You were born in one country, I was born in another. If you doubt that then all you have to do is buy a map and you can clearly see a border drawn on the island of Ireland, borders mark where one country begins and another ends.
Irish politicians most certainly are operating in the interests of Ireland. Just because you don't agree with their conclusions doesn't make it less so.
The communities were long polarised before the AIA. As to whether it achieved something, I think it did, it showed the Unionists they would no longer be able to rely on British governments to support their saying 'no' to everything. As a Brit minister said at the time - 'Ulster can't keep saying no to everything'.
The term 'dissident republican' is the widely accepted term in this country to refer to those republicans who don't accept the Good Friday Agreement, such as RIRA, CIRA, ONH, and now the NIRA.
They themselves don't accept the word dissident but that is the name by which they are known.
Again, fair enough. Just to clarify, I admire her role in NI. She stood firm against republicans and then stood firm against Unionists when she signed the Anglo-Irish Agreement, which gave us a say in the north for the first time and in my opinion was hugely progressive.
I agree with you about Chile, her support for dictatorship was very disappointing. She had the view that if you were a communist it was your own fault for ending up in Pinochet's torture chamber, as such there was a bit of a lack of humanity there. It also had the effect of making her look like a hypocrite when she talked of the rule of law in NI.
I agree, to ascribe the positive changes to one person would be foolish. However to describe the negative changes to one person would also be foolish. For example, British industry was in trouble before she came to power.
The logic here is that you can do anything you want...even kill people...as long as you say you are following in the footsteps of someone else a hundred or more years ago!
This brutal way of thinking is - thankfully - discredited in the eyes of all but the lunatic fringe.
Yes they were political in the sense that they were politically motivated. That didn't give them any entitlement to be treated any differently because of it, being political is not an excuse to do wrong.
If anything the ODC's were entitled to be treated better, as they were less dangerous.
You've got to remember that in Phoenix's world a 'terrorist' is anyone he disagrees with...like Alice in Wonderland words mean exactly what he wants them to mean!
Ah yes the same Tony Benn who wanted the British to pull out of the North and leave the island of Ireland to a sectarian civil war. The same Tony Benn who was wrong about every issue he ever took a position on. The same Tony Benn who wanted the western world to disarm their nuclear weapons leaving the unstable East as the only nuclear armed countries. Poor Tony, he never did get over his guilt at being high-born!
online today!snowlynx Forum Posts (5,000)
Margaret Thatcher RIP
Yep, me too.