Individual persons have friends among their communities and beyond them.
And they have neighbours they do not know whom they generally
seek not to offend but consider as potential friends.
But do states have friends?
I doubt it. States have interests. And governments, if ethical, pursue such
interests and collabourate with other states by negotiation to avoid international
conflict.
But Governments can care less for those whom they govern, than for individual
selfish commercial interests.
General Eisenhower was no bleeding heart liberal nor socialist visionary.
But his valedictory message on leaving the White House warned against
a military-Industrial complex threatening war.
That complex existed as he spoke and has grown in the sixty-three years
since.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1968 contributed a breathing space
which appears to being terminated.
That Treaty was the fruit of a ten year campaign at the United Nations
by Ireland’s Minister for External Affairs, Frank Aiken and the culmination of
Aiken’s career for peace since he became IRA Chief of Staff in 1923 at the age
of 25. As Commander of a Northern Division of the IRA Aiken had tried to stand
aloof from the conflict arising from the document signed in London under Llloyd’s
Godfather threat of “Immediate and Terrible War” but had been tricked and imprisoned by Dick Mulcahy. Aiken had escaped and continued the Republican
fight. AS Chief of Staff he ordered an immediate Cease Fire and the storage of
weapons in Secure Dumps. A co-founder with Eamon De Valera of Fianna Fail
he helped establish the sovereign independent democratic Irish State which played
a distinguished role with the League of Nations, and kept the State of the Second Disastrous World War started by British Statesmen within 25 years.
Britain’s Military Industrial Complex includes its Trade Union Congress which has
demanded the expansion of its already huge armaments industry.
I asked if States have friends. I am convinced they have not.
I am lucky to have friends, after 59 years living in Britain, predominantly British ones.
I do not consider the British State my friend nor a friend of Ireland of which I am
a citizen. I have friends and good neighbours among the Jewish community and I
wish it well. I am not pro-Zionist nor a paid up “Friend of Israel.” I know that a great many Jews, rarely acknowledged by the war-mongering media share my view.
I distrust the Irish Government and most Governments in the EU.
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