Irish Republican Conflict Junkies Unite!!

…..You Have Nothing To Lose But Your Chains…




The State of Norn Irony’s Deputy First Minister and former Chief Irish Republican negotiator during the Peace Process, Martin McGuinness has recent flagged the alarming increasing blight on Norn Irony society of ‘Conflict Junkies’.-so called dissident Irish Republicans…


If a 'Conflict Junky' support group existed, it could be called, F.A. (Fenian Anonymous, formerly Fenian Aspiration). If it did exist, then the following 12 Step Programme could be used to assist those who may feel dismayed or left behind by Sinn Fein’s direction on Irish Unity.

The 12 Steps to Stormont

[via Black Op GFA, (Give’m Fcuk All)]

STEP 1: We admitted we were powerless over Irish Partition and British Rule – that our 40 Year Struggle had become unmanageable due to infiltration by Supergrasses, [Steakknife & Stakeknife(**-See Footnotes), Brian Nelson,Kevin Fulton et al,] British State Collusion, Shoot to Kill, Sectarian Loyalist death squads, SAS Big Boy Rules, etc etc


STEP 2: Came to believe that a Power (John Hume/Tony Blair/Bertie Ahern) greater than ‘ourselves alone’ could restore us to sanity (Sunningdale Mark II).


STEP 3: Made a decision to turn our will and our political aspirations over to the care of God (aka Big Ian Paisley) as we understood Big Ian (Never, Never, Never).


STEP 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of our Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD’s) and ‘The Disappeared”.


STEP 5: Admitted to Big Ian, to ‘ourselves alone’, and to John De Chastelain the exact nature of our WMD’s and where they were…


STEP 6: Were entirely ready to have Big Ian remove all these Fenian defects of character and succumbing to wearing sack clothes and ashes after rigorous mental rehabilitation to produce the Good Friday Agreement (later to be watered down to St Andrew’s/Hillsborough Agreements).


STEP 7: Humbly asked Big Ian should we remove our right to Self Determination through Articles 2 & 3..


STEP 8: Made a list of all persons harmed in the 40 Year Struggle via the Police Ombudsman Office & Historical Enquiries Team etc, and became willing to make amends to them ALL (via Eames/Bradley Report) by palming them of with £12K each!!.


STEP 9: Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, EXCEPT Dissident Irish Republicans where we ask their communities on the ‘Divided Island of Ireland’ to ‘TOUT’ on them to the Garda/PSNI.


STEP 10: Continued to take personal inventory of our Irish Republicanism and when we were wrong promptly admitted it. (EXEMPT: Being an ‘alleged’ member of the Irish Republican Army OR Calling our former Irish Republican comrades ‘Traitors, to the Partitioned Island of Ireland’).


STEP 11: Sought through the GFA/St. Andrew’s agreements, and tree hugging with Tony Blair to improve our conscious contact with Big Ian as we understood Big Ian, praying only for knowledge of Big Ian’s British Imperialist will for us and the power to carry that out after ringing Big Ian seven times for consent.


STEP 12: Having had a spiritual awakening (A Road to Stormont Conversion) as the result of these steps of capitulation, we will try to bluff this message (**, See Foot-notes) to other conflict junkies, and to practice these principles as we administer Britannia’s Rule at Stormont HQ (including her imminent Public sector CUTS) on Irish Soil.


Foot-notes:

*- Note, this is not a typo, there were 2 of them !! Click here  for further information.

** - Unlike Richardson’s fertiliser, this MESSAGE has to get a Standard & Poor’s like credibility rating, as it is still currently being tried and tested home and away (Afganistan, Iraq and Palestine).

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Dealing with Norn Irony's Dissident Irish Republicans

Are Dissident Irish Republicans merely 'Conflict Junkies' ?

The State of Norn Irony’s Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuiness, recently launched a tirade against dissident Irish Republicans as he attended the recent Conservative Party Conference 2010 on the British mainland.

Whilst the Conservative conference had more Union Jacks flying than at the Queen’s coronation, Mr McGuiness remained undeterred and pulled no punches in condemnation of the,

‘when the cat’s away the mice will play bomb attack’

on the UK City of Culture 2011.
One of the less than flattering terms he used to describe the alleged dissident Irish Republican bombers was that of ‘conflict junkies’.

From an Island of Ireland perspective, McGuinness’s timing of the use of the phrase ‘conflict junkies’ could not been worse. At the very best such terminology could be described as extremely ill advised and at worst a cynical side swipe which could have resulted in a PR disaster for the Sinn Fein party within their grass root support. No doubt the current ranglings over NI budget has deflected sufficient attention for now.



An Ill Advised Knee Jerk Reaction?



Ill advised, as it came hot on the heals of Brian Cowan’s (& Ireland’s) very global public humiliation by American chat host Jay Lo of Biffo’s ill-fated morning radio interview. Apart from Cowan’s own personal disgrace, the whole affair re-awakened the world’s perception of the Irish ‘binge’ drinking culture persona. Couple this with McGuinness’s outburst; Irish America may not be exactly amused about the situation on the Island of Ireland!!! Furthermore, this latest dissident Irish Republican side swipe coincided with an extensive UTV news segment which was highlighting the ACTUAL and REAL problems of drug and alcohol addiction in the North. The feature UTV news report highlighted the growing concerns of those providing frontline services to those directly affected by drug/alcohol addiction. Their focus of immediate concern was the lack of adequate rehabilitation facilities which will be further exacerbated by the potential threat of imminent austerity measures and CUTS to N.I. front line medical services.



Politically, within the State of Northern Ireland, the irony that he should highlight this ever spreading blight upon post GFA Norn Iron will be neither lost on the Unionist/loyalist nor the dissident Irish Republican/PSF communities respectively.



Or a Cynical Side Swipe at Dissident Groups?

The ‘Junkies’ terminology is at worst cynical, for those hard-line, (and not necessarily dissident Irish Republicans) who will automatically point to McGuinness’s own contribution to the escalation of the 40 year Struggle and ask, what really has changed on the ground??. Back in the day, Martin McGuinness had a fiery and fanatical dedication to the militant cause of Irish Freedom. This is very evident from his speedy and meteoric rise through the ranks to become the (allegedly)  ‘PIRA Chief of Staff’. His unflinching single mindedness towards a military solution earned him the acrimonious title among the unionist community of ,‘IRA godfather of godfathers’!!!!

So much was he revered and admired amongst the ranks of the PIRA, he was plucked from relative media obscurity and selected as part of a PIRA delegation sent to England to meet William Whitelaw during the PIRA ceasefire of July, 1972.

So, to use substance addiction related terminology to judge McGuinness’s pro PIRA rhetoric and the militant gusto of his media interview performances during these times, you could be forgiven for making the assertion;

‘Be Jesus, Wasn’t Martin McGuinness A Serious Boy Back In the Day, he couldn’t be held back from gettin’ at the Brits, at all at all!!!’

The use of the word,' junkies’, denotes a complete lack of Irish Republican ideology behind the military tactics of the dissident groups. Martin McGuinness in a recent TV interview made a point of reinforcing his own Irish Republican credentials whilst emphatically dismissing the results of a poll which showed a 14% level of support for dissidents. But Martin McGuinness is all too aware that Irish Republican history has always swung between periods of conflict and dialogue although with decreasing levels of ferocity.



However, the pendulum still swung??  The highly respected Irish Republican, Gerard Hodgkins, also moved to play down the poll results by making the assumption that a lot of the 14% you wouldn’t want in a Republican movement. That maybe so, but this can be contradicted by the public acknowledgement by British security sources that these new dissident groups whilst being extremely small are extremely close knit. i.e. these new groups have adapted to alleviate the threat of super grass infiltration which blighted the PIRA campaign pre GFA. Such is the perceived threat that the PSNI Chief Constable, Matt Baggott, has been lobbying for access to “more than £200m of special funding from the treasury reserve during the next five years.”  As regards the David Cameron's defence cutting measures, extra monies will be made available to MI5/6 to keep a beady eye on the Fenian hordes in Norn Irony according to a recent report in the Financial Times:

‘International terrorism is another “tier 1” concern. The document points strikingly to the risk of a “significant increase in the levels of terrorism relating to Northern Ireland”. That indicates MI5 believes dissident republican groups are gaining strength – and might be able to mount a significant attack on the mainland. ‘

Could Martin McGuinness himself be pigeon holed as a reformed ‘Conflict Junky’?

 Those of the DUP/loyalist persuasion will point to Mr McGuinness’s own involvement during the 40 year struggle and automatically adopt a ‘kettle-pot’ analogy, since in their mind set ALL Irish Republican’s are tarred of the one brush. They may even see Mr McGuinness himself as a reformed ‘conflict junky’ as they once described him as the ‘IRA Godfather of Godfathers’. Given his transformation in strategies for Irish re-unification from armalite to unequivocal ballot box, they must quietly hope that he doesn’t suffer a relapse given the increasing pressure from dissident Irish Republican groups who are long past the micro group stage. They will also be scratching their heads in wondering why he cannot show more apathy towards dissuading and helping these ‘misguided’ Irish Republicans. In fact, there would be some who will be questioning why the DFM isn’t adopting a more hands on approach through dialogue with these Irish Republican militants.

Au contraire, anyone who had watched a recent DFM interview would have observed how he recognised the political dissident groups (32 CSM and others) whilst saying that the British/Irish governments were in communication with the militant groupings- perhaps a bit Pontius Pilate like? Surely such a self-centred attitude is not in keeping of a reformed 'conflict junky' and could well be construed in some quarters as egotistical??

No one can fault the PSF stalwarts that have stood behind the current leadership through thick and thin since the ousting of Ruairi O’Brodaigh as Sinn Fein President at the 1986 Ard Fheis. Back then Martin McGuinness’s youthful and exuberant speech on abstentionism (Resolution 162) began with the words:

‘I can give a commitment on behalf of the leadership that we have absolutely no intention of going to Westminster or Stormont.’

And concluded by rallying the party faithful with the assertion of:

‘Don’t go my friends. We will lead you to the republic.'

For many Irish Republicans, these words and promises must seem quite hollow now as they reflect on what actually has been achieved. Martin McGuinness and the leadership promised to take the ‘gun’ out of Irish politics. But the big question looming is:

By Sinn Fein’s very involvement in implementing Sunningdale Mark II via the Stormont Executive, are they themselves now complicit in bringing the ‘gun’ back into Irish politics?

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