IT'S OVER
It's over
IN HIS statement yesterday, Gerry Adams did not use the words so often demanded from him, "the war is over", but it would be perverse to interpret the words he did use - "the violence we have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past, over, done with and gone" - as having any other meaning.
Certainly the Taoiseach does not interpret them in any other way. He warmly welcomed the statement and said that it "represents a further positive contribution by Sinn Fein to the building of confidence and trust, and marks an important advance in the consolidation of the Good Friday Agreement."
And if the Taoiseach's response was unusually kind to Sinn Fein, he had his reasons. For the words were as much the words of Bertie Ahern - and of Bill Clinton - as of Gerry Adams.
The statement by the Sinn Fein leader preceded two other important developments, the introduction of new security legislation in the Dail today and President Clinton's imminent visit to Ireland; and it followed a flurry of diplomatic and other contacts involving Dublin, Belfast and Washington.
The legislation could if necessary be used against the Provisional IRA as well as against splinter groups. But such a grim necessity is thought most unlikely. The diplomatic contacts were aimed less at placating Mr Adams than at ensuring further progress by his party towards implementing the Northern settlement.
On that point, Mr Ahern was unequivocal. He said that the best means of achieving Sinn Fein's stated objective of ending all conflict was "the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects."
That includes an end to punishment beatings. It includes decommissioning. Whatever the IRA may say, decommissioning forms part of the agreement. And it is not a question of what the IRA call "word games".
It is a question of Sinn Fein's commitment to using only peaceful and democratic means to advance their aims. It is a question of making it possible for the Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, to sit with them in a new Northern executive. Yesterday Mr Adams made a major and laudable step in the right direction. We look forward to his next, vital steps towards making peace and tolerance a reality.
Don't panic
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton, on his visit to Russia, may have brought some comfort to a country in a state of political and economic collapse. Today he will encourage its warring politicians to take the only measures, harsh and courageous, which can save the country in the long term.
But Russia does not hold the key to solving the global financial crisis. His own country holds it.
The Russian economy is in world terms insignificant. Far more threatening are the disasters in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East. And a new danger has arisen in Latin America, where major economies could collapse with calamitous effects for the region and serious implications for the United States.
In these circumstances, the sharp falls in share prices on the world's stock markets are nothing to wonder at. The expert view is that they will fall further. But that need not signal a crash or a recession, much less a slump like that of the 1930s.
Western economies are for the most part in good shape. Inflation and interest rates are low. The falls in share prices may actually bring benign results by cooling overheated markets. But if investors and consumers in the United States lost confidence, they could cause a real crisis in the West.
"Don't panic" is good advice for Russia. It is good advice for Ireland and Western Europe. But it is even better advice for Americans.
IN HIS statement yesterday, Gerry Adams did not use the words so often demanded from him, "the war is over", but it would be perverse to interpret the words he did use - "the violence we have seen must be for all of us now a thing of the past, over, done with and gone" - as having any other meaning.
Certainly the Taoiseach does not interpret them in any other way. He warmly welcomed the statement and said that it "represents a further positive contribution by Sinn Fein to the building of confidence and trust, and marks an important advance in the consolidation of the Good Friday Agreement."
And if the Taoiseach's response was unusually kind to Sinn Fein, he had his reasons. For the words were as much the words of Bertie Ahern - and of Bill Clinton - as of Gerry Adams.
The statement by the Sinn Fein leader preceded two other important developments, the introduction of new security legislation in the Dail today and President Clinton's imminent visit to Ireland; and it followed a flurry of diplomatic and other contacts involving Dublin, Belfast and Washington.
The legislation could if necessary be used against the Provisional IRA as well as against splinter groups. But such a grim necessity is thought most unlikely. The diplomatic contacts were aimed less at placating Mr Adams than at ensuring further progress by his party towards implementing the Northern settlement.
On that point, Mr Ahern was unequivocal. He said that the best means of achieving Sinn Fein's stated objective of ending all conflict was "the full implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in all its aspects."
That includes an end to punishment beatings. It includes decommissioning. Whatever the IRA may say, decommissioning forms part of the agreement. And it is not a question of what the IRA call "word games".
It is a question of Sinn Fein's commitment to using only peaceful and democratic means to advance their aims. It is a question of making it possible for the Ulster Unionist Party leader, David Trimble, to sit with them in a new Northern executive. Yesterday Mr Adams made a major and laudable step in the right direction. We look forward to his next, vital steps towards making peace and tolerance a reality.
Don't panic
PRESIDENT Bill Clinton, on his visit to Russia, may have brought some comfort to a country in a state of political and economic collapse. Today he will encourage its warring politicians to take the only measures, harsh and courageous, which can save the country in the long term.
But Russia does not hold the key to solving the global financial crisis. His own country holds it.
The Russian economy is in world terms insignificant. Far more threatening are the disasters in Japan and elsewhere in the Far East. And a new danger has arisen in Latin America, where major economies could collapse with calamitous effects for the region and serious implications for the United States.
In these circumstances, the sharp falls in share prices on the world's stock markets are nothing to wonder at. The expert view is that they will fall further. But that need not signal a crash or a recession, much less a slump like that of the 1930s.
Western economies are for the most part in good shape. Inflation and interest rates are low. The falls in share prices may actually bring benign results by cooling overheated markets. But if investors and consumers in the United States lost confidence, they could cause a real crisis in the West.
"Don't panic" is good advice for Russia. It is good advice for Ireland and Western Europe. But it is even better advice for Americans.
Further Information
Publisher: IRISH INDEPENDENT
Ref: II/209
Published Date: 02-Sep-98
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