In Geopolitics Today: Monday, February 13th
The UAE and Bahrain Face Challenges in Wake of Violence in Palestine, Researchers Successfully Split Seawater to Produce Green Hydrogen, and other stories.
The UAE and Bahrain Face Challenges in Wake of Violence in Palestine
The recent violence in Jenin, East Jerusalem, and Jericho has put the UAE and Bahrain — the two members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) who signed the Abraham Accords with Israel — in a difficult position. With a hard-line right-wing government in power in Israel, Palestinians are worried about increased settler violence, making the situation highly volatile. GCC officials are monitoring the situation closely.
The Abraham Accords stipulate that Israel would forgo formal annexation of the West Bank, but the new government is expected to prioritize large-scale land grabs in the occupied territory, potentially challenging the legitimacy of the Accords. Within this environment, the UAE and Bahrain must strike a balance between the benefits of the Abraham Accords and domestic and regional considerations, as public opinion in both countries opposes normalization. Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar have all firmly stood by the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which states that normalization with Israel must only occur after Israel returns to the 1949-67 borders and recognises the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Read more about this story here.
Thai Currency Remains Resilient
25 years after the Thai financial crisis, the Thai baht has proved to be a surprisingly resilient currency. In contrast to Indonesia, where the rupiah has depreciated significantly, the baht trades close to its pre-crisis value.
Thailand's government has been financially conservative since the crisis, with a low average government deficit and low inflation, which has helped keep the baht stable. Thailand has also become more open to trade, which has boosted its tourism and manufacturing sectors. Despite its political turmoil, Thailand has maintained financial stability and has per capita income that has doubled. The Thai baht is therefore an example of the benefits of economic stability.
Read more about this story here.
Researchers Successfully Split Seawater to Produce Green Hydrogen
A team of researchers led by Professor Shizhang Qiao and Associate Professor Yao Zheng from the University of Adelaide's School of Chemical Engineering successfully split seawater without pre-treatment to produce green hydrogen.
The team used a non-precious and cheap catalyst in a commercial electrolyser, and found that the performance was close to that of platinum/iridium catalysts running in highly purified water. Seawater is considered a more practical feedstock for regions with abundant sunlight and long coastlines, but it is currently in early stages of development due to the complexity of using seawater in electrolysis. The team plans to scale up the system for commercial use in fuel cells and ammonia synthesis.
Read more about this story here.
Defending the Dutch Caribbean
The Dutch Antilles no longer exists since 2010 and Aruba became a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1986. Curaçao and St Maarten enjoy a similar status and Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius are now special overseas municipalities.
The Hague is in charge of foreign and defence policies for the Dutch Caribbean and has a permanent military presence via the Dutch Caribbean Defense Force. The Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard carries out search and rescue, law enforcement and maritime interdiction operations, and has recently acquired three General Atomics MQ-9A Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles. The main threats to the Dutch Caribbean are destabilization in other countries in the region, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and migration.
Read more about this story here.
China Makes Further Inroads in Lithium Triangle
Bolivia's government signed a $1 billion agreement with Chinese firms CATL, BRUNP, and CMOC and the Bolivian state company Yacimientos de Litio Bolivianos (YLB) to explore lithium deposits in Bolivia.
The Chinese firms will build the necessary infrastructure, highways and conditions to start the exploitation and transformation facilities in the salt flats of Uyuni and Coipasa, with YLB coordinating the extraction activities. The Bolivian Energy Minister said that the deal represented “sovereign alternatives” to the privatization of lithium exploitation, but opposition leaders have called for the full terms of the agreement to be made public and have expressed concerns about the “denationalization of lithium” in Bolivia.