From: Charlie Stross <charlie@antipope.org>
>Clue #1: it isn't the English in northern Ireland; it's the
>British Army. You're about four hundred years too late to fix
>Oliver Cromwell's big mistake, and now we've got to live with the
>consequences.
I know this, I assume when you talk about living with the
consequences you're talking about continued British rule there.
That is the problem.
>Clue #2: have you by any chance heard of a nice, friendly bunch of
>lads called the UVF? If the British government withdrew from
>Northern Ireland tomorrow they'd be only too happy to take over
>the policing job. In fact, you'd have a hard job keeping them from
>protecting the community by their preferred techniques -- the
>bomb, the gun, and the baseball bat.
>(There used to be two communities in the Republic, only they had
>a little civil war in the 1920's. You might have read about it at
>school in history classes, if you'd been paying attention. Now
>there's only _one_community down south -- and their opposite
>number up north have long memories and hold grudges. It's not just
the pIRA who plant bombs ...)
The real power in Northern Ireland are the British troops.
I've been in Irish Pubs since I could walk, and I put three lads on
a plane to Belfast last night, I don't need history lessons from
you.
>Clue #3: there are two native communities in Northern Ireland.
>They love each other so much that the mere threat of a British
>withdrawl is enough to give the government of Eire a panic attack;
>the aftermath of a British withdrawl without some sort of peace
>settlement would resemble Bosnia.
>Now, would you like to explain exactly how your suggestion would
>result in a successful resolution of the Irish problem? If you can
>convince us, then I suggest you will not find the Prime Minister
>and the Taioseach uninterested. (They -- and their predecessors --
>have been looking for a solution for the past three decades, at
>great personal risk.) If you can't suggest a solution, may I
>submit that the smart thing to do would be in future to do your
>research _before_ you open your mouth in public?
I don't consider the decendants of a forced resettlement to be
native. Although I agree that anyone born in Ireland is Irish by
defination. The issue has never been strictly Catholic/Protestant,
it's about British rule.
The first step to a solution is to remove the British troops, if
peacekeeping troops are required for a while they should be U.N.
peacekeepers.
No British troops, no more walks through Catholic neighborhoods.
The British aren't interested in peace, they're interested in a
solution that leaves them with a military victory.
And I will open my mouth any time I please, We have a saying here
in Chicago, "Don't let your mouth write a check your ass can't
cash."
I don't take advice from British apologists.
Brian
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