Round and round we go...
I think I know how to progress the peace process in Northern Ireland. Let's get rid of David Trimble; a man who whilst a few years ago was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his work in bringing the IRA to the table, now seems hell bent on ensuring that the conflict continues.
I've no idea why he should be acting in the manner he is, one can only speculate that should peace break out in that blighted corner of the world, Mr Trimble and other limelight-happy politicos will suddenly find the fame lamp switched off, and their profiles reduced.. in short, the conflict continuing suits him and what can only be a fairly huge ego.
Why do I say this? well simply because of his refusal to accept that the IRA is being transparent in it's decommissioning of arms. He is effectively saying to both the IRA and the Canadia general in charge of the decommissioning team (who oversee the destruction of weapons) that he doesn't believe they are doing anything of note; that their secrecy in discharging their obligations under the peace process is preventing the same from going forward.
Absolute crap David. When the General says that the IRA have put beyond use a substantial cache of arms and explosives, you damn well see that as a positive step, and continue the peace talks. You do not respond by informing the IRA that frankly, because they didn't give you an inventory of exactly what they destroyed, that you consider them responsible for the derailment (again) of talks.
Sort your goddamned priorities out Trimble, OR perhaps better for all, make room for someone who actually appreciates that the IRA is doing, and therefore allow the process to continue onward - this totally smacks of someone trying to milk a situation for what can only be substantial future memoirs.
Monday, 27 October 2003
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The problem isn't really Trimble - the problem is Trimble's party, the Ulster Unionist Party, many of whom consider him to be excessively moderate and accuse him of appeasement towards the IRA and Sinn Fein.
ReplyDeleteHe's walking a very fine line - if he's seen to be giving in to Republican demands, he'll be removed by his own party, and you can be damn sure that whoever they replace him with will be far, far more of an obstruction than Trimble is.
The difficulty here is the Unionist mentality. Look at it this way; the situation in the North began over basic civil rights for Catholics, encompassing everything from council housing to education and employment, to the gerrymandering of political elections by the (small) Protestant majority. Most of those things have now been solved - and in each case, the Protestants, like the whites in South Africa, have had to give ground.
The Unionist, Protestant ruling class in Northern Ireland started out this game with the entire deck of cards in their hands. Every move in the peace process has been a concession for them; so rather than seeing this as a movement towards a democratic society that doesn't feature people shooting each other and blowing up buildings, many hardline unionists are actually opposed to it. They consider that they've given away enough.
It's a very difficult situation to overcome. You have almost a century of division, oppression and hatred to deal with, and a lot of very very irrational people - not to mention some evil scumbags like the lovely Dr Paisley who have thrived on the 'troubles' and have no particular desire to see them end. Sadly, his viewpoint is a common one on the Unionist side.
It's certainly not a simple question of removing Trimble and finding someone better. Trimble may, sadly, be the best the Unionists have to offer.
just look at the election results, at the last few elections the anti-agreement, nationalist Dr ians DUP are very very close to being the biggest unionist party, so Trimbles people want to keep their jobs and want to be seen as something like hard line. On the nationalist side Shin Fein are very very close to being the biggest party on the other side, catching up and passing (JOhn Hume's formr party) the SDLP -> so on both sides of the fence its the extreme views that are getting popular support. Which is worrying..
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