COCK-UP OR CONSPIRACY?
By Seán Marlow
Over the years, those of us on the left who have made serious
allegations about the sinister role of the
business/political/military establishment in Ireland and
internationally, have often been accused of fanciful conspiracy
theories. But just because youre paranoid doesn't mean they're not
out to get you. And recent events have demonstrated that we were
actually too naïve and not nearly sceptical enough.
The endless tribunals in Dublin have already revealed corruption and
fraud on a scale that few could have imagined (even though none of
the guilty have gone to jail and probably never will). The recent
revelations of RUC/Loyalist/Brit Intelligence collusion in hundreds
of sectarian killings and the cover-up of the Dublin/Monaghan
bombings would have been dismissed as wild republican propaganda only
a few years ago.
Now we discover that the South's forensic scientists were given the
forensic evidence on the killing of 33 Irish citizens for the first
time last Tuesday, 25 years later, by Don Mullan! The names of the
RUC/Brit planners have been known for many years but none of the
guilty have gone to jail and never will. So when it comes to the
bombing of Serbia, Kosovo and, incredibly, Montenegro, which was
opposed to Milosovic, it is so stupid and counterproductive that it
at first seems like a cock-up.
The NATO bombing is illegal in international law and subverts the
UN's role in international conflict resolution and may lead to its
demise. It alienates China and Russia and could dangerously
destabilise Russia (as the attack on the US embassy illustrated) and
the whole Balkans region.
The aggressive military action has strengthened Milosovic in Serbia
and given him cover to close down independent media (like Radio B92
and Radio 021). Worst of all, and this was highly predictable, it has
brought down a massive humanitarian disaster on Kosovar Albanians and
exacerbated divisions, thus making a lasting settlement much more
difficult. Indeed it seems that large-scale ethnic cleansing and the
partition of Kosovo will result and we've seen what a failure that
has proved in Ireland.
The sheer hypocrisy of NATO can be seen in the involvement of Turkey
in the bombing of former Yugoslavia. For decades Turkey has carried
out massive repression and genocide against the Kurdish people. Not
only has it escaped even the mildest sanctions by the West, but it
has been armed to the hilt by the USA and Britain.
The US and France, claim to be concerned about the suffering of the
Kosovar Albanians, but both state's actively prevented UN troops from
acting to stop the Rwandan Hutus slaughtering 800,000 Tutsis in 6
weeks in 1994.
Although Ireland is not partaking in the aggression in the Balkans,
there is no shortage of armchair warmongers here. While Fine Gael and
the Progressive Democrats prattle on about decommissioning the few
weapons the IRA needs to protect nationalists in the north, Gay
Mitchel and Des O'Malley support the cowardly use of massive armed
force against the people of Serbia. And they want Irish troops to be
part of it! At least they are honest about their militarism. The same
can't be said of Fianna Fail, who gave a clear manifesto pledge not
to join the misnamed Partnership for Peace (PFP). Now they are doing
a 180-degree turn and planning to join this nuclear-armed military
block. Instead of joining this NATO front the FF/PD government should
work to restore the primacy of the real partnership for peace- the
United Nations.
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