I wouldn't say there is peace in NI merely because the IRA has stood down. The victims of the on-going loyalist attacks likely wouldn't say so either. Some NI donosaurs likely need to pass before the possibilities of new mindsets are likely to bear fruit. For example, the roaring reverend excoriating the people who have been vandalizing the churches in Ballymena, the saying "Of course, they wouldn't listen to me", or words to that effect. Seems as though he expects the world to listen to every other pronouncement he makes, regardless of merit, but here, when it might hae some positive effect, he begs off. BS! He'll be gone ere long, and maybe then saner folk might be heard. There are, however, some unusual things goin on there, like PSNI sweeps and raids in a loyalist stronghold, and Presbyterians helping the Catholics clean up the their church after the vandalism. Hope springs eternal. But, like in days gone by (hopefully) they (PSNI) still seem all to0 able to selectively ignore criminality. Peace won't happen overnight, but, because of the daring leadership of the IRA, it seems possible to say the place is at least moving along the right road, even if two steps forward and one or two backward. Time, ladies and gentlemen, time is what is needed.
|