Belhavia-Tule Relations

Belhavia-Tule relations

Tule	File:NB flag in Pardes.png Belhavia
Diplomatic mission
Tulese Embassy, Provisa	Belhavian Embassy, Akureyri
Envoy
Ambassador Hans Ver	Ambassador Ephraim Weinberg

Relations between Belhavia and Tule have spanned more than 7 centuries since Belhavia's founding at the start of the 14th century in Taveria. Both nations have been long-lived historical antagonists throughout the ages, from the late Middle Ages through the early modern era and the modern age. Tule fell under Belhavia's regional geopolitical shadow between the early 1700s until the late 1800s in the Age of Empire due to Belhavia's extensive local colonial holdings and prominent influence. Later, hostility was extended during the Cold War as Tule joined the Communist bloc with nearby Estovnia while Belhavia became a leading global anticommunist power.

Cracks in the infamously frosty bilateral relations emerged in the 1980s as Tule liberalized under new reformist leadership, and this was followed by a stronger "détente" between the two nations in the mid-1990s. Belhavian intelligence aided in the relatively bloodless anticommunist revolution and soon after amid Estovnia's invasion of Tule with air, intelligence, and financial aid. Since the early 1990s, relations between Belhavia and Tule, while never overly friendly historically, have became strong and normalized in the two-and-half decades since.

Country comparison

	Template:Country data Tule State of Tule	Empire of Belhavia
Populations	92.2 million (2015)	132.95 million (2015)
Area	428,774.00 sq mi	1,536,759 sq mi
Population density	83/km2	46.1/sq mi
Capital	Akureyri	Provisa
Largest city	Akureyri	Dakos
Government	Unitary presidential republic	Federal presidential constitutional monarchy
Current Leader	President Kristián Jónson (head of state and head of government)	HIM Emperor Aaron III (head of state) President Eli Goldman (head of government)
Official languages	Tulese	None at federal level but English and Yiddish de facto
Main religions	Atheism (45%) Lutheran (30%) Orthodoxy (20%) Jewish (4%) Other (1%).	Jewish (75.1%) Irreligious (9.2%) Catholicism (7.9%) Islam (4.6%) various Protestant Christian sects (2.35%) Orthodox Christianity (0.5%) Yeosindo (0.35%).
GDP (nominal) (2015)	$1.745 Trillion ($18,929.00 per capita)	$6.997 Trillion ($51,918.73 per capita)
Military expenditures	$41.00 billion (1.98% of GDP)	$349.889 billion (5.01% of GDP)

History

Cold War

Main article: List of espionage, sabotage, and minor skirmishes between Belhavia and Tule in the Cold War

Relations between Tule and Belhavia were extremely acidic between the late 1940s and the 1960s, the height of the Cold War. The memories of Belhavia's occupation loomed large in the Tulese imagination, and the threat of communism across the Gulf of Rekvit in Tule concerned Belhavia immensely, tied with the other specter of Communist Estovnia.

In the period of 1947 - 1969, both countries engaged in a simmering low-intensity espionage war and maritime border skirmishes. The countries went directly to war in the Winter War of 1959-60 over the 10/3 Incident. Soon after, this escalated to a nuclear arms race in the 1960s.

Between the 1970s and 1980s, policies of détente were attempted, first by Belhavia's 1970s-era liberal presidents, and then by Tule under reformers in the 1980s. By 1985, relations had defrosted as Tulese leaders quietly took low-level visits to Belhavia to study market economics for domestic economic reforms within Tule.

The Belhavian IBI aided in the 1995 Tulese Blue Revolution that overthrew the People's Republic of Tule, and subsequently provided support in the 1995 Esto-Tulese War. Trade relations were normalized between 1994 and 2002.

Post-Cold War

Belhavia and Tule have a strong and close geopolitical, cultural, and trade relationship since the end of the Cold War. By 2015, Belhavia was Tule's 3rd largest trade partner, and Tule Belhavia's twelfth largest.

Belhavian-Tulese culture, media, and society has received a large crossover. Tourism is worth over $150 million shekels and bilateral visits hit a high of 3.4 million people in 2012.

The Tulese financial sector was strongly developed with partnerships of Belhavian financial firms, leading to both sectors to become highly involved. Wealthy and high-income Tulese often park their fortunes into Belhavian banks, which are protected by bank secrecy laws.

Freeleaks.org leaked in 2014 details of an alleged bilateral espionage relationship between Tule and Belhavia, though both countries have denied it.

Military and security

Main articles: Great War (Pardes), Cold War (Pardes), Otterup Pact, Winter War (Pardes), Osterode Memorandum, 1990 Coup, Operation Twilight, and Belhavia-Tule espionage relationship

Belhavia and Tule have long been historical military antagonists throughout the ages, from the Great Northern War (1710s), the Great War (1940s), and the Cold War (1950s - 2001).

They fought in the Great War on opposing alliances, with Belhavia in the Triple Alliance while Tule was in the Central Powers. During the war, Belhavian forces occupied a large swathe of Tulese territory which initiated a large-scale anti-communist reign of terror and wartime hardships. In response, Tulese partisans executed a fierce, unrelenting, and brutal resistance.

When the Central Powers became the Otterup Pact in 1953 and the Cold War took global shape, Tule joined Communist Estovnia in a major "mini-Cold War" with Belhavia in Alsvintermark. This led to the Winter War of 1959-60 over the 10/3 Incident. Tule developed a small nuclear arsenal, which was quickly followed by Belhavia, leading to a nuclear standoff over the Gulf of Rekvit.

In 1989, relations had defrosted sufficiently that both countries signed the Strategic Arms Reduction Agreement, which placed a legal limit on the number and yield of strategic warheads that could be fielded as well as the missiles that carried them. This led to a drastic reduction in the size of the strategic nuclear arsenals of the two nations.

In 1995, the Belhavian IBI aided the anticommunist revolutionaries in bloodlessly toppling the PRT regime and installing a capitalist democracy. Soon after, Belhavia gave aerial, financial, and intelligence support to Tule in its fight against an Estovnian invasion months later.

In February 2014, Freeleaks.org leaked documents allegedly revealing a highly-secretive military intelligence sharing program, directed against Estovnia from 1995 until the present. Tule and Belhavia have both denied this, and produced counter evidence to suggest no such spying alliance existed.

Law enforcement

Main article: Alsvintermark Drug War

Trade

Belhavia and Tule have a close regional trade relationship since the late 1990s. Trade relations, non-existent during most of the Cold War, were established with a 1994 treaty permitting Belhavian car companies to outsource manufacturing to newly-privatized Tulese manufacturers. This was supplemented with broader trade deals in the aftermath of the 1995 Blue Revolution in 1996, 1998, and 2002.

By 2002, trade ties had all but normalized completely. The Tulese economy, unchained from state socialism and largely marketized, took off as Belhavian and other Free World nations' direct foreign investment poured into the country's fledgling market economy. By 2010, Tule's standard of living had increased notably, and Western culture and habits were common among Tulese youths.

Belhavia is Tule's third largest trade partner as of 2015, behind Hornatyia and Temuair. Tule is Belhavia's twelfth largest trade partner, with the discrepancy resulting from the trade imbalance where Belhavia exports more to Tule than it imports from Belhavia.

Tule supplies Belhavia with a range of agricultural products and foodstuffs, particularly rye, as well as light manufactured goods. Belhavia exports financial services, telecommunications, and upscale consumer goods, among others, to Tule.

In 2014, celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the first trade ties between the two nations, Tule and Belhavia signed the Expedited Trade and Visitors Agreement, streamlining bilateral travel for persons and cargo between the two countries.

See also

• Belhavia-Estovnia relations
• Alsvintermark
• Estovnians