Ukraine Shoots Down F-16 With Patriot, A... Sat Aug 31, 2024 11:53 | Anti-Empire
Surprise Offensive Puts 300 km² of Russ... Fri Aug 09, 2024 08:44 | Marko Marjanović
The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire
In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire
UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović Anti-Empire >>
Promoting Human Rights in IrelandHuman Rights in Ireland >>
News Round-Up Sat Nov 02, 2024 01:15 | Toby Young 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.
The OBR?s Damning Budget Verdict gives the Tories Ammunition for Years Fri Nov 01, 2024 17:00 | Will Jones The OBR's damning Budget verdict has given the Tories ammunition for years, says Fraser Nelson. When it seemed politically expedient Labour pledged its devotion to the OBR. It's now facing the consequences.
The post The OBR’s Damning Budget Verdict gives the Tories Ammunition for Years appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Reform Banned From Discussing Southport ?Attacker? in Parliament, Nigel Farage Reveals Fri Nov 01, 2024 15:37 | Will Jones Reform MPs have been banned from asking questions about the teenager accused of the Southport massacre in Parliament, Nigel Farage has revealed, amid concerns about the public being kept in the dark.
The post Reform Banned From Discussing Southport ‘Attacker’ in Parliament, Nigel Farage Reveals appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Hamas?s Secret Western Propaganda Network Has Been Tolerated for Too Long Fri Nov 01, 2024 13:43 | Ramesh Thakur A top Hezbollah figure recently admitted: "We?re investing in protests in Western countries, especially among college students." Hamas's secret propaganda network has been tolerated for too long, says Ramesh Thakur.
The post Hamas’s Secret Western Propaganda Network Has Been Tolerated for Too Long appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Vauxhall Owner Suffers Sales Plunge Amid EV Slowdown Fri Nov 01, 2024 11:17 | Will Jones Vauxhall owner Stellantis's sales have plunged by more than a quarter amid an EV slowdown in Europe. It follows Volkswagen proposing huge workforce cuts and the closure of German factories.
The post Vauxhall Owner Suffers Sales Plunge Amid EV Slowdown appeared first on The Daily Sceptic. Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°106 Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:21 | en
Luis Arce allegedly planned the assassination of his rival Evo Morales Fri Nov 01, 2024 12:12 | en
In Kazan, the order of the world changed , by Thierry Meyssan Tue Oct 29, 2024 07:01 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°105 Sat Oct 26, 2024 05:27 | en
Settlers prepare for 'resettlement in Gaza' Fri Oct 25, 2024 12:46 | en Voltaire Network >>
|
Ireland'S Un Security Council Seat - More A Display Of Hubris Than Concern For Human Rights
national |
anti-war / imperialism |
press release
Friday July 03, 2020 22:20 by IAWM - The Irish Anti-War Movement
IRELAND'S UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT
LETTER SENT TO IRISH BROADSHEET NEWSPAPERS
Sir,
Ireland’s previous stint on the UN Security Council in 2001 is nothing to be proud of in terms of promoting world peace.
In 2001, under the then Fianna Fail Government with Brian Cowan as Foreign Minister, Ireland voted for several resolutions that ultimately approved the US led invasion of Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, in what then Labour TD Michael D. Higgins termed “an illegal war”. Nineteen years later with no end in sight America’s longest war has caused the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands, many of them women and children, and has created deep bitterness, division and sectarianism. IRELAND'S UN SECURITY COUNCIL SEAT
LETTER SENT TO IRISH BROADSHEET NEWSPAPERS
Sir,
Ireland’s previous stint on the UN Security Council in 2001 is nothing to be proud of in terms of promoting world peace.
In 2001, under the then Fianna Fail Government with Brian Cowan as Foreign Minister, Ireland voted for several resolutions that ultimately approved the US led invasion of Afghanistan, one of the poorest countries in the world, in what then Labour TD Michael D. Higgins termed “an illegal war”. Nineteen years later with no end in sight America’s longest war has caused the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands, many of them women and children, and has created deep bitterness, division and sectarianism.
Since then successive Irish Governments have displayed a shocking partisanship that ultimately favours war and militarism that simultaneously destroy both human life and our fragile planet. Over the last almost two decades Fianna Fail and Fine Gael led governments have aided and abetted the US military war machine as it intervened, either directly or through its proxies, in multiple countries such as Iraq, Libya, Syria, Palestine and Yemen, by allowing armed troops, armaments and rendition flights pass through Shannon Airport.
They have equally, despite the optimistic rhetoric, been woefully lacking in their response to the refugee crisis, much of it the result of these wars.
There is much play in your coverage of the announcement of the UN Security Council seat of Ireland’s “position on Palestinians”. Readers should remember Israel’s brutal killing of over sixty civilians in Gaza on 15 May 2018 while the US opened its new Embassy in Jerusalem, a move guaranteed to threaten any possibility of a two-state solution. Kuwait’s subsequent calling for an investigation into the killings by Israel was blocked by the US at the UN Security Council. At the same time Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney called for restraint on both sides and offered the Palestinians a solar panel project. That’s some worthy position!
If the Fine Gael Government was seriously interested in justice for Palestine it could for example have supported the Occupied Territories Bill in the current Programme for Government which have been a tiny step in the recognition of Palestinian rights and a mark against Israel’s ongoing illegal settlements and theft of Palestinian land.
It could have openly supported UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s call for a world ceasefire during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
And it could have at long last closed Shannon Airport to the US Military. It is unconscionable that this facility was not stopped during the Covid-10 lock down. Imagine that the only flights passing through Irish airspace during the lockdown were either those carrying PPE for our frontline healthcare workers or those carrying heavily armed soldiers on route to kill and be killed in foreign wars.
And it could also speak out more forcefully and honestly on the connection between perpetual warfare and the refugee and environmental crises.
Thus, the Fine Gael’s Government’s recent successful bid for a seat on the UN Security Council speaks more of hubris and sycophancy, and a desire to cosy up to particular world powers, than of any concerns for world peace and justice. Instead of standing firmly against war, militarism and occupation it has satisfied itself with a meaningless role on a dysfunctional body controlled by the world’s militaristic superpowers wielding their vetoes like imperialists of old with scant regard for human rights. The UN Security Council is well past time for disbandment and should be replaced by a more democratic and representative body.
|
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1Dead right.
Good to see FF/FG being called out on their pathetic war poodle behaviour!