Dr Tanzil Chowdhury has written a blog for Legal Form: A Forum for Marxist Analysis and Critique about the Chagos Islands being handed over to Mauritius.
B-2 bomber taking off and B-52 bombers on the tarmac at the Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility, Chagos Archipelago in 2003. U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Nathan G. Bevier, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
The UK is handing over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after years of negotiations. However, as part of the agreement, the UK and US will maintain their military base on Diego Garcia.
In his blog, Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at Queen Mary University of London, outlines the strategic importance of this base, calling it ‘a key nodal infrastructure underwriting the US and UK regimes of accumulation in West Asia and the Indian Pacific region.’ He also explores how other British Overseas Territories are used by the UK to project its neo-colonial power.
Read his full blog in Legal Form: A Forum for Marxist Analysis and Critique.