There’s a public air of anxiety throughout the world today. Talk to anyone – even if you don’t talk to them, they’ll still tell you – we’re in a ‘dangerous world’. Trump even accused Zelenskii of pushing us all into World War III. There’s a belief among many that global conflict is inevitable. So is it?
Only if we let them. The call for an abandonment of foreign aid and heavy investment in weaponry echoes through the EU, and the south of Ireland is chipping in with their little half-pence worth. Simon Harris is hammering at that Triple Lock and trying to make it a Double Lock, which in effect would allow the Dublin government to send Irish troops wherever they deemed suitable.
But there’s one thing that we should be asking our war-hungry representatives: what mandate have you to talk about the need to maintain the peace while buying or building armaments?
I don’t remember ‘War’ featuring in any of the parties’ platforms in the south’s recentl election. So if you didn’t tell people your intentions before they voted, aren’t you guilty of hoodwinking the public in the most outrageous way?
And one more question: what sort of boneheads do you take us for, that you build weapons that will blow human beings to bits, and you do it all under the hypocritical heading of Peace?
John Lennon used to sing a song with the chorus ‘War is over/If you want it’. We should resist and insist at every turn that we’re not subscribers to the lucrative arms trade, that those who called for peace during the Troubles should tell Britain to go build its flying Javelins in its own country, and we should resist the propaganda that the Western media is dumping on us in daily dung-cartloads.
Like John Lennon, Bob Dylan had a poor view of the war-mongers. ‘Masters of War’ is a bitter song, but like him we’ve plenty to be bitter about.
Come you masters of war
You that build the big guns
You that build the death planes
You that build all the bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
Here’s ‘Masters of War’ sung live in 1963. Copy and paste in Youtube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmPR1xHVUas
Very good Jude
We in Ireland have to do our bit to protect democracy in the Ukraine. Putin is a murdering criminal dictator who will not stop in the Ukraine if he wins but will keep on going to see all of Eastern Europe living in his Gulag dictatorship! When it came to WW11if Hitler had defeated Europe/England he could have taken over Ireland with a phone call to Dev!
The problem now is America has a president who does not give a flying feck for the West, he is quite literally Putin’s puppet. So Russia and America are now on the same side. Confused?
In late 80s I stood I the visitors gallery in the Dail with a number of classmates from Magee university’s peace studues degree. As we took in the beauty of the building a number of other visitors jumped up calling out ” Shame on you Ireland where is your neutrality now!” referencing the fact that US planes could refuel at Shannon on their way to theatres of conflict throughout the middle east and other parts of the globe.
So Irish neutrality is a bit like British sovereignty when Ronnie Reagan took the decision to bomb Libya Britian was little more than an Aircraft carrier, it means very little in reality.
Ireland is attached to the EU and as such in 2017 joined the Perminant Structured cooperation (Pesco).
Since the current Russo/ Ukraine conflict ( and since the 1950s ) The RAF buzzes any Russian planes that err into Irelands air space .
So defacto no matter about the constitution or the will of the Irish people the Freestate and later coalition government’s have been active in these global conflicts making Irish Neutrality little more than an “empty vessel !”
Thankfully someone is keeping us safe, good on the RAF. Do you lock your home door at night?if you do this is your yourvery own personal NATO.. Hitler could have taken Ireland just with a phone call to Dev if he had won WW11! Ireland must start contributing some money towards our protection!