🌊 No More Funding for Ukraine

This new medical report is groundbreaking… literally.

A new report from The Lancet, a renowned UK medical journal, projects that over half of the adults in the world will be overweight or obese in 2050. To help you visualize that — we struggled to at first — think of your office’s morning box of 24 Krispy Kreme donuts. In 2050, 12 of those donuts would be overweight or obese. So as you can see… uhh Kevin, please put down the donut. Kevin, down! We need them for a visual… okay there goes the visual.

–Max and Max

KEY STORY

Trump Pauses Ukraine Aid

The White House announced that Trump would suspend all military aid to Ukraine

• European leaders spent the weekend urging Zelensky to win back Trump’s support. Zelensky has said Trump is looking to do a deal that would threaten Ukraine’s existence, though, and on Sunday said a peace deal is “far away”

• On Monday, Trump called that “the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy…this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing”

• Hours later, the White House announced that it would pause all military aid

Dig Deeper

• Zelensky's full statement on Sunday was: “An agreement to end the war is still very, very far away, and no one has started all these steps yet. The peace that we foresee in the future must be just, honest, and most importantly, sustainable”

• Trump quoted that and wrote, “This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer! It is what I was saying, this guy doesn’t want there to be Peace as long as he has America’s backing and, Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy, stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the U.S. – Probably not a great statement to have been made in terms of a show of strength against Russia. What are they thinking?”

• Hours later, the White House put out this statement: “The President has been clear that he is focused on peace. We need our partners to be committed to that goal as well. We are pausing and reviewing our aid to ensure that it is contributing to a solution”

• It’s unclear how Ukraine’s effort will continue in the absence of American aid

KEY STORY

Europe’s Peace Proposals

As American support dwindles, European leaders are developing their own peace proposals

• After a meeting of European leaders in London, the UK’s prime minister said the UK, France, and Ukraine will work together on a peace deal to be presented to the US in hopes that greater European action could induce US support

• France proposed a partial one-month truce for attacks on “air, sea, and energy” critical infrastructure, though not halting ground fighting. The UK denied that it had backed that proposal, but both it and France have committed to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine after an initial ceasefire

Dig Deeper

• Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was less supportive of the peacekeeping plan, expressing reluctance to deploy Italian troops and warning that it risked being a “highly complex and less effective” operation

• The prime minister of Poland, which has one of Europe’s largest militaries, also ruled out sending peacekeepers, saying, “We will... give logistical and political support to the countries that will possibly want to provide such guarantees” but “we do not plan to send Polish soldiers to the territory of Ukraine”

KEY STORY

European Markets Surge

European stock markets hit record highs on Monday on the back of surging defense stocks

• On Sunday, the European Commission president said, "We urgently have to rearm Europe…We have to have a surge in defense,” prompting leaders to promise defense spending increases

• In response, share prices of UK and European defence companies soared as governments look to ramp up military spending amid uncertainty over the US’ support to Ukraine and NATO

• Shares of French defense company Thales rose 16%, British arms manufacturer BAE and Germany’s Rheinmettal both rose 14%, and Italy’s Leonardo rose 16%

Dig Deeper

• The stock market rally was driven by the expectation that European defense contractors would receive an influx of spending from governments

• UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged last week to increase defense spending to 2.5% of the GDP by 2027; Germany’s new leader said that his government will pour hundreds of billions into defense; and French President Macron called for France to spend 3 to 3.5% of GDP on defense in the coming years

ROCA’S SPONSOR

What Will Trump Say in the State of the Union Tonight?

Together with Kalshi

What will Trump say in tonight’s State of the Union address? Will this March be the hottest on record? Will the US see more than 1,500 measles cases this year?

• You could debate these topics endlessly, but now you can now bet on them too 

• Kalshi lets you bet on real-world events – from politics to the weather and crypto to egg prices – and provides real-time odds for them. We track Kalshi for major events since they’re often more accurate than polls

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• Join Kalshi today to bet on your predictions

KEY STORY

New Tariffs To Take Effect

President Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico will take effect on Tuesday

• In January, Trump announced 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, but later delayed them for one month after the countries agreed to bolster border security and combat fentanyl trafficking

• While those countries did take steps to do so, Trump said the moves were insufficient and he imposed 25% on nearly all goods from Mexico and Canada. Both countries said they would retaliate with tariffs on American goods

• Trump also imposed a further 10% tariff on Chinese goods, doubling a 10% tariff he imposed last month. China immediately responded by announcing tariffs American agricultural products

Dig Deeper 

• The tariffs sent American stocks tumbling, wiping out their post-election gains. Some traders are less pessimistic, though, betting that these tariffs, like the prior threats, are a negotiating tactic that won’t last

KEY STORY

Melania Trump’s New Initiative

Melania Trump announced her second term’s initiative will focus on addressing revenge porn and deepfakes

• Historically, first ladies have pursued a humanitarian or social welfare “cause” while in office. Melania Trump’s first-term initiative focused primarily on combating online bullying

• The First Lady debuted this initiative by hosting a discussion on the “Take It Down Act,” which aims to penalize the non-consensual distribution of sexual images and videos

• Melania stated in her announcement that the “threat of privacy breaches is alarmingly high” for children and that children must be safeguarded “from mean spirited and hurtful online behavior”

Dig Deeper

• Revenge porn describes the dissemination of sexually explicit images or videos of a person posted on the internet, typically by a former partner

• Similarly, deepfake porn uses AI to generate explicit videos or images by editing a person’s face into sexual content without their consent

• Deepfakes exist in a legal gray area, with some states enacting laws penalizing their creation and distribution but no national legislation criminalizing them. Revenge porn is illegal in 49 states, though no federal laws currently exist to combat it

RUNDOWN
Some Quick Stories for the Office

🚙 A man drove a car into a crowd in Germany on Monday, killing two people and injuring 11

🕌 Egypt proposed a Gaza plan that would replace Hamas with an Arab-led "International Stabilization Force" and a "Governance Assistance Mission" supervised by Arab nations, the US, UK, and EU

🔥 South Carolina's governor declared a state of emergency as 160+ wildfires burned over 5,400 acres across South Carolina and Georgia

💲 Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) announced plans to invest $100B in US chip-manufacturing plants

📈 The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) dropped its lawsuit against Kraken that claimed the cryptocurrency company was operating as an unregistered stock exchange

What does Roca Nation think?

🧠 Yesterday’s Question: Did you watch the Oscars last night? Thoughts? And if not, why not?

🧐 Today’s Question: Do people deserve to inherit millions from their parents?

Context: We’re on the precipice of the greatest wealth transfer in history (Baby Boomers giving money to their kids). Should the estate tax (currently 18-40% depending on the state) be even higher than it is?

Reply to this email with your response!

POPCORN
Some Quick Stories for Happy Hour

🛢 Nordic Anti-American Boycotts: After a Norwegian fuel supplier stopped servicing US submarines following President Donald Trump’s clash with Ukrainian President Zelensky’s in the Oval Office, boycotts of US goods have spread across northern Europe

🐟 Sour Patch Kids’ Glow Up: Food conglomerate Mondelez is launching Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish that glow in the dark in a bid to attract Gen Z consumers

🇺🇸 Steaking a Claim: Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick proposed renaming "New York strip" steak to "Texas strip.” He said, “Liberal New York shouldn’t get the credit for our hard-working ranchers”

🎞 Trailer Trouble: An Indian lawyer won damages from the country's largest movie theater chain after suing over extended commercials that delayed a scheduled work call

⚖ Kardashian's Activism Backfires: A New York man sued Kim Kardashian for libel and slander after she mistakenly used his photo in an Instagram post about a Texas death row inmate who shared his name

ROCA WRAP
Where Is Paddington?

Newbury, England

A beloved Paddington Bear statue has been stolen from this English town.

A market town in the southern English county of Berkshire, Newbury holds a special place in literary history as the birthplace of Michael Bond, who created the beloved children's character Paddington Bear.

One way the town remembered that history was through a painted statue depicting Paddington in his signature red hat and blue duffle coat with a marmalade sandwich in paw. The statue wasn’t historic – it was unveiled in October ahead of the film "Paddington in Peru" – but quickly became a popular attraction, with families often queuing to take photographs.

On Sunday, though, Newbury woke up to find that Paddington had been removed.

Police said, “At this stage, it appears the theft has occurred overnight and we encourage any witnesses to the theft to come forward and contact the police or equally anyone who may have seen any suspicious activity.”

Local residents have expressed anger over the overnight theft, with the Newbury Business Improvement District lamenting the loss of what was intended as a tourist attraction. Police are reviewing CCTV footage, while one resident whose father worked as a gardener for Michael Bond called the vandalism "disgraceful." 

Meanwhile, Paddington fans can only hope it wasn’t a bear-seeking taxidermist who took away the beloved cub. (Paddington fans will get it.)

ROCA VIDEO
A Tale of Two Generations: Gen Z vs. Millennials

Although we typically batch young people together, the reality is that Gen Z and Millennials are vastly different. In this video, we investigate the political, religious, and sexual identity differences between Gen Z and Millennials. We also explore why they are the way they are.

EDITOR’S NOTE
Final Thoughts

The Oscars averaged 18.1M viewers, down 7% from last year. A few of you wrote to say that we’ve become too negative about the Oscars, and maybe that’s true. It bothers us that the ceremony has done more to divide than unite Americans for years now when we believe entertainment should do the opposite. The Roca Maxes love movies — and we even love some new movies. And by new movies we mean Inside Out 2 and Sonic 4 (assuming that’s a movie already).

–Max and Max