The hostile reaction to the publication of Anne Cadwallader’s book “Lethal Allies”, a history of the British death squads which operated in the so-called “Murder Triangle” of mid-Ulster during the 1970s and early ‘80s, continues to rumble on in British and Unionist circles. A review on a newly launched website supported by several academics, Arkiv, attempts to undermine the journalist’s detailed account of the activities of the media-dubbed Glennane Gang, a terror grouping made up of serving or former British soldiers and paramilitary police officers, by offering a convoluted and repetitious defence of Britain’s military strategy in Ireland and of its state and para-state forces. The Cedar Lounge Revolution carries a detailed reply to the book review by Dr. F. Stuart Ross pointing out its inconsistencies and bias (original here). My own politics are obvious and so my words and views are judged in that light. Far more insidious are those who claim academic neutrality while promulgating partisan ideology.
History is written by the victors and those British apologists who seek to shape the popular memory of the conflict in the north-east of Ireland through its history, feigned or otherwise, are desperately pursuing victory by other means. A victory which is already slipping out of their grasp.
AN SIONNACH FIONN 
“A victory which is already slipping out of their grasp”.
That’s the first time I heard that the unionists – or the British – see that their surrendering of their veto at the GFA over Irish Re-Unification was considered as a victory, particularly when only a mere 8 years earlier,
Tom King, the then NI Secretary of State was pronouncing that “the Partition of Ireland would remain in perpetuity”. The goal of Irish Nationalists to Re-Unify Ireland is now legally recognized – irreversibly – by London, is enshrined in the Constitution of Ireland and is underscored by Washington – all as part of the GFA.
The Re-Unification of Ireland is inevitable.
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I think in the struggle to interpret or shape the image of the Peace Process and Belfast Agreement many Unionists and British nationalists claim it as a victory for Unionism and defeat of Republicanism. That is more or less the line pushed by the UUP and now the DUP (once they got into regional government with SF). It is also the argument of British apologists like Ruth-Dudley Edwards, etc.
Even supposed neutral sites like Slugger O’Toole push a softer version of this claim (though it has been somewhat more strident of late).
Personally I see every step as a step forward 🙂
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Yes, you have a point there viz Unionists/British interpretation – sits rather uncomfortably with the fact that today most unionists would reject the GFA, while most Nationalists strongly support the GFA.
The GFA was a big – and irreversible – step forward – you are quite right.
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