Month: February 2014

Crimea

February 28, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This is a moment when the West has to upgrade its diplomacy to a much more sophisticated and flexible model than the gung ho shambles post 9/11. The world is no longer a place of goodies and baddies, nor is it one of independent interests. It is a spider’s web of interlocking and related interests, […]

Northern Ireland: Here We Go Again!

February 27, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This Blog, like very many people across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, is fed up with confected political crises got up by Unionist politicians and the latest row about immunity letters is typical. Without going into the details of the latest hullabaloo, it is worth getting at the core issue. In the […]

Ukraine: A Warning

February 25, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Let nobody in the West fool themselves that what is happening in the Ukraine is a good idea. A legitimate democratic government favoured by half the population has been overthrown by street protestors from the half who did not like it. The fact the regime of the ousted president was corrupt, had tinkered with the […]

Ukraine: Handle With Care

February 24, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

Russia’s premier Dmitry Medvedev spoke some truth when he said that the new authorities in the Ukraine lacked legitimacy and had achieved power through an armed mutiny. These are not words western diplomats would use to describe what has happened, but nevertheless a legitimate government, albeit heavy handed and unpopular, having been properly elected in […]

The Scot Nats: A Weird Campaign!

February 19, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

As this Blog has already remarked, it looks as if the Yes campaign of Alex Salmond is now without all of its wheels. England has ruled out a currency union and the President of the EU commission pointed up serious problems about joining Europe with any kind of a smooth passage, if at all. The […]

The Two Archbishops

February 19, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

It is ironic that at a time when the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England both are in crisis, the two men at the helm of each in England, Archbishop, soon to be Cardinal, Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Justin Welby, are the strongest leaders either church has had for decades. Both comment freely […]

Same Sex Marriage: The Bishops Are Wrong

February 15, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

The decision of the senior Church of England bishops to deny to its gay members blessings to support civil gay marriage and to further deny its clergy the right to gay marriage and also to continue with the edict that civil partnerships among clergy are acceptable ‘provided the partners remain celibate’ is ungenerous, cruel, unfeeling, […]

Salmond’s Campaign Crashes.

February 13, 2014 By Malcolm Blair-Robinson

This Blog has already advanced the view that the form of independence which Alex Salmond is offering to the Scottish people is a pig in a poke, since his model of a free Scotland sharing the pound would be dominated by the economic policy of Westminster, whose parliament and government would contain no Scottish MPs […]