The War Nerd, The Punk And The American Supporters Of Irish Freedom

Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams TD, and the then United States' Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton

Speaking of laudable Irish-American journalists, the War Nerd (aka Gary Bercher, aka the protean John Dolan) has recently unlocked his 2015 articles for the Silicon Valley current affairs website, Pando, examining the closure of a much-publicised US Army project known as the Human Terrain System (HTS). This was a counter-insurgency programme initiated during the mid-2000s by a team of social scientists… Read More The War Nerd, The Punk And The American Supporters Of Irish Freedom

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Andrew O’Hehir On The 1916 Easter Rising

Computer keyboard and newspaper, internet journalism and technology

I regularly lambaste American journalists on ASF for their piss-poor knowledge of Ireland and its history, a phenomenon made worse by some writers casual empathy for all things British which makes for some bizarrely negative views of this island nation. That confluence of ignorance results in situations like the acclaimed US author, Paul Theroux, expressing quite repugnant opinions on the Boston Marathon Bombing of 2013 because of… Read More Andrew O’Hehir On The 1916 Easter Rising

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Will The Black And Tans Be Added To The Glasnevin Wall of Shame?

The British Occupation Forces in Ireland man an improvised barricade, Mount Street, the 1916 Easter Rising

Further on the divisive “Wall of Remembrance” unveiled in the historic grounds of Glasnevin Cemetery on Sunday, a monument which partly pays tribute to the members of the British Army and Police who lost their lives during the Easter Rising of 1916, the motivation behind its erection was clearly heralded by the Glasnevin Trust in a statement from its chairman, John… Read More Will The Black And Tans Be Added To The Glasnevin Wall of Shame?

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The New World Panama Order

We Are The 99% No To The % And Greed, Corruption And Crime

Like some mad conspiracy theory from the outer reaches of the world wide web the revelations relating to the Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, have exploded onto our media consciousness with a bang, enveloping the great and the good of the global oligarchy in scandal. Or rather, they haven’t. In truth the bang was rather muffled, tempered by the inability of most people… Read More The New World Panama Order

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The Great Betrayal Of Ireland’s Counter-Revolution

Two Irishmen forced to parade around by British troops with a British flag tied around their necks

Back in 2014 I wrote about the “Great Betrayal”, the abandonment of an all-Ireland republic, an all-Ireland revolution, and an all-Ireland community through the actions of the Provisionals, the minority Collins-Griffith faction of Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army, following the signing of the “Treaty between Great Britain and Ireland” in December of 1921. In violation of… Read More The Great Betrayal Of Ireland’s Counter-Revolution

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Donald Trump Questions The Geneva Conventions

United States aircraft bomb and gun strikes

Political commentators have been speculating for months that the Donald Trump campaign for the GOP’s presidential nomination would eventually, inevitably, go off the rails, and this seems to be the moment when the gold-plated train has well and truly gone tumbling. A series of flip-flop statements on abortion rights, and his apparent belief that 1) it… Read More Donald Trump Questions The Geneva Conventions

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Not Merely Free But Gaelic 1916-2016

NO REPRO FEE FOR ONE USE Huge Crowds turn out and mirror Jim Larkin's statue on Dublin's O'Connell Street for RTÉ's Road to the Rising. Picture: Tony Kinlan.

In August of 1915, Patrick H. Pearse, future president and commander-in-chief of the Provisional Government and Army of the Irish Republic, wrote a character study of the late Fenian revolutionary, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa, where he stated with approval that the latter was: “…not only ‘extreme’, but he represented the left wing of the ‘extremists’. Not only… Read More Not Merely Free But Gaelic 1916-2016

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Evidence Of The Biggest Battle Known From Bronze Age Europe

Archaeology and history in burial of skeletons and bones in grave

The magazine, Science, has a fantastic in-depth article reporting on research carried out into a treasure trove of prehistoric finds from northern Germany which have turned the world of Bronze Age archaeology, and what we knew of warfare and society in western Europe some three millennia ago, on its head: “About 3200 years ago, two armies clashed… Read More Evidence Of The Biggest Battle Known From Bronze Age Europe

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Russian Tank Meets American Missile In Syrian Proxy War

Nic6325503

Whatever else one may say about the muddled involvement of the United States and the Russian Federation in the dreadful Syrian civil war it has certainly given the armed forces of both nations the opportunity to test out their military equipment in live-fire conditions. One of the latest examples of this proxy-contest between the world’s former superpowers is a minute and a half long… Read More Russian Tank Meets American Missile In Syrian Proxy War

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A Catholic Priest And The Message Of British Guns Good, Irish Guns Bad

Buddy Jesus, the hipster Christian

So a Roman Catholic priest, a Jesuit intellectual no less, condemns armed insurrection by a significant body of men and women against the colonial occupation of their island nation by a foreign imperial power, and their hope of establishing a democratic republic with equality for all persons regardless of gender, class or faith. Furthermore his words… Read More A Catholic Priest And The Message Of British Guns Good, Irish Guns Bad

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Writer Barry Kennerk Replies To His Critics

Aftermath of the Easter Rising, Henry Street, looking westward from Nelson's Pillar, Dublin, Ireland, May 18 1916

My short post on Friday criticising the tone and content of the New York Times opinion piece, “Inventing the Irish“, has generated considerable interest over the last twenty-four hours, with some 50,000 views so far. Barry Kennerk, the author of the original newspaper article, has requested an opportunity to reply to this and the associated commentary, which I’m happy to publish below: “This… Read More Writer Barry Kennerk Replies To His Critics

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The John Redmond Banner And Ireland’s 35,000 Dead

Misneach show John Redmond as the enabler of 35,000 Irish deaths

A quick update on the divisive 1916-2016 centenary banner erected by Dublin city council at the prominent Bank of Ireland building in College Green which features images of historical Irish politicians Henry Grattan, Daniel O’Connell, Charles Stewart Parnell and John Redmond. The inclusion of Redmond, the early 20th century leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party and its paramilitary wing, the Irish National Volunteers, has… Read More The John Redmond Banner And Ireland’s 35,000 Dead

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The New York Times Argues That The Irish Are Actually British

Aftermath of the Easter Rising, O'Connell Bridge, Dublin, Ireland, May 17 1916

The New York Times has published an extraordinary opinion piece by the writer, Barry Kennerk, on the significance of the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising for contemporary Ireland. Extraordinary because it echoes an anachronistic view of our island nation that one would have expected to encounter a hundred years ago, not in 2016. It is essentially… Read More The New York Times Argues That The Irish Are Actually British

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Improvised Armour, From The British Army 1916 To The Islamic State 2016

A British Army Mark V tank rams a sealed premises on Capel Street, Dublin, January 18th 1921, during destructive house-searches by the UK Occupation Forces in Ireland

Just after 12 o’clock on the afternoon of Easter Monday, the 24th of April 1916, Patrick H. Pearse and his revolutionary colleagues were guided by a guard of volunteer-soldiers from the newly formed Army of the Irish Republic (or, Irish Republican Army) through the entranceway of the prominent General Post Office on O’Connell Street, Dublin, to a point near the middle of the capital’s main thoroughfare. Looking understandably nervous the… Read More Improvised Armour, From The British Army 1916 To The Islamic State 2016

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Two Irish Fantasy Writers On The 1916 Easter Rising

Fantasy palace and fortress in magical landscape

A quick post to recommend this short essay, “The Political Imagination: Irish Fantasy Writers and the Easter Rising“, by Rob Maslen over on the City of Lost Books blog. The article examines reactions to the 1916 revolution in Dublin and elsewhere from two different, if not unrelated, points of view. On the one hand there was James Stephens,… Read More Two Irish Fantasy Writers On The 1916 Easter Rising

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Two Documentaries On The Kurdish War, Plus The Russians Get A Fright

An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter fires on Islamic State insurgents

A couple of recent video documentaries on the Kurdish struggle in Syria and Iraq. The first, “Kurdistan: Girls at War“, was broadcast last year by the Franco-German television channel, ARTE, focusing mainly on the fighters of the YPJ and PKK. Its interesting if slightly less questioning than it should be (and the title is a bit patronising). The… Read More Two Documentaries On The Kurdish War, Plus The Russians Get A Fright

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Orange Is Not The Only Fruit, Just Ask The Mandarins Of The Alliance Party

Dublin, Ireland, Baile Átha Cliath, Éire

So, the regional justice minister in the north-east, David Ford, has disdained an invite to the official celebrations in the capital marking the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising. The leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI), which boasts of its supposed “cross community” credentials (by which it means it can attract some middle-class Catholic voters in the north who… Read More Orange Is Not The Only Fruit, Just Ask The Mandarins Of The Alliance Party

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