Tomás Ó Flatharta

Left wing anti-war activists and public representatives need to actively oppose the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the eastern military expansion of NATO. Credible news reports indicate that Richard Boyd-Barrett TD (Dún Laoghaire) passes this test. Two Irish members of the European Parliament fail the same test : Mick Wallace (Ireland South) and Clare Daly (Dublin), who is associated with Independents for Change. The Irish Times (February 23) reports :

In a social media post after Russian president Vladimir Putin formally recognised two breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine on Monday, Mr Wallace claimed that “only a full scale war between Russia and Ukraine would satisfy Nato”.

“The people of Europe must campaign for the abolition of Nato – it has nothing good to offer anyone that prefers peace to war,” wrote Mr Wallace, who voted against a European Parliament motion to offer €1.2 billion in loans to Ukraine.

Irish Tines, Wednesday February 23 2022

The same report quotes Richard Boyd-Barrett

Inflame
Condemning Russian “incursions”, he said they should not “be used as an excuse for Ireland to line itself up with Nato or to give succour to the idea that military action by the West” can help.
Russia needs “to be condemned and condemned roundly”, Mr Boyd Barrett said, but “we need not to be one-sided in this and recognise that the expansion of Nato into eastern Europe has also helped inflame this extremely dangerous situation.
Ireland has said nothing about Nato’s “game-playing of expanding into eastern Europe and potentially inflaming this extremely dangerous conflict”, he added.

Hopefully the Irish Independents for Change network will clarify it’s position, and clearly distance itself from the statements issued by Mick Wallace and Clare Daly.

In the same edition of the Irish Times, Michael O’Loughlin’s Opinion Piece – “If I were Ukrainian I would not be waiting for the cavalry” – offers us all a grim warning:

‘I think it is the beginning of a new cold war. I think the Russians will gradually react quite adversely and it will affect their policies. I think it is a tragic mistake. There was no reason for this whatsoever. No one was threatening anybody else. . . We have signed up to protect a whole series of countries, even though we have neither the resources nor the intention to do so in any serious way.”
These wise words were spoken on May 2nd, 1998, by George Kennan, veteran diplomat and architect of American policy on the Soviet Union, when asked his opinion on Nato’s rush to expand into Eastern Europe. It was quoted yesterday by Thomas Friedman in the New York Times, as Russian tanks rolled into eastern Ukraine. The current disaster in Ukraine has long been foretold.

Some wise words from Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, more than 100 years ago. Current Russian President Vladimir Putin Rejects Lenin : https://tomasoflatharta.com/2022/02/22/russian-imperialist-dictator-vladimir-putin-denounces-vladimir-ilyich-lenins-ukraine-russian-troops-out-of-ukraine-now/

https://www.facebook.com/paulmurphytd/videos/1014104659454035/ Paul Murphy is very clear.

We are all in danger now – Beware The Law of Unintended Consequences. Two example – the 21st century War on Drugs, the 1920’s Prohibition of Alcohol in the USA

Prohibition in the 1920s United States, originally enacted to suppress the alcohol trade, drove many small-time alcohol suppliers out of business and consolidated the hold of large-scale organized crime over the illegal alcohol industry. Since alcohol was still popular, criminal organisations producing alcohol were well-funded and hence also increased their other activities. Similarly, the War on Drugs, intended to suppress the illegal drug trade, instead increased the power and profitability of drug cartels who became the primary source of the products

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unintended_consequences?wprov=sfti1

John Meehan February 23 2022