🔆Northern Ireland gets a govt after two years

✅An Irish nationalist made history recently by becoming Northern Ireland’s first minister as the government returned to work after a two-year boycott.
✅The Parliament of Northern Ireland was paralysed over new trade rules between the European Union and the United Kingdom necessitated by Brexit.

📍Background
✅Northern Ireland was created in May 1921 by partitioning Ireland, and consists of the six northeastern counties of the island.
✅In 1922, the rest of Ireland gained independence from the British (today’s Republic of Ireland, with its capital in Dublin).
✅Northern Ireland remained with the United Kingdom, but tensions simmered between the side loyal to the Crown, and the faction wanting to join the Republic.
✅Today, the side loyal to the British Union are called unionists, while those who support a united and free Ireland are called nationalists.

📍Belfast Agreement or the Good Friday agreement

✅By the end of the 1960s, a bloody conflict was raging in Northern Ireland among those who wished to remain with the UK and those who wanted to join Ireland.
✅Finally, in 1998, the Good Friday Agreement was signed to end the bloodshed, and gave Northern Ireland a unique system of governance.

📍Unique system of governance
✅Both unionists and nationalists share power in Stormont, the Parliament buildings in Belfast.
✅Both sides have to cooperate for the government to work.
✅While the faction that wins more votes in elections gets the post of First Minister, the other side gets the chair of Deputy First Minister, with equal power.

🔆UAE envoy on Modi visit for temple opening

#gs2
#ir
#prelims

@upsc_4_ir

🔆A privileged strategic partnership, without a gulf

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming official visit to the UAE signifies the deepening strategic partnership between India and the UAE, emphasizing economic, defense, and cultural ties.

The inauguration of a Hindu temple in Abu Dhabi by Modi, showcases the cultural collaboration and mutual respect within this partnership.

The visit aligns with India's broader engagement in the Gulf region, marking it a critical element of New Delhi's foreign policy strategy.

Economic ties are robust, with the UAE being India's third-largest trading partner and a significant investor. The India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement aims to amplify trade and services to $115 billion in five years.

The I2U2 and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor illustrate the strategic and economic collaborations aimed at enhancing connectivity and countering initiatives like China's Belt and Road Initiative.

#gs2
#ir

@upsc_4_ir
@upsc_the_hindu_ie_editorial

🔆Qatar Frees eight former Indian Navy Man

#gs2
#ir

@upsc_4_ir
@upsc_the_hindu_ie_editorial

The Democratic-led U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion bill containing aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan on Tuesday and sent the measure on to the Republican-controlled House of Representatives

#gs2
#ir

@upsc_4_ir
@upsc_the_hindu_ie_editorial

🔆NATO Funding, and Article 5

✅Former U.S. President Donald Trump raised a storm of criticism from the White House and top Western officials for suggesting he would not defend NATO allies who failed to spend enough on defence and would even encourage Russia to attack them.

📍How is NATO funded

✅It has some common funds, to which all members contribute. But the vast bulk of its strength comes from members' own national defence spending - to maintain forces and buy arms that can also be used by NATO.

✅However, NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) every year on defence - and most of them did not meet that goal last year..

✅In Article 5 of the founding treaty, NATO members declared that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America "shall be considered an attack against them all".

🔆Indo-Dutch Collaboration for Energy Transition

✅Recently, NITI Aayog and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands released a report titled ‘LNG as a Transportation Fuel in Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicle’ during India Energy Week.

📍Schengen area

✅The zone is known after Schengen, the tiny Luxembourg village bordering France and Germany, where the agreement was signed in 1985 among five of the six EU founding members except Italy.

✅Currently, it is an area encompassing 27 European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their mutual borders.

✅It mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes.

✅Croatia, a EU member since 2013, joined Schengen in 2023, while Romania and Bulgaria, EU members since 2007, will gain partial Schengen entry from 31 March 2024.

#mapping
#ir

@upsc_4_ir
@upsc_prep_squad