Northern Ireland Riots
- Rioting has been going on in Northern Ireland since 29th March
- Rioting has been perpetrated by mostly loyalist peoples but has also included nationalists in its escalations, such as clashes at a peace wall that divides the two communities
- The rioting has continued on for several nights, with it reaching more wide scale national news by 7th April after a double decker bus was hijacked and set on fire
- The rioting threatens to inflame tensions and further violence between the predominantly Catholic nationalist and predominantly Protestant loyalist communities
- Much rioting has been perpetrated by youths and even children, thought to have been egged on by other actors
- Reasons for the rioting has involved several, such as existing tensions, prospect of a referendum on Irish unification, revenge by loyalist-linked drug gangs for recent crackdowns, and the creation of a trade border down the Irish Sea due to the BREXIT Deal, among other factors
- One of the original sparks involved a funeral for a well-known IRA volunteer that broke coronavirus restrictions, but resulted in no prosecutions, which angered loyalists, who saw it as the authorities being in the pocket of nationalists
- The first riots in NI begun in Londonderry, but spread to other areas in the following nights, such as Belfast
- The rioting has involved the throwing of bricks, petrol bombs, and fireworks, and dozens of police officers have been injured
My Thoughts
Many of us do not often give much thought to Northern Ireland, but there are things there that many people would be bewildered by over here, such as the presence of a wall that serves to separate a community down the lines of nationalist and loyalist to prevent violence and confrontations. Something such as that existing to many of us can seem quite dystopian, but in Northern Ireland it is a reality.
And although the Good Friday Agreement served largely to end violence and massively decrease tensions following The Troubles, the tensions do still remain at low levels, and as such can be easily sparked up again by various factors.
One of the most concerning factors that has had an impact on the Good Friday Agreement is that of the BREXIT Deal and the new trade barrier down the Irish Sea, which loyalists have seen as an interruption to Northern Ireland being properly a part of the United Kingdom and as such an interruption to the Good Friday Agreement as a whole, and they see it playing into the hands of nationalists.
But the effects of BREXIT are not the only reasons, as said one of the main sparks was a funeral held for a former well-known IRA volunteer called Bobby Storey which broke coronavirus restrictions in place for funerals, but which led to no prosecutions. This seemed to be one of the main catalysts for the riots first beginning, and as such caused other simmering problems to also explode, and the riots spread over the following nights.
Another reason put forward is that drug gangs linked with loyalist paramilitary groups are also encouraging the rioting against authorities as revenge for recent crackdowns on drug trafficking. There have also been complaints from loyalists that the authorities are in the pocket of the nationalists, ignoring their group while giving more focus to loyalists.
I could go on, but as can be seen the riots are not down to just one specific factor but due to a myriad of factors that were waiting to explode from a spark – which was the funeral. Which is what is making the situation so difficult and complex to do deal with, it is of course important to ultimately preserve the Good Friday Agreement, but in the long term there needs to be focus on numerous areas to try and solve all of the contributing factors and lower the risk of a flare up in violence such as this. There is no one single answer to the delicate situation in Northern Ireland, and this latest flare up should not just be swept under the rug.
Iran Natanz Nuclear Facility Sabotage
- Top nuclear official in Iran says one of its nuclear facilities, Natanz, was targeted by sabotage which caused a power failure
- Israeli public media has claimed the sabotage was an Israeli cyber-attack, citing intelligence sources
- The attack comes amidst tensions over Iran’s ramping up of their nuclear program following the US departure from the Iran Deal
- Iran had recently unveiled and started using new more advanced centrifuges at the facility, for the enrichment of uranium
- Negotiations have been taking place in Vienna in an attempt to revive the Nuclear Deal
- Israel see’s Iran as a major regional rival and is strongly against them obtaining nuclear weapons
- Israel’s prime minister has also said they do not want to be bound by a new Iran Nuclear Deal
- Iran is currently applying pressure by enriching uranium at 20% concentration, above the agreed 3.67% concentration under the deal, 90% or higher concentration is required for nuclear weapons
- Iran continues to maintain that its uranium enrichment is only for nuclear energy production and that it does not seek nuclear weapons
My Thoughts
I think that any attempts at sabotage, attacks, or disruptions on a rival while important negotiations are ongoing is highly irresponsible and can only really be seen as a potential attempt at derailing such negotiations, especially since the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already said they are not in favour of seeing the Iran Deal renewed.
It is flashpoints like this that are in danger of creating frightening large scale regional conflicts that aren’t good for any of the sides that are involved, any such war would be devastating to the entire region. I also do not even entirely agree with Iran being banned from pursuing its nuclear interests, even if that does involve weapons, the prospect of MAD still exists and I highly doubt Iran would go haywire in nuking their rivals as soon as they got their hands on a bomb, as they know that’d be the beginning of their downfall.
If anything, Iran would use nuclear weapons as pretty much any country who has them currently uses them, for deterrence. As a whole it would be good to see nuclear weapons be phased out by all countries that do possess them, but that is incredibly hard to achieve while tensions and political rivalry exists, as well as suspicions from one side to the other and vice versa. So, if even one country has nuclear weapons, it only makes sense why others would also want them, for prevention against that country’s nuclear weapons and the retaining of territorial integrity.
It is very easy for a nuclear armed country to bully a country that does not have nuclear weapons, and I can see that this fear would drive such countries to obtain nuclear weapons themselves. Solving this, means everyone with nuclear weapons needs to disarm, not just a chosen few.
David Cameron Lobbying Scandal
- Former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of lobbying the Government on behalf of a financial services firm called Greensill Capital, where he is an employee
- Cameron aimed to acquire access to the COVID Corporate Financing Facility loan scheme, enabling Greensill to issue tax-payer funded loans
- Newspaper reports claim that David Cameron may make millions through shares in the firm, bringing up issues over conflict of interest
- Cameron contacted Chancellor Rishi Sunak, two junior treasury ministers, and a senior Downing Street advisor in the effort
- Although the original purpose of the effort failed, the firm was given access to issue loans under the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme, using tens of millions of tax-payer funds
- In Oct 2019 Cameron along with the Greensill founder met with Health Secretary Matt Hancock for discussions on a payment scheme they wanted the NHS to use, which was later adopted in parts of the NHS.
- Labour also published a business card that showed Lex Greensill, the founder, was a senior advisor in Downing Street under Cameron
- There are continuing questions over whether this amounts to getting the firm special access via Cameron’s influence, although Cameron was cleared of wrongdoing by a Watchdog in March
- The Watchdog said Cameron was an employee of Greensill rather than third-party lobbyist as he had joined 2-years after leaving office, meaning he did not need to be vetted by a committee
- But critics argue that getting off on such a technicality means rules should be changed or tightened
- David Cameron admitted what happened but insisted he broke no government rules or codes of conduct.
My Thoughts
I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to things like numbers and as such – finance. But I know there is a lot of hate out there for lobbying and for good reason, as it can often clash with personal interests and business, allowing them to make personal wealth through exploiting their influence in the political and business worlds. And so, it is understandable why all of this has caused such a huge amount of controversy.
I fully agree that all avenues should be taken to make sure that no rules or codes of conduct were broken, as well as questioning all those involved, with as much transparency as possible. And I also agree with having a review on the rules that govern these sorts of business and negotiations over financial and business matters related to or involving state and government, especially as such involves tax-payer money as well, which is another reason why this is very controversial.
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