Ceasefire Over in Ireland?

[peacelover]

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/13/ireland.explosives.ap/index.html

Possibly we are now going to have another hotspot to add to the existing ones of Chechenya, Israel, India, Iraq....

This is close to me - my Grandfather is Northern Irish. It was one area where real progress had been made in making peace between terrorists and the state, and it is very worrying indeed if this appears to be at risk.

Having said that, hopefully nothing will come of this - all the big players still seem to be engaged in the peace process

*BUT*

It does rather worryingly demonstrate that even when you get the big players in terrorism to co-operate, it only takes a few to spoil the peace. And I don't think it's possible to ever protect against that :(

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by peacelover
http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/europe/02/13/ireland.explosives.ap/index.html

Possibly we are now going to have another hotspot to add to the existing ones of Chechenya, Israel, India, Iraq....

This is close to me - my Grandfather is Northern Irish. It was one area where real progress had been made in making peace between terrorists and the state, and it is very worrying indeed if this appears to be at risk.

Having said that, hopefully nothing will come of this - all the big players still seem to be engaged in the peace process

*BUT*

It does rather worryingly demonstrate that even when you get the big players in terrorism to co-operate, it only takes a few to spoil the peace. And I don't think it's possible to ever protect against that :(

The friction between the Protestants and Catholics will most likely last for a long time to come. I’ve known several Irishmen over the years Catholic and Protestant both and they’ve been ok to me.

I do think that the last explosion hasn’t taken place in Northern Ireland.

Terrorism is terrorism and I won’t support that! It doesn’t serve any purpose to open old wounds (I have the potato famine in mind) although I do understand where they are coming from.

[peacelover]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
although I do understand where they are coming from.

Who exactly?

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by peacelover
Who exactly?

I think the English with afore malice destroyed the lives of the Irish it was malicious and intentional!

The hatchet should be buried at some point in time and although most Irishmen are able to let go and forget the past there are those that wont forgive and forget.

I understand that they (Catholics) want to get even but you cant resort to terrorism.

I have spoken to an Irishman that went there on his vacation and killed an Englishman. I do not approve of acts like that!

[peacelover]

Thank you for your response.


Originally posted by L@mplighterM
I think the English with afore malice destroyed the lives of the Irish it was malicious and intentional!

Utter tripe, but I don't suppose there's any point trying to disagree.

I understand that they (Catholics) want to get even but you cant resort to terrorism.

Damn right you can't. I don't understand them wanting to get even - any more than I understand any Palestinians who have suffered wanting to get even.

And for your information, I am 1/4 Catholic Northern Irish.

(Palestinian and NI blood in me - bound to be trouble, wasn't I...)

I have spoken to an Irishman that went there on his vacation and killed an Englishman. I do not approve of acts like that!

This man you speak of is utterly reprehensible, if he behaved as you imply. 'Not approving' is understatement of the century.

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by peacelover
Thank you for your response.




Utter tripe, but I don't suppose there's any point trying to disagree.



Damn right you can't. I don't understand them wanting to get even - any more than I understand any Palestinians who have suffered wanting to get even.

And for your information, I am 1/4 Catholic Northern Irish.

(Palestinian and NI blood in me - bound to be trouble, wasn't I...)



This man you speak of is utterly reprehensible, if he behaved as you imply. 'Not approving' is understatement of the century.

Sometimes when you mix two poisons you end up with a non-poison, same with two non-flammable substances. Please make a note of the sometimes!

There’s not much that you can tell me about the way the English landowners treated the Irish during the 1800’s. I blame them for the death of the Irish but I still think that all the Catholics should move on. Forgive and forget!

Thanks for letting me know where your sympathies lie I knew that I had you figured to a T.

I just added the “I do not approve of acts like that!” because I didn’t want anyone to get the idea that I supported acts like that. I don’t!

[L@mplighterM]

The right of the rich few to sell food to the highest bidder came before the majority needs for food for survival, and the right to collect rent came before the right to housing. British government supported that by the Coercion Act enabling it to declare martial law and a curfew. Soldiers and constabulary were used to protect food for exporting from the starving. The British blamed Ireland for continuing to plant the potato after the first time the blight appeared. At the height of the famine the full system of English poor laws were extended to Ireland. There was food available to save the Irish people from starvation, but it was denied them. Ireland was at this time part of the United Kingdom, the wealthiest country in the world. The British government had insisted on undertaking responsibility for Ireland, but when crisis arose they ran away from it. The British were handling human beings as ciphers on a bit of paper. They looked up the answers in economic textbooks without ever setting eyes on the living skeletons of the Irish people. They excused the Irish for being hit by the blight once, but they condemned them for persisting in planting the potatoes after the blight appeared again. Most of all the British government feared that the entire social structure would topple down if men and women were once given food they could not pay for. It was easy for the British to believe the blight was the fault of the Irish because blight occurred in England too, but it was not nearly as severe. The first step they took to relieve the situation was to send over a shipload of scientists to study the cause of the potato failure. Money could not be used for seeding the lands, reclaiming the millions of acres of bog, or building railways because that would be giving the Irish farmer an unfair advantage over the English (MacManus, 1944).
The government was accused of genocide by the Irish and even of instigating an "Irish holocaust". The Irish were accused of marrying too early and having too many children. The efforts of the British government for relief of the Irish were half-hearted and inadequate. They set up relief schemes and pubic works to avoid mass revolt (Costigan, 1969).


http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Congress/2807/page11.html

[peacelover]

Originally posted by L@mplighterM
Sometimes when you mix two poisons you end up with a non-poison, same with two non-flammable substances. Please make
a note of the sometimes!

Not quite sure what you're drving at here... preseumably I am one of the instances where we do not end up with a non-poison? Fair enough :D

Thanks for letting me know where your sympathies lie I knew that I had you figured to a T.

Where do my sympathies lie then? Let's see if you're right

I just added the “I do not approve of acts like that!” because I didn’t want anyone to get the idea that I supported acts like that. I don’t!

But do you 'understand them'? Do you sympathise with them? not approving of them is only half the story

[L@mplighterM]

Originally posted by peacelover


Not quite sure what you're drving at here... preseumably I am one of the instances where we do not end up with a non-poison? Fair enough :D



Where do my sympathies lie then?

Do you sympathise with them?

[/B]


A quarter and a quarter equals a half!

In time!

No!

[Isiah 2:4]

There is still a lot of trouble in Northern Ireland. Just because the Media dont report about anything over there, doesnt mean it aint happening. The British Government and Media have successfully engineered the public consciousness into ignorance and virtaul non-awareness about the whole situation.

My Mums partner was born in NI, a Protestant. he got out a long time ago, grew up in Scotland and disassociated himself from it all. Still, many members of his family haved lived there all their lives amidst the Red, white and Blue across the paving stones and atop churches and rooves.

The best story i know about the conflict is that there was a house in an area of Belfast, in between two terraces that were split by a pond/lake and general wasteland. As you can guess, on one side was a Protestant/Unionist district, anbd on the other a Catholic/Republican district. Every week the biggest wall on the side of this unoccupied house would change from the colours if the Tricolore, to the colours of the Union Jack. Then Duyring the night one week, two brothers decided to adorn it with completely different allegiances. Black with Pink spots!!

It kinda illustrates the ridiculous nature of some of the spite and petty sqaubbling that characterises things.