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Brexit has killed the peace process

by Frank Schnittger Fri Sep 2nd, 2022 at 01:07:55 PM EST

The Irish News (second letter down)

Brexit has killed the peace process

The DUP are boycotting Stormont because of their opposition to the Protocol which was actually agreed to by the UK government, parliament and people as part of Boris Johnson's fantastic oven-ready deal.

Only Westminster has the power to renegotiate the Protocol with the EU, so should the DUP not be boycotting Westminster instead? Why hold the people of Northern Ireland hostage over a Protocol to a treaty they had no hand, act or part in devising or agreeing?

The cynic might suggest the DUP's real motivation is trying to avoid having to serve with a Sinn Féin First Minister.

Their failure to do so also gives cover to the UK government's claim that their Northern Ireland Protocol Bill is necessary to protect the peace process, when in reality it is little more than a ransom payment to reward those who have kidnapped the peace process.

The truth is the hostage is now dead. Brexit has killed the peace process and loyalists are mobilising to protect the union with Britain against an emerging majority for re-unification, as shown in the recent LucidTalk poll.

The internal devolved solution to providing democratic legitimacy to Northern Ireland has failed and we are back to the bad old days of armed resistance.

Loyalist organisations have been associated with recent riots, bus burnings and a bomb threat against [Irish Foreign Minister] Simon Coveney. Recent Tory governments have a lot to answer for.

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Brexit has killed the peace process | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (none / 1)
Behind the pay-wall ...

So I Googled - Denis Bradley: Pacifism is the alternative to IRA violence but few believe in it.

Oddly an early hit was a website named CapX ... I can't explain this hostile environment as it seems a door was opened to the Ulster world of Trump 😡

Why do Northern Ireland's nationalists now think there was 'no alternative' to the IRA?
By Owen Polley

Most voters like moderation - that's why politicians often try to portray their opponents as 'radicals'. We often take radicals to be those who don't embrace institutionalised groupthink. But what if the real moderates are those who seek to backtrack from political excess?

Real moderates recognise that the greatest threat to Britain is the status quo
By Mark Brolin

Not that most policy differences between Mr Sunak and Ms Truss are easily distinguishable. But rightly or wrongly, Liz Truss has come across as more willing to rock the boat. This is arguably the key reason she now appears to outdistance her last rival. It must be bittersweet for Mr Johnson that the establishment forces that did him in look set to fail in their ambition to reconquer Downing Street by crowning one of their own. But this is precisely why democracy is so powerful. At the end of the day, voters tend to smell a rat when an establishment strays out of line.

The influential southern Irish journalist, Fintan O'Toole, recently wrote an excoriating condemnation of the claim by the party's northern leader, Michelle O'Neill, that there was `no alternative' to IRA violence.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2022 at 05:21:28 PM EST
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (none / 1)
Real moderates recognise that the greatest threat to Britain is the status quo

So Sinn Fein and the SNP are the real moderates?

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Sep 2nd, 2022 at 06:49:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (none / 0)
"Behind the pay-wall ..."

Odd - I'm not a subscriber...

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Sat Sep 3rd, 2022 at 03:34:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (4.00 / 3)
European Commission vice-president Sefcovic warns future British leader on triggering article 16 - Irish Times
European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic has warned Britain's next prime minister that triggering article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol could give European leaders the impression that London was not interested in co-operating with the European Union. Speaking in Oxford at the annual meeting of the British Irish Association, Mr Sefcovic also highlighted the link between the withdrawal agreement of which the protocol is part and the trade agreement between Britain and the EU.

"Our relationship is now founded on two agreements: the withdrawal agreement and the Trade and Co-operation Agreement, which we negotiated together, agreed and ratified. Our partnership, and the trust underpinning it, requires - and depends on - these legally-binding commitments being respected. There are no two ways about this."

by Bernard (bernard) on Mon Sep 5th, 2022 at 08:02:54 PM EST
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (none / 1)
It has always struck me as odd that the EU has reacted so timidly to the House of Commons passing legislation that will explicitly break the Withdrawal Agreement while making these veiled threats if the UK invokes A.16.

Whatever the merits of any justification, both parties are entitled, under the Treaty to invoke A.16, and indeed the EU almost did so some time ago (a decision hastily reversed).

So why react so strongly to a legal (if difficult to justify) act while doing nothing about the NI Protocol Bill which explicitly gives Minsters wide ranging powers to illegally nullify parts of the Withdrawal Agreement?

And would the EU really give notice of termination of the TCA if Article 16 is invoked? and what then is its escalation plan if the NI Protocol Bill becomes law around the end of this year?

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Mon Sep 5th, 2022 at 11:27:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (4.00 / 3)
I think the EU is saying, "On the one hand there are the WA and TCA; they are legal documents already agreed to by the UK government; and scrapping them, even by A.16, would unavoidably scrap both the form and the function of UK-EU relations.  On the other hand the NI Protocol Bill, while potentially a breach of the WA and probably the TCA as well, is still at this point only a piece of proposed legislation within a non-member state, and we're just going to let the people in the UK connect those dots of implication on their own rather than handing the crack-headed Brexiteers more ammunition for their accusation that the EU is trying to control the UK's internal affairs."
by rifek on Tue Sep 6th, 2022 at 07:20:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (none / 1)
breaking an international treaty is hardly "an internal affair". The EU is required, under the terms of the Treaty, to give 12 months notice of cancelling the TCA. They could do so now - or as soon as Truss confirms she is proceeding with the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill and/or A.16 - and still have 12 months to change their minds. It would be like serving the UK notice that breaking the Withdrawal Agreement will have severe consequences in the near future unless she turns back from her confrontational approach.

In practice, in the short-term, it would also add to the uncertainty facing the UK economy, and would heap pressure on her to come to an agreement quickly.

Index of Frank's Diaries

by Frank Schnittger (mail Frankschnittger at hot male dotty communists) on Tue Sep 6th, 2022 at 07:35:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Brexit has killed the peace process (4.00 / 4)
Oh, I'm sure the EU believes the Bill, on passage, would be a treaty violation.  The EU also knows, though, it has been dealing with a series of UK governments (and Brain-Truss won't be any different) and their idiot constituencies that acted like A.16 was instantaneous, that it could be oven-ready today and fully baked tomorrow.  That's stupid and wrong, but we are talking about the people who voted for Brexit, so.  The EU views itself as dealing with a four-year-old having a temper tantrum at the Christmas dinner table, and it is trying to handle it without losing too much of the good china and crystal.  So while the EU undoubtedly has a strong desire to fire a formal warning shot, it knows the effect in the UK would be, "See!  Even NOW those damned snail-eaters and beer-swillers are trying to tell our Parliament what to do!"
by rifek on Tue Sep 6th, 2022 at 07:57:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Brexit dividends (4.00 / 4)
... in Brittany, Western France:

The port of Roscoff is very busy with traffic to and from Irish ports, and now has... an Irish consulate.

Ireland seeks to deepen links with 'closest EU neighbour' France by opening Brittany consulate

IRELAND TODAY DEEPENED its links with France in the wake of Brexit by opening an honorary consulate in the western port of Roscoff.

"France is now Ireland's closest EU neighbour and Brittany the closest region to us," said James Browne, Irish minister of state at the department of justice.

"This has created a Brexit bounce - even perhaps a Breton bounce - in our relations," added Browne of the move to deepen links between Dublin and Paris by opening the facility at the port headquarters of Brittany Ferries.

At least someone is thanking Boris for this Brexit dividend:

by Bernard (bernard) on Mon Sep 5th, 2022 at 08:13:47 PM EST
Post-Brexit Irish Protocols Mourning Period (none / 1)
Liz Truss meeting with Irish taoiseach Micheál Martin raises hopes Brexit talks with EU will resume

Negotiations between London and Brussels were paused in February because of the outbreak of war in Ukraine but have yet to be resumed, amid escalating opposition to the protocol among unionist parties in Northern Ireland.

  • EU says Northern Ireland trade talks with UK must conclude by end of February | FT - Jan. 20, 2022 |

    • It is thought Truss and Martin discussed the importance of the wider relations between the two countries and the importance of unity in the face of global challenges, including the energy crisis.

    The meeting between the two leaders came just days after the Irish foreign minister, Simon Coveney, expressed "cautious optimism that we will see in a few weeks' time the opening of an honest effort to try to settle some of these issues that have been outstanding for far too long".

    Commission launches infringement proceedings against the UK for breaking international law and provides further details on possible solutions to facilitate the movement of goods between Great Britain and Northern Ireland | EC Europe |

    Latest ...

    UK government set to pitch extension of `grace periods' rather than triggering Article 16 | Politico - Sept. 13, 2022 |

    Blame #ClimateChange #NordStream #Ukraine #Putin

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Sun Sep 18th, 2022 at 04:55:12 PM EST
    Re: Post-Brexit Irish Protocols Mourning Period (none / 1)
    Joe Biden London cancels meeting Liz Truss in London #Elizabeth #burial

    ... or the other way around?

    UK Prime Minister Liz Truss cancels pre-funeral meeting with Joe Biden | NY Post |

    Truss-Biden meeting postponed to Wednesday | Politico |

    No reason was given for the postponement of what will be the leaders' first meeting since Truss won the Conservative leadership contest and became prime minister. It will be a "full bilateral meeting," according to the U.K. statement.

    Biden is among the many leaders heading to London ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's state funeral on Monday. Truss is still slated to meet on Sunday with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Polish President Andrzej Duda.

    Liz Truss's first big diplomatic meeting with Biden postponed | The Guardian |

    Biden and Truss will find plenty of common ground in pursuing a tough line on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine and on containing Chinese expansionism. But policy on Northern Ireland is a major irritant in the US-UK relationship.

    At UN, Biden, Truss seek to smooth over N Ireland divide | AP News |

    At the end of the 75-minute meeting, Truss' office said "the prime minister and President Biden both agreed that the priority must be protecting the Good Friday Agreement and preserving the gains of peace in Northern Ireland."

    'Sapere aude'

    by Oui (Oui) on Thu Sep 22nd, 2022 at 04:40:20 PM EST
    [ Parent ]
    Brexit has killed the peace process | 11 comments (11 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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