And of course, Boris is very much an imperialist. Here he is on the subject of Africa:
“The continent may be a blot, but it is not a blot upon our conscience. The problem is not that we were once in charge, but that we are not in charge any more.”
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Ugh… what an imperialist asshole.
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His past writings are full of such quotes, that should by right exclude him not just from elected office, but any form of polite society.
And yet this is the person that the men and women of the Conservative and Unionist party have chosen as their standard bearer.
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And that tells you right where they stand on these issues, even if they make polite noises about empire being bad. Reactionaries, the lot of them.
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To an extent, but not in the way most people outside of Ireland think. And a lot of the time these days no.
Northern IRA groups are not, as commonly presented, a continuation of revolutionary forces from the Irish War of Independence. They’re a later ideological follow on from the Anti-Treaty side of the Irish Civil War (and there doesn’t seem to be any actual continuity with those forces). And the Republic of Ireland is the result of the Pro-Treaty side winning that civil war.
So while current takes on it vary about as much as Northern IRA groups vary, the original root ideology for a lot of Northern Republicanism ( eta: or this angle of it) viewed the Irish Government as illegitimate and their military as an occupation force. With [insert Northern IRA group] and Sinn Féin presented as the legitimate government and military of all of Ireland.
So while a United Ireland is often the goal its not an Ireland united under the current Irish Government. And a fair bit of the thrust of it these days has been for an Independent Northern Ireland still separate from the rest. However complicated the Republican position up North is these days. The Irish Government and Northern IRA/Sinn Féin have traditionally been pretty antagonistic. The Irish Military pretty much view the IRA as their only genuine flat out Enemy. Which is not to say there isn’t support for both down south or in the Irish Government, one of their major political parties is legitimately rooted in the Anti-Treaty faction. But actual connections to IRA groups remains incredibly controversial for Irish politicians.
I’m sure a decent portion, maybe even most, lower case R republicans in NI probably support reunification and would be pretty happy to see it happen. But your extremist groups, are a much stickier situation. Placating them would likely involve legitimizing a whole lot of people who shouldn’t be legitimized and handing Sinn Féin an awful lot of control.
It seems more like they’re assuming that it’s already there, sorta? At least the Boris Johnson end of it, rather than the Farange end of it, seems to think they’re automatically a geopolitical rival for the EU or can easily assemble one. The discourse with Ireland seems to assume they already dictate terms, or that it’s obvious that Ireland will follow their lead. There were proposals about a new EU rival union with the Nordic Countries (and Ireland) that made similar assumptions.
Seems to be part of that “negotiating position” we keep hearing about. All of these things Britain obviously controls (but doesn’t at all) are so desirable! And the EU is preventing them from doing anything with it. So blowing up the peace agreements (and pretty much blowing up Ireland in the process) will get the EU out of the way. Giving them authority they’re already due.
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