Two young men who produce fentanyl for the cartel say they have shut down all their drug labs. A barrage of arrests, drug seizures and lab busts by the Mexican authorities in recent months has struck the behemoth Sinaloa Cartel, according to Mexican officials and interviews with six cartel operatives, forcing at least some of its leaders to scale back on fentanyl production in Sinaloa state, their stronghold. The cartels have sown terror across Mexico and caused untold damage in the United States. But here in Culiacán, the state capital, the dynamic seems to be shifting, at least for now. Cartel operatives say they’ve had to move labs to other areas of the country or temporarily shut down production.
Source: NYT

5. Shop Class Revival Underway

In America’s most surprising cutting-edge classes, students pursue hands-on work with wood, metals and machinery, getting a jump on lucrative old-school careers. School districts around the U.S. are spending tens of millions of dollars to expand and revamp high-school shop classes for the 21st century. They are betting on the future of manual skills overlooked in the digital age, offering vocational-education classes that school officials say give students a broader view of career prospects with or without college. With higher-education costs soaring and white-collar workers under threat by generative AI, the timing couldn’t be better.

Source: WSJ

My take from 2023

March 3, 1820: Congress passes the Missouri Compromise

The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was an agreement passed by the U.S. Congress that aimed to maintain the balance between free and slave states. It admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while prohibiting slavery in future territories north of the 36°30′ latitude line. This arrangement temporarily eased sectional tensions but was undermined by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which allowed settlers to decide on slavery through popular sovereignty. This reversal led to violent conflicts between pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers in Kansas, known as “Bleeding Kansas,” intensifying national divisions and contributing significantly to the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861.

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