Ken Maginnis led the UUP response to last week's
damning UN report on RUC harassment of solicitors.
Major Ken issued a statement which basically dismissed
the report on the basis that its author, Malaysian
lawyer Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, is facing a 25 million
dollar fine in Malaysia for libel and slander.
What Ken forgot to say is that the Malaysian government
- a dictatorship which, similar to the British
government in the Six Counties, is in the firing line
of all the international human rights agencies - is
trying to silence and jail Cumaraswamy because he has
reported on the corruption of the governement, the
systematic human rights violations and the way the
Malaysian government has crushed its people for so
long.
The UN secretary general Koffi Annan has taken
unprecedented steps to try to defend this lawyer and
internationally renowned human rights defender.
Why am I not surprised that Ken would take the side of
the oppressor?
Good to see that some government agencies in the 26
Counties are quick off the mark in pushing all Ireland
harmonisation. An Post has revised its postal rates and
produced a little booklet explaining the changes. In it
Zone 1 is described as `Ireland (32 Counties)'.
The National Irish Bank is currently at the centre of a
massive scandal as a result of its systematic
overcharging of customers. In effect, they stole from
customers' accounts. That hasn't prevented them placing
a full page ad in the latest issue of Garda Review
offering favourable terms to those great upholders of
the law. It poses the questions, who is going to catch
the bank robbers?
Granada TV's World in Action this week uncovered more
links between loyalist death squads and Special
Branch/British Intelligence. Charlie Sergeant, a leader
of the British racist group, Combat 18, helped the UDA
for four years in the early 1990s. He was also working
for the Special Branch and was allowed to organise
racist attacks in England in return for information.
This was at the time when the UDA death squads were
effectively being controlled by British Intelligence
through their agent, Brian Nelson.
Top Orangeman and Deputy Mayor of Ards Council, David
McNarry, has a fine grasp of political realities in the
Six Counties. David called fellow Councillor Kieran
McCarthy ``a little rebel'', ``a Sinn Féin/IRA frontman'',
and ``a leprauchan''. He also invited him to ``step
outside''. Kieran McCarthy is a councillor for the
Alliance Party.
Good to see that the Irish Independent is beginning at
last to turn away from its anti-republican,
anti-nationalist, revisionist stance. It is offering
for sale a commemorative collection of 1798 medallions
(with, incidentally, an advert adorned with An
Phoblacht's logo).
Of course this new-found enthusiasm for the ideals of
1798 may have a purely commercial basis. The gold
collection of medallions are selling for a mere £3,200.
![[An Phoblacht]](http://republican-news.org/graphics/title_gifs/aprn.gif)