Foreign Frolics Archives

Foreign Frolics

Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s subversion of neutrality continues after the humiliating flop that was his Consultative Forum on International Security Policy. His attempt to undermine the ‘triple lock’ will proceed for as long as he leads Fianna Fáil.

ANNUAL 2024: MICHEÁL MARTIN’S UNIVERSE

November 14, 2024

“What planet are you living on?” is Tánaiste Micheál Martin’s response to questions on the state facilitating US arms deliveries through Shannon Airport... Read more »

EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has come under intense criticism for her remarks in support of Israel, comments that followed a similar vein to those of Tánaiste Micheál Martin. Foreign Affairs

ANNUAL 2023: FOREIGN FROLICS – IRISH FOREIGN POLICY REVERTS

November 15, 2023

Foreign affairs have been dominated for most of the year, as they were last year, by the ongoing war in Ukraine. Now, however,... Read more »

Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February: The idea of Ireland using our neutrality to find a way to play a mediating role in the war – and so help to bring about peace – is beyond the realms of polite discourse.

ANNUAL 2022: FOREIGN FROLICS – BETWEEN THE US AND THE DEEP BLUE EU

November 17, 2022

OUR FOREIGN POLICY has seen Ireland continue its sterling efforts to be seen as the best boy in class, with the Government determinedly... Read more »

ANNUAL 2021: FOREIGN FROLICS – IRELAND: BEST BOY IN THE CLASS – AGAIN

November 18, 2021

MUCH THE same unresolved issues dominated this year as last with Covid, Brexit, Trump and his successor, the rise of EU militarism and... Read more »

IRISH COLONIAL ADVENTURE

May 20, 2021

TUCKED AWAY at the bottom of page 7 of the Irish Times on April 21 last was a short, innocuous report headlined, “Chad’s... Read more »

KBC’S IRISH AFFAIR

May 20, 2021

KBC BANK Group has had a tangled relationship with Ireland since coming here in the late 1970s but, happily, despite rejecting the Irish... Read more »

IRISH COLONIAL ADVENTURE

May 20, 2021

TUCKED AWAY at the bottom of page 7 of the Irish Times on April 21 last was a short, innocuous report headlined, “Chad’s... Read more »

KBC’S IRISH AFFAIR

May 20, 2021

KBC BANK Group has had a tangled relationship with Ireland since coming here in the late 1970s but, happily, despite rejecting the Irish... Read more »

Most of the world took a sigh of collective relief as Donald Trump looked set to depart the White House. Simon Coveney (below) was delighted when Ireland won a seat on the UN Security Council and was happy to take most of the credit and glory of the win for himself.

ANNUAL 2020: BALLINA BIDEN TO BIFF BORIS?

November 19, 2020

It’s been quite the rollercoaster year on the foreign affairs front. Covid-19 will of course be remembered as the defining global event of... Read more »

BAHRAIN AND THE DUP

January 30, 2020

THE TWO death sentences on civil rights activists in Bahrain would be a further embarrassment to the DUP if the Irish and British... Read more »

NOEL CORCORAN’S HUMANITARIAN FUND

January 30, 2020

GOLDHAWK spotted an entity with the impressive name of The United Development Humanitarian Fund being added to the Companies Office strike-off list. This... Read more »

COVENEY’S MIDDLE EAST CHARADE

May 29, 2019

WHAT A deafening silence there has been from foreign minister Simon Coveney on the Middle East “deal of the century”, produced by Donald... Read more »

ISRAEL FIGHTING ON TWO FRONTS

November 29, 2018

By Ramzy Baroud The November 12 botched Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip delineates Tel Aviv’s recent unusual failure to utilise its... Read more »

PYONGYANG REVISITED

February 22, 2018

SOME interesting coincidences around the proposed visit to North Korea by ministers John Halligan, Shane Ross and Finian McGrath have been clocked by... Read more »

AFRICA AND THE REAL DR KING

February 8, 2018

MILLIONS of Americans commemorated Martin Luther King’s Day recently. His famous speech, I Have a Dream, was repeated numerous times in media outlets... Read more »

JARED, JERUSALEM, AND POSSIBLE JAIL TIME

December 14, 2017

By Gary Leupp JARED KUSHNER, “senior adviser” to his father-in-law Donald Trump, is also the president’s chief negotiator for Middle East peace. Trump... Read more »

IS THE US PRESIDENT A HEAD CASE?

October 19, 2017

by Gary Leupp Forget the Russia election-collusion issue. It’s not going anywhere. To bring down Trump, the mainstream media will use the mental... Read more »

THE DAESH STORY IS NOT ENDING

September 7, 2017

By Ramzy Baroud IRAQ’S second largest city, Mosul, has been reduced to rubble. It has been finally conquered, snatched back from the notorious... Read more »

VENEZUELA: THE US WANTS ITS COUNTRY BACK

August 10, 2017

Nicolas Maduro WHAT IS taking place in Venezuela is an attempt at counterrevolution. Washington wants “its” country back, which is why it is... Read more »

THE STORY BEHIND THE JERUSALEM ATTACK

July 27, 2017

Donald Trump By Ramzy Baroud Al-Aqsa is believed to be the second mosque ever to be built, the first being Masjid al-Haram in Mecca.... Read more »

MOVING CLOSER TO DOOM

June 29, 2017

by BRIAN CLOUGHLEY THE Science and Security Board of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has warned that the likelihood of a nuclear... Read more »

THE RUSSIAN HACKING FIASCO

May 17, 2017

By Mike Whitney THERE’S NO proof that Russia hacked the US elections. There’s no proof Russian officials or agents colluded with members of... Read more »

WAR WITH NORTH KOREA: NO JOKE

May 3, 2017

By John Stanton THE 1953 Korean Armistice signed by the United States, China and North Korea called for a cessation of hostilities until... Read more »

DID ASSAD REALLY USE SARIN?

April 19, 2017

by Paul Gottinger ALMOST IMMEDIATELY after video of the alleged chemical weapons attack in Idlib hit Western media, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad was... Read more »

BEFORE TRUMP, THE BORDER WALL WAS A BIPARTISAN PROJECT

February 9, 2017

by OLIVER ORTEGA RIGHTWING fantasies of a southern border wall are not new. Nor are they limited to Republicans or Trump supporters. When... Read more »

BOB’S BAUBLE

October 20, 2016

by DAVID YEARSLEY THE NOBEL literature committee has wiped away the last blob of credibility or interest their annual awards might have retained... Read more »

ALF SMIDDY’S SEAT

October 20, 2016

INTERESTING to see outspoken Cork business consultant Alf Smiddy added to the board of the ESB earlier this month. Minister Denis Naughten obviously... Read more »

THE PROPAGANDA WAR WITH PUTIN

August 10, 2016

Hilary Clinton Vladimir Putin by Renee Parsons IF IT HAD NOT already been apparent, the net effect of the Democratic National convention (DNC)... Read more »

MUHAMMAD ALI’S FIGHT AGAINST RACISM AND WAR

June 17, 2016

A FORTNIGHT last Friday marked the death of arguably the greatest and most beloved Black athlete in history: Muhammad Ali. No sport has... Read more »

PAPAL POLITICS AND IRISH VISIT

June 1, 2016

A SUCCESSFUL visit to Dublin by Pope Francis in August 2018 will depend on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin’s ability to persuade his fellow bishops... Read more »

THE END OF GLOBALISATION?

June 1, 2016

by MURRAY DOBBIN AT the height of the battle over the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1988, the biggest pushers of the... Read more »

HILLARY CLINTON’S NEOCON PROBLEM

April 21, 2016

by Gerald Sussman HILLARY Clinton has a dark history in foreign policy. She is a product of her husband’s alignment with the Democratic... Read more »

THE PROBLEMS WITH THE KARADŽIĆ VERDICT

April 7, 2016

by BINOY KAMPMARK THE uneven distribution of justice is the bane of any system that purports to be fair. The problems are made... Read more »

DONALD TRUMP’S MEDIA REGIME

March 24, 2016

By David Crisp DONALD Trump’s most recent assault on the First Amendment came in a speech in Texas last Friday, during which the... Read more »

TRUMP AND PALIN by ROBERT FANTINA

January 28, 2016

WITH a mere ten months to go before some small percentage of eligible United States voters heads to the polls for their quadrennial... Read more »

DONALD TRUMP: THE POLITICS OF HATE

December 17, 2015

By Robert Fantina AS the three-ring circus known as the US presidential campaign plods along towards its inevitable conclusion, wherein we will all... Read more »