A "Cleary Defensive" Deployment | 120 comments (120 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: A "Cleary Defensive" Deployment (none / 0)

Kathy Sheridan has an interesting profile of Zelenskiy in the Irish Times. I have commented as follows:

We've had 77 years of relative peace and prosperity in Europe, thanks largely to the EU, and no thanks to its many detractors here and in the UK. Zelenskiy embodies that determination not to give in to the Putins, Trumps, and sundry apologists for autocracy here, and the least we could do is offer EU membership to his country if it can survive the Russian onslaught. Unlike NATO, the EU represents no military threat to anyone, and indeed represents a collaborative approach to solving common problems. Talk of it being beset by corruption is irrelevant. That is the sort of problem the EU is good at reducing over time. It took Ireland 50 years to become a fully contributing member, and we can afford to be patient with difficult eastern European members. In the meantime we could all benefit from the moral leadership Zelenskiy now provides.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 at 03:21:39 PM EST

"moral leadership Zelenskiy provides" (none / 0)

my, my, haven't you come a long way from Brexit balance of power swings from UK to Ireland. Am I to understand, the science has changed?

by Cat on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 at 05:30:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: "moral leadership (4.00 / 2)

I don't see any change it the balance of power between the UK and Ireland - as evidenced by the protocol negotiations - so I don't see the point of your comment. If anything, the Ukraine invasion has strengthened the EU and the case for Ireland's role in it. You appear to see power in entirely military terms - a peculiar US obsession. I am far more interested in the EU's soft power, and I believe the invasion has only made that more relevant.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 at 06:19:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

"You appear to see power ..." (none / 0)

That statement is demonstrably untrue. For more than a decade commenting here, I'd guess, the balance of my observations of current event of concern to "democracy" point crookedly to MONEY manifest power. MONEY is the only unit of measurement that certainly matters to the society of the free world at the "alleged" end of history.

Were it not for my knowledge and belief that you surely are a man of your word, I'd be surprised if you had known this. After all, None of us have any entitlement to be read, much less promoted, recommended, commented or acted upon. Correct?

As for Ireland's role in strengthening Europe, I can't help but question, while I have your attention, this relation to "EU soft power" and the "moral leadership" of Mr Zelensky lieu of Ireland's prodigal segregationist Biden to forefend collapse of the NI Protocol. To which ethical precept embodied by Mr Zelenski's leadership do you aver? Birth, death, or union?

by Cat on Wed Mar 2nd, 2022 at 07:57:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: "You appear to see power ..." (none / 1)

As for Ireland's role in strengthening Europe

wtmff?

You appear to have misread Frank's post... or you're being ironic of facetious... whatever, I extracted zero information from the rest of your paragraph. Just a sort of bzzzzz noise.

Which might be related to the fact that some people might skip over some of your posts. It seems that you pride yourself on being misunderstood. Chapeau.

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 02:59:41 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: "You appear to see power ..." (4.00 / 2)

Relieved to hear I'm not the only one who reads the posts as gibberish.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 03:28:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]

My reading comprehension is just fine. (none / 0)

If anything, the Ukraine invasion has strengthened the EU and the case for Ireland's role in it.

"it": the EU

"to strengthen" is not a *-Eng intransitive verb; WHAT is the object manipulated with strength; WHO strengthens is the subject of the sentence: "Ukraine['s] invasion" (another elision or transposition, ie. invasion of Ukraine Russia)

Would you prefer me to interpret this sentence to attribute "Ireland's role" (prepositional object of "for") to the subject, "the Ukraine invasion"?

Heretofore, I'd been led to believe by Frank's many memoirs that peoples of Ireland share pride in neutrality and humanitarian aid during periods of conflict--abroad-- excepting unsung, legendary heroes temporarily incorporated with Britain and 19th-century Mexican freedom fighters, for example. Generally, I choose not to disabuse him of historical Irish- and "Scots-Irish" immigrants' roles in US American ethnic conflict. But I do point to authoritative historiography.

Frank is a prodigious writer and typically far more careful than me. For that reason, I question his perception of morality, arising from EC-orchestrated belligerence in Ukraine's civil war, precipitated by its "association agreement."

by Cat on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 05:51:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: My reading comprehension is just fine. (4.00 / 2)

OK so it's a technically-justifiable error on your part. It is possible to construe Frank's phrase thus; however, most of us would have understood that he's talking about Ireland's role in the EU (this possibility seems to have escaped you, but it seems grammatically plausible).

As for "Ukraine's civil war"... let me try to understand...
In what respect are Putin's armed forces Ukrainian? Are you arguing that they are proxies or allies of the People's Puppet Republics of the Donbass?

Or are you defining a "civil war" as any war that takes place within the boundaries of a single country? As an example, when Poland was invaded from east and west in 1940, is that a "civil war" according to your definition?

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 06:06:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

"It is possible to construe..." (none / 0)

That's mighty white of you. Thanks. Is *-English your first, second, third, or fourth language?

I try to resolve one topic at a time, sir. First, written *-Eng syntax, then spoken *-Eng, often expressing time-sensitive connotation to, ahem, "heritage speakers" conversant with *-Eng. diction. And perhaps, one day, libraries of proprietary computer code d/b/a artificial intelligence.

Are you aware of contextual-sensitive DICTION CORNER comments that I have published, whenever I detect ambiguous usage of *-English words--particularly legal, NOT MILITARY, terms of art--by anglophone "columnists" purporting to translate effects of US American political economy into vocabulary meaningful to the most ignorant, litigious "content consumers" on the planet?

I cannot confidently speak either to socially acceptable or poetic instrumentality of other languages, including but not limited to psycho (eg. Nobel bounded rationality). So I don't. OK, well, until organizational hygienists of western civilization careen so far from "experimental anthropology" as to invite ridicule.
archived Fri Jan 25th, 2019

A number of publishers offer digital and electronic reference defining "civil", "war," and "civil war" should you be confused as to semantic fit with sundry, contemporary hostilities in progress in places beyond your department apartment.

by Cat on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 07:18:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: "It is possible to construe..." (none / 1)

English [New Zealand] is my first language, and my only language until age 25 or so. My English is likely influenced by the fact that French is the lingua franca where I've been living (mostly) since that distant time. For the last 25 years, approximately, I've been engaged in on-line discussion in English, generally with a population of majority American English locutors. I have actively resisted the americanisation of my means of expression; however I daresay I understand American writers at least as well, on average, as they understand each other. Likewise concerning locutors of French.

Concerning the "civil war" in Ukraine, I truly wish to learn your reasoning. I understand that, for example, a patriot of the Confederacy might have rejected the term concerning their war with the Union, considering that it was, on the contrary, a war between two sovereign nations. If this is the analogy that you are referencing, do you consider any war between entities within the former Soviet Union to be a "civil war"? For example, Azerbaijan / Armenia?

Or what? Not wishing to put words in your mouth (but, clearly, fishing)

_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue
- Queen Elizabeth II}

by eurogreen on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 07:42:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]

errata (none / 1)

invasion of Ukraine by Russia

My reading comprehension is fine, but I've never pretended to typing accuracy. Because I am not the only one surfing the innerboobs who is similarly afflicted, I long ago adopted a personal two (2) rules: (1) IF perfect be the enemy of "good enuf" (eg. Nobel idiom, satisfice), post it; otherwise, lurk; and (2) when in doubt, ask.

Rather than, say, ascribe Florida Man homophobia to a pole/poll smoke joke.

by Cat on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 06:13:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: errata (none / 1)

Sorry Cat, tbh I'm devastated by what is happening to people in Ukraine (and the longer term implications of Europe as a whole) and simply haven't the time or energy to try and understand oblique legalese and grammatical hair splitting I don't really understand anyway and which doesn't appear to me to be helping anybody come to terms with a horrific situation.

Ireland is utterly conflicted between its traditional (since independence) unwillingness to side with the UK in its wars (otherwise misleadingly entitled "neutrality") and its current commitment to the EU which is a project dedicated to peace in Europe, but which is increasingly confronted with the reality of a warlike neighbour and has to make painful choices about whether to say "I'm all right jack on the western fringe of Europe" or commit to helping a country like Ukraine, less fortunately situated geographically, survive as a distinct entity.

If you want to get a flavour for the debate in Ireland, read Mick Wallace and Clare Daly's self-justification for their votes and the vituperative response it is receiving in the comments.

My reaction is twofold:

If Britain decided to invade Ireland because they didn't like our continued EU membership and wanted to re-incorporate us into their sphere of influence, would we not fight like hell and seek assistance wherever we could find it?
We have seen Putin's modus operandum in Chechnya, Crimea and now Ukraine and his threats to Finland and Sweden. If he succeeds in Ukraine, will he not then be tempted to move on to the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland etc.? When/where do we draw the line if not now?

You see, this situation is existential for us, while for you it seems little more than an exercise in point scoring and word games. Pardon me if I decline the invitation to take part.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 07:04:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]

I did not expect an apology. (none / 1)

Thank you for your honesty.

by Cat on Thu Mar 3rd, 2022 at 07:21:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Africa matters (none / 0)

Daly is becoming a heroin in Zimbabwe
https:/www.thezimbabwemail.com/world-news/video-eu-placed-on-defensive-after-clare-dalys-hard-hitti ng-speech-on-ukranian-russian-war

by Tom2 on Wed Mar 9th, 2022 at 09:29:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

A "Cleary Defensive" Deployment | 120 comments (120 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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