Sort it out yourselves
Liam Clarke highlights that no big pow-wow over policing and justice is being planned. He argues it is up the two parties to get it sorted and non-government intervention the wisest option:
“If governments intervene at this point, it will dissipate any pressure on either party to get on with the business of government. The best message London can send to both parties is “if you sort this out between you, then talk to us about money. If not we’ll work something out with Dublin”.
However, he believes that McGuinness’s Guildhall speech and Adams comments in Cleveland indicate Sinn Fein are laying the ground work for an election, seeking to rally the nationalist community with a victim narrative and the standard issue caricature of the DUP.
dub ,
‘THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HOMOGENEOUS ULSTER’
Eh? did I say there was ?
‘The unionist entity you are looking for will still have a substantial nationalist minority.’
A lot less substantial than 47% somewhere between 10 and 18% I would guess.
‘There would be an effort to wipe them out in your dream repartition scenario. WIPE THEM OUT. Got that? ‘
No I haven’t . Nobody is wiping anybody out . Any new Unionist State could only remain within the UK and /or EU if it were democratically governed and adhered to the European Court of Human Rights .
‘Unionism has not changed. And it never will.’
I agree .Which is why we should have as little to do with it as possible ergo -a fair repartition of NI by a neutral international agency .
‘The outworkings of the GFA is one long tedious play in which they will gradually lose all their power. Let it roll on.’
It’s not rolling . It’s stuck in the same rut that Sunningdale was stuck in with Fitt , Faulkner and Hume -and in the same rut that Trimble and Mallon got stuck in -namely the very construct of the NI State . In it’s present format it’s going nowhere other than in ever dimishing circles .
I’d have thought that much would have been obvious by now ?
‘It needs to be killed with kindness’
Really ? If my memory serves me right the UK tried this approach with the Irish in the late 19th century by implementing land reform, abolishing tithes setting up universities , offering Home Rule. All too little and too late .
It did’nt work for Irish nationalists -why would it work for Northern Unionists? .
A waste of time and money . Time for Northern Ireland’s nationalists and republicans to move on without ‘unionism ‘ by pushing for a fair repartition of NI by a neutral international agency and be done with this issue permanently.
You all miss the point. Unionism now has no allies in the UK or anywhere else in the world…while Sinn Fein will soon have the entire Irish population of the USA backing a drive for the unification of Ireland. Adams knows this and is awaiting the millions of dollars and political support that Senator Obama’s victory will bring to Sinn Fein. Devolution of Police and the Courts is a great political stand against the backwardness and bigotry of Orangism. Once Americans hear Iris and Jeff and their reasons for not cooperating then unionism will be thought of as a relic of imperialism.
“while Sinn Fein will soon have the entire Irish population of the USA backing a drive for the unification of Ireland.”
and what are they going to do? migrate to N.Ireland?
brian ,
‘while Sinn Fein will soon have the entire Irish population of the USA backing a drive for the unification of Ireland. ‘
If they don’t have votes in NI it won’t matter . Anyway it’s not the irish in the USA or the UK or Australia etc etc that matter re any drive for any UI -it’s the Irish in the Republic and in NI . The former are to put it mildly ‘undriven’ and the latter have driven into a Unionist ‘cul de sac ‘ .
‘Once Americans hear Iris and Jeff and their reasons for not cooperating then unionism will be thought of as a relic of imperialism. ‘
I suspect most Americans including irish americans have more important concerns these days than the rantings of Iris & Co.
BTW -unionism IS a relic of british imperialism in Ireland in the north east – no thought required . It’s as obvious as day and night
“[i]BTW -unionism IS a relic of british imperialism in Ireland in the north east – no thought required . It’s as obvious as day and night
”[/i]
The oul dog isn’t dead yet, it just needs a make over. I don’t necessicarily agree with fighting Irish expansionism with British expansionism, but then again it’s the only way some see their religion and tradition being safeguarded on the British Isles.
I’m happy to let the Irish claim independance, even although their independance is meaningless now since they joined the EU, but I acknowledge their right to want it. It’s a pity they didn’t give that right to the Ulster people, instead of claiming an Irish identity over them.
The Ulster people will be right!
Greenflag,
You have said rightly many times that Sunningdale and the treaty of 1921 were but pieces of paper compared to the realpolitik… yet you think your 10 – 18 percent nationalist minority could rely on the ECHR, another piece of paper… might i point out that the ni entity has been in the uk for a long time and in the eu since 1972 and that has not stopped loyalist thuggery or state sponsored assasination squads… at the end of your post you rightly say that unionism is a relic of british imperialism… therefore it is NOT the same as Irish nationalism… imperial settler colonies wither and die eventually… they can therefore be killed with kindness. especially when the “mother” country wants rid….