Good old Newshound. John has Frank Millar’s analysis in the Irish Times from Saturday. He’s not buying the Gerry has sold out on the revolution line. Instead he believes the seemingly never-ending process will continue, and make the next tranche of negotiations much more complex and problematic for all parties.
I have never been persuaded that Gerry Adams is lying to himself or to his own people. There have certainly been seismic shifts in republican attitudes and strategies. But there is no evidence of a republican willingness to invest in a process would either legitimise or stabilise the British state in Northern Ireland. That is why the DUP is making a huge mistake in thinking that it is only the actions of IRA volunteers (and they haven’t gone away, you know) which matter. As Michael McDowell grasped all to well last December, the language is vital too.
Past evidence shows that a deal based on a lie, or capable of being sold to unionists and republicans as wholly different things, will not hold. Which is also why the next negotiation, when it comes, could be infinitely more complex and protracted than the last.
A general account used for the daily threads and other things.
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