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Entry: Spying on Uncle Sam Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/spying_on_uncle_sam#25181 Post contents: De Valera - <i>Andrew, as a scumbag Irish American I cannot refrain from asking you whether there is any point in upholding England’s right to exercise sovereignty in “its “ territory of Northern Ireland when its sovereignty over Birmingham and East London is in the present state that it is.</i> 'England' does not have sovereignty over Northern Ireland. England is not a state. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a state (for now at least) and as the name suggests Northern Ireland is a part of it and that is how the people there prefer it that way (again...for now). <i>To be sure, the other twenty six counties if Eire once enjoyed the benefits of such sovereignty, as did certain erstwhile British colonies in North America (there were thirteen, I believe).</i> The people in both the northern part of North America and the northern part of Ireland both chose and continue to choose not to belong to the Republic's to their south. The Scots-Irish of the thirteen colonies preferred secession in the 18th century (the Irish Catholic Church supported the Crown) while those in Ireland in the 20th century preferred the status quo. Each time they chose their side then backed it up with force. It is called self determination. Some Irish Americans think they had the right to do so in the 1770s but not today. <i>I aver that there would not exist so many scumbag Irish Americans and Australians today, had it not been for the temperate and well-thought out exercise of said sovereignty.</i> Centuries later some of those ethnic Irish used political lobbies and donations to the IRA to try to take away the right of Scots-Irish in Ulster to decide their future because the latter were deemed Johnny-come-lately colonists. (They often defended this by disingenuously claiming to be fighting the 'English' sort of like the Israel lobby justifies the Palestinian dispossession by claiming to be merely fighting 'terrorism') Strangely those same descendants of Irish settlers in the U.S. and Australia - two products of the British Empire - believe that they should have more rights in the lands they settled/colonised than those who did the same in Ulster. The lingering animosity towards the British from Irish Americans like that of Jewish Americans towards Russia appears to be rooted in their ethnic history. They should both get over these old non-American animosities and pledge loyalty to the country that gave them refuge. And that brings us back on topic. Sent at: 2008 07 04