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IRA
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| pretty crazy stuff..... |
| posted by: publius |
13:59 6.15.10 |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODQ11b0_roU
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| now this is a big deal... |
| posted by: publius |
13:22 6.15.10 |
the british government declaring in the saville report that the killings on bloody sunday in northern ireland were completely unjustifiable and david cameron apologizing on behalf of the british government to the victims...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2010/jun/15/bloodysunday-northernireland
a good primer on bloody sunday for those interested...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2010/jun/10/northern-ireland-bloody-sunday-interactive-map
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| well... |
| posted by: publius |
21:29 1.13.10 |
the whole northern ireland affair between the 59 year old iris robinson and her 19 year old lover has been a relatively big news story here, but a huge one in the british isles. and since her name is mrs. robinson, no news outlet in the world has failed to make the connection (as per the guardian article i linked to where i found the fun fact about the graduate).
i find the whole news story somewhat boring, if amusing. but the fact that only 6 years separated dustin hoffman and anne bancroft? that i find staggering. |
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| was it just a big news story or something? |
| posted by: simplicissimus |
20:47 1.13.10 |
| that is the second time in the last 3 days that somebody has informed me of that fact. |
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| most intetesting thing i've learned from the iris robinson affair... |
| posted by: publius |
10:09 1.13.10 |
when the graduate was made, dustin hoffman was 30 and anne bancroft was 36.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2010/jan/13/graduate-mrs-robinson-affair
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| wtf? |
| posted by: simplicissimus |
16:42 1.12.10 |
| http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/jan/10/paisley-beyond-fury-over-robinson-sleaze/ |
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| optimistic |
| posted by: publius |
10:57 3.14.09 |
i must say that the reaction across northern ireland to the 3 killings last week is heartening. i think it's a bit early for everyone to be patting themselves on the back, but when martin mcguinness comes out and calls members of the continuity/real ira traitors, you know the time haves a changed.
most important sentence in this article..."The relative prosperity that peace has brought, the respite from the anguished cycle of killings and revenge, has built a constituency for the power-sharing government in Belfast." i pretty firmly believe that that's why the ira splinter groups chose to act now...they're betting on a bad economy and want to "establish" themselves before the economic "troubles" set in.
so yes, all of the coming together to support the peace process is a positive sign...but people should be praying less for the continued good will of traditional antagonists towards each other and more for economic stability, because the two go hand in hand. if the economy gets/stays bad, the hard men on both sides will find it much easier to recruit young men out of work and looking for some direction.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/14/world/europe/14ireland.html |
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| as wise man said many times.... |
| posted by: publius |
20:40 3.9.09 |
oh brother!
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/09/northern.ireland.violence/index.html |
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| this could get ugly... |
| posted by: publius |
12:02 3.8.09 |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/08/northern-ireland-army-base-shooting
i had actually been pleasantly amazed that splinter ira groups hadn't been doing carrying on like this a bit more in order to derail the peace settlement. but i can tell you that if the economy tanks and you've got young men out of work on a wide scale in the north of ireland, the situation could get very ugly and very dangerous very quickly... |
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| the hunger |
| posted by: publius |
21:38 10.19.08 |
you want to talk about having the courage of your convictions? how about the you ira prisoners who were "on the blanket" in the maze prison...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2008/oct/19/northernireland |
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| the wind that shakes the barley |
| posted by: ludwig |
16:46 7.28.08 |
My wife and I watched "the wind that shakes the barley" by Ken Loach this last week (in three separate sessions). It begins with the story of an IRA flying column in West Cork (where my grandfather was in a different flying column) and deals with the IRA's fight in the Anglo-Irish war and the brutal tactics of the British troops and auxiliaries. The film presages the split between the Irish pragmatists and the idealists in one overly talky but intriguing court scene.
After peace is signed, the film gets to the heart of the matter: it addresses the fissures in the ranks of the Irish nationalists - between those who would accept imperfect peace in the form of Irish Free State and those who would not - and the civil war that erupted.
The film presumes a fairly deep knowledge of Irish history. It references people and events that would be unknown to the native Irish or those who had studied it in detail.
Regardless, even if you lack such knowledge (a la Mrs. Ludwig), it's still a fascinating movie. It never takes sides in the civil war, but shows the tragic breakdown that occurred once the powerless came to power and needed to deal with the very same fanatics with whom they once fought. It also shows how the idealists did such dreadful things in the pursuit of their goals, that they cannot accept a compromised victory. They literally could not live with themselves if they were to accept less than full measure.
The one part of the film that seemed a bit unbalanced (and I am at a bit of a loss as to how to remedy it) was the representation of the British troops. Many of them were the shell shocked veterans of WWI and were dealing with demons far greater than the IRA. While that experience does not excuse the brutal and vicious actions of the British, showing the damaged psychological nature of the British troops would provide nuance. And the nuances that Loach brings to the characters playing the Free Staters and the IRA men are what makes the film great.
Be forewarned, unless you have a very fine ear, you'll need to watch this with the subtitles. The accents are crazy strong.
On a side note, Michael Collins, the Director of Intelligence for the IRA during the Anglo-Irish war, and the Commander in Chief for the Free State Army upon independence, is referred to repeatedly in the film. He's a fascinating historical figure. He financed the IRA's mission during the Angle Irish war, led the assassination squad that killed British agents and effectively nueteralized British intelligence, and negotiated the peace treaty with the British. In turn he lef the battle in the Civil War and, himself, was assassinated by the IRA. Neil Jordan made a film about him starring Liam Neeson. Unfortunately, the film sucked. Collins deserves better. It would be a marvel if someone of Loach's caliber took another crack at the story. |
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| happy saint patrick's day |
| posted by: publius |
21:30 3.17.08 |
seems like a good time to add another post to this thread. nothing terribly surprising in this story, but the details of these back-channel communications between governments and "terrorist" organizations are always intriguing.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2008/mar/18/northernireland.past |
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| good riddance |
| posted by: publius |
15:51 3.4.08 |
if there was ever a man who qualified for the title "demagogue" it is the rev. ian paisley. in the article i posted above one of the main points was paisley's dogged willingness, over the course of decades, to play a role whereby he would never have constructive political power, but could always ruin any plans put forth by other parties that he didn't like (which was pretty much everything).
so long rev...don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out...
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/03/04/paisley.quits.ap/index.html |
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| northern ireland nuts and bolt |
| posted by: publius |
13:13 3.4.08 |
this is one of the better analyses i've read of the long haul that led to "peace" in northern ireland and the decommissioning of arms by the ira and the main protestant groups. granted, we will never know all that really went on behind the scenes, but this seems to fit the events better than most other series of events, especially those that focus only on the efforts of top-level efforts of people like blair, mitchell and bill clinton.
and contrary to what she may have you believe, the answer to the question in the headline is not "hillary clinton" (though i must say it's not as bad as the headline in the print edition, which was, i kid you not, "how to make the hard men soft").
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/the_tls/article3445728.ece |
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| the real ira |
| posted by: publius |
19:02 2.6.08 |
as opposed to the provisional ira (which no matter how you look at it is the REAL ira), is making noise about trying to kill the queen when she visits in march...from stratfor...
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Summary
Security was increased in Northern Ireland on Feb. 6 in the wake of a threat of a renewed campaign of violence by a Northern Irish militant group. The threat from the group, the Real Irish Republican Army, comes ahead of a March 20 visit to Northern Ireland by Queen Elizabeth II. While killing the queen is most likely beyond the group’s abilities, the militants probably would settle for provoking British troops to return to Northern Ireland and reigniting conflict there. But London knows that stationing troops in Northern Ireland was long a focal point of unrest there; it also knows that canceling the queen’s trip would represent a public relations coup for the militants.
Analysis
Authorities stepped up security in Northern Ireland on Feb. 6, establishing vehicle checkpoints and increasing the number of officers on the streets. The move apparently came in response to an article published Feb. 3 in the Dublin-based Sunday Tribune, in which Northern Irish militant group the Real Irish Republican Army (RIRA) announced a renewed campaign of violence.
The militants hope to provoke the British into sending troops back to Northern Ireland, thereby reigniting conflict there. London is only too aware of the risks surrounding that course of action, however.
The RIRA, a splinter group of the now-demobilized Provisional IRA (better known as just the IRA), said it has reorganized itself and it plans to step up attacks against Northern Irish police. The announcement coincided with parades commemorating the anniversary of the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre, in which British troops killed 14 civil rights marchers. Probably coincidentally, it also came just a day after London said that Queen Elizabeth II plans to visit Northern Ireland on March 20, giving rise to speculation that the RIRA might attempt to attack the queen, or that her trip might be postponed or even canceled.
The RIRA was formed in 1998 by dissident IRA members who disapproved of the group’s decision to call a cease-fire and join the peace process. The IRA itself had employed sophisticated bombmakers capable of producing high-end improvised explosive devices that in many ways set the standard for other militant groups. The group always considered the queen (and other representatives of British power) a legitimate target. It successfully assassinated her cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, with a bomb in August 1979.
The RIRA has never achieved the level of membership, support or success enjoyed by the mainstream IRA and its political party, Sinn Fein, however. (British government estimates place the RIRA’s size at somewhere between 100 and 200 active members, several of whom are in prison.) Despite a spectacular 1998 bombing in Omagh that killed 29 people, the group’s opposition to the peace process ultimately had little effect on the negotiations, which led in 2007 to the formation of a Roman Catholic-Protestant power-sharing government in Belfast and the withdrawal of British troops from the province. The RIRA’s stated purpose in its new militant campaign is to provoke the United Kingdom into sending its military back into Northern Ireland (and thereby into recreating the conditions under which the IRA flourished in the 20th century).
Though it did not specifically threaten to do so, the RIRA probably would love to assassinate the queen if it could. Given an operational history that could be described as spotty at best — it has not carried out an attack in Great Britain in six years, and what attacks it has carried out in Northern Ireland have been hit-or-miss in terms of effectiveness — it certainly has not demonstrated the capability to execute an operation against an extremely well-protected royal, however. Indeed, the announcement of the queen’s visit more than six weeks in advance (albeit before the RIRA interview was published) suggests that London sees a greatly reduced security threat in Northern Ireland. During the decades when British troops patrolled the streets of Belfast, royal visits were never announced until the last minute for security reasons — usually after the queen (or other family member) was already there.
Even if an RIRA attack never materializes, however, a British overreaction to the potential threat could play into the group’s hands politically. Although they have been largely absent for the past year, checkpoints and a heavily armed police presence were a regular feature of life in Northern Ireland for decades, and security forces often have served as a focal point whenever community tensions have run high. But London knows this and has little interest in pouring fuel on the embers of a fire that only recently died down.
The British government would much rather see the peace process work in Northern Ireland than have to resume counterinsurgency operations on the island next door, so quite a lot would have to go wrong before British troops would reoccupy the province as the RIRA would like.
By the same token, it is very unlikely that the queen will cancel her trip because of the RIRA campaign: Doing so would send the message that the recent moves toward normalcy in the country have been illusory, and that the decades of violent civil strife are not over after all. Such a cancellation would represent an enormous public relations coup for the RIRA — not the kind of gift London would want to hand the group." |
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| thomas "slab" murphy |
| posted by: publius |
15:07 11.8.07 |
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/11/08/ireland.murphy.ap/index.html
this story isn't terribly interesting...an ira chief gets arrested for tax evasion. but i found the circumstances of his arrest amusing...
after raiding his farm and concluding that murphy was able to elude capture through a system of underground tunnels, the guy gets arrested at a gaelic football match (think of a cross between rugby and soccer)
"Officers arrested him Wednesday night as he was leaving a Gaelic football match near the border town of Dundalk, north of Dublin, Inspector Kevin Ring of Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau testified Thursday."
pretty ballsy by murphy. wanted by the police, but don't want to miss the match...
i figured that after this claim by cnn ...
"Histories of the IRA have identified Murphy as an IRA weapons-smuggler who helped to procure supplies by traveling to Libya using false passports. Libya supplied the IRA with more than 100 tons of weaponry, chiefly in the mid-1980s."
...i would be able to find some substantial background on the guy in tim pat coogan's enormous, exhaustive and exhausting book "the ira". however in the index of names, there is only one mention of tom murphy. that mention, given the circumstances of his arrest, is pleasantly ironic (assuming it's the same tom murphy...lord only knows how many people have that name in ireland)...
"some writers and commentators, drawing on information proffered by british and northern ireland security forces, have from time to time confidently named the membership of the army council and included on it the names of such prominent sinn feiners as gerry adams, martin mcguinness, martin ferris and the vice president, pat doherty. these assessments remind me of the curate's egg, good in parts. quite obviously, figures like adams, mcguinness and doherty did not gain their ascendancy by moving upwards through the ranks of the balleyfermot boys brass band. nor do names more ordinarily associated with militant republicanism, such as brian keenan or tom murphy, come to mind because of their interest in, let us say, the gaelic athletic association."
and if, like me, you haven't the foggiest idea what the "curate's egg" is, here you go...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curate's_egg
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| who'da thunk it? |
| posted by: publius |
22:08 5.8.07 |
| http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/08/northern.ireland/index.html |
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| this is real news... |
| posted by: publius |
23:11 3.26.07 |
i never actually thought that i'd see ian paisley and gerry adams sitting at the same table...handshake or no, this is a huge moment in the history of ireland...
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/northernirelandassembly/story/0,,2043654,00.html |
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| More rough justice |
| posted by: ludwig |
17:56 4.4.06 |
http://tinyurl.com/kar6d
Ex-Sinn Fein member who spied for UK found dead
Tue Apr 4, 2006 3:16 PM ET
By Paul Hoskins
DUBLIN/LONDON (Reuters) - A former member of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein who spied for Britain was found shot dead on Tuesday, just two days before a fresh bid by London and Dublin to end Northern Ireland's political stalemate.
Police in the Republic of Ireland confirmed they were investigating the discovery of a man in his mid-50s in the northwestern county of Donegal.
"The State Pathologist has been contacted and the scene is being preserved pending the arrival of the Garda Technical Team," the police said in a statement.
They did not name the man but a police source confirmed local media reports that it was Denis Donaldson who last year was expelled from Sinn Fein, which wants to end British rule in Northern Ireland, after he admitted spying for London.
"I am satisfied that it is who it is reported to be," the source said, adding that it was too early to say whether he had been killed or taken his own life.
The Irish government issued a statement describing it as a "brutal murder". "The matter is now under investigation. We hope that whoever is responsible for this callous act will be brought to justice as soon as possible."
A spokesman for the Northern Ireland office said the British-ruled province's secretary of state, Peter Hain, was "appalled by this barbaric act" but declined to say if that meant he was treating the death as murder rather than suicide.
Donaldson was a convicted Irish Republican Army bomber who spent time in prison with Gerry Adams, now leader of the guerrilla group's political ally Sinn Fein.
Donaldson was again arrested in 2002 and accused of spying for Sinn Fein at the Stormont parliament in Belfast but in a dramatic twist he was expelled from the party in December after admitting he had been a mole for the British for two decades.
The IRA took the unusual step of issuing a brief statement: "The IRA had no involvement whatsoever in the death of Denis Donaldson."
The IRA called a ceasefire in 1997 and pledged last July to down arms. An independent watchdog reported in October that the guerrilla group was keeping to its pledge.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart, Bertie Ahern, are both expected in Northern Ireland this week to unveil their latest plan to kick-start the province's mothballed assembly which collapsed in part due to allegations that Donaldson and others had been spying for Sinn Fein.
The Stormont assembly, in which Catholic Nationalist and pro-British Protestant parties on either side of the Northern Ireland's sectarian divide shared power, collapsed three years ago after a police raid on Sinn Fein offices.
(Additional reporting by Michael Smith in Dublin and Adrian Croft in London) |
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| no joke, that... |
| posted by: publius |
16:37 9.26.05 |
the ira has apparently completely decommissioned its arms (assuming the two clerical independent observers are pulling everyone's leg...)
and of course ian paisley is beside himself now, sputtering in a way befitting doubting thomas. that man, as the irish would say, is a cunt.
will be interesting to see what happens now. would be more interesting to have been a fly on the wall during all the backroom horsetrading that got us to this point...but what can you do.
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/09/26/nireland.arms/index.html |
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| why now? |
| posted by: horsebeater |
11:44 7.29.05 |
Whenever a (quasi) terrorist organization backsoff like this, you've got to wonder "how the hell did that happen" and "can we do the same thing and get it to happen again?" Obviously each situation is unique, but you wonder if there's anything to learn from it.
Which makes me wonder: why now? I mean, I don't really recall any new effort to push for this since the late 90's good friday accords.
Is it just time? The cease fire has gone one for 7-8 years and now people realize it just isn't that bad. Is it just that the 18 year olds who were hot to do some shit are now 26 and have families? And the kids that were 11 when the ceasefire started didn't grow up idolizing the 18 year olds who were sticking it to the protestants?
It's weird to think that virtually nothing in a situation can change, but the passage of time will change the participants on either "side" of a debate. Gives some hope to Palestine. If you can first go 8 years with no new intifada, and as the Arafats of the world die off, maybe you can get somewhere. |
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| this is a pretty major stateme |
| posted by: publius |
15:43 7.28.05 |
how long it will last and whether it will lead anywhere is another matter.
and of course the unionists can't let go of their "liar, liar catholic pants on fire" refrain, so now they're clamoring for the ira to disavow any and all criminal activity as well. they know their days as the majority are numbered, and they'll cling to anything they can at this point...
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/07/28/ira.statement/index.html |
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| rough justice |
| posted by: ludwig |
08:50 3.10.05 |
http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2005/03/09/5_ira_critics_get_a_white_house_nod/
"The visit was announced as the IRA said that it had offered to shoot those involved in McCartney's slaying. The IRA, which has expelled three members over the killing, said in a statement that it had met the sisters and McCartney's fiancée and offered its own form of justice, but that the family wanted the killers dealt with by the courts." |
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