A few years ago there was a fly-on-the-wall documentary about Ulster Unionist leader, David Trimble. At one stage the star of the piece is shown travelling to Stormont to be sworn in as first Minister for the first of what turned out to be several occasions. "An historic day" offers the interviewer from the front seat of the car. "Yes", says Davie, not even looking up from the file he is reading, "one of many", he replies wearily. Even back in 1999 one of the peace process' key protagonists h...
John Kerry recently took time out from his busy schedule of Botox injections to clarify his position on Yasser Arafat’s credentials as peacemaker. Obviously hoping to pre-empt Republican allegations that he’s soft on terrorism, the senator from Massachusetts has let us all know that, to his mind, the Palestinian leader is no longer the statesman he once was. No, apparently Yasser “blew it” in 2000 and is now an “outlaw to the peace process”. Kerry is now signed-up to the “dump Arafat” tendency...
So it seems that the die is cast; the next president of the United States will be George W Bush or John F Kerry. When the choice is presented in these stark terms, it’s a no-brainer for anyone to the left of Genghis Khan. All hail President Kerry! However, that’s exactly the problem. The only good thing about John Kerry is not what he is but what he isn’t. He isn’t George W. Bush. The Democrats have gone, so we’re told, for “electability”. Once again they’ve chosen a middle-aged white man to...
Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, leader of Malaysia from 1981 until last year is a hard man for us western liberals to admire. Just as you start to respect him for his country’s ethnic harmony or economic progress he goes and sends his deputy to jail for homosexuality or claims that Jews run the world. For all his many achievements in office, his legacy will always be tainted by his bigotry. The man himself would often boast that Malaysia was the only Muslim country in the world which lived at peace wit...
It was with disgust, though not surprise, that I noticed the red carpet being rolled out for Chinese president Hu Jintao in yet another western capital this week. Not London or Washington this time but Paris, birthplace of democracy and the site of the revolution whose timeless slogan is quoted above. As on previous trips abroad Mr. Hu was given the mildest of rebukes by his host for his country’s APPALLING human rights record. As on previous occasions this “polite” diplomacy will bring no relie...
There is one part of the world where a small democracy is routinely threatened and harassed by a dictatorship fifty times its size. I’m speaking of the situation on the Taiwan Strait where an island of 23 million is confronted by a country of 1.3 billion. Taiwan has all the trappings of a state; a flag, an anthemn, an army, a president and a parliament. Yet, thanks to Beijing’s “one China” dogma, the rest of the world refuses to accept that Taiwan exists. China cuts ties with any country whi...
If we are to believe Senator John Kerry’s version of events, he was duped into voting for the Iraq war by nefarious White House lies about Saddam’s WMD capability. The 61 year old veteran politician was led a merry dance with tales of mushroom clouds and nerve gas. Now, like a freshly deflowered teenager, he’s discovered that his suitor lied to get him into bed. There weren’t any WMD after all! Oh, George, how could you?! John Kerry claims that he was one of the people who actually believed t...
The resilience of homophobia is striking, particularly in “traditional” societies like Northern Ireland. Many people here who would never dream of uttering a bad word about those of another race or religion gladly bandy around words like “poof” and “fag”. These terms are still considered acceptable insults for someone whose behaviour fails to live up to some standard of “masculinity”. Homophobia is considered a harmless prejudice, just a bit of banter. It’s obvious that anti-semitism, bigot...
Dr. Rev. Ian Paisley: MLA, MP, leader of the DUP, founder of the Free Presbyterian Church and, come May, ex-MEP. Today the seventy-seven year old announced that he will not seek re-election to the Strasbourg parliament. It is the first indication that he has accepted he can’t go on forever. For the rest of us, this fact has been obvious for some time. The great frame slumps ever forward and the once booming voice is now reedy and weak. Where once he relished confrontation now he avoids it, leavi...
Are the new top dogs of Northern Ireland politics really so different? On the surface the answer is: “yes, of course”. Sinn Fein stands for a united Ireland while the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) believes in the maintenance of the Union at all costs. Ideologically they are as different as chalk and cheese but, on other levels, they look like two peas in a pod. The first striking similarity is the discipline which both parties display. Both the DUP and Sinn Fein brook no dissent in a way un...
It’s a truism of Northern Irish politics that, whenever the political process breaks down, the paramilitaries step in to fill the vacuum. With this in mind, it has been a pleasant surprise that the current impasse has not been accompanied by the rattle of paramilitary guns. Ten people were killed by paramilitaries last year. That’s ten too many but, compared to other peace process years, the number is low. Intimidation and punishment attacks continue as ever but no group has tried to “take the w...
The Hutton report into the suicide of British weapons expert David Kelly is to be published in the coming weeks. Already the media and political elite inside the Westminster bubble are frothing at the mouth with excitement. Will Hutton call Blair a liar? Is Hoon finished? Should Gilligan start looking for alternative employment? All very interesting of course. I, myself will be following events closely. However we should not lose sight of the main issue. This time last year Blair was engaged ...
Monday, 10th November,2003 Arrive in Beijing at 2:30 p.m. and promptly make the first of many mistakes. Accept the offer of a hotel room from the bright young man behind the left-luggage counter. It is, he assures me, “close” to the Forbidden City. I later discover that “close” translates as a one hour walk. The Hua Feng Hotel isn’t too bad in the end complete with surly staff and toilets which flush at least four times out of ten. In the evening I go for a stroll in the vague direction o...
On Saturday night two Chinese families and an African family were viciously assaulted in south Belfast. This is the latest in a long line of attacks on Belfast’s tiny non-white population. Worst of all, two of those injured at the weekend were heavily pregnant women, one due to give birth on Christmas Day. Even with our long history of savage violence, the deliberate targeting of pregnant women represents a new low. Returning home after two years away I was struck by the higher number of bla...
For the Christian population of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem there is little to be merry about this yuletide. Once a booming tourist-driven success, the city has been in a slump since the start of the intifada three years ago. Tourism has all but evaporated and with it the jobs on which many had depended. Israel controls all entry and exit points in to the city often forcing people to wait for hours to pass. It’s little wonder that so many, both Christian and Muslim, are emigrating. It’...