Israel and others planning to join the Commonwealth

and...

Algeria, Yemen, Sudan, Israel and the Palestinian territories are said to be seeking to join in November next year too.

I think its great news, especially Israel is soon planning to join the commonwealth. The move probably will not please America though

news.bbc.co.uk...

Very interesting. I wonder why they've decided to do this...

Not sure if the Americans would be that upset. The Commonwealth isn't really all that important... not like it's a sort of NATO organisation. And technically the United States could join too if it wished

[edit on 22-12-2006 by Ste2652]

Hmmmmm, now there's an unexpected twist to events.

An expanding Commonwealth.

Righto.

I suppose the main thing is that the more forums there are for contact, dialogue and understanding the better.

Better a world coming together in this and similar organisations than a divided world where no-one knows where the other is coming from cos there is little or no direct contact.

If Israel joined the Commonwealth it would give more middle road governments such as the NZ government an outlet to question the policys of the Israeli government The Commonwealth itself is largely ineffective on the international stage and is more well known for a four yearly sporting event then anything else.

As for the other nations no thank you other political body's can deal with the problems they provide.

[edit on 22-12-2006 by xpert11]

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
Hmmmmm, now there's an unexpected twist to events.

An expanding Commonwealth.

Righto.

I suppose the main thing is that the more forums there are for contact, dialogue and understanding the better.

Better a world coming together in this and similar organisations than a divided world where no-one knows where the other is coming from cos there is little or no direct contact.

Yeah, unexpected is a understatement.

I know the Commonwealth is really an "old gentlemen's club" of the Empire, maybe more are joining for economic reason or to get more influence on the international stage? who know's.

Originally posted by infinite
I think its great news, especially Israel is soon planning to join the commonwealth. The move probably will not please America though

Why not? Contrary to what is said on this board our nations are historical allies and thats not likely to change anytime soon IMO. If anything I think the US would welcome Israel joining the Commonwealth. Though I presonally doubt It will happen as a number of Commonwealth member nations are pretty hostile to Israel.

HAHAHAHAHA!

Are you serious? Is Algeria - a former French colony - going to join the Commonwealth?

HAHAHA! Well done, Frenchies, now even third-world countries like Algeria don't want to belong to the Francophonic Union!

[edit on 26-12-2006 by AntiBliarPolitician]

Originally posted by sminkeypinkey
An expanding Commonwealth.

Righto.

It's good that the Commonwealth is expanding, it means more countries are allying with us.

BTW, I think that if Pakistan and India do not surrender their nuclear weapons, they should cease being Commonwealth members. I do not want them to have nukes as they'd surely use them against each other. India has enough warheads to kill all Pakistanis. Pakistan has enough warheads to kill all Indian citizens. They cannot be trusted with nuclear weapons.

Pakistan should decomm its 75 uranium nukes, downblend the uranium and sell it to us so that we can use it as a reactor fuel. North Korea should, too.

I have given the matter some thought and I cant get past the concept of Israel joining the Commonwealth is pointless.The government of Israel wouldn't gain anything by joining the Commonwealth.

In fact it wasn't that long ago that Mossad (SP?) agents were caught faking New Zealand passports.

Originally posted by xpert11
The government of Israel wouldn't gain anything by joining the Commonwealth.

It would.
Support from the United Kingdom and economic links to other Commonwealth countries. Its not just an old gentlemen's club.