Pete Hamill writes on JFK Somewhere in the shadowy land between myth and history lies the domicile of John F. Kennedy. The first United States president of Irish-Catholic descent, Kennedy was a man of many faces: war hero, orator, lover, creator, and visionary. He had it all, and it was all taken away, but in the end he gained immortality. That day I was in Ireland, in the … [Read more...] about Our Jack
Politics Archives
A Voice of Reason
David Ervine, leader of the Northern Ireland Progressive Unionist Party, spoke to the National Committee on American Foreign Policy on April 20 in New York. The focus of his remarks was the peace process now in jeopardy, ironically because the British and Irish governments have pandered to David Trimble, Ulster Unionist leader and First Minister elect of the new Northern … [Read more...] about A Voice of Reason
Ulster Says Yes
The Russian poet Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote of how strange it was to see trams running and everyday life proceeding normally although the Bolsheviks had taken over the government and begun a fundamental transformation of society. The Northern Ireland referendum on the Belfast Agreement had that "Mayakovsky vibe" too. We were in the King's Hall, on the fringe of Belfast, which … [Read more...] about Ulster Says Yes
The Dawn of a New Peace
HISTORIC NI AGREEMENT GIVES HOPE FOR FUTURE: Deaglán de Bréadún, Northern Editor of The Irish Times, describes an epic week in the history of the North of Ireland culminating in the historic peace deal. ℘℘℘ I have been privileged to cover two truly epic stories in my career as a journalist. One was the mass migration of the Kurds from northern Iraq into Iran and Turkey … [Read more...] about The Dawn of a New Peace
Can This Man Bring Peace?
Deáglan de Bréadún reports on former Senator George Mitchell's efforts to resolve the conflict in the North of Ireland. Dear shadows, now you know it all, All the folly of a fight With a common wrong or right. The innocent and the beautiful Have no enemy but time. Those words of the Irish poet W.B. Yeats referred to an earlier chapter in our national story: an earlier … [Read more...] about Can This Man Bring Peace?





