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The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

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Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail?supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
Promoting Human Rights in Ireland

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link News Round-Up Wed Dec 25, 2024 00:32 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Starmer Doesn?t Have a Feel for Politics and His Team Lacks the Skills to Run the Country, Says Vete... Tue Dec 24, 2024 19:00 | Will Jones
Keir Starmer "doesn?t have a feel" for the Labour Party or politics in general and his team lacks the skills to run the country, veteran Labour MP?Diane Abbott?has said.
The post Starmer Doesn’t Have a Feel for Politics and His Team Lacks the Skills to Run the Country, Says Veteran Labour MP Diane Abbott appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to ?Avoid Unnecessary Offence? Tue Dec 24, 2024 18:00 | Will Jones
The Church of England has told clergy in Birmingham to watch out for "problematic words" in Christmas carols that imply Jesus is the "true Messiah" or other religions aren't valid. And they wonder why the pews are empty.
The post Church of England Tells Clergy to Edit Christmas Carols to “Avoid Unnecessary Offence” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 Tue Dec 24, 2024 15:42 | Will Jones
Some of Britain?s best-selling hybrid cars will be banned from sale after 2030 under a?Net Zero crackdown?proposed by Ministers, including the mild hybrid versions of the Ford Puma, Range Rover Evoque and VW Golf.
The post Best-Selling Hybrids Face Net Zero Ban From 2030 appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming ?a Fifth of Thos... Tue Dec 24, 2024 13:46 | Will Jones
Experts?have issued an urgent call for lockdown-style social distancing ahead of Christmas Day amid surging flu infections, claiming that a fifth of those infected have no symptoms but can spread it.
The post Experts Call For Return of Lockdown-Style Social Distancing as Flu Surges, Claiming “a Fifth of Those Infected Have No Symptoms But Can Spread It” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Sinn Fein - The Fools, The Fools, ... Fooling The People?

category national | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis author Friday May 24, 2013 07:59author by M. 0’ hAnluain Report this post to the editors

“You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.” (Abraham Lincoln)

The John Boyle O’Reilly summer school in Drogheda Co Louth 2012 was a chance meeting place between political adversaries Eoghan Hams (Sunday Independent columnist) and former Sinn Fein publicity director Danny Morrison. The two men had been invited there to participate in the lectures for the annual event. Mr. Morrison felt that it was the ideal opportunity for him to ‘educate’ Mr. Hams on how a man like Gerry Adams doesn’t deserve to be vilified by him in his weekly column.

The issue of the Boston tapes was a hot topic in the media at the time, so it presented an ideal opportunity for Morrison to broaden the dialogue and include the tapes issue. It wasn’t long before the discussion focused on the ‘unfounded’ allegations against Mr Adams contained in some of the tapes. Morrison described how the participants in the Boston project were opponents of the peace process and their ultimate aim was to discredit Adams in particular.

In reality, the objective of the project was designed to provide researchers and academics with an insight into the ‘troubles’ and the participants were also anxious to avoid revisionism of their personal narrative. Admittedly, some of the participants are opponents of Sinn Fein and they felt the need to tell their story to an independent source and have it placed away for safekeeping. On Adams own admission some of the individuals involved in the Boston project felt that he had ‘sold out’ and on that issue alone it is in his interest to ensure that such people’s views are kept from the public domain.
However, Morrison certainly underestimated Harris, and his attempt to convince him that Adams was now ‘a good guy’ failed, although he cunningly listened to what Morrison had to say with a view to extracting as much detail as possible for his own information.

Much to the annoyance of Morrison, the following week in his Sunday Independent column Hams wrote a brief outline of the discussion from the previous week. The article described how Morrison outlined that Adams opponents were out to discredit him by using the Jean McConville issue from the Boston tapes against him when in fact he knew nothing about Jean McConville’s death.

Eogan Hams was/is a regular critic of Irish republicanism and had regularly been castigating Adams and his cohorts through his newspaper column and Morrison was anxious to try and convince him that his views on Adams was unfair and by damaging him would by extension cause irreparable damage to the peace process. For some time Hams was aware that Morrison had been canvassing other journalists and attempting to cleanse some pro Adams republicans, while at the same time castigating those who opposed the move into constitutional politics. The position of Eoghan Hams has always been unswerving, he is pro-union and anti-republican and that position will not be diluted, regardless.

Almost a year on to April 2013 RTE’s Prime Time programme with the host Miriam O’Callaghan interviewing Gerry Adams, where the ageless lady confronted Adams on the issue of the deaths of members of Irish state forces allegedly at the hands of republicans. The interview was nothing short of a scolding for Mr Adams, which could be best described as an embarrassment for the usually ‘polished’ Gerry Adams. The Louth TD found it difficult to talk Ms 0’ Callaghan down and by all accounts, she ‘finally’ left him questioning his own ability to deal with that particular type of examination? Throughout the interview, Adams took refuge in abstractions about the peace process, which has been his usual tactic for many years during uncomfortable interviews. Seasoned political observers have now finally succumbed to the position that Mr Adams may eventually fall from grace over some past unsavoury issues that have surfaced in recent times. However, they believe that the peace process will stay on course and will not falter even with his departure; in fact, many now feel that it may flourish without him, as it appears he is becoming a liability to the party.

Within hours of the programme Sinn Fein spokespersons were indicating that Mr Adams would take a civil action against RTE and Ms O’Callaghan for libellous allegations. It wasn’t long before it was ‘leaked’ to the media that Mr Adams didn’t have the resources to embark on such a course. The suggestion of a civil action was both hollow and foolhardy and no one at the national station or indeed Ms O’Callagahan took it serious. They realised that it would never happen for one tangible reason, because Mr Adams would lose easily and no one knew that better than Mr Adams himself, so it was never an option from the outset and it was a serious miscalculation to even make the suggestion.

Sunday 5th May 2013, the Eoghan Hams column was dedicated and complimentary to Ms O’Callaghan’s interview earlier in the week, where Hams outlined how Mr Adams ‘charm’ and fork tongue speak completely collapsed to O’Callaghan’s line of direct questioning. Harris pointed out that it was evident where she had her strategy well prepared in advance of the interview. It appears that the Morrison approach to cajole Harris a year earlier had failed miserably, which wasn’t surprising. Nothing would convince Hams to be complimentary towards Adams or indeed anyone with even a hint of Irish republicanism and he makes no secret of his stance.

Back to Danny Morrison’s covert engaging with the media and the smear campaign against political opponents, which appears to be slowing down. The deceitful propaganda approach has for some time now become general knowledge within journalistic circles and many now listen to his ‘leaks’ with a degree of scepticism. This is also due to the fact that the Sinn Fein party is being exposed for its bare political strategy including abandonment of the National Question. The unfufilled promises made to the supporters, whereby conditions would be created to advance towards a united Ireland, is unfolding as the big con trick. Their impotent political careers are slipping into the twilight and they are now being viewed as a weak political entity not competent of delivering on the manifestos including the reunification promises outlined pre Good Friday Agreement (GFA). In the post GFA era with persistent encouragement from pro-British elements, they publicly portrayed their opponents as ‘dissidents’ with no political ideology, or strategy, shamefully describing such people as ‘militarists and traitors’. When it wasn’t politically suitable for party spokespersons to reveal themselves as sources, the propagandist Danny Morrison willingly popped forward, distributing the media leaks. Occasionally, much of the language used purporting to come from the party left many activists unhappy with some appealing to the leadership to desist from using such language against former comrades.

It is now becoming abundantly clear from a republican perspective, that the opponents of the Good Friday Agreement were the people with the foresight, honesty, and integrity who stood up despite all the adversity and said ‘this was wrong for republicans’? It is now evident that those who described themselves as ‘the mainstream republicans’ were totally dishonest in their rhetoric.

The approach deployed by Adams and co, deliberately or otherwise, appears to have played into a British government counterinsurgency policy described as ‘normalisation’. The Sinn Fein strategy moved many one-time radical republican activists away from revolutionary politics and turned them into paid community activists, playing to a reformist agenda, while at the same time becoming totally dependent on the British paymasters.

Presently, while Sinn Fein representatives appear comfortable telling the world that this is a new phase of struggle towards a United Ireland, they are being dishonest with such deceitful language. It is wholly false for them to describe the abandonment of republican principles as a transitional period towards a United Ireland. Unquestionably, they have abandoned the National Question and they are more comfortable pressing for the creation of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions and various other Commissions. This never-ending mantra is a clear deflection from the promised goal. Indeed the one component lacking in their own vocabulary is truth and honesty. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission means that every participant must be honest about their past involvement in the troubles and on the face of it that looks like a far off reality at present?

author by Baggiepublication date Sat May 25, 2013 14:55author address author phone Report this post to the editors

“The position of Eoghan Hams has always been unswerving, he is pro-union and anti-republican and that position will not be diluted, regardless.”

I laughed out loud when I read that. Harris (not Hams) has had more positions than the Karma Sutra. Once a Catholic he then joined the Church of Ireland in an act of self-loathing. The once Republican became a Marxist, a Social Democrat, a Socialist, a Blueshirt, a Unionist – feck knows what he will be at the next full moon.

author by old donkeypublication date Sun May 26, 2013 00:42author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Basically Harris is a well remunerated spouter of opinions, on radio and tv sometimes, but especially in the economically conservative Sindo. He enjoyed leading and ordering the WP rank and file around thirty years ago. Now he lives well, far away from the streets where Sinn Fein-WP grassroots activism started in the early 1960s.

author by fredpublication date Sun May 26, 2013 08:00author address author phone Report this post to the editors

It's sad to see some elements are so blinded by their hatred of Gerry Adams, that they are willing to big up a lying scumbag like Eoin Harris or the biased interviewing agenda of RTE to score points against him. You need to take a long hard look at yourselves. The day you are taking Eoin Harris's or RTE's view, is a terrible day indeed comrades!!

author by Brian Clarke - AllVoicespublication date Mon May 27, 2013 02:03author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Totally endorse the last statement of Fred. I certainly would not be a Gerry Adams 'fan as I believe principles are far more than personalities. The fact that Harris is being used as an instrument against Danny Morrison and Gerry Adams in conjunction with a recent general barrage of black propaganda and historical revisionism, confirms for me the source of much of much of it, which is covered in the video below.

The Green/Left in Ireland, needs to work in tandem with each other, as united as possible, or we will have the same division, we had previously had at politically critical times in Ireland. With the resurgence of right wing FF in the 'polls' and the distinct possibility of the creation of what will be termed a 'national' Government, as in the 6 counties, unity as much as possible, is critical for "the people of no property.' There are forces at work in Irish politics, to ensure the Irish working class will never unite. We can still maintain our principles, while still working much smarter.

Caption: Video Id: wcq0iP5aTvw Type: Youtube Video
Spy Secrets: Playing Dirty


Related Link: http://twitpic.com/cthnz9
author by old donkeypublication date Mon May 27, 2013 08:52author address author phone Report this post to the editors

I disagree with the term 'right wing Fianna Fail" as this suggests that FF is in economic opposition to its old rival Fine Gael. The quaint domination of national politics by FF and FG is a legacy of the civil war, even though the old civil war animosities are now a historical legacy with most of the warriors having passed away.

FF will probably do something to alleviate mortgage holders in arrears - unless the coalition steals that policy point before the next election - but that's not a fundamental change of general economic direction. I don't know if the Dail arithmetic after the next election will force the two pseudo rivals to join an a FF-FG coalition and open the possibility of a strong coherent left block in the opposition benches. It has been a longtime political dream, but dreams exist only in the imagination.

The existing economic consensus shared by FF, FG and Lab hurts the disadvantaged more than it hurts the cash strapped middle classes.

author by W. Finnertypublication date Mon May 27, 2013 09:41author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Reply to "by old donkey" at Mon May 27, 2013 08:52 ...

I would say that if "the people" of the Republic of Ireland know what's good for them, and indeed "the people" of the rest of the world as well, they will -- as soon as possible, if not sooner -- put political party names on the back-burner (or, better still, in the dust-bin perhaps), and instead give priority to electing "elected representatives" who can demonstrate a good basic understanding of what "good quality statecraft" is, together with an ability to put it into practice through the adaption of a "principles before personality" approach.

Otherwise, we, as members of "semi-slave-states (of one kind or another)", will all soon end up (in my opinion) living in a world run by all the bullying "f**k, fight and bite", and otherwise tyrannous policies of "government of the banksters, by the banksters, for the banksters": instead of in independent sovereign nation states run by the "high-quality statecraft" policy of "government of the people, by the people, for the people".

Related Link:
"Future of Politics and Law in the Internet Age: Totalitarianism or Constitutionalism?"
http://www.humanrightsireland.com/UnitedNations/14May20...Peace

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