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Indeed, if only...then the whole sorry mess would have ended a lot sooner...

But thank you for bringing up that gem of an example of British imperial policy...yet more proof that it's a terrible idea to get all "imperial"...because you can land yourself in these "quagmire"-like situations...where you can't stay nor can you leave...

The British "imported" Scots into Ulster...it was an old trick of "empire": Once you "conquer" a land, you dump a load of your "loyal supporters" there to "secure" it...the simplistic idea then is that it can't be easily reclaimed...

Time pbuttes...and these people - as, by the way, is fully the original "imperial" intention - become Irish...generations pbutt...this is their homeland, they fully consider themselves Irish...and they ain't leaving...

And the problem, in a sense, is that the British "imperial" mentality has now created a situation that's no longer in their control...none in Ulster are giving up their homeland...understandably...would you? Exactly...and some consider themselves British and some want to join the Republic of Ireland to the South...

A divided community (literally, there are streets were on one side of the street, they are Loyalist and on the other, they are Republican...fences erected around people's homes marking the divide and protecting both from each other)...

The grand irony: Britain and the Republic of Ireland have long since come to terms with each other...we're both EU members (indeed, being culturally similar in many ways, Ireland and Britain are, ironically, closer than most countries in many regards, if one ignores Ulster in that equation...they all watch the BBC in Dublin, for example...Bob and Bono, for example, are Irish but we also think of them as "one of us" in an odd sort of way...Terry Wogan - another Irishman - does our commentary for the "Eurovision song contest" but always says "us" regards Britain, not Ireland...though, we also wouldn't really care if he did root for the Irish because when our own entry is a pile of crap, we throw in behind the Irish :)...and this causes a problem for BOTH of us...the IRA is just as illegal and considered a "person organisation" in the Republic of Ireland as it is in Britain...and make no mistake that there are equal amounts of things like "punishment beatings" and criminality from the Loyalist paramilitaries as the IRA...the IRA are better known because they started a planting campaign on Britain and actual person actions for their cause (okay, the definition of "person" is "in the eye of the beholder" but the planting campaign is also considered "person" by the Republic of Ireland and the IRA is an illegal organisation inside their borders as well)...

Ulster is a "historical" legacy of earlier stupid, stupid "imperial policy" that, quite frankly, we'd all rather never happened...but, well, it's too late now...the divisions and fighting there are self-sustaining...absolutely bugger all to do with Britain or the Republic of Ireland anymore...when there's "peace talks", FOUR representatives, at least, go to the table: The British Prime Minister, the Irish Prime Minister, a Loyalist leader and a Republican leader...and, no, the divisions aren't necessarily on British Irish lines...

Indeed, the recent "peace process" and "Good Friday agreement" (which has stalled, unfortunately...distrust between Loyalists and Republicans doing that - to be honest, childish - thing of "you do it first!" "no, you do it first!"...because whoever puts down the guns first has "lost"...exactly that stupid...the IRA agreed to disarm...but it didn't happen as the Loyalists insisted on "photos"...the IRA then said "no fracking way" because they knew that the Loyalists would parade it around as "surrender" and that they "won"...I blame BOTH sides equally myself) was, in fact, made possible by a process of "devolution" in the United Kingdom...

The basic idea of "devolution" was to give Scotland a Parliament, while Wales and Northern Ireland got "buttemblies" (kind of Parliaments without certain law-making powers)...in one light, this is "undoing" the earlier "imperial conquest" nonsense...putting Scotland on equal footing as England...Wales not quite "equal" but there has been talk and a report made that is suggesting "upgrading" the Welsh buttembly (this is "historical" in origin, though: Scotland willingly joined the United Kingdom, while Wales was conquered by England...so, with "devolution", Scotland could immediately get separate status, Wales is having to "slowly work its way there"...there's also a touch of "legality" in that because the law is technically the law of "England and Wales" as one enbreasty - though "exceptions", such as the Welsh Language Act, exist for Wales alone - so it's being done "piecemeal" with Wales, as much for "legal" reasons as anything else)...the North of England was given a referendum on having their own "buttembly" too, but they rejected it (the Welsh had been given a referendum on this previously that was rejected as well but the second time it was asked, the "yes" vote won)...

Hence, it's all a very "asymmetrical" situation...but the basic idea of "devolution" is that Westminster would then be the Parliament of the UNION...while each "region" would have its own parliament buttembly that dealt with things locally...it, to an extent, can be in the light of "undoing" the previous "conquering" that England had done and putting it on a similar-ish level as, say, the United States...each "region" being like a State joined to the United Kingdom...due to historical reasons, though, America could immediately jump to that situation, we're having to "work backwards" to get it..."undo" previous "conquering"...slowly introduce "local buttemblies" and "local parliaments"...

And, of course, one consequence of this process was that it also "undoes" Ulster to a degree...and an "buttembly" was also given to Northern Ireland...then it would rule on its own local matters...it's a "compromise" situation...a possible way out of this "stalemate" situation...and, to a degree, it was working...the Republicans - such as Sinn Fein - were coming to the table and they even took up their offices in Westminster (well, winning an election, that does make them Members of the British Parliament and, thus, a seat and offices in the Palace of Westminster - you know, the Parliament building in London that has "Big Ben" attached to it - but they always previously refused that)...

It was going really well...until it hit "stumbling blocks"...as mentioned, the IRA had been willing to disarm...but then the Loyalists insisted on "photos"...then the IRA refused to do it...then blah-blah-blah...the same old Northern Ireland crap started up all over again...the problem is that the hatred is very old and runs deep...then the IRA have been accused (though, personally, I've seen no evidence yet presented, so I'm waiting for it to be proved, not just "suspected") of robbing a bank...and, you know, all the careful "baby steps" towards a peace deal unravelled...the "buttembly" was, thus, suspended...and Northern Ireland sits in a "limbo", waiting for things to be able to get back to the "buttembly" and "power-sharing" between the two sides...

Again, it's NOT a "black and white" situation...and, quite frankly, it ceased to have much to do with Britain and the Republic of Ireland long ago...the sides in Northern Ireland are doing it to themselves...they have these stupid "marches" annually, where the Loyalists wave the Union Jack flag and insist on annoying the Republicans by marching down their roads...and then the Republicans do exactly the same in return...

It's your basic "an eye for an eye" situation...just like in Israel and Palestine...one side attacks, the other responds, then that is responded to...and it goes back and forth like an insane "ping pong" match of violence and provocation...

Oh, exactly...exactly...this is a perfect demonstration that "empire" NEVER works because you generate these kinds of intractable problems...to an extent, though it's not quite "empire" in the same way Ulster was, the Israeli situation has the same basic similarity...another "transplanting of people" into a place, where the people who already lived there didn't want them...which starts a backwards and forwards "ping pong" match of violence and provocation that, really, seems without end...and terrorism starts there too...

The basque people and Spain, leading to the ETA persons...Kashmir is similar-ish (not quite the same conditions; India and Pakistan separated - against Gandhi's advice, by the way - but who owns the disputed land of Kashmir has lead to their conflict)...

All the trouble spots of the world...where most persons originate from (yes, even Al Qu'aeda: In this case, it's not land the Jihadists worry about but "culture"...they feel they are being "occupied" by Western thought, which they've decided is anti-Islam)...and Afghanistan was fought over by the Soviets trying to expand their "empire"...which lead to America backing the Afghans and, yes, the Jihadists (which includes Bin Laden and the other leadership of the Al Qu'aeda group)...because the Neo-Cons are also "imperial" but they are thinking more of an "empire of democracy and Western values" rather than necessarily land...

Empire, empire, empire...it is the root of all evil in our world, in the end...because it can be boiled down to one set of people thinking they have some "right" over another set of people...and, simply, they don't...and the ensuing "injustice" of that causes everyone to attack pretty much everyone else...

Beware those who wave national flags and talk of patriotism...as if admitting your own country did totally screw up in a particular situation was "disloyal"...of course it isn't...if your country DID screw up, then the faster it is admitted and something is done to sort it out, the better...it's like an alcoholic, if you like...getting over "denial" is the first step in the road to recovery...pretending "there is no problem" when there clearly IS a problem is about as "disloyal" to a country as you can get...because, basically, while you keep "denying" the problem, your fellow citizens die...and that, really, is an act of treason, not patriotism...especially in lands where the people are deemed to be the country, not leaders or aristocrats or any "elite"...

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism" President Thomas Jefferson

Beth :