Margaret Thatcher: ‘would not stand in the way of Irish unification’

Thanks!

@kurtjohnson Your central proposition is the sole stimulus for your entire philosophy, providing adequate explanation for any event, and neatly overturning the Socratic paradoxes after centuries of debate.

The USSR most likely had its sites set on invading western europe at some point anyway. The Nazis (swept into power by the dehumanizing treaty of Versailles engineered by the british terror state) were definitely evil - their supremacist ideology was primarily based on a materialism/determinism arguably evolving from degenerate anglo-dutch doctrines (they'd probably be right at home attending an orange invasion of an indigenous Irish neighborhood). However, the bolsheviks were also murderers on a colossal scale.

@sirpeter – Up Mayo!! Tom Maguire and South Mayo flying column - Tourmakeady ambush, May 1921, now all we need is Sam Maguire to pay us another visit (This is no time to go bragging over his Cork heritage, please) I agree that Hitler’s decision to invade Russia was the turning point of the war, and the sacrifices made by the peoples of the USSR were immense, but there was that period between the fall of France and the Germans Eastern offensive where the Brits were the only ones in the war.

@londonirishtom ..I have accurate figures with details,names ,what happened ect.from the achieves.In all fairness what did Mayo do during the black and tan war? Ireland also fed England during the war.England was a food importing country. The simple fact remains the English army scuttled back to England as fast as their limey legs could carry them leaving all but their vomit bags.Only for the Russians at Stalingrad and the Americans coming into the war.Big Ben would be chiming to Der Führer Ruft. Churchill would have taken his fat ass into the hills and begged the IRA to show them guerrilla tactics.Like the tactics they used to kick their Black and Tan asses up and down West Cork in 1920. Towngate's father of course would have turned traitor this time to the Germans and changed his name to Herr Towngatestickelgrubber.

@kurtjohnson - check out the activities of Father Charles Edward Coughlin and friends.

@JOHNTOBIN – Thanks for info on D Day weather, agree the comments are a lot more interesting than the original article. I think the term ‘neutral in favour of the allies’ is about right for most of the war, another example was the repatriation of US/Brit airmen.

KurtJ – It was GERMANY that declared war on USA in WW2, not the way you have it, and have you forgotten USSR?

Towntroll with his silly fictional history - "britain" on its own would have eventually been steamrolled. The US stopped Germany in WWI and WWII primarily through its industrial capacity. britain only decided to fight the nazis when it knew the US would join after it spent considerable sums on influencing US public opinion (as it did in WWI). As always, it was purely out of self interest and had absolutely nothing to do with preventing or stopping atrocities (which britain added to in places such as Dresden rather than attempting to stop the concentration camps). There's no evidence that Hitler harbored any hostile intentions toward the Irish - in fact, the Nazis even produced a sympathetic film to Ireland - "My Life for Ireland." What are you on about re racism Towntroll - there's no such thing as a british race.

This debate is very interesting.I would like to add a bit more.I feel that the Irish Republic did the right thing in remaining neutral during World War 2.If it had participated and fallen to Nazi Germany it would have been a back door straight in to Britain.The Irish Goverment assisted the Allies in many subtle ways with weather reports and Intelligence information.The Goverment of the Republic supplied the main weather information for the D-Day invasion.There were regular meetings between Irish and British security organizations such as MI6 and G2.De Valera was a friendly neutral as far as he could go to the Allies.

Let it not be forgotten that the ‘Governments in Exile’, Dutch, Free French, Polish, Czechoslovakia, Norway, Yugoslavia, all found a home in London. This is not forgotten in these countries

@sirpeter – Re the British contribution to WW2. The main achievement was staying in the war long enough to destroy the ‘Invincible Nazi’ myth and to deplete the strength of the Luftwaffe, mainly in Crete and Battle of Britain. Re the Falklands, the Argentineans had quite a large navy, including an aircraft Carrier, the ‘25th of May’. The logistics of mounting an 8000 mile mission was a considerable achievement, not many democracies would have attempted such a high risk strategy, or been capable of successfully accomplishing it, eg Dien Bien Phu. It may pain you but I think you need to give credit where it’s deserved. I was no fan of Thatcher, but I think she was right to stand up to a Tin Pot dictatorship, which hastened democracy in Argentina.

@sirpeter – it’s not easy to get accurate or even ‘best guess’ figures on atrocities, but I can’t see it getting near the holocaust figures It’s a misreading of Irish History to view it as centuries of constant conflict. Let me illustrate by recalling a conversation I had in Castlebar, at the Mayo central library and county archives some years ago. I spoke there with a former Irish Army officer, who was researching the role of the British Army in Mayo, between around 1820 and 1916. He told me that the only documented killings by the British Army in Mayo, that he could find were 1) when defending a food convoy they shot 2 raiders in famine times 2) A soldier was shot after going berserk in or near the military barracks. So that was nearly a century, and three fatalities. By now a book based on his research may be in print, but I have no reason to doubt his figures, which he got from contemporary sources based in the county.

NOTHING OUT OF CONTEXT! You can wriggle and bluster all you want but do not try to hide your Vile Race Hate by claiming and suggesting to the unwary or gullible that your Comments in Molly Muldoon’s Post “ Margaret Thatcher...” December 31. @SirPeter at 10.34. - were MISQUOTED. No Sir, your very own Race Hate-laden words are plain for all decent people to see! - and they make it perfectly clear that you are an ungrateful deeply ignorant unworthy fool.

Now creakygate..I think we all know who really beat the Nazi's...The Americans and The Russians.England was whipped. Without American arms and materials,all ye had was rocks.Monty was told to shut up and get back in his box and take his ego with him, at one stage by Eisenhower.He had to be put in his place by his commanding officer Eisenhower. I don't think the Americans and the Russians even spoke to Churchill at the Yalta agreement.England was finished as a military force at world level and still are.It's a bad state of affairs when you have a third world country like Argentina giving England a headb*tt.Still Britain did a good job sinking their one ship and saving the last of their colonies the Falkland islands.All 62 people were very grateful...ha ha ha