Tomás Ó Flatharta

Looking at Things from the Left

Archive for the ‘Mainstream Media’ Category

Reject Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan

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Reject Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan

Ukraine must determine its own future. Surrender to Trump-Putin will create a carnival of reaction in the heart of Europe. Been there, done that: Collins-Griffith 1922 Irish surrender to British Empire.

A useful article on the Trump-Putin Partition of Ukraine Plan is below.

Financial Times Saturday August 9 2025

 Christopher Miller in New York and Fabrice Deprez in Kyiv

Zelenskyy looks to European allies to stop handover of territory to Russia

Donald Trump said a peace deal with Russia could involve ‘some swapping’ of Ukrainian land

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainians ‘will not gift their land to the occupier’ 

Zelenskyy looks to European allies to stop handover of territory 

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is trying to shore up European opposition to any loss of Ukrainian land to Russia after Donald Trump said that a peace deal might involve “some swapping of territory”.

People close to the Ukrainian president told the Financial Times that he was alarmed by Trump’s decision to hold a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska next week without inviting Ukraine to participate.

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Glastonbury to be banned after Kneecap insulted Keir Starmer on stage

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Many thanks to Simon Pearson for alerting us to this wonderful news.

Link :

https://bsky.app/profile/anticapitalistmusings.com

We are betting that most readers know all about the Belfast rap band Kneecap – but have never heard of Bob Vylan.

You have heard of Bob now ;

It was someone called Bob Vylan who caused horror and disgust when he displayed the words: “Free Palestine. United Nations have called it a genocide. The BBC calls it a conflict.”

Bob knows how to rub salt on Keir Starmer’s wounds :

As if that wasn’t bad enough, Bob Vylan started chanting: “Death, death, to the IDF!”

How was this allowed to happen?

Source :

Laura and Normal Island News

Jun 28, 2025

It’s fair to say this year’s Glastonbury has been an enormous headache for supporters of genocide, particularly the prime minister.

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1. Six-County Cops – Softly, Softly Against Racists 2. Twenty Six County Cops – target non-whites crossing Ireland’s “open(ish)” border

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The two reports below tell us that policies operated by police forces operation in the two partitioned bits of Ireland – the Gardaí Síochána (Guardians of the Peace) and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) [a child of the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC)] are racist-friendly.

The news reports are related :

Claire Mullaly, a spokesperson for End Deportations Now Belfast told The Irish News that gardaí boarded the bus and began asking passengers for identification.
She said they specifically removed non-white passengers who could not produce documents while allowing white passengers in the same predicament to remain on board. She branded the incident as “disgraceful” in light of the anti-immigrant violence that took place in Northern Ireland in recent days.

Both reports come from the Belfast Irish News.

PSNI officers told not to intervene during race riots unless life at risk

Connla Young, Crime and Security Correspondent, Irish News, June 17th, 2025

DETAILS OF INSTRUCTION SENT IN EMAIL

PSNI officers were told not to interfere with violent mobs during last week’s race riots unless life was at risk.

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Stalinists, former IRA Volunteers and former Sinn Féin Members in Irish Libel Courts – Past and Present – Proinsias De Rossa’s 1997 Victory Against the Sunday Independent – Gerry Adams Defeats the BBC in a 2025 Dublin Court Case – Next on the List : Eoghan Harris Versus many female journalists

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In the 1990’s Proinsias De Rossa TD (ex Workers’ Party President) took a libel action against a right wing Irish newspaper, the Sunday Independent and a star columnist, Éamon Dunphy. Dunphy needed evidence to back up an opinion piece. A colleague, Liam Collins, went to the Moscow Archives in November 1996, searching for an original document. The newspaper’s barrister, Patrick McEntee, told his clients that reports, gossip, and beliefs were not enough : hard evidence was needed.

Claims were made that De Rossa and his then colleague Seán Garland had written a secret 1986 letter to the Russian Communist Party, rulers of the Soviet Union, seeking much-need funds.

The final score? De Rossa won the court case.

The right wing newspaper produced the alleged secret letter – one expert said it was signed by De Rossa and Garland, another expert disagreed. One expert’s word against another.

De Rossa said the letter discovered in the Moscow archives was bogus.

The only person who might have convincingly tested De Rossa’s credibility was his former close comrade – transformed into bitter enemy – Seán Garland. Garland and De Rossa were on opposite sides when the Workers’ Party split in two after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The USSR system collapsed in the early 1990’s. Garland did not take the witness stand in this case.

Former Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams took a libel action against the BBC. Adams, like De Rossa, secured a victory against the media organisation because it could not prove its damaging claims.

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Keir Starmer’s crazy comment about pro Palestine Kneecap playing at Glastonbury – ex taoiseach Leo Varadkar raps British PM’s loony statement

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Irish Rap performers Kneecap are booked to play at a huge music festival in Glastonbury, but British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thinks that’s not “appropriate”. Starmer’s crazy comment is so off-the-wall that ex Irish taoiseach (prime minister) the ultra-conservative Leo Varadkar (Fine Gael), thought it was a gag.

Irish Times news report :

“Kneecap’s official Instagram page shared a screenshot of the article containing Mr Starmer’s comments, stating that “arming a fu*king genocide” was what’s “not appropriate”.

In a comment underneath the post, Mr Varadkar said he had thought the comment from Mr Starmer was a “gag”.

“[I] no longer hold office nor have any mandate so my views don’t count for so much anymore. I get that. But I really thought this was some sort of gag. It’s the role of artists to be avant garde, inappropriate, challenging, disruptive – from James Joyce to Sex Pistols and Playboy,” he said.”

See also at this link :


Starmer claims Kneecap Glastonbury set “not appropriate”

The Issue is Genocide in Palestine

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Racism: The socialism of Fools; Racist Cancer Spreading from Ballymena in Ireland

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Introduction :

The writer Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh offers very valuable insights into the June 2025 pogroms spreading from Ballymena in North Antrim to other towns in the 6 County bit of Ireland, notably Larne and Portadown. These vile events are related to similar sewer eruptions in the 26 county bit of Ireland and fit into a global rise of genocidal-racist powers such as Putin’s Russia, Netanyahu’s Israel, and their protectors such as Donald Trump’s USA. The latter is still a capitalist bourgeois democracy – but credible analysts now ask – for how long?

Below Fearghal’ s timely article –  which contains very useful warnings from history : relevant references are made to the Marxist scholars and activists August Bebel, Victor Serge and Ernest Mandel :

We add :

A chilling report of an interview with the DUP Westminster MP for the Upper Bann constituency, Carla Lockhart.

A stark report from the 6 County bit of Ireland headlined “Week of Violence in North “Akin to 1930s Germany”

Racist Cancer Spreading From Ballymena in Ireland, Irish Times, June 14 2025

Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh

Link :


Ballymena; Racism the Socialism of Fools; Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh

I recently discussed three interconnected issues on Raidió na Gaeltachta: reform to the South’s rent caps benefiting landlords and international funds, Trump’s authoritarian militarization of US protests, and the racist attacks in Ballymena/Larne.

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Gerry Adams Wins Libel Case Versus the BBC concerning the 2006 killing of IRA informer Denis Donaldson – Dublin Jury Awards €100,000

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This is a result which does not surprise close observers of the proceedings.

A very strong argument was advanced by Tom Hogan, counsel for Gerry Adams.

A BBC journalist has rejected a suggestion that she engaged in "a box-ticking exercise" when finding sources to corroborate an allegation against Gerry Adams which is at the centre of a defamation case

RTÉ News (@news.rte.ie) 2025-05-15T11:37:57.106Z


Source :

Tom Hogan, Counsel for Gerry Adams in BBC/Denis Donaldson libel case, puts forward extremely strong argument

The BBC Spotlight reporter Jennifer O’Leary failed to convince the jury about the quality of her 6 anonymous sources.
Any reasonable juror was bound to say to themselves : “It is irrelevant that Adams was, or was not, in the IRA. This claim is not proven – we are asked to take one person’s word for it, and that is not good enough”.

In short, the BBC case was extremely flimsy as it relied on anonymous British intelligence sources.



In this respect, see Anton McCabe’s incisive article below –

Adamned if he does, adamned if he doesn’t

Gerry Adams didn’t order spy’s murder, and ‘Spotlight’’s agent didn’t even say he did

British intelligence sources are serial liars – and the background news is :
The British Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn is scrambling to prevent a public enquiry into
the Sean Brown 1997 murder involving 25 – yes 25! – people connected to British intelligence.

Former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams with British King Charles – ex Fianna Fáil TD Seán Haughey looks on

Tánaiste Simon Harris has come out firmly with the Brown family, the GAA, thousands of Derry demonstrators, the Irish News etc – against the British state’s cover-up protecting MI5 murderers.

We are well used to British government cover-ups in Ireland. We are even more used to Dublin governments bowing, scraping, and capitulating to Westminster diktats.

So, it is notable that the Dublin government has grasped the Sean Brown cover-up must end.

John Meehan May 30 2025


After the libel trial result was made public, Gerry Adams called on the Dublin government to meet the family of Denis Donaldson. Jane Donaldson, the daughter of the killed IRA informer, issued a public statement which has the ring of truth.

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Pensioner (Sue Pentel) arrested during pro-Palestine protest outside Belfast bank ‘will not stay silent’, lawyer says – Belfast Telegraph Report

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A Belfast Telegraph report is below :

Source :


Pensioner (Sue Pentel) arrested during pro-Palestine Protest outside Belfast bankwill not stay silent, lawyer says

A pensioner arrested during a pro-Palestine protest outside a bank in Belfast will “robustly contest” any charges that are brought, her solicitor has said.

Sue Pentel was one of two women held on suspicion of criminal damage after an incident on Saturday.

The 72-year-old Jewish grandmother is a high-profile campaigner against Israel’s military action in Gaza.

Her solicitor said she was arrested “whilst peacefully protesting against the ongoing genocide in Palestine at Barclays Bank”.

According to reports, the two women were arrested after stickers promoting a boycott of the bank were allegedly placed on an ATM.

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The British State and the 6 County Bit of Ireland – Hilary Benn’s Three Cover-Ups Are Protecting State Killers

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Hilary Benn is the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. He is very busy, scrambling to protect state killers.

Appalling vistas have come to the surface.

Hilary Benn, British boss (Six County bit of Ireland) flanked by Stormont 1st and Deputy 1st Ministers Emma Little-Pengelly and Michelle O’Neill

Three major scandals will not go away, public pressure is building up.

Number 1, The murder of Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) Chairperson Sean Brown in 1997

The Sean Brown case is extraordinary – Hillary Benn is covering up the involvement of 25 people connected to British intelligence in a case that dates back to 1997. Let that sink in.

Campaigners for Sean Brown are very clear on what they want. We are well used to British government cover-ups in Ireland, and are even more used to Dublin governments bowing, scraping, and capitulating to Westminster diktats.

So, it is notable that Simon Harris – Dublin government Tánaiste (deputy prime minister) has grasped this cover-up must end. This news report is very telling :

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Kincora House and Lord Mountbatten (grand uncle of King Charles) – Chris Moore and Suzanne Breen Say “It is long past the time that the full truth was told about what happened in the house of horrors” – they are 100 per cent right

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We wish to again congratulate the dogged investigative reporter Chris Moore for putting so much dedicated hard work into a shocking story which will not go away.

This smoking volcano has become more active recently. The criminal scandal will not go away, and further political action is vital. We are duty bound to keep up the pressure and, above all, support the victims of horrendous British state crimes.

For decades the Belfast Kincora child abuse scandal has attracted false and unverified accusations. In my own case I refused to believe many rumours about the involvement of Lord Mountbatten in a child abuse ring because no credible evidence was placed in the public arena.

At the Dublin Irish Film Institute  (IFI) launch of the stunning documentary “Lost Boys of Belfast” in 2023 I made this observation to one of the documentary makers, Chris Moore.

I had noticed there was no reference to Mountbatten in the sensational documentary. Chris confirmed that the documentary makers made no mention of the Mountbatten allegations because they possessed no credible proof.

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