{"id":20127,"date":"2020-08-21T12:31:10","date_gmt":"2020-08-21T12:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/?p=20127"},"modified":"2020-12-15T12:07:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-15T12:07:04","slug":"the-week-in-foreign-policy-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/2020\/08\/the-week-in-foreign-policy-13\/","title":{"rendered":"The week in foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re back with the week in foreign policy – exploring what\u2019s happening away from the front pages, and key developments in global affairs that have caught our eye.<\/span><\/p>\n

Former world leaders have called for action to prevent a \u2018lost Covid-19 generation,\u2019 writes Lucy Campbell in the <\/span>Guardian<\/span><\/a>. Campbell writes that: <\/span>Among the 275-strong group of senior figures are former UK prime ministers Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Sir John Major, as well as economists, politicians and educationalists from around the world. In a letter addressed to G20 leaders, national governments and global financial institutions, the group calls for action to ensure that a generation of young people are not \u201crobbed of their education\u201d due to Covid-19.\u201d The group of former leaders has suggested that all countries should pledge to protect frontline education spending, in an attempt to prioritise the needs of disadvantaged children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere, talks on a post-Brexit deal tick on, though Brussels seems in no mood to compromise with British officials. In <\/span>Politico<\/span><\/a>, Barbara Moens writes that the EU is banking on UK urgency to get the talks moving towards an agreement. Barbara writes that: <\/span>\u201cNeither Brussels nor London expect this week’s negotiating <\/span>round<\/span><\/a> to provide the big breakthrough. Both sides have to reach a deal before the end of October in order to get it ratified by the European and British parliaments in time. Despite this, the U.K.’s negotiator David Frost <\/span>tweeted<\/span><\/a> Thursday: “Our assessment is that agreement can be reached in September and we will work to achieve this if we can.”\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Russia will not intervene militarily in Belarus as protests there are not directed against Moscow or any other foreign power, according to a Belarusian ambassador who has sided with the demonstrators. Jacopo Barigazzi writes in <\/span>Politico<\/span><\/a> this week, explaining that: \u201cthe unrest in Belarus has sparked some speculation that Russia, which has close political and cultural ties with Belarus, could intervene militarily to ensure a Kremlin-friendly government is in place in its western neighbor.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The UK government has taken a promising step towards cementing its position as a world leader in climate activism. The government will set legally binding environmental targets over air quality, waste, biodiversity and water. News platform <\/span>Edie<\/span><\/a> had more information, noting that: \u201cat least one \u201cstrong and meaningful\u201d target will be introduced for each of the four priority areas for the Bill: biodiversity, air quality, water and waste. All targets will be deadlined for the mid-to-late 2030s and will be backed up with interim targets that will not be legally binding, to help spur early progress.\u201d According to the article, the goals should be set in statute by the end of October 2022 at the latest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, the UK Space Agency has announced \u00a33.4 million in funding for 10 projects, looking to tackle development problems around the globe using satellite and other surveillance technology. Earlier this year, the British Foreign Policy Group hosted an event looking at UK foreign policy in space, with an interstellar panel. You can catch up on that event <\/span>here<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matt Gillow takes a look at the stories behind the front pages, in the week in foreign policy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":20128,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bfpg.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}