BREXIT, DEMOCRARCY AND THE RULE OF LAW IN IRELAND: ARROGANCE, DECEIT, BLUE SMOKE AND MIRRORS – By Michael J Cummings

AMERICAN BREXIT COMMITTEE
1919 CHESTNUT ST, SUITE 1724
PHILADELPHIA, PA 19103

John M. Corcoran Esq, Chairman
Michael J. Cummings, Secretary

March2, 2023

The roll-out of Britain’s leaving the European Union officially began with Parliament’s adoption
of the 2020 Trading and Cooperation Act but other pacts dealing with financial and legal sectors
may take years to resolve. The verdict of political pundits to date is hardly mixed with Guardian
columnist William Kerrigan calling it “the gold standard of self-harm.” Most others are less
charitable. Brexiteer MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has claimed leaving the EU is a triumph for British
“sovereignty’ but references no victories. Nowhere is the impact of Brexit more likely to be felt
then in what remains of Britain’s colonial empire, a six-county carve-out on the island of Ireland
called Northern Ireland. In response to the overwhelming 1918 vote for Irish independence,
the British Parliament chose partition in 1920 without the approval of one Irish vote. The
British were the first to demonstrate ‘election denial’ in the 20th century.


Today, a similar scenario unfolds with Britain again denying Sinn Fein election victories. In
order to maintain the ‘Kingdom’ and to distract from Brexit failures the British again support
the loyalist minority by obstructing democracy and corrupting the rule of law. No one should
get too excited about the so-called Windsor Framework. The track record of broken Irish
treaties is a mix of solutions designed to fail and carefully crafted cover-ups. The cycle of these
‘historic’ pacts involves the patient nurturing and misleading of media, a snail-like pace
implementing obligations, endless word disputes, the claim of insufficient funds, and the
conclusion, after 25 years, that the agreement is no longer “fit for purpose.” That is the story of
Britain’s undermining the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).


Lord Frost, leader of the Brexiteer brigade, was the first to label the GFA as “no longer fit for
purpose” and the Conservatives have spent most of the past 25 years undermining its principles
and related pacts. Like that endless pursuit of the fountain of youth, Britain seeks to preserve
the “union” by trying to perfect Irish partition. The United States, along with the EU, are
guarantors of the GFA but seem content to chastise rather than confront British indifference to
treaty principles or obligations. Neocon scholar and former West Point Professor Robert Kagan theorizes that “…the US and the UK must live by a double standard —to proclaim a rules-based
order but to maintain a monopoly on treaty breaking and violence to advance human
progress.”Judge for yourself if this example of British arrogance and violence advances human progress.


Parliament prepares to adopt retroactive impunity and to deny government liability for MI5,
Army, police, and double-agent complicity in the killing of more than 1000 innocent civilians in
NI, most of whom were also Irish citizens. Most of these crimes were never given a police
investigation or a Coroner’s Inquest and all information requests have been denied and
obstructed for decades. This abandonment of the rule of law includes a more sinister attack on
democracy. Most of these victims were friends, neighbors, relatives, voters or casual
acquaintances of Sinn Fein office holders, workers and voters or ‘suspected’ of such
associations.


American and Irish citizens must object to Britain’s treacherous assault on democracy and the
rule of law in search of the more perfect Irish partition. Robert Kagan has his explanation for
Britain’s behavior. Our explanation is that Britain’s rule in Ireland has never been ‘fit for
purpose.’


Michael J. Cummings, Secretary
201 W Evergreen Ave, Apt 715
Chestnut Hill, PA 19118
castlecomer@gmail.com
267-766-5028


Michael J. Cummings, a native of Springfield, Mass. is a graduate of St. Anselm’s College (B. A., 1968) and New York University (MPA., 1970) . He established the American Brexit Committee in 2016 and serves as Secretary. He is a former member of the National Boards of the Irish American Unity Conference (1996-2013), the Ancient Order of Hibernians (2001-2008), and the Irish Northern Aid Committee (1988-1996). He also served as Chairman of the Capital District Irish National Caucus (1979-1982). He worked for the State of New York for 36 years in various
capacities including as Assistant Deputy State Comptroller and Director of the Justice Court Fund. He served on the Peace and Justice Commission of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. Cummings has appeared on American, English and Irish television and radio and his commentary and letters have appeared in major American, Irish- American, and Catholic print media.






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