Queen shakes IRA's hand

[Ecurb Noselrub]

Yesterday Queen Elizabeth shook hands with a former member of the IRA.  Check out this video of other iconic handshakes in recent history.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/27/when-a-handshake-is-not-just-a-handshake/?hpt=hp_bn2

What say ye Englishmen and Irishmen?  What is your opinion of yesterday's handshake?

[markmcdaniel]

Its things like this that give me some hope that at least some of it's leaders are at least a little bit smarter than dirt.

[OldGit]

It happens all the time.  Yesterday's terrorist becomes today's political leader, and the world has to accept them.  Look at the early days of the state of Israel, for example.

Things are calming down in Northern Ireland now.  Slowly and with some hiccups, but peace is pretty much established.  This handshake will have done a great deal to cement that peace, so we have to swallow the bad taste and praise it.

[En_Route]

Its things like this that give me some hope that at least some of it's leaders are at least a little bit smarter than dirt.

As I have had previous cause to remark, most of them are smart. You don't have to admire or even like them to acknowledge the hard evidence. They have built up a formidable electoral machine in the North and have gained ground in the South. Many of the younger apparatchiks are academically well- qualified as well as being politically shrewd. The handshake was primarily for the benefit of their Southern constituency fo whom this kind of conciliatory gesture will play well and where they need to build up their votes. It provoked a more mixed reaction on the North, but it won't cost them votes and might gain a few, though they have pretty well maxed out here anyway.

[xSilverPhinx]

Its things like this that give me some hope that at least some of it's leaders are at least a little bit smarter than dirt.

As I have had previous cause to remark, most of them are smart. You don't have to admire or even like them to acknowledge the hard evidence. They have built up a formidable electoral machine in the North and have gained ground in the South. Many of the younger apparatchiks are academically well- qualified as well as being politically shrewd. The handshake was primarily for the benefit of their Southern constituency fo whom this kind of conciliatory gesture will play well and where they need to build up their votes. It provoked a more mixed reaction on the North, but it won't cost them votes and might gain a few, though they have pretty well maxed out here anyway.

Call me cynical, but I'm a bit skeptical as to how an ex-IRA with rather extreme ideological and patriotic loyalty can suddenly change and make that gesture of acceptance (if it is, in fact) so quickly. I lean more towards what En Route said and that there are other motives.

When politics are involved...

Out of curiosity En Route, where are you from?

[McQ]

Its things like this that give me some hope that at least some of it's leaders are at least a little bit smarter than dirt.

As I have had previous cause to remark, most of them are smart. You don't have to admire or even like them to acknowledge the hard evidence. They have built up a formidable electoral machine in the North and have gained ground in the South. Many of the younger apparatchiks are academically well- qualified as well as being politically shrewd. The handshake was primarily for the benefit of their Southern constituency fo whom this kind of conciliatory gesture will play well and where they need to build up their votes. It provoked a more mixed reaction on the North, but it won't cost them votes and might gain a few, though they have pretty well maxed out here anyway.

I've been very interested to get your take on this. Obviously for us across the pond with so little real and visceral understanding of this, I look forward to how this is actually perceived by the north, south, and overall.

[En_Route]

Its things like this that give me some hope that at least some of it's leaders are at least a little bit smarter than dirt.

As I have had previous cause to remark, most of them are smart. You don't have to admire or even like them to acknowledge the hard evidence. They have built up a formidable electoral machine in the North and have gained ground in the South. Many of the younger apparatchiks are academically well- qualified as well as being politically shrewd. The handshake was primarily for the benefit of their Southern constituency fo whom this kind of conciliatory gesture will play well and where they need to build up their votes. It provoked a more mixed reaction on the North, but it won't cost them votes and might gain a few, though they have pretty well maxed out here anyway.

Call me cynical, but I'm a bit skeptical as to how an ex-IRA with rather extreme ideological and patriotic loyalty can suddenly change and make that gesture of acceptance (if it is, in fact) so quickly. I lean more towards what En Route said and that there are other motives.

When politics are involved...

Out of curiosity En Route, where are you from?

I am from the Republic  but live in Northern Ireland. I don't have any personal allegiance to either and if circumstances permitted would cheerfully  live in Italy. Everything Sinn Fein does is premeditated and carefully calculated. When the Queen visited the Republic she was warmly received and her speeches were generous and gracious. Sinn Fein snubbed the visit and were seen as being out of  touch with the popular sentiment there and the desire for reconciliation.Hence the epiphany and volte- face.

[OldGit]

I don't doubt that ER is right and that all these gestures are cynically planned down to the last gesture.  I have no liking for politicians of any stripe.  Nevertheless this handshake will help a lot to calm things down , and IMO is therefore to be welcomed.

[En_Route]

I don't doubt that ER is right and that all these gestures are cynically planned down to the last gesture.  I have no liking for politicians of any stripe.  Nevertheless this handshake will help a lot to calm things down , and IMO is therefore to be welcomed.

There is no doubt that the handshake carries a powerful symbolism whatever the calculations underlying it on either side , and that it will help to assuage the distrust and hostility between the two communities here.

[xSilverPhinx]

If he's acting in accordance with popular sentiment, then that's a good sign in itself. These people's power comes primarily from the support of the population, otherwise they're just another brand of terrorist, not glorified freedom fighters.

It can still be undermined though, nothing like hard times to better manipulate a population, especially the young, naive and fatally idealistic.