SCUM STATES & SHITTY LITTLE COUNTRIES CALLED ISRAEL & NORN IRELAND

Disparaging comments about Israel allegedly made by the French ambassador to London at a private dinner party were actually reported by the BBC, however they did not report the same remarks being made about British Occupied Ireland.

He has no intention of apologising - he doesn't feel there is any need for him to do so

Yves Charpentier French embassy

During a conversation about the Middle East crisis with the owner of the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Conrad Black, ambassador Daniel Bernard is reported to have spoken about "that shitty little country Israel".

Also the head of Amnesty International’s Finnish branch, Frank Johansson, told The Jerusalem Post that he stands by his statement that Israel is a “scum state.”

By Roberto Savio

July 12, 2014 "ICH" - "IPS" - ROME, Jul 11 2014 (IPS) - While the Third World War has not been formally declared, conflicts throughout the world are reaching levels unseen since 1944.

Of course, for the large majority of people throughout the world, news about these conflicts is just part of our daily news, but another share of our daily news is about the mess in our countries.

This is so complex and confusing that many people have given up the effort to attempt any form of deep understanding, so I thought it would be useful to offer ten explanations of how we succeeded in creating this mess.

1)   The world, as it now exists, was largely shaped by the colonial powers, which divided the world among themselves, carving out states without any consideration for existing ethnic, religious or cultural realities. This was especially true of Africa and the Arab world, where the concept of state was imposed on systems of tribes and clans.

Just to give a few examples, none of the present-day Arab countries existed prior to colonialism. Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, the Gulf Countries (including Saudi Arabia) were all parts of the Ottoman Empire. When this disappeared with the First World War (like the Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian empires), the winners – Britain and France – sat down at a table and drafted the boundaries of countries to be run by them, as they had done before with Africa. So, never look at those countries as equivalent to countries with a history of national identity.

2)   After the end of the colonial era, it was inevitable that to keep these artificial countries alive, and avoid their disintegration, strongmen would be needed to cover the void left by the colonial powers. The rules of democracy were used only to reach power, with very few exceptions. The Arab Spring did indeed get rid of dictators and autocrats, just to replace them with chaos and warring factions (as in Libya) or with a new autocrat, as in Egypt.

The case of Yugoslavia is instructive. After the Second World War, Marshal Tito dismantled the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and created the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. But we all know that Yugoslavia did not survive the death of its strongman.

The lesson is that without creating a really participatory and unifying process of citizens, with a strong civil society, local identities will always play the most decisive role. So it will take some before many of the new countries will be considered real countries devoid of internal conflicts.

3)   Since the Second World War, the meddling of the colonial and super powers in the process of consolidation of new countries has been a very good example of man-made disaster.

Take the case of Iraq. When the United States took over administration of the country in 2003 after its invasion, General Jay Garner was appointed and lasted just a month, because he was considered too open to local views.

Garner was replaced by a diplomat, Jan Bremmer, who took up his post after a two-hour briefing by the then Secretary of State, Condolezza Rice. Bremmer immediately proceeded to dissolve the army (creating 250,000 unemployed) and firing anyone in the administration who was a member of the Ba’ath party, the party of Saddam Hussein. This destabilised the country, and today’s mess is a direct result of this decision.

The current Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, whom Washington is trying to remove as the cause of polarisation between Shiites and Sunnis, was the preferred American candidate. So was the President of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, who is now virulently anti-American. This is a tradition that goes back to the first U.S. intervention in Vietnam, where Washington put in place Ngo Dihn Dien, who turned against its views, until he was assassinated.

There is no space here to give example of similar mistakes (albeit less important) by other Western powers. The point is that all leaders installed from outside do not last long and bring instability.

4)   We are all witnessing religious fighting and Islam extremism as a growing and disturbing threat. Few make any effort to understand why thousands of young people are willing to blow themselves up. There is a striking correlation between lack of development/employment and religious unrest. In the Muslim countries of Asia (Arab Muslims account for less than 20 percent of the world’s Muslim populations), extremism hardly exists.

And few realise that the fight between Shiites and Sunnis is funded by countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. Those religions have been living side by side for centuries, and now they are fighting a proxy war, for example in Syria. Saudi Arabia has been funding Salafists (the puritan form of Islam) everywhere, and it has provided nearly two billion dollars to the new Egyptian autocrat, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, because he is fighting the Muslim Brotherhood, which predicates the end of kings and sheiks and power for the people. Iraq is also becoming a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, defender of the Sunnis, and Iran, defender of the Shiites.

So, when looking at these wars of religion, always look at who is behind them. Religions usually become belligerent only if they are used. Just look at European history, where wars of religion were invented by kings and fought by people. Of course, once the genie is out of the bottle, it will take a long time to put it back. So this issue will be with us for quite some time.

5)   The end of the Cold War unfroze the world, which had been kept in stability by the balance between the two superpowers. Attempts to create regional or international alliances to bring stability have always been stymied by national interests. The best example is Europe. While everybody was talking about Crimea, Ukraine and Vladimir Putin (who had been made paranoiac about Western encirclement, from the George Bush Jr. administration onwards) and how to bring him to listen to the United States and Europe, European companies continued trade in spite of a much talked about embargo. And now, Austria has quietly signed an agreement with Russia to join the South Stream, a pipeline that will bring Russian gas to Europe – so much for the unity of a Europe which has been clamouring about the need to reduce its energy dependence on Russia.

A multipolar world is in the making, but it has to be seen how stable it will be. In Asia, China and Japan are increasing their military investments, as are surrounding countries. And while local conflicts, like Syria, Iraq and Sudan, are not going to escalate into a larger conflict, this would certainly be the case in Asia.

6)   In a world more and more divided by a resurgence of national interests, the very idea of shared governance is losing its strength, and not only in Europe. The United Nations has lost its significance as the arena in which to reach consensus and legitimacy. The two engines of globalisation – trade and finance – are not part of the United Nations, which is stuck with the themes of development, peace, human rights, environment, education and so on. While these issues are crucial for a viable world, they are not seen as such by those in power. Conclusion: the United Nations is sliding into irrelevance.

7)   At the same time, values and ideas which were considered universal, such as cooperation, mutual aid, international social justice and peace as an encompassing paradigm are also becoming irrelevant. French President Francois Hollande meets U.S. President Barack Obama, not to discuss how to stop the genocide in Sudan, or the kidnapping of children in Nigeria, but to ask him to intervene with his Minister of Justice to reduce a giant fine on a French bank, the BNP-Parisbas, for fraudulent activities. The outstanding problem of climate control was largely absent in the last  G7 meeting, not to talk of nuclear disarmament … and yet these are the two main threats to the planet!

8)   After colonialism and totalitarian regimes, the key phrase after the Second World War was “implementation of democracy”. But after the end of the Cold War, democracy was taken for granted. In fact, in the last twenty years, the formula of representative democracy has been losing its glamour. Pragmatism has led to the loss of long-term vision, and politics have become more and more mere administration.

Citizens feel less and less related to parties, which have basically become self-centred and self-reliant.  International affairs are not considered tools of power by parties, and decisions are taken without participation. This leads to choices which often do not represent the feelings and priorities of citizens.

The way in which the bailout of Cyprus from its financial crisis a few years ago was treated in the European Commission was widely recognised as a blatant example of lack of transparency. Few people certainly make more mistakes than many …

9)   A very important element of the mess has been the growth of what its proponents, especially in the financial world, call the “new economy” – an economy that contemplates permanent unemployment, lack of social investments, reduced taxation for large capital, the marginalisation of trade unions, and a reduction of the role of the State as the regulator and guarantor of social justice. Inequalities are reaching unprecedented levels. The world’s 85 richest individuals possess the same wealth as 2.5 billion people.

10)   All this brings its corollary. It is not by chance that all mainstream media worldwide have the same reading of the world. Information today has basically eliminated analysis and process, to concentrate on events. Their ability to follow the world mess is minimal, and they just repeat what those in power say. It is very instructive to see media which are very analytical about national affairs and very superficial about international issues. The media depend largely on three international news agencies, which represent the Western world and its interests. Have you read anywhere about the gas agreement between Austria and Russia?

So, a final point: never be satisfied with what you read in the newspapers, always try to get additional and opposite viewpoints through the net. This will help you to look at the world with your eyes, and not with the eyes of somebody else who is probably part of the system which has created this mess. Do not go with the tide … search for the other face of the moon. And if they tell you that they know, well, just look at the results. So, be yourself and, if you make a mistake, at least it will be your mistake. (END/IPS COLUMNIST SERVICE)

Copyright © 2014 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.

DYSFUCTIONAL ISLAND IRELAND CENSORED REPRESSED

I suppose some of you are tired of this story. I once sat at many international meetings for many years in the Jellinek Clinic in Amsterdam, listening to various speakers, from many different countries share and blame their respective dysfunctional families, for causing their various addictions. My Irish friend Jimmy from Limerick, who like myself is not the most patient of people eventually ran out  of tolerance and suddenly piped up! You bloody ppl think you have it bad, coming from dysfunctional homes, what about me, I come from a DYSFUNCTIONAL FUCKIN ISLAND CALLED IRELAND !

I stole the following, because I couldn't find the owner to ask him to borrow it ~

Ireland as a dysfunctional family in denial?

Interesting op-ed article in today's Irish Times, by Brendan Logue, former Central Bank Registrar of Credit Unions and head of the IDA Financial Services Division.

It makes some good points about the delusional nature of Irish society and its doctrinaire - and largely manufactured - sacred cultural references.

On the other hand, it seems to fall into the popular Irish comfort-blanket trap of partly blaming a sinister "Frankfurt regime" for the mess we are in,  which to me is rather like the imagined "prolifigate parents" blaming the moneylender for their own greed and stupidity.   The real blame lies closer to home, I think.

Oh... and the Central Bank.  That fine regime had no say in regulating our financial institutions and controlling bank lending during The Bubble, did it?...

Leadership needed to mend our sorry state of delusion

BRENDAN LOGUE
Thu, Sep 20, 2012

OPINION: IMAGINE YOU belong to a dysfunctional family. The parents are profligate, incompetent and reckless. They tend to be corrupt, lazy, dishonest and self-serving.
The children (other than certain favourites) feel oppressed and neglected. Many of the favourites exhibit ruthless self-interest and greed.
The parents are under pressure from the moneylenders to whom they have had to turn as a result of their profligacy. So dysfunctional is this family that they have had to be taken under the care of outside agencies, which are struggling to bring them under control.

Many of the children abuse alcohol, drugs, religion, or alternatively delude themselves about their true situation, in order to ease their pain.  Others flee the family home at the earliest opportunity, or resort to suicide. They abuse and exploit each other and are in a perpetual state of inter-sibling rivalry.
The concept of family wellbeing is almost unknown among them.
Such a family mirrors the national situation.

Self-delusion is a characteristic of Irish society. In the old days we were told things about ourselves that in retrospect seem laughable. We were morally superior to other races, O’Connell Street was the widest street in Europe, the Shannon was going to be drained, the country reunited and the Irish language restored.

Such was the pathetic nature of the society that it tended to grasp at any idea, no matter how absurd, seen as positive to our warped sense of nationhood.

Those who were literary figures and who attempted to hold up a mirror to the Irish to reflect the weirdness of the society were generally derided, abused, saw their work suppressed and were forced to flee the country in despair. Abroad they often achieved due recognition.

That is not to say that individual Irish people aren’t as capable, creative and energetic as other peoples. But the damaged and deluded culture of our society often drags them down. Despite this, some groups and individuals have managed to overturn the deadening effects of Irish consciousness, but they are the exceptions to the norm.

The negative effect on Irish society of the Catholic Church is deep-rooted. Its doctrines have tended to produce a populace that is superstitious, apathetic and fatalistic. The progressive exposure of some of Catholicism’s true characteristics has left many of its loyal adherents confused and disillusioned.

The main institutions of the State – government, church, banks, the judiciary, the professions etc – are regarded by many Irish people with loathing, but many are also envious of those who belong to these interest groups. Most people feel powerless to attack these groups, who seem exempted from any corrective process that could limit their ruthless pursuit of self-interest.

In a normal democratic society a dissatisfied populace will overthrow an abusive regime, given time. However, in Ireland this has not happened.

The Republic of Ireland has never been truly independent. This could be because the best and the brightest were and are the most likely to emigrate, leaving behind the more deferential, insecure and apathetic people. British rule was overthrown in this part of the country in 1922 only to be replaced by an equally abusive system controlled from Rome.

This itself is in the process of being gradually overturned, but is being replaced by a regime controlled from Frankfurt, whose intentions are, as yet, unclear. Unless something fundamental changes in the public psyche, Ireland seems doomed to endlessly repeat its history of failure and to be a society that is deferential and provincial in outlook.

One possible benefit of the present financial, economic and social crisis may be that the Irish may begin to awake from the dreamlike state of delusion into which they had long ago fallen. To emerge from this nightmare will require leadership. Straight talking such as has never been heard before in this country needs to be the hallmark of a future leadership. This will be a painful process but could provide healing.
This State must never again allow itself to be humiliated and disgraced in the eyes of the world. The Ireland that has up to now been regarded internationally only in a semi-serious way as a country, must be reformed.

No more corruption, no more incompetence, no more alcohol abuse, no more self-delusion, no more abusive religion, no more secrecy, no more deferential forelock-tugging.
Unfortunately, leadership is absent just now in a way never before experienced. Neither politics nor religion, neither law nor commerce are fit for this purpose as they themselves are central to the country’s problems and act in a self-protective way to preserve the status quo.

What is left to undertake this gargantuan task? Maybe the media is up to it – who knows?
It is nearly time Robert Emmet’s epitaph is written – but not just yet.
Not until this society is fully cleansed of the rot that pervades it.

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TRUTH RECONCILIATION PEACE PROCESS GERRY ADAMS & MARTIN McGUINNESS NEXT?

A Chara,

Attempting to write political blogs is a balancing act for me, in the sense that I truly believe, that the truth will set us free and that Ireland like its unrealized citizens, myself included, are as sick as our secrets, while at the same time, I have responsibilities to my larger Irish family about what I write, who may not see it that way. A good example of this, being when I left Provisional Sinn Fein, back somewhere around 1985, after being Chairperson in Newry. The matters here I have written about previously but recent events make me cover them more thoroughly. A lot of the Provo  senior activists, were quite concerned about the information a harmless person like myself would carry around out of their control, control being a huge issue at that particular time, aside from the factor of other people's personal security. I was a busy activist before I left the Provos at that time, being involved more than 80 hours a week, primarily in their office, to the considerable detriment of my family's welfare and personal life.

I started using alcohol more heavily at this time, to relax away from a stressful environment of often high anxiety. The whole experience of the Hunger Strike campaign, coupled with the extreme sadness and emotional nature of it, was a foolish but understandable, imprudent excuse. This was also a factor in my decision. I remember also at this time, after returning from the funeral of local republican Raymond McCreesh, who was the fourth to die in the Hunger Strike of 10 martyrs, being extremely angry about the non use of huge stockpiles of weapons, with numerous willing local volunteers ready to use them at that time.

There  was also a surreal feel within the movement, as the leadership started to creep away from revolution towards electoral politics. I can tell you now, that some really weird  and wacky stuff was happening in the local area at that time. South Down was one of the more militarily active areas  at that time, other areas having already compromised to the electoral and in many cases, careerist push. It felt like being among vultures, scrapping over the formerly revolutionary Provo corpse. Brit spooks were highly active at this time, adding further, to contribute to a surreal air of mistrust, that confirmed the old saying, the truth is stranger than fiction. I can confirm from this experience, that this was most definitely a fact.

I remember too around this time, I believe it was on a return from Bodenstown, being approached by highly respected senior South Armagh republicans and asked about where my loyalties and trust lay, with regard to either Ruarai O'Bradaigh and Gerry Adams. Bearing in mind, this was quite a while before the split, it was s quite a stunning question for me, in that context. After about a minute reflecting on their question, I told them my preference lay with Ruaraigh O'Bradaigh in the matter of trust. The seed however was now sown.

Leaving an organization like the Provos at that particular time was no small or simple matter, particularly working daily at their office. I also around this time became very concerned, about the general personal security of volunteers, friends and activists in the area, These concerns were taken to South Armagh and information I was receiving at that time, suggested the probability of a supergrass emerging in the area. I took these concerns to South Armagh and was really angry about the trivial response. I then took these concerns to the IRA Chief of Staff in Belfast and received the same response. I felt truly isolated and traumatized.

This for me along with the rundown of the military nature of the struggle, was to say the least disconcerting. I drank more heavily and had a really serious argument with the local OC.  It was coming up to Xmas. I had 5 children who were cared for almost exclusively by their Mother,  because I was totally consumed with my political activity. As a result of this and my heavy drinking I could not afford to buy my children toys for Xmas and felt really guilty. I held up the local chipper while very drunk and brought the money home, whereupon the RUC duly arrived and arrested me. In the early hours of the morning, in the course of having delirium tremens, I agreed to become an informer. While trying to be careful as best I could, not to divulge anything particularly important.

After two weeks on remand in Crumlin Road Prison, I was released on bail. In the cold light of day back in Newry, I was truly ashamed, remorseful and guilty about my actions.. I decided to take a bullet rather than become an active tout or informer. After bidding my wife farewell, I went to the local OC, confessed everything and was thoroughly debriefed. I expected to be shot because of my responsibilities and because I had brought Irish republicanism into disrepute. I crossed the border to evade the RUC as advised. This is the truth of this matter and I can honestly say, that aside from titbits of information divulged during breakdown, I have never worked as either a tout or informer. I ensured as best I could, that all people, matters and operations compromised were informed and cancelled. I sincerely from my heart regret and apologise to all those people who put their faith and trust in me. After almost 28 years without a drink with the help of a lot of good people, I remain as an Irishman committed to the realization of a Socialist Irish Republic. Because of this experience, I have not volunteered with any political party or organization. I am not active in political violence but like Republicans in the United States, I believe in the right of the Irish people to bear arms, until the realization of their liberation and to defend themselves.

Having disappeared into oblivion and years of recovery from alcoholism, I was still a target of political curiosity, particularly around the time when the British were helping their leadership, sanitize them of more radical elements, to prepare them for public consumption and neuter their more revolutionary activists. There is ample evidence of middle management being eliminated in the military sense at Loughgall. It also happened within their political wing as they entered the realm of elections, their was more crossover between the political and military elements of the Provos. For myself personally this was no big deal, in the sense that I had volunteered myself for the IRA on more than three occasions but locations such as England and the start of the second hunger strike, where all resources were being utilized politically, interfered with that to a large extent.

I currently belong to no political party but I am an unashamed supporter of  the Ruarai O'Bradaigh, authentic Irish Republican tradition. I also believe there are considerable progressive things happening within Eirigi currently, and that as in 1916. when both the Republican and Marxist political strands combined successfully to achieve considerable progress, there are really important matters currently stirring for the revolutionary Irish people of no property. Only I know how committed I was to the Cause of Ireland. It is as truly shocking for me as anyone, that these events occurred and I urge anyone with similar experience to come clean, in a prudent manner, with people whom they can trust and understand. Bear in mind that those who have never done anything for Ireland or are just barroom Republicans will be your biggest critics. For our own sake and the sake of Ireland, we must develop a truthful culture, for the sake of the recovery of our country. I have forgiven myself and my enemies with the exception of Margaret Thatcher, for my most grievious mistakes. I can only hope that others can too.

Mise le meas

brionOcleirigh