About thirty years ago my wife and I visited Rome for the first time.In those days hotels were
beyond our budget and we carried a tent in our car which we put on a train which took us as
far as Bologna. We took a wrong turning which took us to Lake Trasimene, where long, long
ago, Hannibal inflicted a crushing defeat on Rome’s Legions, a story familiar to those of
you who paid attention to the Christian Brothers lessons on the Punic Wars.
 
We found a campsite, and, as it was lashing rain took shelter in its restaurant where for
the next couple of hours we dined with a Dutch couple. He was a Protestant clergyman
who had been a Chaplain to its Forces as, like other European “democracies” they sought
to resume mastery over Asian peoples, and the expropriation of their assets which had been
rudely interrupted by the Japanese.
 
He had gone to Indonesia, a convinced Imperialist and left there disillusioned and disgusted.
 
The late unlamented  genius Frank Kitson, whose grand designs acted as a Recruiting Sergeant
for the IRA, won his spurs in Malaya. Malayan Rubber financed Britain’s Welfare State. The non-white “Commonwealth” did not enjoy the fruits of their native lands.Still less did they enjoy the attention of the likes of Frank Kitson. All the atrocities visited on Vietnam by the Americans followed Clement Attlee’s template. Much of it followed practices used in the Second Boer War and threatened by Lloyd George and Churchill to frighten Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins in 1921 
 
The European Countries openly threatening Russia ,and effectively aiding genocide in Gaza today
have form.
 
Ireland would be better served not sending clowns to Kiev