All Honour to the Easter Rising
Today is Thursday, 24 April 2008.
On this date in 1916 (the day after Easter) the Irish Republican Brotherhood organized the “Easter Rising”, an armed attempt to force the end of British rule. (The IRB was joined by elements of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, and Cumann na mBan.)
Although the Rising failed (the final units surrendered on 30 April), it was the catalyst for the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), which expelled British imperialism from five-sixths of Ireland (they were unable to liberate the province of “Northern Ireland”).
Most persons not of Irish citizenship or ancestry know little of the savagery of the English conquest of Ireland.
The conquest began in 1171 when Henry the Second, under cover of a papal decree, first invaded Ireland. The imperial project was completed by that consummate prick, Oliver Cromwell, dictator of England during most of the years of Parliament’s supremacy, in 1649-1653. The most accurate contemporary account (the Down Survey) estimates that approximately 600,000 Irish, or 40 to 50 % of the entire Irish population, were murdered during this period. Some 170,000 died of war or war-induced famines, and the remainder from war-induced disease.
This is a level of genocide comparing favourably with Hitler and Stalin.
So it’s appropriate that The Washington Post today carries an article about civilians in Lebanon stocking up on firearms, fearing another civil war like that of 1975-1990, during which at least 150,000 were killed and at least 200,000 injured (many permanently maimed, thanks to technological advances).
And you think you have an inflation problem, in the US of A/USE/USS with $3.25/gallon gas? The following figures are approximate, since market conditions do tend to fluctuate greatly in unstable venues, but they seem to give a true sense of the situation:
Made in USA Glock semi-automatic pistol: was $1,000 (all initial prices as of January 2007), now $4,000
Made in USA M-16 assault rifle: was $100, now $1,250
AK-47 USSR-designed assault rifle, now made everywhere: was $75, now $800
[Perhaps Detroit should switch product lines: at least the M-16 has price-point advantage over Russki AK-47!]
Rocket-propelled grenade launcher: was $50, now $500
Lebanon has been in its current political crisis since 2006, with a paralyzed Parliament unable to pass laws or elect a president. You may recall that the USA/USE/USS intervened militarily in Lebanon in 1958 under the Republican Eisenhower, and in 1982-1984 under the Republican Raygun, with disastrous results.
Will the Republican Cheney-Bush regime make it a 3-peat, and even further destabalize the Middle East?
___________________________________________
Washington Post Citation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303433.html
On this date in 1916 (the day after Easter) the Irish Republican Brotherhood organized the “Easter Rising”, an armed attempt to force the end of British rule. (The IRB was joined by elements of the Irish Volunteers, the Irish Citizen Army, and Cumann na mBan.)
Although the Rising failed (the final units surrendered on 30 April), it was the catalyst for the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), which expelled British imperialism from five-sixths of Ireland (they were unable to liberate the province of “Northern Ireland”).
Most persons not of Irish citizenship or ancestry know little of the savagery of the English conquest of Ireland.
The conquest began in 1171 when Henry the Second, under cover of a papal decree, first invaded Ireland. The imperial project was completed by that consummate prick, Oliver Cromwell, dictator of England during most of the years of Parliament’s supremacy, in 1649-1653. The most accurate contemporary account (the Down Survey) estimates that approximately 600,000 Irish, or 40 to 50 % of the entire Irish population, were murdered during this period. Some 170,000 died of war or war-induced famines, and the remainder from war-induced disease.
This is a level of genocide comparing favourably with Hitler and Stalin.
So it’s appropriate that The Washington Post today carries an article about civilians in Lebanon stocking up on firearms, fearing another civil war like that of 1975-1990, during which at least 150,000 were killed and at least 200,000 injured (many permanently maimed, thanks to technological advances).
And you think you have an inflation problem, in the US of A/USE/USS with $3.25/gallon gas? The following figures are approximate, since market conditions do tend to fluctuate greatly in unstable venues, but they seem to give a true sense of the situation:
Made in USA Glock semi-automatic pistol: was $1,000 (all initial prices as of January 2007), now $4,000
Made in USA M-16 assault rifle: was $100, now $1,250
AK-47 USSR-designed assault rifle, now made everywhere: was $75, now $800
[Perhaps Detroit should switch product lines: at least the M-16 has price-point advantage over Russki AK-47!]
Rocket-propelled grenade launcher: was $50, now $500
Lebanon has been in its current political crisis since 2006, with a paralyzed Parliament unable to pass laws or elect a president. You may recall that the USA/USE/USS intervened militarily in Lebanon in 1958 under the Republican Eisenhower, and in 1982-1984 under the Republican Raygun, with disastrous results.
Will the Republican Cheney-Bush regime make it a 3-peat, and even further destabalize the Middle East?
___________________________________________
Washington Post Citation:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/23/AR2008042303433.html
posted by HH at 6:44 PM
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