Brexit calendars change

Okay, everyone fasten their seatbelts because wild as this past week was for Brexit Britain, next week looks like being equally nuts.

The first key event of this past week happened on Monday when the House of Commons speaker, John Bercow, announced that he would prevent Prime Minister Theresa May from holding a third meaningful vote. Bercow based this decision on a 1604 rule that Parliament should not be asked to decide upon the same question in a single session. This means that May and her government would need to secure a “demonstrable change” to her current deal.

Despite having had her deal voted down twice, May did previously have the option of taking it to the House of Commons before attending the European Council summit. Bercow’s shock announcement meant that May had to change course, instead the Prime Minister attended the summit with the intention of not seeking a “long extension” to the Article 50 negotiating period. However the length of the extension wasn’t just a decision to be made by the UK government, but also subject to a veto from any of the other 27 nations of the European Union. And so the EU27 told UK Prime Minister Theresa May that they would allow the UK to postpone the withdrawal date from the union. That is, only if the Commons backed the deal that had previously been rejected twice. In a somewhat anticlimactic statement to the nation the Prime Minister urged MPs to back her withdrawal deal, stating that she was “not prepared to delay Brexit any further” and that it was now time for Parliament to “get on with it”. Her statement was criticised by both MPs for blaming politicians for the deal’s inability to pass through the Commons, and by friends of Northern Slant who follow the news a bit too religiously for wasting their time.

The DUP’s Brexit spokesperson Sammy Wilson said that his party would not be “threatened” into supporting the deal, which they have previously voted against. Meanwhile, amongst the opposition, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn walked out of a Brexit meeting of party leaders when he realised that TIG spokesman Chuka Umunna would be there. His reasoning? Umunna is not a party leader. You would think that in the midst of a national political crisis the leader of the opposition might look over these small details, but apparently not.

(please note, at this point I am only caught up on the events surrounding Brexit that happened from Monday to Wednesday of this past week)

Okay, still paying attention? Good, because the next part is important.

On Thursday of this week the European Council President Donald Tusk announced that the EU17 agreed on a plan to delay the Article 50 process until at least the 12th of April. If the withdrawal agreement is passed before the 29th March (the original date that the UK was meant to leave the EU by), the UK’s membership of the EU will be extended until 22 May. This would give Parliament time to pass the necessary legislation to give effect to the UK’s exit from the EU.

Against the backdrop of this political drama an online petition calling on the government to revoke Article 50 has reached over 5 million signatures. The petition was started in February by Margaret Georgiadou, who has described herself as “a frustrated remainer”. Since the petition has gained support Ms Georgiadou has been forced to close her Facebook account after receiving multiple death threats online for challenging Brexit. The popularity of the petition across the UK has also prompted conspiracy theories from both sides of the Brexit-political divide. The benefit of this being an official government petition is not only the fact that parliament now has to consider this as a subject for debate, but also that if you’re a political nerd like me they provide a wonderful petition map that breaks down the number of signatures by constituency. I will not be accepting messages asking how long I’ve spent looking at the data from this map at this time.

And on Saturday, just when we thought that we would be able to escape from Brexit for the weekend, it has been estimated that around a million people took to the streets of London to call for another EU referendum. The crowd began at Park Lane and walked through the city to Parliament Square, where a rally was held with speakers including Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, London Mayor Sadiq Khan, former Tory turned independent MP Anna Soubry and former attorney general Dominic Grieve. Aerial footage of the hundreds of thousands who attended this march to protest against Brexit stands in sharp contrast with Nigel Farage’s Brexit betrayal march from the North West of England to Westminster, which attracted around 200 people outside a pub in Nottinghamshire this past Saturday.

And just in case you thought that this was the end to a week of madness and hysteria around Brexit, it’s not. Illusionist Uri Geller has decided that it was his turn to throw his hat into the ring of political absurdity with an open letter to Prime Minister Theresa May this past Friday. In the letter Mr Geller warned Theresa May that he will use the powers of his mind to stop her from leading Britain into Brexit. Why? Because it’s 2019 and really nothing that happens in politics seems weird anymore as we are all exhausted. I would just like to highlight once again that this is the end of point one of five points of the news from this week.

Looking at the week ahead, it looks like things aren’t going to get any easier for Theresa May as rumours begin to swirl that her time as Prime Minister may be up .

 

Trump begins victory lap as Mueller investigation ends

After 22 months and 34 indictments, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 Trump campaign has concluded. The report was submitted to Attorney General Bill Barr this past Friday.

AG Barr’s initial statement in a letter to Congress on Sunday with a headline summary of the contents of the report prompted celebration in the Trump camp, despite the Special Counsel being quoted as saying: “While this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”

Nevertheless…

The Mueller investigation had focused on accusations that US President Trump’s campaign and transition teams conspired with Russian agents to influencer the US election in the then Republican candidate’s favour. An analysis of public records by the New York Times has already revealed that at least 17 Trump associates had contacts with Russians or Wikileaks.

The Attorney General’s letter to the chairs and ranking members of the Senate and House Judiciary committees stating that Mueller submitted “a ‘confidential report explaining the prosecution or declination decision’ he has reached”. So far the report’s full details have not been leaked, although the main findings and lines of inquiry are already well known due to various arrests, indictments, and reporting of the investigation itself that have taken place over the last two years. The Justice Department has revealed that the report did not call for new charges, although over the course of the investigation 34 people and three companies have already faced charges.

The Attorney General has stated that it is his goal to be as transparent as possible when it comes to revealing the details of the report. This has been widely supported by the House of Representatives. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has already stated that she will rebuff any efforts by the Justice Department to reveal the findings of the report in a classified setting.

Democrats await a detailed summary of Mueller’s findings from the Justice Department to be delivered to Congress on Sunday or Monday of this coming week. With arguably still more questions than answers, the ball is now in the court of Congressional oversight. What happens next is anybody’s guess.

 

New Zealand bans assault rifles

Just six days after a mass shooting took place at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 50 people, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a ban on all military style semi-automatic weapons (MSSA) and assault rifles in the country.

During the announcement at a news conference this past Wednesday Prime Minster Ardern stated that this weapons ban aims “to prevent an act of terror from even happening again [in New Zealand]”. In addition to banning all assault rifles, New Zealand will ban all high capacity magazines immediately. The gunman arrested for the attacks on the two Christchurch moques had purchased the weapons legally using a standard firearms license, enhancing their capacity by using magazines “done easily through a simple online purchase”, she said.

One of New Zealand’s largest gun retailers supported the government measure, also calling for a ban on online sales of firearms following the attacks, stating that they did not see any “legitimate recreational hunting use for military assault rifles”. An immediate sales ban on these fire arms went into effect this past Thursday in order to prevent stockpiling. The ban does not apply to guns commonly used by farmers or hunters, but as New Zealand does not have a constitutional right to bear arms, the legislation to impose a complete ban on the military-style weapons is expected to pass quickly. The new law could be in place as soon as April 11.

The swift action of Jacinda Ardern, alongside the fact that gun homicides in New Zealand have been in the single digits since 2007 – except in 2009, when there were 11 – as invoked international praise for the leader, while also raising questions about the Unites States’ apparent inability to ban assault weapons despite the number of major mass shootings the country has experienced in the twenty years since Columbine. In fact, in this past week it was reported that teachers in Indiana were shot with pellets during an active shooter drill.

This past Friday, thousands gathered in Christchurch for Friday prayers in order to pay respect to those who lost their lives in the massacre. Mourners from around the world attended the service, wearing headscarves out of respect, sharing the Muslim call to prayer and taking part in two minutes of silence. During the sermon Imam Gamal Fouda, who survived the attack at Al Noor mosque last week, declared New Zealand “unbreakable” while calling on world leaders to eliminate hate speech. Many of those killed in the attack have now been buried upon the completion of the police’s formal identification of all bodies this past Thursday.

 

Cyclone Idai rips through southern Africa

Throughout this past week, Tropical Cyclone Idai has brought devastation to Mozambique, Malawi and Zimbabwe.

According to officials, so far the devastating tropical storm has killed more than 200 in Mozambique, 139 in Zimbabwe and 56 in Malawi. The President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyushi, has said that as many as 1,000 people could have died in his country alone. The cyclone has destroyed as much as 90 per cent of the Mozambique city of Beira, with President Nyushi describing the situation as a “real disaster of great proportions”. Mozambique’s Land and Environment Minister Celso Correia told reporters that 15,000 people are still stranded as aid workers continue to work to rescue victims in the midst of a mounting death toll. At the moment aid access is one of the biggest challenges in affected regions, with the possibility of a cholera outbreak remaining a major concern.

Experts believe that the impact of Cyclone Idai has been made much worse by the gradual rise in temperature in the region caused by climate change. Government and aid officials are calling this one of the worst natural disasters to hit southern Africa, and possibly the Southern Hemisphere, in decades.

In the UK, the Disasters Emergency Committee  has announced that an appeal to help those affected by Cyclone Idai has raised £8 million in 24 hours. The Queen and the Prince of Wales are among those who donated. The New York Times has also written a list of organisations you can support to help those affected by the cyclone, which can be found here.

 

Trump recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights

In this past week US President Donald Trump has provoked global anger by recognising the State of Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights.

In a single tweet the President appeared to abandon the status quo of American policy in the region, while providing current Israeli Prime Minister a campaign gift just weeks before Israel’s election on the 9th of April. The United Nations has rejected Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights since 1967, when Israeli troops seized the 400 square miles land from Syria during the Arab-Israeli war. In the midst of Trump’s declaration, the Syrian government has vowed to take back the contested territory. Russia, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said that Trump’s comments risked destabilising the Middle East, while Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman stated that the personal decisions of Trump… will lead to crisis in the region”. European powers, including France and Germany, have also warned of the potential damage that Trump’s recognition could bring to the international order. Whether or not this will impact Trump’s peace plan for Israel and Palestine is currently unknown.

This is the most symbolic statement that President Trump has made regarding the State of Israel since he recognised Jerusalem as the country’s capital, moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in 2018. The US consulate general in Jerusalem, which was focused on Palestinian Affairs, has recently merged with this new US embassy. Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat tweeted saying that the Golan announcement would bring “destabilisation and bloodshed”. It is important to note that this announcement is unlikely to change the situation on the ground in the Golan, as Israel already acts with full military authority in the territory.

Someone who is happy about President Trump’s announcement is Benjamin Netanyahu, a close ally of Trump’s who is currently fighting against possible incitement and the new centralist alliance – known as the Blue and White Party – for his fourth consecutive term as the Prime Minister of Israel. The announcement via Twitter came just days before Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to the US. This is unlikely to have been a coincidence. Netanyahu, who has brought Israel into a proxy war against Iran in Syria, has tweeted Trump to thank him for this announcement.

In a bizarre but unsurprising twist in Trump’s relationship with the Holy Land, during an interview in Jerusalem with the Christian Broadcast Network during this past week US Secretary Mike Pompeo agreed to a suggestion that God himself raised Donald Trump to be President in order to protect Israel from Iran.

For those confused about why this was even a question, the Jewish festival of Purim took place on Wednesday and Thursday of this past week, which commemorates the biblical rescue of the Jewish people by Queen Esther from the Persians. When asked if there was any correlation between the biblical story and Trump’s policies “to help save the Jewish people from an Iranian menace”, Mr Pompeo replied “As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible”. Mr Pompeo has come under fire throughout his tour of the Middle East for only inviting “faith-based” members of the media to join a press briefing – and not releasing a list of people who participated in the event or even a transcript of what was said. In response to Pompeo’s restriction to “faith-based media” outlets, the ACLU has filed a freedom of information request for documents related to the event on the basis that “the American people deserve to know more about this administration’s religious favouritism”.

(On a personal note, as someone who was teased throughout her undergraduate degree for studying the intersection of religion and politics – a subject deemed “irrelevant” today – I am, in a way, grateful for these news stories as they assure me that I didn’t waste four years of my life at university.)