Adams's kind of country (SINN FEIN / IRA LAVISHES PRAISE ON CUBA)

The Daily Telegraph ^ | December 18, 2001 | Editorial Staff

[MadIvan]

GERRY ADAMS was all smiles as he touched down in Havana yesterday. Waving two fingers at his American critics, he lavished praise on the Cuban system of government and its wonderful health service.

It was no surprise to see Mr Adams so at home in Latin America's only dictatorship. For Cuba is a fine model of how Ireland might look if, by some bizarre twist of events, Sinn Fein / IRA were ever to come to power there.

For 40 years, Fidel Castro has pursued an "ourselves alone" policy, distracting attention from the condition of his own island by attacking its larger neighbour.

Although he has the fanatical support of a minority, Mr Castro despises the democratic process and holds his legitimacy to derive, not from popular support, but from the sacrifice of a past generation of revolutionaries.

On this side of the Atlantic, Cuba might seem rather viejo sombrero: an unfashionable cause for ageing Marxists. But it is hard to exaggerate the horror that Mr Adams's visit is provoking in Washington.

Patience with the IRA, already strained by its links with Colombian narco-terrorists, snapped after September 11. Eventually, the gunmen felt obliged to recognise international opinion by decommissioning some weapons.

But it is clear from his latest actions that Mr Adams now feels that the slate has been wiped clean.

Why are the republicans acting in this way? Because, quite simply, they believe they can get away with it. For 30 years, they have consorted indiscriminately with America's enemies: Syria, Libya, Eta, the PLO and most of the Cold War east bloc-sponsored paramilitaries. Yet no sanction has followed.

No matter that Britain has backed the United States in almost every military operation from the Korean War to the current campaign. And no matter that the IRA has supported America's foes on each occasion. Nothing, it seems, can break the Boston-Belfast axis.

Not that we are in much of a position to complain: our government, too, has bent over backwards to accommodate the republicans, rigging the electoral rules in Ulster for their convenience, granting them a special dispensation to raise funds in North America when mainland parties are banned, even giving them the right to parliamentary expenses in violation of the rules.

Congratulations to Quentin Davies, the Conservative Northern Ireland spokesman, for refusing to go along with this appeasement. Labour may be debasing itself and degrading our democracy; but that is no reason for the Tories to join in.

[MadIvan]

Britain has its own War on Terrorism to fight. Any assistance America could give in cutting off assistance to a political grouping that is indeed their enemy, would be appreciated.

Regards, Ivan

But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

Today is Trinity Sunday. Centuries ago words were written to be a call and a spur to the faithful servants of Truth and Justice: "Arm yourselves, and be ye men of valour, and be in readiness for the conflict; for it is better for us to perish in battle than to look upon the outrage of our nation and our altar. As the Will of God is in Heaven, even so let it be." - Winston Churchill, 1940

This then, my lords and gentlemen, is the message which we send forth today to all states and nations, bound or free, to all the men in all the lands who care for freedom's cause. To our Allies and well-wishers in Europe, to our American friends and helpers drawing ever closer in their might across the ocean, this is the message-lift up your hearts, all will come right. Out of depths of sorrow and sacrifice will be born again the glory of mankind. - Winston Churchill, 1941

"What kind of a people do they think we are? Is it possible that they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget?" - Winston Churchill, 1941

[onyx]

Gerry Adams is Catholicism's OBL.

[MadIvan]

Gerry Adams is Catholicism's OBL.

He's about as much a Catholic as Fidel. He's a socialist underneath the Catholic veneer.

Regards, Ivan

[onyx]

Much like our democrats --- Kennedy, Biden Leahy, Daschole....

[tonycavanagh]

re : He's about as much a Catholic as Fidel. He's a socialist underneath the Catholic veneer.

Hear Hear

Cheers Tony

[tonycavanagh]

re : Nothing, it seems, can break the Boston-Belfast axis.

LOL I don’t know, recently Sein Fein has given in some serious bashing.

Cheers Tony

[jjbrouwer]

Sinn Fein are a load of nobodies now. Noone even listens to them, including Real IRA etc.

[backhoe]

FWIW, I'll cross-link it here:

Castro, the Carribean, and Terrorism

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Bush mulls action on installing nominees (Recess Appointments for Reich and Scalia)

Hialeah couple found slain in Cuba (5 dead)

Cuba's bishops lament divisions in families, call for unity--…..human sensitivity and Christian values have not been lost.''

[BlueLancer]

But ... but ... what about the REALLY Real IRA?
8')

[jjbrouwer]

You may be onto something there. It always made me laugh that I could have loads of friends who were Irish in NYC, as the bar culture there is very Irish.

Meanwhile, Americans (claiming to have Irish ancestory)would sometimes 'have a go' - slagging me off for what the Brits have done to the Irish throughout history.

Yet, I usually found out I was more Irish than they - two Catholic Irish great grandparents (McGinty RIP).

[Scally Wag]

Not that we are in much of a position to complain: our government, too, has bent over backwards to accommodate the republicans

And forwards for the democrats, I shouldn't wonder.

[Norn Iron]

Perhaps Gerry is terrorist 1st, nationalist 2nd, socialist 3rd and Catholic 4th.

[dfwgator]

A lot of Irish also supported Hitler, so this comes as no surprise.

[Mustang]

My view, this side of the pond, is that Gerry Adams' best friend here in the states is the one and only: Bill 'The Buffoon' Clintoon.

Their shared bleeding socialism drips from their bitten lips. Screw'em both.

Best FReegards...Mustang sends.

[Norn Iron]

Adams un-American activities

He [Adams] also noted the Irish Government, the main political parties in Dublin and the European Union opposed he trade blockade of the country by the United States.

"The Cubans have reduced illiteracy almost to nil. They have arguably the best health service in the world, sending doctors and nurses around the globe - treating people from Chernobyl and other places which have fallen victim to nuclear fall out.

"The fact that people struggle despite all the difficulties, all the impoverished conditions and despite the hostility of the US Government can survive and help others, is a big lesson to everybody."

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[MrMuse]

bump

[Norn Iron]

Why I have come to Cuba - Gerry Adams

[Norn Iron]

December 13, 2001

Behind the facade of modern Ireland is the stark reality that almost a quarter of the total population is functionally illiterate, that one in six are living, according to the United Nations, in "human poverty", and that Ireland has the highest rate of poverty in the Western World, after the USA. As Sinn Fein's Robbie Smyth put it: "The squalid reality of the Celtic Tiger is low paid workers, an under-funded health service, under-funded public transport, house prices out of the reach of ordinary citizens, a chronic shortage of local authority housing, a rampant heroin crisis, rural poverty and environmental deprivation in urban working-class areas."

Ireland, like every other industrialised nation in Europe, has a two-tier society. The elite are very rich, a small section of the population are relatively well-off, but the majority live on credit, or on the edge - mostly content with their consumerist addictions and oblivious to the factors that shape their daily lives.

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[backhoe]

Appreciate the info, & link!