23-2-17 Munich Security Conference 23-2-19

23-2-22 Munich Security Conference after R-U Invasion - Geopolitics; Stubb - STG > .

23-2-19 War in Ukraine dominates Munich Security Conference; PRC vs ROC - NBC > .

Geopolitics with Alex - STG Series >> .

The 59th Munich Security Conference (MSC 2023) took place from 17 to 19 February 2023 at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich.

This was dominated by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War. Vladimir Putin and his "special military operation" were discussed by most of the speakers but he was not invited and did not attend. The consensus was that the world was tense and fractured as the West also faced confrontation with China and an indifferent global South.

During multiple panel discussions, the Vice President of Colombia Francia Márquez and the Foreign Minister of Brazil Mauro Vieira, concurred in their condemnation of the Russian aggression, but also stated their opposition to a further militarisation of the conflict. Márquez called for a new world order, centering life and not militarisation, while Vieira stated that it is necessary to work step by step towards a negotiated settlement in the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

The Munich Security Conference (MSC; Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz) is an annual conference on international security policy that has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany since 1963. Formerly named the Munich Conference on Security Policy (Münchner Konferenz für Sicherheitspolitik), the motto is: Peace through Dialogue. It is the world's largest gathering of its kind.

Over the past four decades the Munich Security Conference has become the most important independent forum for the exchange of views by international security policy decision-makers. Each year it brings together about 350 senior figures from more than 70 countries around the world to engage in an intensive debate on current and future security challenges. The list of attendees includes heads of states, governments and international organizations, ministers, members of parliament, high-ranking representatives of armed forces, science, civil society, as well as business and media.

NHT - Naval Hx - Treaties

Treaties and War, The Washington Naval Conference > .

Washington Naval Treaty - parties, motives, negotiations, loophole abuse - Drach > .

21-7-24 Global Britain: Old Idea. Ripe for Comeback? Royal Navy - Explore > .

The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was signed during 1922 among the major nations that had won World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Naval Conference, held in Washington, D.C., from November 1921 to February 1922, and it was signed by the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, France, Italy, and Japan. It limited the construction of battleships, battlecruisers and aircraft carriers by the signatories. Numbers of other categories of warships, including cruisers, destroyers and submarines, were not limited by the treaty, but those ships were limited to 10,000 tons displacement each.

The treaty was concluded on February 6, 1922. Ratifications of that treaty were exchanged in Washington on August 17, 1923, and it was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on April 16, 1924.

Later naval arms limitation conferences sought additional limitations of warship building. The terms of the Washington treaty were modified by the London Naval Treaty of 1930 and the Second London Naval Treaty of 1936. By the mid-1930s, Japan and Italy renounced the treaties, while Germany renounced the Treaty of Versailles which had limited its navy. Naval arms limitation became increasingly difficult for the other signatories.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Naval_Treaty .

Washington Naval Treaty, Five-Power Treaty, 1922
London Naval Treaty of 1930
Second London Naval Treaty of 1936

Naval Impact of American Isolationism | Interbellum | 1933 3/3 > .
1930 London Naval Treaty > .

30-4-22 London Naval Treaty Signed .. 
HMS Belfast; London Naval Treaty, 1930 .. 

The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight based on the amount of water its hull displaces at varying loads. It is measured indirectly using Archimedes' principle by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship then converting that value into weight displaced. Traditionally, various measurement rules have been in use, giving various measures in long tons. Today, metric tonnes are more used.

Definitions: Ship displacement varies by a vessel's degree of load, from its empty weight as designed (known as "Lightweight tonnage") to its maximum load. Numerous specific terms are used to describe varying levels of load and trim. Ship displacement should not be confused with measurements of volume or capacity typically used for commercial vessels, such as net tonnage, gross tonnage, or deadweight tonnage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Displacement_(ship) . 

1939-5-22 Pact of Steel

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1939-5-22 Pact of Steel signed between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy - HiP > .

On 22 May 1939 the Pact of Steel was signed between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.

The Pact of Steel was negotiated by German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano. The two countries were already signatories of the Anti-Comintern Pact with Japan, which was primarily directed at the USSR.

The Pact of Steel, which was officially known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy, further aligned the two authoritarian regimes within Europe. The agreement stipulated that the two countries would support each other militarily and politically in the event of war, promising mutual assistance and collaboration.

The timing of the Pact of Steel was significant, as it came at a time of escalating tensions in Europe and amid growing fears of another major conflict. With Nazi Germany already having annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia, and Italy having expanded its empire in Africa, the pact further emboldened both regimes in their aggressive pursuit of territorial expansion and dominance in Europe. Nevertheless the pact was based on the assumption that war would not occur for at least three years. Consequently the outbreak of the Second World War, following the German invasion of Poland, just 6 months later caught Italy by surprise and contributed to their delayed entry into the conflict.

Nevertheless the signing of the Pact of Steel had far-reaching consequences for the course of World War II, as it cemented relationship between Germany and Italy, and together with two other agreements formed the basis of the Axis alliance.

The Pact of Steel (Stahlpakt, Patto d'Acciaio), formally known as the Pact of Friendship and Alliance between Germany and Italy (Freundschafts- und Bündnispakt zwischen Deutschland und Italien, Patto di amicizia e di alleanza fra l'Italia e la Germania) was a military and political alliance between Italy and Germany.

The pact was initially drafted as a tripartite military alliance between Japan, Italy and Germany. While Japan wanted the focus of the pact to be aimed at the Soviet Union, Italy and Germany wanted the focus of it to be aimed at the British Empire and France. Due to this disagreement, the pact was signed without Japan and as a result, it became an agreement which only existed between Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, signed on 22 May 1939 by foreign ministers Galeazzo Ciano of Italy and Joachim von Ribbentrop of Germany.

Together with the Anti-Comintern Pact and the Tripartite Pact, the Pact of Steel was one of the three agreements forming the main basis of the Axis alliance. The pact consisted of two parts. The first section was an open declaration of continuing trust and co-operation between Germany and Italy. The second section, the "Secret Supplementary Protocol", encouraged a union of policies concerning the military and the economy.

PGII (B3W) 2022

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23-4-19 [XiXiP whines about G7 2023] - Update > .

23-4-17 G7 2023 Japan - G7 Ministers vs Xinese, Ruscist threats - DW > .

22-7-4 PGII/QUAD/NATO - Alliances -> XiXiP Fears | Insights > .

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22-6-26 G7 Summit: $600-billion PGII announced - Global > .

> H-I War >> >> H-I War >>> & > XIR >>

22-6-26 President Biden and G7 Leaders Formally Launch the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment:

At the 2021 G7 Summit, President Biden and G7 leaders announced their intent to develop a values-driven, high-impact, and transparent infrastructure partnership to meet the enormous infrastructure needs of low- and middle-income countries and support the United States’ and its allies’ economic and national security interests. Over the past year, members of the Administration have traveled to hear directly from countries on how we can meet their infrastructure needs, deepened our coordination across the U.S Government and with the G7, honed our infrastructure investment tools, and closed game-changing deals.

At the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Schloss Elmau, Leaders formally launched the Partnership for Global Infrastructure (PGII) to mobilize hundreds of billions of dollars and deliver quality, sustainable infrastructure that makes a difference in people’s lives around the world, strengthens and diversifies our supply chains, creates new opportunities for American workers and businesses, and advances US national security.

• Tackling the climate crisis and bolstering global energy security through investments in climate resilient infrastructure, transformational energy technologies, and developing clean energy supply chains across the full integrated lifecycle, from the responsible mining of metals and critical minerals; to low-emissions transportation and hard infrastructure; to investing in new global refining, processing, and battery manufacturing sites; to deploying proven, as well as innovative, scalable technologies in places that do not yet have access to clean energy.
• Developing, expanding, and deploying secure information and communications technology (ICT) networks and infrastructure to power economic growth and facilitate open digital societies—from working with trusted vendors to provide 5G and 6G digital connectivity, to supporting access to platforms and services that depend upon an open, interoperable, secure, and reliable internet and mobile networks with sound cybersecurity.
• Advancing gender equality and equity—from care infrastructure that increases opportunities for economic participation by women, to improved water and sanitation infrastructure that addresses gender gaps in unpaid work and time use – in order to boost the global economic recovery by ensuring that half the population is not forced to sit on the sidelines.
• Developing and upgrading the infrastructure of health systems and contributing to global health security through investments in patient-centered health services and the health workforce; vaccine and other essential medical product manufacturing; and disease surveillance and early warning systems, including safe and secure labs. Addressing the current pandemic and preventing and preparing for the next one is crucial to U.S. economic and national security.

Western treaties, post-WW2 timeline

57-3-25: Treaty of Rome; European Economic Community - HiPo > .

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Reunification: Re-Absorbing East Germany After Fall of Berlin Wall - Megaprojects > .

German reunification – a short history | DW Doc > .

> EU >> 

>> EU >>>

On the 25th of march 1957 the Treaty of Rome which laid the foundations for the European Economic Community was signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The
Netherlands, and West Germany.

The EEC, sometimes referred to as the Common Market, was formally established on 1 January 1958. It survived, with some changes under the Maastricht Treaty, until 2009 when it was absorbed into the European Union.

The aim of the EEC was to establish economic integration between its members, such as a common market and customs union. However in reality the EEC operated beyond purely economic issues since it included organisations such as the European Atomic Energy Community that sought to generate and distribute nuclear energy to its member states.

The EEC was preceded by the European Coal and Steel Community, which came into force in 1952. The ECSC sought to amalgamate European coal and steel production in order to reconstruct Europe after the devastation of the Second World War. The hope was that this would reduce the threat of a future conflict by establishing mutual economic reliance. Within just three years the idea of a customs union was being discussed, and the 1956 Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom established the parameters for the Treaty of Rome.

Over time the EEC expanded its membership. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973 while the 1980s saw the addition of Greece, Spain and Portugal. With the creation of the European Union in 1993 and its absorption of the EEC in 2009 the union expanded to contains 28 states.

47-3-4 Treaty of Dunkirk, between Britain and France ⇒ guard against German or Soviet aggression.

48-3-17 Treaty of Brussels ⇒ Western Union (WU, to 1954).

48-4-16 ⇒ Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OECE).

49-4-4 North Atlantic Treaty (49-4-4) ⇒ military alliance to guard against German or Soviet aggression.

49-4-4 onward North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (implementation of North Atlantic Treaty ⇒ military alliance (Germany joined in May 1955) to guard against Soviet aggression.

49-5-5 ⇒ Council of Europe.

51-4-18 Treaty of Paris (1951) ⇒ establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

52-5-26 General Treaty, Generalvertrag ⇒ ended Germany's status as an occupied territory

54-10-23 Modified Brussels Treaty (MTB) at 1954 Paris Conference ⇒ Western European Union (WEU, to 2010) = Germany and Italy admitted.

57-3-25 Treaty of Rome (1957–92) ⇒ European Economic Community (EEC) .

57-3-25 Euratom Treaty ⇒ European Atomic Energy Community .

1965 - 1967 Merger Treaty .

1975 - 1976 Council Agreement on TREVI .

1986 - 1987 Single European Act .

1985/90 - 1995 Schengen Treaty & Convention .

1992 - 1993 Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union) .

1997 - 1999 Amsterdam Treaty . 

2001 - 2003 Nice Treaty .
2007 - 2009 Lisbon Treaty .

EU 2023 ..