Northern Ireland Troubles

Last Saturday, for those that hadn't heard, two soldiers were killed and several others (including civillians) injured at an army base in Belfast. The Real IRA claim to be responsible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7933530.stm

This has brought the troubles that have been dormant for the past 10 years back to the surface and back to the front pages of the news. Some speculate this is only the beginning of the return of the conflict whereas others believe the peace can survive despite this tragic event. Much seems to depend on the reaction of the loyalists; let's hope there isn't a retaliation.

Some history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles

Discuss.

FUCK THESE PEOPLE .... Jerry Adams or the leader of the orginal IRA now Sien Fienn has come out and denounced these people. Both Catholics and others are protesting the killings.

I think that peace will come back. Because both sides still remember the troubles and there can't be all that many people that want to renew them.

There might be some guerilla/terrorist type activity though. Godspeed, Northern Ireland.

I was watching BBC today (I was watching it all today, basically, due to being sick), and some kid was talking about how he would totally join in the violence and all that. I got pissed off and changed the channel.

I don't know is anyone surprised that there is a great animosity between the irish and english? If I was Irish I wouldn't exactly be kind to the english. Sorta like asking a native american not to hold some resentment for living on a reervation? Sticky situation that won't likely ever be resolved.

It'll be resolved when people stop giving a fuck and have some sense shaken into them.

Yes it's unsurprising that there's animosity, but decades of violence resulting from centuries of back story... It's so unnecessary. Religion and property war once again used as an excuse for mindless and pointless violence, a war over fuck all.

But then I'm a massive pacifist so what the hell do I know about violence. In my ideal world there'd be no borders and religion would be replaced by free thinking, and I'd have a faster car and psychokinetic abilities. Shame dreams aren't real :/

Also: I might have missed something, but I've not seen any news on the troubles since I originally started this thread. Things appear to have died down.

SolemnPsycho wrote:

I don't know is anyone surprised that there is a great animosity between the irish and english? If I was Irish I wouldn't exactly be kind to the english. Sorta like asking a native american not to hold some resentment for living on a reervation? Sticky situation that won't likely ever be resolved.

personally I'd rather be with down south than hanging on to the ass of a powerful country that doesn't need/ want us. (not that i blame them, it is a shit hole here.) However if the majority of the people here want to still be apart of the uk i dont think its right to take that away from them. but i got a welsh/southern protestant heritage and i guess you could say i'm a "republican" as much as i hate that word. but foreign IRA sympathizers really get under my skin. they are not the united farmers fighting for whats theirs, they're the closest thing Ireland has to a mafia.

Most violence here now is the equivalent to English football hooligans, "boys will be boys" as the saying goes. I hate that saying as much as i hate mindless violence. i too have a strong pacifist streak in me. but i don't worry about this topic anymore. until the day civilians start getting killed or the Government jumps into the role of the iron fist, s'all good in the hood, sorta.

I'm not saying I agree with the IRA I'm just saying that it's not surprising that it exists and that people are willing to join in on the violence. I'm not condoning it just saying when you take matches and add gasoline shit tends to get burnt.

i dont know if ive said this before on here, but a friend of my family sent all his teenage boys to live with family in Ireland, just to instill in his boys hate for englishmen in them.... just how some people are

It's basically the same problems America is gonna have overseas one day. If you keep killing peoples fathers, sons, grandkids, etc... the generations after them will come after you or your next generation and it is a never ending cycle...

And ih8thecharts why dont you like IRA sympathizers overseas? Just asking question not trying to make anyone made.

ska_sean wrote:

i dont know if ive said this before on here, but a friend of my family sent all his teenage boys to live with family in Ireland, just to instill in his boys hate for englishmen in them.... just how some people are

It's basically the same problems America is gonna have overseas one day. If you keep killing peoples fathers, sons, grandkids, etc... the generations after them will come after you or your next generation and it is a never ending cycle...

And ih8thecharts why dont you like IRA sympathizers overseas? Just asking question not trying to make anyone made.

its cool, i understand why people would sympathize with them, it is a romantic picture, just a lot of people don't understand the difference between the 1920's IRA and the present. It ain't just IRA sympathizers but all republican and unionist paramilitary sympathizers. The IRA in the 60s (which had fuck all membership) split, so there was the Original and and the Provisional IRA. The original IRA are the quiet one, i don't know much about them other than they're heavily into Marxism. The provisional however are the "armed struggle" crowd, these boys did politically fuck all, they were just enraged young men looking to pop a soldier thanks to internment and bloody Sunday.

However it went too far when a lot of civilians got hurt and some were even targeted (small business owners who weren't catholic, but that's a family bias so i could be wrong on that one). and they didn't hesitate to shoot off duty police officers while they ate out at restaurants with their wives and children. But what made this a lot worse at the time major political parties would back these guys up. But when i say that, i don't mean to make out the RUC were the cool ones, they were fuck bags, most anyway. But today these "angry young men" mostly have grown up and i know a good few people whose dads were involved at one stage and they don't think like that at all anymore. but today the IRA and other paramilitaries have been exposed for organised crime (pit bull fighting is their thing now apparently while others were nabbed for drug trafficking).

I actually hate some unionist paramilitaries a lot more than the IRA, the IRA are just most well known so it's people who love waving their banners that i come across most. Not that they're assholes or anything, i find theyre usually cool people when i get to know them, it can just get offensive at times. But then all of this is basically because im a pussy when it comes to violence.

SolemnPsycho wrote:

I don't know is anyone surprised that there is a great animosity between the irish and english? If I was Irish I wouldn't exactly be kind to the english. Sorta like asking a native american not to hold some resentment for living on a reervation? Sticky situation that won't likely ever be resolved.

sorry i didn't mean to come across in that way i was responding to the "irish and english" part.

ska_sean wrote:

It's basically the same problems America is gonna have overseas one day. If you keep killing peoples fathers, sons, grandkids, etc... the generations after them will come after you or your next generation and it is a never ending cycle...

I'm pretty sure that's already happening.

I don't know it's a little different for the U.S. seems like we always end up fighting our former allies. sigh. who we armed.

we aren't so smart on the foreign policy thing.

You aren't so smart.



Just that.

Do you guys get off on mocking me or something? Sitting at home alone on a forum on your fancy moral highground casting judgement? It's like hey watch me make legitimate points and then have 15 people tell me how moronic I am? Well congrats your all king shit of crap mountain.

With the 'you' in my post I was referring to your 'we'. Not to you as a person.

Further clarification: Tim isn't from the US. He was talking about the US (you) as a country rather than you personally.

Exactly. Thank you, Ross.

I thought he was referring to the individual.

Agreed either way though.

there is a psni station in central derry where supposedly a car bomb went off a half hour ago, i heard it, my dogs shat themselves. but this could get the police to calm the fuck down, i dont know why no-one has tried this before!




edit- now saying pipe bomb.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-10651854

this happend 2 weeks ago. i fuckin love this place.

I know Londonderry is in NI and is therefore part of the UK, but it fucking baffles me that NI is the UK, considering that the UK is offically called The United Kingdom of GB and NI, which surely appears to say 'Oh, NI isn't part of the UK.'

Oh, unless they mean that GB and NI are united as a kingdom. I hate my language.

I find it silly considering every known republican politician is against this shit aswell as anyone over the age of 13. The reason people are so against a united ireland is because of clowns like this. The whole city is shitting bricks, my sister lives just up the road from the blast.