Brexit & Foreign Policy
US-Russia nuclear arms treaty may fall victim to domestic politics
President Obama is facing a challenge to pass START after leading Republicans have called for a delay on the vote to ratify the treaty. The deal with Russia regarding nuclear weapons inspections is a key foreign policy initiative for Obama.
Why did DfID spend £2m on the Pope’s visit to the UK?
The Department for International Development (DfID) spent nearly £2m on the Pope's visit to the UK. It represents close to one-fifth of the cost.
We need to move on from the clichés and misunderstandings about China
The coverage of David Cameron’s visit to Beijing has brought the usual litany of clichés and misunderstandings about China, drawing unabashedly on a fine tradition of western depictions of the Oriental “other”. China is unfailingly presented as a totalitarian state, headed by inscrutable politicians with “plastic smiles”. Its population is an undifferentiated mass, herded into conformity by severe limitations imposed on personal freedom.
Cost of Trident delay inevitable result of the compromise of coalition
Defence secretary Liam Fox’s admission that the Trident delay announced in last month’s Strategic Defence & Security Review (SDSR) will cost up to £1.4 billion attracted fresh criticism of the government’s handling of the issue. John Woodcock, the Labour MP for Barrow - where the submarines are built - claimed the coalition was “playing politics with Britain's national security” by delaying the decision on Trident renewal for five years so as to avoid a Liberal Democrat revolt on the issue.
Cameron’s G20 ignorance risks shutting Britain out of global policy making
If the sad truth is that Cameron simply doesn't care about Britain taking a lead in developing a more multilateral economic approach then so be it. But by doing so he's shutting the UK out of the game - with the US, the G20 and the EU.
Is Anglo-French co-operation on nuclear warheads illegal?
Much of the British media has dedicated the last few days to questioning the strategic and fiscal pitfalls/merits of the military and nuclear agreements signed by David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy on Tuesday. However, the legal context to the nuclear part of the agreement raises some interesting questions, and has largely been ignored.