Middle east crisis

pdf27 · January 2, 2009, 2:10pm

I’m sure this chap will be happy to help with the titles at least!
http://www.arrse.co.uk/wiki/The_Baron_of_Castleshort

Rising_Sun · January 2, 2009, 2:28pm

pdf27:

The burly bartender at a neighborhood saloon in the Queens section of New York City offers a shot of John Jameson Irish whisky to a Gaelic-looking stranger. As the visitor tosses it down, the bartender mutters a curse about “the bloody Brits”—and carefully observes the drinker’s reaction. At the slightest sign of agreement, he moves in. Bluntly, and loudly enough so his other Irish-American patrons can hear, he asks the stranger for a contribution to the terrorist Provisional wing of the Irish Republican Army.

Few customers can resist the pressure: most contribute. Each week the bartender collects about $100, which he turns over to unnamed friends who deliver it “where it will do the most good.” The bartender, who has never even seen Ireland but whose father was born there, also collects weapons for the Provisional I.R.A. He led a recent visitor to a nearby cellar, where he had hidden half a dozen M-16 rifles and a footlocker full of land mines. The cache was being held for a confederate (“I’m not sure of his name, but I think it’s Casey”), who would smuggle the arms to Northern Ireland.

The bartender is one of countless Irish Americans across the country who, out of a romantic sense of patriotism for the land of their forefathers, gather money and guns for the Proves. Gunrunning is illegal: although the bulk of the arms buying is done in the Middle East, since 1973, 22 Americans have been convicted of purchasing and exporting weapons to Northern Ireland. But fund raising, even for terrorists, is not unlawful. Furthermore, any individual can carry up to $5,000 in cash out of the country without reporting it. When suspicious customs inspectors searched some passengers on a charter flight to Ireland from New York City last March, they found that no one was carrying more than $4,900. According to a British intelligence report, Americans contribute more money (an estimated $145,000 a year) to the Provisional I.R.A. than do people in any other country. The largest single U.S. source of cash, according to the report, is the New York-based Irish Northern Aid Committee (Noraid), which is headed by a former I.R.A. fighter, Michael Flannery, 77, who operates out of a small, cluttered Bronx office.

Two weeks ago, the Justice Department tried to compel Noraid to designate the Provisional wing of the I.R.A. as its “foreign principal.” Noraid refused, and its attorney, former New York City Council President Paul O’Dwyer, insisted, “We won’t be falsely labeled.”

Noraid’s leaders contend that the organization does not supply money or weapons for the Provos gunmen. They insist that the group’s sole purpose is to help support the families of fighters killed or imprisoned by the British. Yet the line is a fine one, as even Flannery concedes: “Our support for their families enables them [the Provos] to make other uses of their money, so in that respect, yes, we’re financing the I.R.A.” Because Noraid has long been registered in the U.S. as an agent for the Irish Northern Aid Committee of Belfast, Flannery makes an accounting to the Justice Department of his organization’s receipts twice a year. He says that Noraid raises about $200,000 annually and that the books he keeps account for every penny.

Because the Justice Department cannot put Noraid out of business, the Government’s primary aim is to discourage contributions from Americans by forcing Flannery to acknowledge that some of the money is used for terrorism in Northern Ireland. Says a federal investigator: “Flannery would be better off standing on a soapbox shouting for money to buy guns and bricks and bombs to blow the Brits out of Northern Ireland. That would be the end of it as far as we are concerned. We would leave him alone.” In fact, while donations might slow if the collectors were that candid, Noraid could not then be sued by the Justice Department for failure to disclose the real purpose of its money.

Ireland’s Prime Minister, Jack Lynch, readily agrees with the Justice Department’s strategy. Says he: “If those who contribute believe that their money goes to support widows and orphans, let me make it clear that it goes to make widows and orphans.” While touring the U.S. last week, Lynch estimated that “something like 2%” of Ireland’s population supports Provo objectives. He pleaded with Irish Americans in Chicago to “desist from giving support to these people.” Said Lynch: “If Americans imagine that they are helping Ireland, they are wrong. They are doing just the opposite.”

But that kind of talk does not at all dissuade the Provisional I.R.A. sympathizers who pass the hat in bars, social clubs and churches in Irish neighborhoods in the U.S. Acknowledges Alice Mulkern, a mother of three who eagerly solicits contributions in New York City: “It’s not for widows and orphans. The British welfare system takes care of them. It’s for the I.R.A.”

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946419,00.html

My father was one of them, in an understandable and well-intentioned but physically harmless way, as were many of his Irish descended generation who grew up in an inter-war Australia that was still dominated by the English descended Anglicans who looked down upon the Irish Catholics, and excluded them from as much as they could, with a fair degree of success.

The wife of a mate of mine was another, but much less harmless, example of extra-Ireland supporters. We had some verbally violent debates, or just rancid quarrels, in the 1980s and 1990s, over such matters as the execution by the IRA in Holland around 1990 of two Australians mistaken by the boyos for British soldiers on leave. She callously regarded them as casualties of war, while the rest of us thought they were just murdered. She was peripherally involved in the very modest contemporary Australian equivalent of the enterprises in the quote above.

Regardless of my views about British involvement in Ireland, which overall are not sympathetic to Britain in the sweep of history there, or other matters outside Australian borders, generally I don’t have much tolerance for people in my country giving material support to violence in other countries.

A lot of people come here supposedly to get away from the violence, tyranny and lack or opportunity in their former country, but some display a surprising enthusiasm for continuing support for that country once they’re here.

Most Aussies reflect my view that you leave all that shit behind when you come here for a better life, or you can piss off back to where you came from if you want to keep it going.

Far too many migrants here, or others with a strong link with their ethnic or religious past who may have been here for generations, take a different view and want to manipulate public opinion here and our government to fight their foreign battles. Zionists / Jews and Arabs / Muslims are a perfect example over Gaza and other issues related to Israel / Palestine.

The Zionists / Jews usually win at the national level because they have the commercial and political influence, so that we end up with our substantial Arab / Muslim elements simmering with the same fury that their brethren in Gaza and in the Arab world feel over Israel.

It ain’t a recipe for harmony here.

Come the revolution, when I’m the big boss, both sides will be given the choice of deciding whether they are completely loyal to Australia or something less. In the latter case, they will be given a government funded one-way ticket to something less. Which, oddly enough, is never the place they choose to live while busily sponsoring their relatives to come to Australia from something less, yet while also exercising freedoms here undreamt of in something less to berate Australia as a lousy country because it doesn’t support their team in something less while demanding that we get into their ancient ancestral, tribal, and religious feuds to perpetuate the past they have chosen to flee in a country which is something less than Australia that they don’t want to live in, and go quite feral when threatened with the prospect of being deported there after they’ve shat on the opportunities they’ve been given here.

As the Americans say: Go figure!

Rather more extreme than my view in its moral, but nonetheless usefully illustrative of the point is:

Aesop’s Fables: The Farmer and the Viper
One winter a Farmer found a Viper frozen and numb with cold, and out of pity picked it up and placed it in his bosom. The Viper was no sooner revived by the warmth than it turned upon its benefactor and inflicted a fatal bite upon him; and as the poor man lay dying, he cried, “I have only got what I deserved, for taking compassion on so villainous a creature.”

Moral: Kindness is thrown away upon the evil.

Rising_Sun · January 2, 2009, 2:46pm

I am indebted to you for that link, which has thrown up “Mc Carthy Mor and Prince of Desmond” as just the man to help me reclaim most, perhaps all, of my rightful title to most of Ireland but notably Mayo, Kilkenny, Wateford and Wexford.

The Barony of Castleshort seems to have been given or sold to Shortt by one Terence McCarthy, who posed for a period as the ‘McCarthy Mor and Prince of Desmond’ before being outed as a Belfast con-man. McCarthy had managed to convince the Irish Chief Herald that he was the clan chief of the McCarthys and took the opportunity to coin it, by selling titles to gullible Irish-Americans, before he was exposed as a fake. ‘Baronies’ in Ireland were introduced by the Norman-English and are not a traditional Irish title.

I have emailed the Prince of Desmond and anticipate the imminent return of the instruments of my ancestral titles and lands, upon receipt of which I shall appoint you Keeper of the Privy.

Yours in gratitude,

Breathnach

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 2:54pm

I heard on the tv that the Israeli Supreme court has said it is unconstitutional to deny foreign reportes to enter Gaza for purposes of covering the War, Yet israel still denys foriegn access . When America bombed Iraq, we had embedded reporters. It seems with this war there is pure censorship, so the world doesn’t get a fair or honest un bias view of the tradgedy befitting the Gaza people.

In other news, the following article from Kuwaiti News is just one of many news articles reflecting the CHOKE Hold that Israel has had on Gaza which precipitated the rocket attacks.

Israel prevents EU’'s financial aid to Gaza Strip – official

GAZA, Dec 22 (KUNA) – The Palestinian authority is contacting European countries to mount pressure on Israel to allow transfer of funds provided by the European Union (EU) to Gaza Strip, a senior official said on Monday.
Minister of Social Affairs Dr Mahmoud Al-Habbash said, “These funds have been allocated to thousands of Palestinian families in need in Gaza Strip” – who are sustaining severe living conditions due to the Israeli-imposed siege.
Voice of Palestine radio station quoted Al-Habbash as saying that the ministry was tasked to distribute the funds for social purposes across the West Bank through the European interim mechanism.
According to the program, the Palestinian Authority and the EU coordinate efforts to aid more than 47,000 Palestinian families, including 24,000, in Gaza Strip.
The minister revealed that the EU had told him that Israel prevented the fund transfer to the strip.
Habbash said the authority maintained contacts with the European countries and organizations to guarantee the fund deposition in the Palestinian banks and force Israel to approve the transaction that would provide basic needs to many Palestinian families.
He said that he is also trying to tackle the issue of shortage of flour, that will eventually cause the suspension of many bakeries in Gaza Strip.

Rising_Sun · January 2, 2009, 3:11pm

How will we know when it’s over?

It’s been running for over sixty years, with intermittent periods of unintentional peace, while, quite reasonably, generating increasing hostility towards Israel in the Arab world. And elsewhere.

I don’t think it will be over until either Israel is obliterated or Israel obliterates the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The latter seems like a task beyond Israel.

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 3:27pm

Sorry,
I meant, when the current recent influx of hostilities is over. ,True True…there will never ne a Real end, unfortunately…your correct (as always)

Rising_Sun · January 2, 2009, 3:32pm

All decent people are outraged and dismayed by the sight of dead and wounded people and especially innocents, and very much children, and the suffering those images represent for the people involved.

However, embedded reporters with US forces in Iraq were embedded precisely to avoid uncensored reports and footage of the sort which upset much of the American public during the Vietnam War. Principled journalists refused to be embedded because they weren’t willing to be censored.

Whether it’s Israel or Gaza, or elsewhere, in the modern world both sides usually can get their spin out to reach a reasonable audience. Indeed, where there are graphic scenes of blood, grief, bodies, and burials the victim will get the best coverage, whether or not the victim is innocent or deserving.

Judging who is right or wrong on the basis of the latest crop of bloody human mess is not a basis for judging who is right or wrong in the overall dispute. Not least because the Israelis don’t publicise some of their slaughters, and indeed go out of their way to conceal them. http://www.ww2incolor.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5188

Drake · January 2, 2009, 4:49pm

Let’s hope we won’t have to find out. I guess if Iran gets the nuke and doesn’t use it this part of the world actually has a slim chance of peace in the future. But if the Iranian leadership is fanatically enough to deploy a bomb or Israel makes a military move on them first the whole region is just forever toast.

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 5:44pm

Well i know that the facts are talking by theirself . 1967 syria if i am not mistaken , lost the Gholan Highes in 1967 war and also Israeli enemys lost in a bad way . In 1973 also Israeli enemys again lost despite the “wins” of the first days . Why dont they attack ???
Maybe they fear an american interfier … who knows ???
Perhaps they believe they are not able to take the fight to the Israelis , or they believe that the israelis have so much confidence and experience that they seem almost unharmed

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 6:10pm

PLEASE, OH PLEASE!..why doesn’t Arabia attack Israel…Please…
…because Israel is the most powerful country in the whol middle east. i think they even have the Atomic Bomb (A personal favourite weaopn of mine).
Israel could beat all 4 Arab countries with their left hand tied behind their back, blindfolded. (and thats just the women)!..if you put the men into battle it would be a slaughter. Those 4 countries you mentioned couldn’t even attack Australia if they wanted to. Please!

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 6:21pm

Do you believe that Hamas missiles can destroy/hit the nuclear instalations of the Israel ???
Iran threats that will inderfier if israel attacks in Gaza

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 6:25pm

Hamas shoots blindly. They have absoulutely no way of guiding their missiles acurately enough to hit Nukes. israel has anti-missile blaster that wiould destroy any missiles like they way they destroyed Sadam’s Scud missiles.
Iran is like a big Hot Air Ballon. It won’t do anything that would cause USA to pulverise it back into the stone age (which I wish USA would do)

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 6:32pm

I agree with you in that . But what about the air carrier Kouznetzov that “patrols” and makes exercise in eastern Mediteranian ??? Dont you think that shows that russia is here and stands on front of the us who supports israel ???

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 6:42pm

Oh please,
Half the time the Russians send out a ship, it usually sinks or falls apart. I never hear about an American ship falling apart.
Besides, is this not the ONLY Russian aircraft carrier that Russia even has (20 yrs old as it is)…USA has a dozen, so you do the math. The Kouznetzov would sink to the sea from rust by the time it see’s any action. With a dozen aircraft carriers, nobody can beat USA…nobody. God Bless America!

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 6:49pm

Yeah god bless america the land of free and the broken . c’mon man . and both russia and america have nuclear weapons . and dont you think i dont know about the dozen carriers YOU have … Eisenhower is my favourite but YOU have more better than that . Even if something happens we would have something like world war II between two very old allies …

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 6:55pm

I don’t think America has any intentions to fight the Russians.
If America nuked Russia then where would the American strip clubs find strippers?..other than the Romaninas, the Russian girls are the only other choice, from whenever I go in!

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 6:58pm

Well i leave these things to those who know , but i guess the ukranians are good too …

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 7:00pm

ya, if you don’t mind moustaches:)
Seriously, when the price of gas goes back up again, then you will kow that WW-3 is impending. My philosopy is, don’t read the news in the morning: simply drive to work and see if the price of gas has shot up!.

kallinikosdrama1992 · January 2, 2009, 7:08pm

Well you have the privilege … thats why you do it , i dont . you see these days without school i have nothing else to do but watch the news .
What kind of work you do ??? if you dont mind to say

herman2 · January 2, 2009, 7:14pm

I am a professional sanitation Engineer! (i.e. I monitor the broken bottles and shredded newspapers on the conveyor belt as they pass my inspection. It’s sort of like a Homer Simpson job,LOL! …but I take my job seriously. The other day, someone put a bottle in the paper conveyer and I had to yell at him. the next day I found a bite out of my sandwich in the lunch room. Coincidence? I think not!