Displaying items by tag: disagreements

Ireland’s foreign minister, Simon Coveney, has warned Boris Johnson against any move to change the Northern Ireland protocol. He said, ‘What we can’t do is accept that the British government would act unilaterally, they would pass legislation to effectively breach international law, to set aside elements of a treaty that this prime minister designed and put in place. That would cause more problems than it would solve.’  Foreign minister Liz Truss, announcing a new law to change the post-Brexit trade deal for Northern Ireland, insisted it would be legal under international law. She said the proposed legislation would make changes to the deal - rather than scrapping it - to resolve ‘the grave situation in Northern Ireland’. But in response, the EU said it would ‘need to respond with all measures at its disposal’ if the UK went ahead with the legislation. Pray that all decisions will be according to God’s plans.

US president Joe Biden and Russian president Putin will meet in Geneva on 16 June. They first met in 2011, when vice-president Biden told Putin, ‘I don’t think you have a soul.’ They clashed again in 2014, when Biden was tasked with bolstering Ukraine in the wake of its protests and pressuring Russia to scale back military interference in eastern Ukraine. Putin then pushed back against Biden and the strain of US policy he represented. In 2016 Putin had his intelligence services interfere with the US presidential election, hoping Donald Trump, once elected, might reverse Obama’s administration stance on Russia. In the ensuing years, Putin’s minions likely passed information or misinformation to Biden’s son Hunter, which Trump’s supporters eagerly received and did their best to deploy in the 2020 campaign. With so much jagged history between them, the meeting will be awkward at a personal level.

In Brussels a high-stakes disagreement has emerged with a jackpot worth the total value of the EU budget until 2027 plus its €750bn Coronavirus Recovery fund. 24 member states and a majority in the EU Parliament are in opposition to Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia over the division of EU funds between member states being linked to the behaviour and the values of individual governments. The EU wants to pass a law that if a member state pursues policies that the EU feels are in conflict with its core values, it will lose access to the funds. Poland and Hungary emerged as democracies from communist dictatorship and both have gone on to elect right-wing nationalist governments, heavily dependent on EU funds. Political opposition and economic reliance has introduced a strain of toxicity into their Brussels relations.

In 1949 the UN agreed a Convention of the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. Seventy years later, there are an estimated 21 million forced-labour victims worldwide. Contemporary forms of slavery include trafficking, sexual exploitation, child labour, forced marriage, and abducting children for use in armed conflict. Pray for stronger, wiser networking between governments and agencies working to eliminate slavery. Also in 1949, NATO was established as the world's most powerful defence alliance. The current ‘alliance’ has strained relations between America and France, who hold opposing views, Turkey disagrees with NATO’S plans for Baltic areas, the USA is criticising NATO countries for their alliance funding, and the UK’s Armed Forces Christian Union's director said it is unfortunate that ‘public disagreements’ have marked the anniversary of an alliance created to stand for unity. See

In the latest twist to the Brexit saga, Boris Johnson has said he will give MPs more time to debate his deal with the EU - if they agree to a 12 December election. He expects the EU to grant an extension to the 31 October deadline, even though he said he ‘really’ did not want one. But Jeremy Corbyn said he would not support an election until a no-deal Brexit is ‘off the table’. EU leaders could give their verdict on delaying Brexit for up to three months on 25 October. A motion will be tabled on 28 October calling for a general election; under current legislation, it has to be agreed by two-thirds of MPs. We need to pray for our leaders to work together to find solutions to difficult problems with God’s direction. May God guide them to speak respectfully and with humility to one another, and may the Holy Spirit help them to show Christ-like love to those they interact with. May they be wise advocates for their constituents and the nation.