so what effect will the shooting at the military base have?  i hope none.  i view this as an isolated event...

it's particularly ridiculous that the pizza deliverymen were shot.  what political/tactical point could that have served?

A statement against the television show, Torchwood?

The excellent economic conditions over the last decade and a half have allowed the tensions between the 2 factions to be suppressed, everyone is working everyone has a house and an income, so everyone is less likely to engage in urban violence. With the current economic climate the RIRA have seen an opportunity to advance their agenda by trying to stir up some good old fashioned sectarian conflict. This has been simmering since 1998.

There are still some people who think that the Peace Agreement is a deal made with the Devil himself. These people can be found on both sides of the fence... but the only ones that are getting any media attention are the RIRA. The RIRA never regarded the Peace Agreement with anything other then contempt, and the Loyalist Paramilitaries view it with extreme suspicion, but work within it because they can still operate freely in their other endevours. The PIRA never disbanded either, but have very little influence over the RIRA.

The Loyalist paramilitaries are too busy protecting their lucrative drug trafficking empires (ie fighting amongst themselves) to be involved in routine sectarian paramilitary action at this time. The minute a Nationalist paramilitary steps into that turf, it's all back on again.

Robinson and McGuiness can bang on all they want about it not starting up again, but they really have no tools to stop it. Slab Murphy and associates havent given up their arms, and the myriad Loyalist paramilitaries only need the slightest nudge to be back at it again.  

A statement against the television show, Torchwood?

Torchwood is made in Wales... the Welsh dont care about anything other than Rugby, pasties, Tom Jones and singing while coal mining.

The minute a Nationalist paramilitary steps into that turf, it's all back on again.

I was going to say something about Nationalism, but I decided to make a joke instead.  I'm ashamed.

when i was in wales, laying sod on coal fields, i heard a lot of tom jones.  and a lot of DON'T CALL US ENGLISH.

Oh yeah, I forgot that last bit.

no more excellent economic conditions either....

Jeez Mosh, do you think maybe you could do some research before answering about a subject you're clearly not familiar with?!

BTW, why is almost every famous Welsh person named Jones? Shouldn't it be Llewellyn or something?

Why should I be any different to anyone else who posts here?

Which bit should I research?

Llewellyn -> Llwllynch

Which bit should I research?

Look at his face, Mosher.  That is plainly Si's sarcastic face.

You mean Torchwood isnt made in Wales? Where's Cardiff been moved to then?

Northern Territories

Near Darwin?

Captain Jack'll get eaten by crocs!

RIRA shot a PSNI officer today

They're cashed up after that bank job the other week and flexing their muscle.

it's pretty surreal to be sitting at work discussing this stuff.  for me, it was never current events.  i didn't learn much about the troubles until they were past tense. 

so what now?  troops in the streets again?  i certainly hope not.  i think that will exacerbate the situtaion.

British troops on the street isnt an option. Politically or economically. PSNI is a good police force (as opposed to the old RUC) with members from both sides, and capable of dealing with these scumbags.

The general prevailing thought from both sides after those soldiers were killed was that they were just people stationed in NI who were only at their place of employment, not as part of an occupying force.

CIRA and RIRA will do all they can to drag the UDA, UVF, LVF, etc into the fray again. If anything, public opinion will keep a lid on things, but if economically one side seems to be getting favourable treatment over the other (which was the real basis of the conflict), that's probably the one thing that would really kickstart an escalated conflict.

I do remember some of the shit that went on back in the 1970's... we left after my grandmother car was blown up by the British Army. I remember that day clearly. I've seen footage of the car being blown up. As tough as it was growing up here, I'm really glad that I wasnt there. 

It's an almost pointless attack.  NI is one of the few examples of a counter insurgency successfully beaten.  Not by force of arms, but by dragging out the stalemate long enough for the economy and civil structure to gain traction.  A lot of the splinter groups that devolved from the IRA are so far away, ideologically speaking, from the original issue that they will not be pacified by anything other than the passage of time as some of the doctrine they are peddling such as obscure Maoism, falangism and the like, only exists in the university courses that people take because they need that one last credit.

We have some relatives in Antrim and the last time we saw them a few years back their general feeling was that they (as Protestants) were extremely embarassed that they hadn't been able to get over themselves for so long and wondered how much of their life they had wasted being angry.  That sort of sentiment is what these new murders are butting up against.

As well, one of the few useful side-products of the otherwise banal war on terror, is that the Europeans are looking out and not in.  I was at a presentation in Brussels a while back that suggested, with evidence, that many of the indigenous terror groups in Europe like the PIRA, ETA, RAF (they still exist oddly enough) are unable to wrench the public attention away from the the notion that radical Islam is the main battle.  As such, they are pursued by police as if they were common criminals (which they are) which has served to diminish their relevance. 

The bottom line is that nobody in any part of Ireland really wants to see the Troubles redux.

Which bit should I research?

Look at his face, Mosher.  That is plainly Si's sarcastic face.

Indeed!

Near Darwin?

Captain Jack'll get eaten by crocs!

Those sure are ugly fucking shoes.

The recession is going to really hurt Ireland if it hasn't done so already. More violence in the short term

well the republic of ireland seems to be more fucked than the UK.  plus isn't a lot of northern ireland still disproportionately civil service, a leftover from the troubles?  in a weird way maybe northern ireland will fare better than great britain or the republic.

this summer, i was in a cab in belfast and the driver told me shit was going to go down again soon.  i guess he was right.

Cab drivers tend to be Catholic there, so I guess if anyone was in the know, it'd be cab drivers.

THEY'RE STILL A BUNCK OF MICKS NOT EVEN GOOD ENOUGH TO LICK THE BOOTS OF THE ENGLISH I SAW WE NUKE THAT SHITTY LITTLE ISLAND AND SHOVE THOSE MISSILES RIGHT UP THEIR ASSES!!!

GOD DAM POTATO EATING LEPRECHAUN FUCKING SHEEP MASTURBATORS!!!

I SAW WE NUKE THAT SHITTY LITTLE ISLAND

I and I think we be needing to cool now, iya.

Eh. Ignore the angry faggot. He'll eventually get a beat down and left tied to a fence to freeze.

Angry rasta faggot.

Angry rasta faggot.

"Chi-chi bwoy"

pssst! hey, over here!

yeah i'm talking to you! here's a little secret for you...

go fuck yourself.

lets nuke france instead. I mean honestly, they make the best wine and cheese in the world and come up with occasional hot chick, but that aside, who the fuck needs France?

Germans.

They need someone to take things out on.

I like potatoes ... and nobody fucks Leprechauns, they fuck YOU!