Straw in the Diplomatic wind

The news that 40 staff at the Her Brittanic Majesty's Embassy in Dublin are going on strike about prospective redundancies can hardly come as a surprise. After all why on earth does Britain need to maintain 69 employees in the Ballsbridge Embassy when it is a fiction?

Though only three members of staff are facing compulsory redundancy, this must be just a start. This is not new over the past few years British diplomatic representation is shrinking across the world.

After all since both the UK and Ireland are members of the EU which is essentially the same country then why do they need diplomatic representation? Does Dorset need an Embassy in Southampton?

Will the new Wild Geese ever make it to Chad?

The original Wild Geese were those Irish catholics who fled from the island and joined the service of the French King. Now we have a new breed of Irishmen, being put in harms way for French imperial ambitions.

This week the Irish press has been full of two stories, both linked. There has been questions of the fabled neutrality vis-a-vis the Constitutional Referendum. The No campaign believing that Eire's neutrality to be compromised by aspects of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Yes campaign denying any such thing.

Simultaneous to that has been the great burst of pride as General Nash finally takes command of the EU Force in Chad. A peacekeeping force delayed by many months due to logistical problems.

The problem is that no sooner is the force, which is mostly French but includes Irish and other contingents, off for deployment that it stops.

This all boils down to the fact reported here at the beggining of December and covered extensively in EU Referendum this force is not really a European Force at all but a fig leaf for unreconstructed French foreign policy. France is an ally of the Chadian dictator, and has taken sides. The peacekeepers are supposed to be neutral, so the rebels have declared war on France and by extension its EU allies.

So with the rebel forces closing in on the Chadian capital we discover,

However, a plane-load of 54 Irish special forces did not depart for N'Djamena, Chad's capital, and a cargo aircraft carrying equipment and a dozen Austrian soldiers turned back yesterday.

I was discussing the Irish referendum campaign with a couple of Sinn Fein staffers (politics does make for some strange aquaintances) and the Chad deployment came up,

EH "What would happen if a young Irish soldier came back in a body bag before
the vote"
SF "Can you organise it?"
EH "Sorry"
SFS "It's just that we don't have any active service units in Chad"
EH, "I suppose they are all in Colombia"

The point is of course is that either the sight of dead Irish soldiers returning having died for France, or the sight of Fench soldiers running amok amongst Africans slaughtering left right and centre whilst under the command of an Irish General could have a major impact on the Treaty poll.

War-battered dogs are we,
Fighters in every clime;
Fillers of trench and of grave,
Mockers bemocked by time.
War-dogs hungry and grey,
Gnawing a naked bone,
Fighters in every clime
Every cause but our own

When do military excercises involve no troops?

When they are European Military exercises.

The European Council today has announced its second military exercise “MILEX07” which will run from June 7-15.
The key point to note,
“No troops will be deployed”.

It appears that there is big trouble in Alisia. Friction between the Transitional Government of Alisia and a rebel group (National Freedom Movement)has caused aid to be blocked from refugee camps in the North West of Alisia. The UN, though on the ground is incapable of saving the day.

So what would any sensible person do? Ask for the EU’s Integrated Police Unit – “a synthesis of military attitude and police capability,” based on the Italian Caribinieri, but with Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Romania, Dutch and Turkish troops. (Hold on did I read that right Turkish military?)

Only they don’t, because they don’t (yet) have the capacity. According to the press release, “The exercise will be conducted in Brussels (EU OpsCentre) and in Enköping (EU FHQ). Some 200 "players" and supporting personnel are expected to take part”. So despite the trouble in Alisia, rather than deploy the “force up to 2000 personnel including an Integrated Police Unit (IPU), temporarily placed under military responsibility”.
A crowd of people in Brussels and Sweden will talk about the situation under the control of Lt Gen David Leakey.

Interestingly Alisia seems to bear a striking resemblance to Darfur, which as EU Referendum pointed out, according to a Reuters report, “France is asking its European Union "partners" to consider sending a force of up to 12,000 troops to Chad to provide aid for people fleeing the Darfur conflict in Sudan”.

And so it goes on.