Ireland has a serious Russia problem.

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Sister Sara

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Worthy of a thread on its own I would think.

Ireland has a serious Russia problem

Never heard of him before but here is an excellent film made by independent journalist Caolan Robertson concerning the Aughinish alumina plant in Co Limerick.

It really exposes the hypocrisy of our political establishment and so-called 'independent' media.
Whether you are to the left or the right of the political spectrum in Ireland the silence and deflection here is shocking, but unsurprising.


Well done Caolan.


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The dancing on pins by the Irish political establishment on this matter is a sight to behold.

The government have ducked into 'examining' the matter and are awaiting a 'review' and a report etc, etc of the destination and subject matter of cargo from Co Limerick that sails to St Petersburg, Russia.

The opposition are nowhere to be seen, not a single placard!

In the meantime, Two dead as Russian ballistic missiles strike Kyiv, including a child.

Putin's puppets indeed!
 
Sister Sara said:
It really exposes the hypocrisy of our political establishment and so-called 'independent' media.
Whether you are to the left or the right of the political spectrum in Ireland the silence and deflection here is shocking, but unsurprising.
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And our opposition and the general public. This has been a matter of public record, as well as the subject of international criticism, for years. There is nothing good about the plant, who owns it, or either end of the supply chain it is part of.
 
Purple said:
And our opposition and the general public. This has been a matter of public record, as well as the subject of international criticism, for years. There is nothing about the plant, who owns it, or either end of the supply chain it is part of.
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I was on holidays when this entered the most recent news cycle so only catching up on it in recent days. Before that, never heard of it. Considering the media and political silence around it and I would gauge that would not be uncommon amongst general public.
 
Sister Sara said:
I was on holidays when this entered the most recent news cycle so only catching up on it in recent days. Before that, never heard of it. Considering the media and political silence around it and I would gauge that would not be uncommon amongst general public.
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A Google search shows the number of news articles about it.
 
Purple said:
A Google search shows the number of news articles about it.
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They look like they are all part of the most recent news cycle.

I do the opposition a disservice - Social Democrats and Sinn Féin are on record calling for Ireland to halt alumina exports to Russia.
Fine Gael have voted in EU Parliament of a (non-binding) ban in favour of adding alumina exports to sanctions against Russia.
Fianna Fáil abstained citing risks to Europes aluminium supply chain.
 
Will the same lad make a film about the use of Intel products in military planning and guidance systems or does he know for sure that they and other CPUs, GPUs, mass storage and memory products from other manufacturers have no direct military applications? What about the lads down the road who produce injection moulded or pressed steel cabinets and casings for comuters, rack-mounted systems, or mass-storage farms? Will he feature them in another docudrama where he has proof their products are used to target and kill innocents? What about Microsoft or other software producers? What about the internet or AI, of any use to military organisations waging illegal wars on the innocent?

Aren't we all, to a greater or lesser extent, guilty of selective blindness?
 
mathepac said:
Will the same lad make a film about the use of Intel products in military planning and guidance systems or does he know for sure that they and other CPUs, GPUs, mass storage and memory products from other manufacturers have no direct military applications? What about the lads down the road who produce injection moulded or pressed steel cabinets and casings for comuters, rack-mounted systems, or mass-storage farms? Will he feature them in another docudrama where he has proof their products are used to target and kill innocents? What about Microsoft or other software producers? What about the internet or AI, of any use to military organisations waging illegal wars on the innocent?
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We produce very little computer cabinetry in this country anymore.
There are controls on the resale or hardware and software but, unlike ship loads of alumina, those products can be hard to control.

mathepac said:
Aren't we all, to a greater or lesser extent, guilty of selective blindness?
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Absolutely, but this is on a whole different level.
 
JoeRoberts said:
No its not. Closing the plant will have no impact on the war.
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No, but ensuring that the Alumina doesn't end up in Russia will... or are you aware of some alternative supply that they have to replace more than half a million tonnes (nearly 400,000 tonnes so far this year) of alumina that we will ship to them? That's 10% of their own total production.

What makes you think that shopping that flow will have no impact on the war?
 
mathepac said:
Aren't we all, to a greater or lesser extent, guilty of selective blindness?
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I think it's unfair to expect the one journalist to make films on all the issues you highlight? Particularly as there is no identifiable conflict in your post. Manufacturing military weapons is not the issue, its the use of those weapons in conflict that matters.

I do think you raise the salient point though, and the follow-up question I have is where do we draw the line?

50-odd km's away from Aughinish there are regular protests around Shannon airport for facilitating US military personnel and hardware on their voyage to who knows where? I don't think we know precisely the cargo on board because as I understand there is an effective policy to never inspect.

If what was coming out of Aughinish was being transported to Israel I have no doubt those protests would move there also.

JoeRoberts said:
No its not. Closing the plant will have no impact on the war.
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Neither does banning Russian sports teams and athletes have any impact on the war but it still occurs anyway and I think the question of whether sanctions actually work in any meaningful way is a legitimate question.

We are routinely fed the Russia-phobia narrative which soothes the trauma of those still stuck in 1980's era "reds under the bed" thinking. Yet the reality is it is in Europe's and Russia's interest to be partners and much as it to be partners with the US.

Russia is fighting an illegal war in Ukraine, and the US is fighting an illegal war in Iran.
School-children are being murdered by bombs.

Where do we draw the line?
 
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