yaanufs

Unlikely. Jealousy of American power and wealth will prevent that happening.Many countries want the US to fail, not because they are against democracy or freedom, but because unfortunately it is human nature to somehow believe that when a greater person falls short or fails that it somehow makes the lesser person feel better. That simple logic is easily scaled up to country wide feelings. Many countries think that if the USA fails in it's quest, that it somehow makes their smaller, less globaly significant country appear to be slightly better than it was before. The world is mad.

I live in Texas, but I don't think you were meaning that. My delicate, innocent, formative years were Australian, English and Scottish. Mostly Scottish. The Real IRA seem to be just a bunch of nutters hell bent on ignoring the will of the people they claim to represent. They still cling to the idea that a united Ireland will be achieved through the bomb and the bullet. They do more damage to their side of the politcal spectrum through their activities as they give the other (Unionist) side significant political ammunition to use in their cause. In the current climate the Unionists can paint themselves as victims of terror which carries a certain amount of emotional baggage in todays world. The RIRA are just handing it to them on a plate, but they are so stupid and self-centered they cannot even see it. If someone wants to starve themselves to death to make a politcal point and to try an blackmail a democraticaly elected government, then let them. I have no sympathy at all for people like Bobby Sands. Blackmail is never a sensible approach to politics. I'm not sure what you are referring to regarding the "blanket thing".

These would be splinter groups more interested in maintaining the status quo concerning violence, crime and power. They have no real interest in a united Ireland, no interest in a democratic and peaceful solution. As I've already said, the political motivation has long since left the IRA, the motivation now is organised crime.In a way the splinter groups highlight the true feelings of the IRA. The IRA enjoy the splinter groups because they ca pretend the worst of the criminality and violence has 'nothing' to do with the nice cuddly, mainstream IRA. They can pretend that the majority of the IRA want peace, it's just a few nutters who want violence. It's all smoke and mirrors.

That's capitalism for ya!Maybe what the US needs is a nice communist government. On the subject of Iraq. I look forward to the day when the US invades many countries in the world to effect a regime change due to human rights abuses by the leaders. Once you justify a war using that reason it obviously indicates the US will not tolerate nasty, self serving dictators in charge of countries where abuses are widespread.

From what exactly?

We have the ability now to duplicate the virtual limitless source of energy that powers the universe.Yet people don't want it. They want to burn oil.

Are you able to see 20 years into the future to predict the position of global politics?Maybe the US will need to invade Venezuela to liberate it from a very, very naughty dictator.

It is an interesting question. The wonders of modern commerce never cease to amaze.Of course, wierd as it is that the US exports any oil, the net result is still a massive balance in favour of importing oil. Which no matter which accounting school you chose to go to, even those frequented by Enron executives, is not a sustainable plan in the long term.

Give it a chance. Once the ungrateful locals and the cheap foreign mercenaries stop blowing up the pipelines and other oil and gas hardware then the democratic government can accelerate the process of oil production in the country.Think slightly longer term than a couple of years, maybe 5-10. And please don't down play Venezuela for the future. Venezuela has the largest hydrocarbon reserves in the Western Hemisphere.

What a fantastic piece of investigative journalism produced those lists. I don't want to do a Red Adaire and put out your fire but....... Just for the record BP (who import 0 barrels) are actually the same company as Amoco (who import 62 Million barrels). In additon ARCO are owned by BP so they also share in the import from Amoco as they are technically the same company. CITGO is owned by the Venezuelan government. You'll probably find that in a few decades when the Middle East is off the radar the US president will be picking fights down in South America so you might want to think long term before you feed their economy Sunoco and Sinclair are such small players in the oil and gas industry that they have barely moved out of their localised areas in the US, let alone ventured across the sea to exploit resources elsewhere. Perhaps there is a reason the big multi-nationals import so much oil into the US, possibly because the demand significantly outstrips the demand available that the US can produce internally. Do you think but refusing fuel from the middle east the problems will go away there and the energy demands of the country will dissapear? Why does the US government continually push the OPEC members to continually push up production, is it so the US can help the Middle East? Or is it self-serving?

http://archives.tcm.ie/irishexaminer/2005/...ry651726444.asp Just do a search on google with the terms IRA and organised crime and you should get a few hits. Enough from me.

from http://www.economist.com/world/worldthiswe...tory_id=3761838 More thoughts on the freedom fighters.

From http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-...1499253,00.html Some highlights from the article. Ask yourself the question again, if Ireland united tomorrow does the IRA disband? Are they freedom fighters or are they an organised crime gang.

You delude yourself if you think the IRA are fighting for anything other than power, drugs, women, glory, money.Most of the killings and beatings are over drug territories, protection rackets, prostitution, etc. The IRA have learned the skills well from the Italian Mafia. It is always possible to put a nice patriotic spin on the whole deal but the truth is not nearly as pleasant. The IRA are evil, they are scum, they are criminals, they are terrorists and they have been heavily supported by US dollars. If such an organisation was active in America you would have no hesitation in labeling it as terror. Just because it happens a few thousand miles away does not make it right. The fundamental question you have to ask yourself is this. If the two sides of Ireland were united tomorrow would the IRA disband in a real sense? The answer is no. The mafia type activities would continue and they would still carry out their underground financing activities to keep the leaders living a nice life. The truth is they are much more a criminal gang than freedom fighters and should unification occur, they will still be a criminal gang.

Could it be as simple as they didn't think the church was true anymore?Or is that a simple fact that is too simple to consider?