When I was a child I was forever reading about Russia. My father bought The Irish News ( of course he was unbalanced, Virginia) and I’d look at the big headlines about Stalin and other major USSR figures. Since we prayed for the people of godless Russia in the rosary every night, I kept looking for signs that God was making inroads on Stalin and Russia. No such luck. Add to that my sisters’ insistence that the Russians had a bomb which could blow up the whole world, and I was a nervous little scanner of the VO/IN headlines.
Today Russia is in the headlines again. For example, there was that bit where they went into the Ukraine and annexed the Crimea. But did you know the Crimea was part of Russia since 1783? I didn’t. And did you know that the West (aka the US) organized a coup against the democratically-elected president of the Ukraine, Yanukovych, and that Yanukovych then asked for Russian help?
I think being aware of these facts shows you how jelly-bellied much of the Western media is. It wouldn’t be a wild surmise to suggest that the majority of people in Ireland think Russia was trying to grab the Crimea, to which it had no right, and the US and the West were the good guys appalled by this lawless act.
For weeks now we’ve been getting the same about the chemical poisoning of the ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. They were poisoned by a nerve agent. It was the work of Russia – probably Putin himself – and that’s why the UK and many other countries have expelled Russian diplomats. Last to do so was Ireland, who expelled one Russian diplomat. Much has been made of EU unity and solidarity. President Trump in the US is also an enthusiastic participant in the throw-them-out business.
There may have been people who asked – like Jeremy Corbyn – for a little bit of evidence before taking this radical step. Forget it. Our secret serice tell us the Russians did it, so that’s enough evidence. Yes, the intelligence agencies screwed up big-time about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but that was just an exception. So naturally the south of Ireland dutifully lined up and tossed out its one diplomat.
Well done, Leo. Yerrah sure what need do we have of evidence? That’s all a cod. Which is why we allowed all those rendition flights by the US to stop off and take on supplies in Shannon, even though Ireland is a neutral state.
A neutral state that gives physical support to one major power. A neutral state that treats questions of evidence as minor irrititants. And we, the public, accept it all. We’re beginning to sound more and more like Orwell’s 1984 all the time.
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