Things that interest me

I got this from Writing the Wrongs blog and thought it was something I might want to read again. It's much easier to save it on my blog--I know how to get here.

Ireland's Jews: Past, Present, Future
Rory Miller


● Irish Jews have historically played a role in Jewish life out of all proportion to their numbers, despite the fact that they were on the margins of the Jewish world. Before 1948 the Irish Jewish community, which had come overwhelmingly from Lithuania in the period from 1880 to 1914, was one of the most pro-Zionist in Western Europe and a major per capita supporter of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), as well as other Zionist organizations and institutions.

● Irish Jews have played a significant role in all sectors of Irish society including national political life, but since the early 1950s when it peaked at 4,500 members the community has been shrinking in size and influence. According to the 2006 census there are 1,930 Jews in Ireland, with about 1,250 residing in Dublin and the remainder scattered across the country.
● Although there have always been sporadic anti-Semitic incidents, Ireland has provided a safe haven for Jews. But the current widespread support for a boycott of Israel among civil society groups is a worrying development, as is the potential of the growing Irish Muslim community to become radicalized.

● The economic boom since the 1990s provided a number of opportunities and challenges for Irish Jewry. The strong economy led to an increase in the number of Jews who have settled in Ireland for economic reasons. It also, however, turned Ireland into a multicultural and multiracial society that has challenged Irish Jewry's status as the major non-Christian minority in the country.



In May 2008, the Dublin City Council organized a walking tour of "Little Jerusalem," the section of central Dublin historically at the heart of Irish Jewish life. In line with similar events, the organizers expected forty to seventy people to attend but were astonished when over two hundred turned up in the rain to hear about the history of Dublin's Jewish community.

The popularity of this event clearly highlights that as a subject of historical interest and cultural curiosity the Jews of Ireland are thriving. This has been further evidenced recently by the success of two books on the history of Irish Jews: the scholarly Jewish Ireland in the Age of Joyce: A Socioeconomic History, by Professor Cormac Ó Gráda, and the more popular photographic coffee-table book, Jewish Dublin: Portraits of Life by the Liffey, a bestseller in Ireland on its publication in late 2007.[1]



The Historic Irish Jewish Community
The first Jews arrived in Ireland from Spain and Portugal in the early sixteenth century. The first synagogue was opened in Dublin in 1660 and the first Jewish cemetery opened in the early 1700s, by which time Dublin was the only city in the British Isles outside of London that could claim a Jewish community of any note. But this did not last long. As Ireland lost significance in the British Empire, the Jewish community shrank. The Irish census started recording religion in 1861, and in 1881 there were 353 Jews in Dublin and 61 in Belfast.

The ancestors of the current community were Lithuanian Jews who began arriving in Dublin, Belfast, and Cork in the mid-1870s. This resulted in an immediate rise in the population, with 1,500 Irish Jews in Dublin in 1891 and an estimated 3,000 a decade later.

This was still numerically insignificant. As Ó Gráda has shown in his socioeconomic history of Irish Jewry in the early twentieth century, Ireland only absorbed about 0.15 percent of the pre-1914 Jewish exodus from Eastern Europe. On the eve of World War I, there were 3,000 Jews in Dublin compared to 11,000 in Liverpool, 30,000 in Manchester, and 180,000 in London.[2]

Thus it is hardly surprising that the only encounter most people will have had with Irish Jews in this early period is through reading James Joyce's iconic novel Ulysses, which follows the fictional Leopold Bloom through Dublin city on one day in June 1904. Bloom, the baptized son of a Hungarian Jewish father and an Irish Protestant mother had little in common in terms of religious upbringing or daily life with the conservative, traditional, and hard-working Lithuanian Jews who made up the Irish community at the time.

These new immigrants were all from the same part of the northern Russian Empire and they settled near each other in urban areas. They had close ties with coreligionists in Manchester, London, and Leeds but as Ó Gráda has shown there were some noticeable differences. Dublin Jews lived in better conditions in "Little Jerusalem" than the Jews of the East End of London or many of the provisional Jewish communities of Britain. A lower percentage of Jewish women worked outside the home and the community was less strictly segregated from their neighbors than the Jews of Britain.[3]

The biggest difference was that almost immediately upon arrival this new immigrant group overwhelmed the preexisting Jewish community, swept away their influence, and marginalized what passed for an established Irish Jewish elite. This allowed the new immigrants to proceed to establish, unfettered, a highly nationalist community like the one they had left behind in Lithuania, thus arguably building the most Zionist-oriented community in Western Europe.



The Zionist Connection
Irish Jews' profound attachment to Zionism in the period before Israel's establishment can be traced back to the 1890s, when Irish Zionist Associations and branches of Chovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) were among the most active in Europe. In 1900, the Dublin Daughters of Zion (DDZ) was founded. This was the first women's Zionist society in Western Europe. To put this in context, it was not until February 1912 that Henrietta Szold convened the first meeting of the American Daughters of Zion, the first women's Zionist group in the United States.

The Jewish National Fund (JNF), Dublin Commission, developed into a not insignificant branch of the worldwide JNF and, from the late 1930s, its per capita contributions were higher than those made by communities in Leeds, Glasgow, and London. In his autobiography, Chaim Herzog, the Irish-born two-term president of Israel, recalled how during his childhood in Dublin and Belfast "the concept of a Jewish state emerged in our collective consciousness [and] added considerably to our sense of pride. As that consciousness expanded, it strengthened our entire community."[4]

The consequences of this could be seen after the birth of Israel. According to the political scientist Michael Brecher, in terms of individuals who occupied posts of head of an operational department or higher within the Israeli Foreign Ministry or related civil or military branches, Irish Jews equaled the contribution of Iraqis and Austrians, played a larger role than Jews from Hungary, Italy, or Egypt, and were only surpassed by Jewish immigrants from eight nations including Russia, Germany, and the United Kingdom.[5]

However, the vast majority of Irish Jews chose to stay in Ireland and by the mid-1950s, the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs estimated that only fifty Irish families resided in Israel. Those who remained made a mark on almost every area of life, from literature and art to medicine and law.

Most notably, Irish Jewry has played a role in the political life of the country out of all proportion to its size. There has been a Jewish Lord Mayor of Dublin three times (Robert Briscoe in 1956 and 1961 and his son Ben Briscoe in 1988) and of Cork once (Gerald Goldberg in 1977). Robert Briscoe, a founding member of the Fianna Fáil political party, represented that party in the Dáil (the Irish parliament) for three decades. Even in the 1990s, when the community was only 1,400 strong, there were three Jewish members of parliament (compared to one Protestant parliamentarian out of a community numbering well over 100,000). The sole current Jewish member of the Dáil, Alan Shatter, holds the distinction of having had more private members' bills passed than anyone else in the history of the state.

In the pre-1948 era Irish nationalists embraced Zionism as a national movement for self-determination and greatly admired the revival of Hebrew, which they saw as Zionism's greatest achievement. As a member of a Zionist delegation from Jerusalem wrote home during a visit to Dublin in 1931, Irish leaders were "greatly inspired" by the rebirth of Hebrew and confessed that Zionists had "more idealism" than the Irish.[6]

However, since Israel's establishment there has been a lack of diplomatic and political support for the Jewish state. In 1975, Ireland became the last member of the EEC to exchange nonresidential ambassadors with Israel, and in 1993 it was the last member of the enlarged EU to allow Israel to establish a residential embassy.

This slow move toward full diplomatic relations was due to a number of factors including the role of the Catholic church in influencing Irish foreign policy, the negative impact on Irish-Israeli ties of clashes over Irish troops serving with the United Nations in Lebanon, and the fact that the Irish beef industry, a major supplier to the Arab and Muslim world, was concerned that improved relations with Israel would damage this trade.

However, current Irish government policy toward the Israel-Palestine conflict is in line with general EU policy and on a bilateral level is primarily concerned with further developing trade ties that have grown significantly since the mid-1990s.[7]



Support for Boycott
A far more worrying factor is the growing support for a boycott of Israel among Irish civil society groups. The Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC), the Irish branch of the International Solidarity Movement, is one of the most sophisticated anti-Israel groups in Europe. It organizes numerous events and has a state-of-the-art website that it uses to relentlessly promote the boycott of everything from Israeli agricultural products and football matches to flights to Israel and cultural and academic exchanges.[8]

In 2004, the IPSC collected twelve thousand Irish signatures in favor of a boycott, and its efforts have gained some support from supposedly apolitical NGOs such as Christian Aid and Trócaire. The IPSC also played a role in the call by sixty-one Irish academics for an academic boycott of Israel.[9]

Since entering the mainstream of Irish political life following the peace process in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army (IRA), has become an outspoken critic of Israel in Irish political circles. However, this may actually improve Israel's standing in Ireland as the vast majority of Irish voters are suspicious of Sinn Féin's position on most domestic and foreign policy issues.

A far more troubling development occurred in June 2008 when the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) issued a report calling for a boycott of Israeli goods and services and disinvestment from Israeli firms. ICTU is the largest civil society body in Ireland, representing 832,000 workers and with fifty-five unions affiliated to it including IMPACT, the largest public-sector union in the Republic of Ireland and NIPSA, the largest public-sector union in Northern Ireland, both of which have also endorsed the call for a boycott.

There is no support for a boycott of Israel in Irish government or diplomatic circles and two primarily non-Jewish groups, the Ireland-Israel Friendship League and the Irish Christian Friends of Israel have worked hard to oppose the boycott. But that is little comfort given the fact that boycotters are making good ground in their effort to further demonize Israel across Irish society.



Anti-Semitism
The relentless call for the boycott of Israel is part of an effort to demonize and delegitimize the Jewish state and its supporters across the world. This creates an uncomfortable environment for an Irish Jewish community that remains openly supportive of Israel. However, traditional anti-Semitism is not widespread and community spokesmen like to say that Ireland is the only country in Europe in which no Jew has died or been killed because of their religion. This is debatable, and indeed some historians believe that in 1923 a twenty-four-year-old Dublin Jew, Emanuel Kahn, was shot dead because he was Jewish.[10]

Moreover, there have been some unpleasant nonfatal incidents. The most notorious case occurred in Limerick in 1904-1905 when a Catholic preacher, Father John Creagh, led a boycott of several Jewish traders among the 170 Jews in a city with a population of forty thousand, which only ended when a number of Jewish families were driven out of the town. An IRA campaign against moneylenders in the mid-1920s focused primarily on targeting Jews, which caused significant concern in the community despite a number of IRA denials that any anti-Semitism was involved.

For the most part Jews who have settled in Ireland have found a safe haven. Recently, overt anti-Semitism has been a lot less prevalent than the racism encountered by new immigrants from Asia and Africa. From 2001 to 2003, according to the Jewish community's own statistics, there were no incidents of "extreme violence," "assault," or "damage or desecration of property" and only sixteen recorded cases of "abusive behavior." In 2002 alone, however, members of the Asian and African communities reported one hundred racist incidents to the authorities.[11]

But anti-Semitic incidents do continue. From November 2004 to July 2005, there was on average one recorded anti-Semitic incident per week in Dublin and these included the daubing of the Jewish school, an Orthodox synagogue, and the Irish Jewish museum with anti-Semitic slogans. In response the then justice minister Michael McDowell met with a delegation from the community and there was cross-party condemnation of these incidents in the Dáil. Again in May 2008, an Italian Jewish man living in a small town outside of Dublin had "Go Home Jew" and a swastika daubed on his wall and suffered two arson attacks on his car.[12]

One of the darkest chapters in Irish-Jewish relations was the refusal of neutral Ireland to provide a haven for Jewish refugees attempting to escape Nazi extermination in the late 1930s and 1940s. This was followed by the infamous decision of Irish leader Eamon de Valera to sign the book of condolences in the German legation in Dublin following the death of Adolf Hitler.

In 1995, then-Irish premier John Bruton acknowledged Ireland's failure in responding to the Holocaust and 2005 saw the establishment of the Holocaust Educational Trust of Ireland. This body has contributed significantly to Holocaust awareness, with 450 schools involved in one of its projects. It also organizes a high-profile annual Holocaust memorial event that is attended by politicians and public figures.



Communal Size and Structure
The size of the Irish Jewish community peaked in the late 1940s at about 4,500 members. From that point on it fell in size until 2002 when the census recorded 1,790 Irish Jews. According to the 2006 census there are 1,930 Jews in Ireland, with about 1,250 residing in Dublin and the remainder scattered across the country.[13] The present community is elderly and the historic pattern of emigration to Manchester, London, and Israel continues among young people looking for partners or pursuing career opportunities and their parents who follow them.

The rise in the Jewish population by 7.8 percent from 2002 to 2006 is due to the arrival of Jewish economic migrants into Ireland as part of the "Celtic Tiger" economy. The Jewish community has attempted to capitalize on the Irish economic boom to advertise for immigrants from other Jewish communities across the world, especially those in Argentina and South Africa. Named Operation Springbok, the plan has had limited success for two reasons: those in charge of the project have only looked to attract observant Jews; and the Irish authorities will not waive standard visa requirements for what are essentially economic migrants.

As such, the largest increase of Jews in Ireland is among Israelis who have moved here to work in the hi-tech sector. Some have no interest in Jewish life, a few are outspoken critics of Israeli policies and have been co-opted into the anti-Israel movement, but a fair few have integrated into the community, attend synagogue, and enroll their children in the Jewish primary school. Whether this immigration will continue depends almost fully on the future strength of the Irish economy and, to a lesser extent, the willingness of the community to subsidize the settlement of new Jewish families and to invest in communal infrastructure.

Currently there are two Orthodox synagogues in Dublin, one Progressive synagogue, one Jewish golf club with non-Jewish members, one Jewish school, with an all-Jewish primary school and a mixed secondary school, and one Jewish retirement home where accommodation is shared with the Quaker community. The community no longer has its own kosher butcher, and kosher meat and other products are imported from the United Kingdom. Nor is there a Jewish community or sports center, as the Maccabi sports club, one of the best sports facilities in the country, was sold off a number of years ago.

The existing community institutions are overseen by the Jewish Representative Council of Ireland (JRCI), whose members are either elected or appointed. This body has run the community since the late 1940s, when Irish Jews gave up their seats on the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the representative body of Anglo-Jewry, following Ireland's withdrawal from the British Commonwealth.

Irish Jews benefited from the "Celtic Tiger." Historically Ireland was not an industrialized nation and as such there was never a tradition of Jewish industrial grandees or magnates. However, Irish Jews have always had trades and skills, with more self-employed as a percentage of the population and a lower percentage of wage earners than other communities. Thus, by the time of the boom in the early 1990s, although there were very few multimillionaires, the vast majority of Irish Jews were part of the urban middle class.

At the heart of the Irish boom was the property market, an economic sector in which Irish Jews have long been involved. Many members of the community have become wealthy as the value of commercial and residential property has skyrocketed.

Interestingly, this wealth has not been reinvested in the community to any significant extent. Dublin Jewry has always had a much greater tradition of supporting Israeli charities than the needy within their own community. Some members have been reluctant to donate funds because their children have settled abroad. Moreover, major disagreements over the closure and sale of Adelaide Road Synagogue over a decade ago split the community. Whereas the sale of this synagogue along with the Maccabi sports club meant that the community gained some significant capital, this created a disincentive for individuals to give donations from their own pockets.



The Irish Muslim Community
The rise of the "Celtic Tiger" economy meant that for the first time in 150 years, from 1991 to 1996 Ireland saw net immigration rather than net emigration. Society has rapidly become both multicultural and multiracial. This is most clearly seen in the growth of the Irish Muslim community.

Muslims are now the third largest religious group in the country after Roman Catholics, who number 3.7 million or 86.8 percent of the population and the Church of Ireland, which has 125,000 adherents.[14] According to the 2006 census, there are 32,529 Muslims in Ireland, up from 19,147 in 2002, an increase of 69.9 percent in four years. The most obvious sign of this is that the once-Jewish area of "Little Jerusalem" now borders a vibrant and growing Muslim shopping quarter.

Over the last decade many European societies have been challenged by the multiculturalism caused by growing Muslim communities. The same process is now occurring in Ireland. In 2007, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the premier medical school in the country, announced that toilets in all new buildings will face away from Mecca "[out of] respect for the cultural diversity of the student population."[15] In May 2008, the Islamic Cultural Center, which is based at the largest Sunni mosque in Dublin, spoke of the "urgent need" for Sharia-compliant financial services in Ireland. And in June 2008, the government wrote to the heads of four thousand schools across Ireland to seek their views on the wearing of the hijab headscarf.[16]

At the time of the Danish Muhammad-cartoons controversy the reaction among Irish Muslims was relatively mild, with a few hundred marching in Dublin with placards carrying the words "Don't insult the Prophet." However, as has been the case in other European countries, much Irish Muslim funding emanates from Saudi Arabia and this can make the community vulnerable to Wahhabi extremism.

Moreover, there already are a number of groups in Dublin that have alleged links to the Muslim Brotherhood. These include the Federation of Islamic Student Societies (FOSIS), the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), and the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR). This latter group was founded by the controversial Egyptian cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi in 1997 and is permanently headquartered in the Islamic Cultural Center in Dublin. In 2003, the ECFR issued a fatwa endorsing "martyrdom operations" against Israel "even if the victims include civilians."[17]

On a national level there is growing concern that Ireland could develop into a base for money laundering, document forging, and even a transit base for terrorists. The security services listed radical Islamic extremism as the number one priority for 2006 and in the same year the chief of staff of the Irish army admitted, regarding Islamic extremists, that "there's always the danger that people would use Ireland as a back door to the UK."[18]

Although this is a challenge for the whole of Irish society, the rising influence of the Muslim community raises issues particularly for Irish Jews. The first is that the Islamicization of politics has never been good for Jews. There is a strong correlation between anti-Jewish incidents across Europe and a rising focus in domestic politics on the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Irish Jewish museum was smeared the day after Yasser Arafat died in November 2004. Second, Irish Jews were historically the largest and most public non-Christian minority. According to the 2006 census, Judaism is now the fifteenth largest religious group out of twenty-three in a country of 4.2 million people. Islam ranks third, Orthodox Christianity is sixth, and Irish Jews also rank behind Buddhists (ninth), Hindus (tenth), and Jehovah's Witnesses (thirteenth).[19]

The 1937 Irish Constitution gave Jews special recognition and protection as the largest non-Christian group in a society overwhelmingly dominated by Roman Catholicism. However, the present marginal position of Irish Jewry could mark the beginning of the end of its influence on a national level. This has not yet happened as evidenced by the fact that in 2007 the Jewish community was one of the religious groups invited to participate in a new framework established by the government to facilitate discussion between the state and religious leaders on various matters. Moreover, symbolically important annual events continue such as the lighting of the menorah candles at the residence of the Lord Mayor of Dublin and the Chief Rabbi's televised address to the nation on the eve of the Jewish New Year.

Nevertheless, the community is undoubtedly at a crossroads. It is financially secure in the medium term but faces the abovementioned challenges without the benefit of any real leadership. This more than any other factor places in jeopardy the future viability of a once thriving community built from scratch by what Max Nurock, the Dublin-born and educated Jew who later became Israel's ambassador to Australia, remembered fondly as an "incomparable generation of Litvak [Lithuanian] pioneers."

Just a Fact, Ma'am

scotsman.com News - Headlines

Fact of the Day

On this date in 1565, Mary Queen of Scots married her cousin, Lord Darnley, in the Old Abbey Chapel at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh. You can read a range of story on the Scots Queen at

heritage.scotsman.com
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Just a Fact, Ma'am

Fact of the Day

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Inverkeithing (AKA Battle of Pitreavie) in 1651. Part of the third "English" civil war, the battle pitched Oliver Cromwell's parliamentary New Model Army against a force of Scots loyal to King Charles. Among the 2,000 Scots dead were some 760 Macleans.

Some Scottish Facts

I love these lists of facts. They're fodder for my next book about Scotland.

Anniversaries of Scottish Historical Events
July 13 1249 - King Alexander III crowned at Scone
July 14 1927 - Scottish National War Memorial opened.
July 15 1889 - National Portrait Gallery for Scotland opened in Edinburgh.
July 16 1328 - David II, son of Robert I (the Bruce) married Joan, sister
of Edward III (he was 4, she was 7).
July 16 1970 - 13th Commonwealth Games opened in Edinburgh.
July 17 1695 - Bank of Scotland, first bank to be established by an Act of
the Scottish Parliament, opened.
July 18 1792 - John Paul Jones, naval hero of the American Revolution,
died; he was born in Kircudbrightshire in 1747.
July 19 1333 - Battle of Halidon Hill in which Sir Archibald Douglas
(guardian of David II) routed by Edward Balliol and Edward III. Scots
losses were nearly 600, English losses 14.
July 20 1651 - Battle of Inverkeithing. Royalist force supporting Charles
II failed to halt advance of army of Oliver Cromwell heading for Perth.
July 21 1796 - Robert Burns dies in Dumfries, aged 37.
July 22 1298 - The army of the English King Edward I, using longbows for
the first time, defeated the Scots led by Sir William Wallace at Battle of
Falkirk.
July 23 1745 - Charles Edward Stuart landed on Eriskay at the start of the
1745 campaign.
July 24 1567 - Mary Queen of Scots abdicated and the young James VI acceded
to Scottish throne. The Earl of Mar was appointed regent.
July 24 2002 - The Princess Royal formally opened the Loch Lomond and The
Trossachs National Park, Scotland's first national park.
July 25 1394 - King James I born.

Love Myths

scotsman.com News -----------------------------------------------

Fact of the Day

On this day in 1881 the ghost-ship of doom, the Flying Dutchman, was sighted at 4am 50 miles off the Cape of Good Hope, by the crew of HMS Inconstant. Many sightings had previously been claimed, but this occasion was unique, for the phantom was seen by 13 people, including a 16-year-old naval cadet who became George V. To read about Scottish myths and mysteries go to

heritage.scotsman.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How others perceive the US

This is from NEWS:Scotsman.comUS uses Iranian missile tests to justify European defence shield


Footage of the missiles trailing vapour plumes across the desert was broadcast on Iranian television

« Previous « PreviousNext » Next »View GalleryADVERTISEMENTPublished Date: 10 July 2008
By MICHAEL THEODOULOU
THE United States led vociferous condemnation of long-range missile tests by Iran yesterday, but also used them to justify its controversial plans to install a missile defence shield in eastern Europe that have met with fierce Russian opposition.
The Iranian muscle-flexing also highlighted sharp differences in foreign policy between the US presidential rivals. Barack Obama, the Democratic hopeful, called for "aggressive diplomacy" with Iran, while John McCain, the Republican candidate, warned against making any concessions.

Tehran said a "new version" of its Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 1,250 miles and carrying a one-tonne conventional warhead, was among nine medium and long-range missiles test-fired by its elite Revolutionary Guards.

Tehran said the exercise demonstrated the Islamic Republic's readiness to retaliate against any attack over its nuclear programme. Referring to the US and Israel, General Hossein Salami, the air force commander of the Revolutionary Guards, declared: "We warn the enemies who intend to threaten us with military exercises and empty psychological operations that our hand will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch."

The tests came less than a day after the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, dismissed fears that Israel and the US could be preparing to attack.

Despite the sabre-rattling, neither side has ruled out a settlement.

"We view force as an option that is on the table, but a last resort," said William Burns, the US under-secretary of state for political affairs. "We do not believe we have exhausted all diplomatic options."

Footage of the missiles, fired from a desert location, was broadcast on television.

In London, the Foreign Office said the "tests were unwelcome and only serve to reinforce our concerns about Iranian intentions". The White House expressed concern that Iran's ballistic missiles could be used as a "delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon".

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said the test justified plans to install a missile shield in eastern Europe. "Those who say there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a defence missile system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims," she said on a visit to Bulgaria.

That argument was echoed by Mr McCain. He also implicitly criticised Mr Obama's strategy of engaging with Iran. "Working with our European partners and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy," Mr McCain said.

Mr Obama said Iran must "suffer threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy opening up channels of communication so we avoid provocation, but we give strong incentives for the Iranians to change their behaviour".

BACKGROUND

IRAN'S medium to long-range missile programme is primarily based on North Korean-supplied technology, shipped to the country in the late 1990s and based on Soviet designs.

There is also evidence of some later Russian and Chinese input and it is to be assumed the Iranians have made several advances themselves.

Defence analyst Paul Beaver said Iran's missile programme was fairly advanced, but it still needed to get accuracy and guidance systems right for long distances. "They are some way away yet from threatening Israel or US bases," he said.

Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said he did not believe that Iran had many Shahab 3 missiles in stock or that they could cause major destruction.


US uses Iranian missile tests to justify European defence shieldFootage of the missiles trailing vapour plumes across the desert was broadcast on Iranian television

Date: 10 July 2008
By MICHAEL THEODOULOU
THE United States led vociferous condemnation of long-range missile tests by Iran yesterday, but also used them to justify its controversial plans to install a missile defence shield in eastern Europe that have met with fierce Russian opposition.
The Iranian muscle-flexing also highlighted sharp differences in foreign policy between the US presidential rivals. Barack Obama, the Democratic hopeful, called for "aggressive diplomacy" with Iran, while John McCain, the Republican candidate, warned against making any concessions.

Tehran said a "new version" of its Shahab-3 missile, with a range of 1,250 miles and carrying a one-tonne conventional warhead, was among nine medium and long-range missiles test-fired by its elite Revolutionary Guards.

Tehran said the exercise demonstrated the Islamic Republic's readiness to retaliate against any attack over its nuclear programme. Referring to the US and Israel, General Hossein Salami, the air force commander of the Revolutionary Guards, declared: "We warn the enemies who intend to threaten us with military exercises and empty psychological operations that our hand will always be on the trigger and our missiles will always be ready to launch."

The tests came less than a day after the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, dismissed fears that Israel and the US could be preparing to attack.

Despite the sabre-rattling, neither side has ruled out a settlement.

"We view force as an option that is on the table, but a last resort," said William Burns, the US under-secretary of state for political affairs. "We do not believe we have exhausted all diplomatic options."

Footage of the missiles, fired from a desert location, was broadcast on television.

In London, the Foreign Office said the "tests were unwelcome and only serve to reinforce our concerns about Iranian intentions". The White House expressed concern that Iran's ballistic missiles could be used as a "delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon".

Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, said the test justified plans to install a missile shield in eastern Europe. "Those who say there is no Iranian missile threat against which we should build a defence missile system perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about their claims," she said on a visit to Bulgaria.

That argument was echoed by Mr McCain. He also implicitly criticised Mr Obama's strategy of engaging with Iran. "Working with our European partners and regional allies is the best way to meet the threat posed by Iran, not unilateral concessions that undermine multilateral diplomacy," Mr McCain said.

Mr Obama said Iran must "suffer threats of economic sanctions with direct diplomacy opening up channels of communication so we avoid provocation, but we give strong incentives for the Iranians to change their behaviour".

BACKGROUND

IRAN'S medium to long-range missile programme is primarily based on North Korean-supplied technology, shipped to the country in the late 1990s and based on Soviet designs.

There is also evidence of some later Russian and Chinese input and it is to be assumed the Iranians have made several advances themselves.

Defence analyst Paul Beaver said Iran's missile programme was fairly advanced, but it still needed to get accuracy and guidance systems right for long distances. "They are some way away yet from threatening Israel or US bases," he said.

Pieter Wezeman, a researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, said he did not believe that Iran had many Shahab 3 missiles in stock or that they could cause major destruction.

Irish Travelers

I'm looking for information on the Irish Travelers, who settled in Kentucky. I would like to know something about their way of life, what they eat and drink, churches, and family structures.

Just a fact for today

Fact of the Day--from the Scotsman.com

On this date in 1307, Edward I, having conquered the Welsh, died on his way to Scotland to fight Robert the Bruce. Seven years later Robert the Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn, but now historians are divided over the meaning of the battle.

Historians have been divided over the meaning of this battle for a long time. I have read several accounts...........isn't history interesting?

A Bit about the Irish

I'm anxious for some news about the O'Hara's, the O'Malley's, the Mahoneys and the Sullivans.


The Northern Clans’ Battle of Knockavoe and Knochdow
July 4th, 2008 | by theoracle |
Most of the fighting, however, that took place in the north was not against the foreign element. O’Neills and O’Donnells fought amongst themselves, against each other, and against their neighbours. Wars of succession frequently rent both great families, eventually resulting in the family of Eoghan retaining the headship of the Cineal Eoghain in Conn Mdr and his son, Conn Bacach, and in Aodh Ruadh O’Donnell, and his son, Aodh Dubh O’Donnel, being successively chiefs of the Cineal Chonaill. Both families still maintained their claims to supremacy over all the north.

Those of the O’Neills were opposed in Ulaidh not only by Mac Guinness, but by the O’Neills of the Clann Aodha Buidhe, who fought their kinsmen as fiercely as ever did any of the clans of Ulaidh.

The O’Donnells were at the same time engaged in asserting their traditional rights in Cairbre and ” Lower Connacht”140) against O’Connor Sligo.


In one of the battles in this contest they lost for a time the famous ” Cathach “ : in the capture of Sliao Castle they employed cannon sent to them by a French knight who had visited St. Patrick’s Purgatory in Lough Derg (1516).
But the fiercest rivalry was that between the O’Donnells and the O’Neills themselves. However anxious either might be to enforce its supremacy over its other neighbours, it had always to reckon with its great rival.

The old struggle between the two branches of the northern Ui Neill became intensified as each one tried to make itself supreme in the north. Occasionally during this period the enmity was put aside, and the two great clans combined. But the union was never lasting. In 1514 a peace was made by which the O’Neills formally recognised the supremacy of the Cineal Chonaill over Inishowen and Fermanagh.

But two years after they were again at war. Conn ” Bacach” O’Neill had gathered a host of allies—the chiefs of Oirghialla and Ulaidh, and clans from Connacht and Thomond—while Aodh Dubh O’Donnell depended upon his kins¬men of the Cineal Chonaill alone. At Knockavoe, near Stabane, O’Neill and his allies were utterly defeated in the bloodiest battle that had ever taken place between the Cineal Chonaill and the Cineal Eoghain (1522). O’Neill’s Connacht allies, who had laid siege to Sligo Castle, then in the possession of O’Donnell, fled in panic when they heard the news.

For at least ten years after this O’Donnell exacted tribute from the chiefs of all North or “Lower ” Connacht.

In the south the most important event of the period was the attempt of Tadhg O’Brien to revive the claims of his family over Leath Mhogha {page 73). With the largest army led by an O’Brien since Clontarf he crossed the Shannon, and levied tribute from Limerick. The Lord Deputy, the Earl of Desmond, was forced to acknowledge his rights over most of the old territory of Thomond which lay south of the Shannon. The chief of Osraidhe and some of the Leinster chiefs accepted his ” tuarasdail.”

But his career was suddenly ended by fever (1466).
Battle of Knoekdow.—Forty years later another O’Brien found him-selfin opposition to another Lord Deputy. The affair originated in Connacht, which, since the partition of the O’Connors (page 178), was without an overlord. In a quarrel between O’Kelly of Ui Maine ^d Burke of Uanrickarde (Mac William Uachtar), O’Kelly was supported by the lords of the Pale- Turlough O’Brien, ldnh:the; Chiefs supported Burke, so that the contest was to a great extent the old one between Leath Chuinn and Leath Mhogha.
In a battle at Knochdow (near Gal way)—the most destructive battle since the invasion with the exception of that at Athenry—the southerns were utterly defeated after an obstinate fight (1504).
Six years later, however, O’Brien and Clanrickarde defeated Kildare at Monabraher, near Limerick, the Deputy’s allies on that occasion being the Irish and Normans of Desmond.

Kings and Queens

I just found this and it added to my font of knowledge. I needed this for my next Clan Gunn book. I got this from a blog on Britain.

Sovereigns selected and deselected

Some think that a British Sovereign inherits the throne and sits on it until he or she dies, but British history shows that the selection and indeed deselection of the Sovereign was often made by the people to ensure that they had a ruler they could trust and who was up to the job. When the British people believed that a Sovereign had violated his Coronation Oath - to protect the laws and give them justice - they often sent him packing.

Cat has prepared a partial list of sovereigns, some of them selected, many of them deselected. I think you'll notice some modern echoes -

SELECTED Alfred (871-899) is the great pre-Norman example of a king selected by the Witan, which passed over his elder brother's son.
SELECTED Alfred's grandson AEthelstan (924-940) was first chosen king by the Mercians, and later named king of Britain by an assembly of less powerful rulers. He held his kingdom together with ‘national assemblies, in which every local interest was represented' (DNB).

SELECTED Edward the Confessor was invited by English magnates to return from exile and become king. On his death the magnates elected Harold.

DESELECTED William II (1087-1100), the son of William the Conqueror, was "deselected" by an arrow in the heart. Supposedly a hunting accident, the archer was never identified. There is some evidence the arrow was shot because William had enclosed common lands to enlarge the New Forest.

SELECTED Henry I (1100-1135) was crowned king when his brother died, in preference to his elder brother Robert. He agreed to affirm the Charter of Liberties and the essential principle that no one, not even the king, is above the law.

SELECTED Henry II (1154-1189) was selected to rule after Stephen.

DESELECTED John (1199-1216) broke his Coronation Oath by not giving justice. He was forced to affirm Magna Carta. When he resisted, the "Holy Army of God" marched against him, with the citizens of all the major towns in support, and John died on the campaign trail.

TEMPORARILY DESELECTED Henry III (1216-1272) was made a prisoner when he refused to uphold Magna Carta and the Provisions of Oxford and Westminster. The struggle that ensued saw the birth of Parliament.

DESELECTED Edward II (1284-1327) was deposed due to extravagant favouritism and his refusal to carry through on promises of reform, including "ejecting evil counsellors". His government 'could not be mended, only ended' (DNB). Edward resigned his throne in favour of his son.

DESELECTED Richard II (1377-1399) troubled the House of Commons with his heavy taxation and his inner circle of favourites and ministers. Richard's claims of prerogative were backed by the courts, but not by the people or the lords, who executed his inner circle. Richard regained power, used the treason law as a means of political and personal oppression and violated Magna Carta. Parliament charged Richard with breaking his Coronation Oath, and thereby breaking the legal bond between himself and his people (DNB). He was deposed "by authority of the clergy and people" with the help of Henry Bolingbroke.

DESELECTED Henry VI (1421-1471) inherited the throne when he was a baby. He was more interested in promoting education - he established Eton and King's College, Cambridge - than in ruling. He could not control greedy courtiers, remedy his court's inefficiency and lack of accountability, provide fair and effective justice or arrange an honourable peace with France. War resumed, trade collapsed, Henry had a breakdown and was deposed.

TEMPORARILY DESELECTED Edward IV (1461-1470, 1471-1483) Rebellions to his rule arose due to high taxes, a greedy court circle and lax justice, and the thorny Wars of the Roses. Edward was forced to flee to the Netherlands, mounted a successful invasion and reestablished his authority in Britain. Unfortunately he was indifferent to the concept of parliament, elevated persons rather than the law and created the new and unlawful tax inventions of 'benevolences', an early example of double-speak.

DESELECTED Charles I (1625-1649) engaged in a great battle with Parliament over taxes, the right to petition government for redress of grievances and his belief in an absolute kingship superior to constitutional law. He lost the subsequent Civil War and the battle of ideas and was beheaded.

SELECTED Charles II (1660-1685), the son of Charles I, was invited back to England to serve as King.

DESELECTED James II (1685-1688) succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Charles, but was forced to flee when English cities rose in rebellion. The people believed that he was trying to disarm those who opposed him and reinstate Catholicism.

SELECTED William and Mary (1689-1694) were invited to rule England by "A People's Convention". Mary and William were accepted when they affirmed the liberties described in the Declaration of Right as part of their covenant with the people.

DESELECTED George III (1760-1820) retained his crown to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, but Brits in America rejected his rule over the issues of taxes, the right to be armed and the right to self-government.


The modern echoes include high taxes, lack of justice, accountability and fairness, inefficiency and greed, a refusal to abide by Magna Carta, dishonourable peace, and, in the case of John and James, the fear that the kingdom would be ruled by foreign powers. Behind all these concerns lay the breaking of the Coronation Oath.

History provides food for thought as we ask HRH Queen Elizabeth II why she gave her Royal Assent to the Lisbon Treaty, which subverts Britain's sovereignty and common law. Does she believe she lacks the constitutional authority to refuse her assent to Parliament?

It is the people, not Parliament, who give her constitutional authority. She had a constitutional obligation to refuse the Treaty, which is an EU constitution.

To date three presidents of European countries have refused to sign the Treaty.

This government is extremely unpopular. The Queen has the power to dissolve Parliament.

Possible Clan Gunn Book-the 3rd in the series

June 22nd marks the anniversary of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. Royalist forces led by Graham of Claverhouse, the Duke of Monmouth and the Earl of Linlithgow defeated a force of Covenanters near the town of Hamilton. The Covenanters had gathered to debate their next move following their own victory at the Battle of Drumclog.

This is one of those historical facts that spurs me on to continuing my Scottish Heritage books. I need to write the sequel to CLAN GUNN: GEREK, but I don't want to skip 29 years for the next book. I'll have to figure out a way so that Baen's son, Drummond, can be a warrior in this skirmish. I love to use history as a starting point or reference in my novels.

I'll need to figure out how Baen, one of the villains in the above book, gets out of the hole he's gotten himself into. I want to redeem him............