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True to form, when a NI peace deal and settlement are in the offing, the bloody-minded Ian Paisley does his damdest to fuck it up. Adams and McGuiness look paragons of calm, reason, and rationality in comparison.

Officer Dibble

hey, lay off ian! the poor chap has more important things on his mind...

does he still shout?

Paisley is a patriot. He is British, Ulster is British. End of argument.

Adams is a slimy twat and McGuinness a murderer. Do you honestly think the Irish want those two wankstains in their parliament?

Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness represent the majority of the Nationalist/Republican voters so like it or lump it unionists like Paisley or Trimble will have to do business with them otherwise we're back to square one.

JP

Drives you mad doesn't it.

Nearly reach a reasonable agreement - only for it to be scuppered by an argument about a couple of snap-shots.

Pictures of weapons being destroyed doesn't mean that the IRA will have destroyed all their weapons nor will it prevent them from buying new weapons - its just a meaningless stunt pulled by Paisley which he knows that the Republicans can't agree to (for their own meaningless reasons).

But Northeren Ireland appears to be a much better place than it was 10 years ago - and you'd hope that an old fool playing silly political games won't stop this ongoing improvement. It'd a sick tragedy if his ridiculous posturing meant that the province reverted back to the troubles.

The important and fundamental issue here is about trust - republicans have been given everything they have wanted and shown endless concessions over the last 10 years and what have they given in return?

If they really are prepared to seriously embrace peace and decommission then whats the problem with taking some pictures?

Jay

As has been said, it's all about crowing rights afterwards---the Northern Irish equivalent of George Bush senior's "We won the cold war" speech.

Don't imagine that a peace deal will see the end of hostilities. Many of the paramilitaries are no more than glorified criminal gangs, raising cash through the usual gangster methods---drugs, extortion, robbery. McGuinness may have a veneer of respectability these days, but many of his ex-colleagues will stick to the old tried and tested ways.

Still, who'd have thought that Paisley would be this close to striking a deal with Sinn Fein.

"republicans have been given everything they have wanted"

They want a united Ireland - so they've hardly been given everything.

"and what have they given in return?"

The reconciliation isn't easy and terrorists on both sides have been released from jail. Surely the end to violence and the willingness to use democracy and negotiate is a massive step.

It must be dreadful for many loyalist victims to see ex-IRA members treated as politicians - but the only alternative would be a return to the violence of the past.

"If they really are prepared to seriously embrace peace and decommission then whats the problem with taking some pictures?"

Well the problem is that the pictures wouldn't prove that decommissioning was going on to any serious extent. So its an entirely political ploy used by Paisley because he knows that Sinn Fein can't agree.

Of course Sinn Fein should agree - if they were really devious they'd take some photos of the destruction of obsolete weapons whilst re-arming with modern kit - and its only false pride and stubborness thats preventing them.

But as its Paisley who's engineered this ridiculous situation then he must take the blame for the failure to reach an agreement this time.