Quote Originally Posted by Mo Britain less Europe View Post
I think McGuinness was probably better company than Adams, he seemed to have a sense of humour. But that's as good as it gets.

The IRA won. They won in the way terrorists win, not by winning but by not losing. Unless you crush terrorists by slaughtering them and their families and friends and supporters and sympathisers, there's always one to carry out an attack which create the same fear and uncertainty whatever the effect. The IRA was not in Al Qaeda league but they messed up UK for decades.

They won because they gained a share of power and an agreement which legitimised their violence at the expense of moderate Republicans (who remembers the SDLP now?).

They won because demographics dictates that in a very few years there will be a Catholic, pro-Eire majority in Ulster. At that point there will be a referendum and Ulster will vote to leave UK. Many opposed to this will move to UK, they will be followed - as happened after the creation of the Irish Free State etc - by many Catholics, some of whom may vote to stay in UK and some who will vote to leave but still take advantage of the incredibly lax and stupid attitude of UK who treats the Irish people as if they were sons from an errant province that might return to their fold rather than citizens of an entirely different country.

They won because a piece of **** party whose only political weapons were violence and extremism is in the process of establishing itself as the main party both sides of the border.
The demographics were always shifting that way (although, actually, support for reunification in the catholic community is not exactly staunch). If you think the aim of fighting the IRA was to cling on to Northern Ireland at all costs, you're mad. We don't want it, but we recognise that, while a majority of its population wants to be part of the UK, we have to respect that. If it shifts and it can be done peacefully, we will let it go its own sweet way.

The aim of the UK in Northern Ireland was to keep the lid on it, not allow it to descend into outright civil war and bring it to a peaceful condition whereby it can determine its own future. The characterisation of it as some sort of colonial war with Britain desperate to keep Northern Ireland is entirely false. The SDLP went because it only existed to represent a non-violent nationalist electorate. With the IRA's renunciation of violence, Sinn Fein has taken on that mantle and the SDLP is effectively redundant.