In Geopolitics Today - Monday, November 29th
UK Agrees Strategic Partnership with Israel and Barbados Ditches the Monarchy to Become a Republic
UK Agrees Strategic Partnership with Israel
The UK and Israel have entered into a decade-long strategic partnership. Boris Johnson lit a menorah at Downing Street to mark the second night of Chanukah after meetings which saw Israeli Foreign Minister Lapid and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss sign a new agreement for a Strategic Partnership in trade and defence between Britain and Israel. The Israeli delegation came just as the talks over Iran’s nuclear program are set to resume in Vienna, where the UK will be present in negotiations as a signatory to the JCPOA. The memorandum of understanding signed b the UK and Israel will translate to closer cooperation on issues such as cybersecurity, technology development, defence, trade and science.
Israel and the UK have long been close partners. The two countries enjoy a trading relationship worth an estimated £5 billion, with particularly close economic ties in the aviation and pharmaceutical industries. The UK’s Rolls-Royce supplies jet engines which power the airplanes flying for Israeli airlines, and Israeli pharmaceutical company Teva is a major provider of medicines for the NHS. But as the UK’s Foreign Secretary has prioritised economic diplomacy in her approach to reshape the UK’s foreign policy, securing a wide-ranging 10-year deal with Israeli is hardly a reinvention of previous policies. Instead, the deal marks a deepening of existing ties in areas where the already cooperate. Cyber and tech will likely form the bulk of this new cooperation, with a political deal likely falling outside of the memorandum.
Prior to their meeting, the UK made a gesture of support for Israeli interests when Home Secretary Priti Patel announced her intention declare the whole of the Palestinian militant group Hamas as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act. Israeli interests were taken in mind during the meeting too, as Lapid and Truss released a statement affirming a commitment by both powers to remain vigilant on the issue of Iran. They stressed that both countries will work “night and day” in order to stop Iran’s nuclear development and regional ambitions. Beyond the UK’s support of Israel’s position regarding Iran, the two agreed to begin talks on a trade deal sometime early next year.
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Barbados Ditches the Monarchy to Become a Republic
Barbados, an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, is transforming into a parliamentary republic. After the first English colonial settlement was built in Jamestown in the year 1627, Barbados remained a British colony for over 300 years before claiming its independence in 1966. Now, Barbadians will no longer have the Queen as their head of state as the country transitions into a parliamentary republic with a new ceremonial president, Dame Sandra Mason. Prime Minister Mia Mottley, who has declared that Barbados must leave behind its colonial past, and worked tirelessly to achieve the change of government, will stay on in her role as prime minister.
Barbados is the fourth Caribbean nation in the Commonwealth to remove the Queen as the constitutional head of state, joining Guyana (1970), Trinidad and Tobago (1976), and Dominica (1978) in doing so. Adopting a republican constitution has been a longstanding issue in local politics, and rests on a broad consensus among the population in support of cutting off colonial-era ties. Mottley said last month that the time has come for Barbados to express “full confidence in ourselves as a people” as she outlined her approach for constitutional change in a two-step process. First, the country will proceed with the establishment of a republic and undergo a comprehensive constitutional reform. Second, the new republic will undertake substantial reforms pertaining to rights, the existing relationship between the executive and legislative branches of government, as well as the reform of the judiciary.
But while the transition to a republic will be a formal separation from the UK, Barbados will remain part of the Commonwealth of Nations, and officials from both Barbados and the UK have expressed a joint desire to maintain close bilateral ties going forward. In particular, the two continually express an interest in collaboration on climate change, energy, and security. And while the Queen is no longer the head of state of Barbados, the shift to a republic will not change the status of the country within the Commonwealth, of which Queen Elizabeth II is still the head. Nevertheless, the move marks a step towards increased independence and a clear boost to the island nation’s sovereignty.
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