Geopolitics of the UK

The United Kingdom has the fourth most powerful navy in the world, behind only the United States,China and Russia. Moreover ,being a European naval power in the north Atlantic means that Britain can have a large influence on western goods flowing into and out of Europe, further more this power is also shown in Gibraltar where they have recently announced to expand the dock to accommodate the Queen Elizabeth class super carriers. Britain may also have the capability to cut of Europe from the Atlantic similar to world wars one and two. It is no doubt that a hostile UK would be devastating to Europe's access to the west and the United States . This would be a major bargaining chip in the Brexit process, especially since the Anglo-sphere already sees the UK as a gate way into Europe.

Britain relies heavily on Europe for trade. In 2015 Britain's exports the EU made up 44% of all goods and services exports valuing at around £223 billion while 55% of imports came from the EU valuing around £291 billion. This shows the vital dependence the UK has on the EU. Moreover,while damaged by the loss of the UK as a trading partner the EU would not be damaged as bad as the UK would be. This shows that the UK has a couple options in regard to the EU.

1. The UK could set a diplomatic stance towards the EU ,like it has been in the past although given the current political climate,this options is starting to look less viable.

2.The UK could seek to alleviate its economic reliance on the EU,this avenue is the one currently most favoured by UK leader, by strengthening ties with other nations the UK would be seen as a more viable trading partner and would let the UK to win more concessions from the EU.

3.The UK could become absolutely vital to the EU, if the UK offered something like energy to the EU and made it less reliant on Russian power it would become an indispensable trading partner it would secure its ties to the continent,although how viable this idea is is questionable and I am still looking into the possibility of buying dessert to convert into solar fields.

4.The UK could build up military pressure to bully the EU into trade, however with the current state of the economy and the MPs non militaristic focus funding would be incredibly hard to find funds for such operations and it could start a chain reaction resulting in a build up of military in the EU. Also the UK used 15 NATO planes to monitor its airspace and sends patrol ships instead of actual warships to escort Russian ships and planes out of British waters and airspace.

The UK has a number of paths that it can take and option two seems more likely when you consider MPs attitude and the Saudi Prince's visit to London.

I wrote this to show that a nation as great as Britain has a number of routes instead of being pushed around by the EU and Russia.