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A 200 million pound contract has been won by a consortium of companies led by the Japanese corporation Fujitsu, a technology service and equipment company. This contract is to implement Brexit checks on goods in the Irish Sea. This free trader support service will help companies move goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This system is required as the result of the Northern Ireland part of the Brexit deal. On January first, trade items that are entering Northern Ireland from Great Britain will need custom declarations. Therefore, the British government has paid a group of companies to install an "Irish sea border."

I think it is interesting how companies can profit off of the Brexit deal and how Northern Ireland is now being used as a "bargaining chip" in such deals.

This is an interesting perspective on the Brexit issue - before reading this, I wasn't aware of the wide variety of opinions on Brexit within Britain. Do you think there is a way for Boris (or anyone) to try to create a more unified Britain?

The UK is facing a gas shortage which has lead to long lines and panic buying. What's fascinating is that it isn't primarily caused by a lack of oil but a lack of drivers to transport the oil. The government has offered 5000 three-month visas for foreign drivers

It seems like Brexit has made all the problems in the UK worse; this story talks about how there would be an issue without Brexit, but Brexit has made it into a bigger crisis.

Yes to your comment, David. What a terrible decision Braxit was!

Late in his life, Freud asked the famous question "Was will das Weib?", "What does a woman want?", admitting his confusion when faced with the enigma of the feminine sexuality. A similar perplexity arouses today, apropos the Brexit referendum -what does Europe want?

Under the Northern Ireland protocol, Northern Ireland will continue to follow the EU's customs rules on product standards even after Brexit. The purpose of this is to keep the UK-ROI border free from any border post infrastructure, so as to not create political instability. As a result of the protocol, tariffs may be charged on goods being shipped from the rest of the UK into Northern Ireland, but as long as the goods stay in Northern Ireland, the tariff would be refunded.

It is interesting that all of these different protocols are necessary to maintain political stability. I am still a bit confused as to how this tariff will keep political stability, but I think that is a function of my lack of knowledge regarding Brexit and what happened with Northern Ireland. As such, I would be interested in learning about this on a deeper level so I can have the context necessary to understand this article.

As the article mentions, the Kurds are considered the largest ethnic group without a homeland. For the Kurds to finally get their own country would be momentous for them, but many external forces are opposing the vote for secession. Considering the fragility of the Middle East right now, I am very intrigued by this vote in Iraq and what the repercussions could be. 

What seems to be long awaited independence for the Kurds from Iraq after Saddam Hussein's atrocities is in trouble because of external worries. Many countries fear a split in Iraq could result in a civil war. In addition, the independent Kurdish state is 20 billion dollars in debt. However, a referendum similar to Brexit will be held soon. The result will not be recognized by the capital Baghdad.

I wonder what the discussion of the rise of other oil states has been like in the context of negotiations for the creation of an independent Kurdish state with Kurkuk's oil resources. Especially with the large number of other new governments formed that grew to power with stakes in the oil industry but ended with large amounts of corruption and class divide, I'm curious to know how the Kurds that have been involved in negotiations plan to avoid these pitfalls.

In response to Britain's prime minister, Boris Johnson, attempting to push a trade deal with the United States that could possibly undermine the Good Friday Agreement with Ireland, Joe Biden essentially said that he, along with congress, would oppose the bill if it ruptured the Good Friday Agreement and led to the return of a hard border with Ireland. This obviously created a lot of tension and, given that republicans generally support Brexit and have less loyalty to the Good Friday Agreement than Democrats, the future relationship between the US and UK could be dependent on how this year's presidential election goes.

Its super interesting to see that American politics will have such a great deal of influence on these international conflicts/affairs. I just looked at Taylor's post which was an opinion piece that criticized Joe Biden's involvement, so it is definitely worthwhile to look deeper into this subject.

This is very interesting. I'd like to know a little more about why Joe Biden decided to become involved this situation other than, as the article mentions, his Irish heritage.

Britain's new PM is considered a foreign policy hawk, which could mean stronger relationship with US when facing challenges with Russia and China. Also has no apparent plan to solve economic issues at home, and much of her policy similar to that of Boris Johnson.

"She has pledged to deliver an emergency budget, and promised that there would be no new taxes on Britons." It's so tragically funny how she can promise to keep letting things get worse and worse. Hey, hopefully this means Northern Irish repatriation and Scottish independence in the coming years. The UK will keep rotting away unless the Tories are unseated.

Ouch, Slava! (And yes). The UK is in a perilous situation and, as with the Brexit vote a few years ago, the country is split between isolationists and internationalists. Seems like the more diverse Britain's urban population becomes, the more conservative those with a lot of wealth and the mostly anglo-ethnic people who live in villages and rural areas become. Similar to the US?

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