A Tangled Web

SO WHAT IS BEING DISCUSSED IN SECRET?



The BBC leak (surprise surprise)that Tony Blair's Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell has been in Northern Ireland to have secret talks with the DUP and the IRA. (Sinn Fein) DUP lips remain shut on the topic of what was being discussed but that there would be a speeding up of political engagement in the post-Euro poll period. Now this begs a few questions;



1. Why are the DUP keeping the issues being discussed away from the unionist electorate?

2. After a Euro-poll, the DUP will use their vote as an endorsement of the "Devolution Now" document, which proposes the IRA (Sinn Fein) sitting in Government without the need for any type of decommissioning. Might this be the subject area Powell has been exploring with Adams and co?



This brings me to my central problem with the DUP. It favours devolution before democracy. If it favoured democracy it would insist that the IRA (Sinn Fein) could have NO place in ANY form of devolved body. Instead it has ameliorated this principled position to one more compatible with the avarice of power-thirsty politicians.