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Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Dubai during this week's trade mission. Photocall Ireland/GIS

Damien Kiberd So what if Kenny and Bruton didn't lecture Middle East on human rights?

Were they not correct to put the business interests of Ireland first? And what about those other human rights abusers Ireland conveniently chooses to ignore?

SHOULD ENDA KENNY and Richard Bruton have spent the last seven days lecturing their Saudi and Qatari hosts concerning human rights in the Middle East?

For once, Kenny might have spoken up with absolute moral force and good authority.

The state he leads is neutral and has always been neutral.

Furthermore, on each and every day since the foundation of the United Nations soldiers of that state have served on foreign fields working as peacekeepers.

Yet Kenny, true to form, remained silent. Bruton, the wimp at his right hand, muttered that there was a time and a place for everything.

Have they blown a big opportunity?

Or were they correct? As a matter of common courtesy why should you insult a host in his own house? Were Kenny and Bruton not putting the business interests of Ireland first?

And are the people who clamour most loudly for human rights not in many cases simply hypocrites who deploy their human rights ‘concerns’ merely to press home other political objectives?

Lee Kwan Yew, the dominant figure in Singapore’s politics since 1965, always ran a tight ship. Democratically elected and Cambridge educated, Lee has only survived by being as tough as his enemies. That means very tough indeed.

Singapore restricts press freedom and uses caning as a punishment for 84 offences, a practice it learned from the British.

Human rights imperialism

In one memorable speech Lee accused the West of imposing its own political principles on others, even when those principles were inappropriate and slowed down economic development. He referred to this imposition of ideas as ‘Human Rights Imperialism.’

A number of Marxist scholars concur, but for different reasons. They use precisely the same term – ‘Human Rights Imperialism’ – to describe the process whereby the US, NATO and the West arrogate to themselves the right to intervene, sometimes militarily, in the politics of others.

The US imprisons a greater proportion of its people than any other country. It eavesdrops on the conversations of business leaders in ‘friendly’ countries in order to secure commercial gain. Along with only Somalia and South Sudan it will not ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Yet it often uses ‘Human Rights’ ideology to justify its interventionist foreign and military policies.

Henry Kissinger put it most explicitly. He said that during the Nixon and Reagan presidencies human rights ideology was a vital part of America’s arsenal in defeating it enemies.

The problem is how to define ‘Human Rights.’  Maybe it is impossible to formulate a universally accepted definition.

Not the men for the job

Kenny and Bruton are not the men for the job when it comes to promoting Western-version human rights ideology in the Middle East. Yet parts of the Dublin media and even Fianna Fail were last week suggesting that both should take time out from their trade talks to convince the Saudis to allow driving licences be issued to women and force the Qatari royals to pay union rates to tradesmen working on stadia for the 2022 World Cup.

Eamon Gilmore, a former Workers Party functionary who would know more than most about human rights in Eastern Europe, insisted (in his capacity as foreign minister) that we never miss an opportunity to promote human rights. But it’s not very likely that he was burning down the phone lines to Saudi Arabia and the UAE last week to add to the pressure on his bewildered FG allies in government to start pushing for improved standards.

There is no satisfactory answer to demands for action on rights in other peoples’ countries. Not just in Saudi Arabia and Qatar but in North Korea and China as well.

Take a look at the smartphone in your pocket

If you don’t see the consequences of all this then take a look at the smartphone in your pocket and ask yourself where it came from.

The New York Times published a series of articles in 2012 describing how migrant workers living in cramped dormitories in Shenzen in China were routinely woken at 4am when ‘urgent’ orders arrived from Cupertino in California for more top of the range Apple iPhones.

Wiping sleep from their eyes the workers were led to their workstations and began working 12-hour shifts, six days a week ‘fitting glass to bevelled frames’, quickly lifting production to 10,000 iphones per day.

Apple is not alone in sub-contracting work to suppliers in southern Chinese cities. Others such as Dell, HP, Sony, Samsung and Motorola have joined the rush. The financial news service Bloomberg claimed in 2010 that terrible conditions had driven large numbers of workers to black despair. One of China’s biggest sub-supply companies Foxconn had asked 450,000 of its workers to sign ‘no suicide’ pledges. Nets were being erected below factory roofs to catch falling bodies.

In his recent book ‘Chinese Whispers’ the British business writer Ben Chu quotes Jin Liqun, a spokesman for the China Investment Corporation (CIC), boasting that China lacks Europe’s ‘sloth inducing labour laws’. The CIC is now the biggest source of global investment capital.

Chu notes drily that China is providing precisely what big multinationals want. The actual workers in many of these plants have also entered into a sort of Faustian pact with the factory owners. They are tired and overworked, says Chu, but they often want longer hours and better pay so that they can meet their family goals on education and housing. Human rights are not top of their ‘to do’ lists.

Tackling China’s princelings on their visits here?

Ireland has rolled out the red carpet for various princelings from the People’s Republic in recent times including the now most powerful comrade Xi Jinping. Our ruling wimps never mentioned human rights in their presence either. Last week a major report on Irish food processing merely stressed the urgent need for Irish beef to re-enter the Chinese market.

Dig a little and you’ll find that almost all the multinationals that feature on the IDA’s list of prestige investors in Ireland are also deeply involved in outsourcing production to southern China. Whether we like it or not we are part of the same sub-supply chains.

Chu’s well-researched book says that until very recently students at China’s top universities were obliged to spend 15% of their time learning Marxist dialectics. They now study Marxist economic history. One of the central tenets of Marxism is that the lower you drive down real wages, the higher the rate of profit. Marxists hold that profit maximisation must inevitably drive hourly wages towards subsistence.

What this means is that China’s decision to ignore western norms on human rights is part of a deliberate, mechanistic policy. Some 200m rural Chinese have been asked to make the transition from feudalism to capitalism in three decades. The Chinese economic miracle is built largely on cheap labour and a parallel application of surplus capital in fairly crude programmes of state investment.

Yet Ireland views China as one its key business partners of the future.

We are aligning ourselves with a command economy in which there are no trade unions and in which the degree to which workers are abused and exploited is calibrated in advance as part of a national economic plan.

Will Ireland ever speak up on this and other issues? It seems unlikely.

In recent weeks we have remained more or less silent on other important issues.

Latvia, 34% of whose people are ethnic Russians, has just become a member of the eurozone. Lithuania is waiting in the wings. Neither country has much in common with Ireland or with western Europe.

None of our political leaders has explained how the decision to expand the currency zone again was taken, despite recent monetary chaos. It seems as important as expanding the Eurovision song contest.

Was the decision to admit Latvia taken by the former Finnish county councillor Olli Rehn? Or by the ex-Portugese Maoist Jose Manuel Barrosso? Or by the Italian banker Mario Draghi who has strong historic links to Goldman Sachs? Will we ever be told?

The human rights issues which aren’t being discussed on Taoiseach’s Gulf visit>
Damien Kiberd: Why middle-aged men invest in Netflix…

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    Mute Connor Savage
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:39 AM

    Kenny and Bruton are in the UAE for one thing; that’s generating business for Ireland. If we had politicians arriving in Dublin lecturing about what’s right and wrong with our society, there’d be absolute uproar. Fianna Fáil might have opinions on what should be said but it lacks courtesy, gratitude and rapport for a trip that is about promoting similar interests. Fianna Fails opinion is near irrelevant for me after the mess the put Ireland in anyway. I live in Dubai and the trip did a lot on the ground for Irish people in business here.

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    Mute Kevin Ryan
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:55 AM

    Connor, if Ireland was home to foreign workers facing conditions described as slavery by Human Rights Watch, I’d hope the world wouldn’t stay silent about it. Same thing if Ireland featured Saudi style subjugation of women; I’d hope any foreign leaders visiting Ireland would speak up about that state of affairs rather than keeping quiet in the hope of winning some business. Above all, people deserve a vote, and not to be ruled over, with limited freedom of expression, by a multi-billionaire horse-doping royal family. If the life of Nelson Mandela taught us anything, it is that it is wrong to act like British Tories, overlooking injustice in faraway places like South Africa because of business interests.

    Human rights are an Irish cause. The first Chair of Amnesty International’s International Executive Committee in 1963 was Sean MacBride, an Irishman. For obvious reasons, we Irish shouldn’t look away when young emigrants are put through hell on foreign building sites.

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    Mute Philip
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    Jan 12th 2014, 1:20 PM

    Yeah so what about human rights, money/jobs should run roughshod over everything

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    Mute Karen Crofton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 1:27 PM

    My brother lives in Dubai, I’ve been over to visit several times and love it there. One thing about it that I don’t like though is the wage structure system there. An example of this is on Nye 1999, my brother was asked to work at an event doing security. Himself and his 2 English friends were paid in sterling £300 , one American (same job) was paid £500, and the 6 Indians were paid £25 for doing the exact same job as the others. This is just plain wrong. The guys for the record, they pooled the money and split it evenly.

    Having said that, the local people, other Arabs there and the non Arab Muslims I have met there have been some of the friendliest people I have ever met. A lot of Irish people don’t understand and don’t want to understand the way of life there, and pass racist and bigotted remarks about ‘towel head’s etc out of ignorance and unwillingness to learn about other cultures. My nephew is half Egyptian and was born there, I dread to think of how he will be treated in Ireland when he is older. He is 5 years old, the sweetest kid I’ve ever met (biased I know), and his favourite colour is green. He identifies with his Irish roots far more than his Egyptian roots, and calls himself Irish. He attends an international school and his name is on Ireland on the world map of where the kids are from.

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    Mute andrew
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    Jan 12th 2014, 2:41 PM

    The argument is pointless. if you subscribe to market economics then ethics are not an issue

    BTW, why is bringing up Human Rights issues always referred to as ‘lecturing’ other people? Yet, continually advocating the primacy of money over ethics is seen as simply stating a self evident fact?

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    Mute Murphy o Toole
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:07 AM

    I think we still have a lot of work to do on our own human rights issues before we go lecturing anyone else

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    Mute denisj
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    Jan 12th 2014, 5:33 PM

    I would invite you to try raising your daughters in Saudi Arabia.

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    Mute BO
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    Jan 12th 2014, 8:59 AM

    I do find the pompous, self-regarding Western lecturing of the Muslim world quite annoying, what’s needed, and the only thing that will work, is a shifting of male attitudes within Islam and there is a huge Islamic feminist movement that is never reported on in the West that is seek that exact thing.

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    Mute Conor Gallagher
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:08 PM

    You are aware that most countries in the world (Saudis being an obvious exception) are a party to http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Bill_of_Human_Rights . These rights are not “western” but Universal.

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    Mute Barney Blarney
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:38 AM

    A lot of personal hypocrisy in the commentary this past week. People should look at their own behaviour before pontificating about what is happening elsewhere.

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    Mute tomeenoldstock
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:57 AM

    The use of the term ” our ruling wimps” is childish and brings this article down to the Sunday world level. Good article in general but if I’m going to the bank for a loan I’m not going to use the opportunity to lecture the banks on ruining our economy.

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    Mute Were Jammin
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:09 AM

    Jesus, dyed in the wool blueshirt and (former?) station editor for fine gael mouthpiece station newstalk, thinks fine gael leader acted correctly….

    Stop bloody press!

    Can thejournal explain why, unlike other columnists, damien kiberds columns don’t include a short bio about the blokes past/present credentials/asociations?

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    Mute Kevin Ryan
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:52 AM

    The problem with this article isn’t so much the whataboutery, it’s the weakness of the whataboutery.

    The UN Declaration on Human Rights prohibits slavery and other rights violations. It doesn’t necessarily prohibit tough labour conditions in Chinese factories. So it really doesn’t follow that by failing to protest those Chinese conditions, we are hypocrites for objecting to migrant workers being held in servitude in the Middle East, unfree to return to their home countries.

    Singapore’s Lee was wrong. Many in the West voiced the opinion that citizens of that city state deserved democracy and a greater measure of human rights. But the West did not attempt to impose that state of affairs on Singapore; trade was not affected. Imperialism without coercion isn’t imperialism at all; it’s just voicing an opinion. For citizens in Singapore, the restrictions on their freedoms came from above and within and made Lee very, very rich.

    As for Latvia joining the eurozone, it might be a bad idea but it’s no mystery why it’s happening. There’s lots of information online. Even if Latvia’s membership was explained by a sinister cabal of international financiers (and it’s not), this has no bearing on how Ireland engages with the question of human rights in the Middle East – not unless the author is attempting the argument that Enda Kenny shouldn’t say anything about anything unless he speaks up about everything, i.e. whataboutery to the extremes.

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    Mute Declan Byrne
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:42 AM

    I stopped reading after reading ireland is neutral and always was. Since that is bs it leads me to believe then most likely the rest is bs.

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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Jan 12th 2014, 2:54 PM

    I stopped reading too because the state is far from neutral as we know from history.

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    Mute Ed Appleby
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    Jan 13th 2014, 1:46 PM

    Ditto, anyone stupid enough to buy that BS needs to go an look at what ‘neutrality’ has been used for by the gombeens who have run the asylum since Rome rule was established. They have used it to underfund the country’s security by creating an army that doesn’t have a single tank in it’s armoury, an air force with no jet fighters and a navy with operates patrol vessels for fishery protection. As for neutrality, are we not members of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) of the European Union (EU)? That’s hardly neutral then as Kiberd maintains.

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    Mute Coffee
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    Jan 12th 2014, 8:46 AM

    What has the fact that Latvia consists of ethnic Russians got to do with anything? How come they have nothing to do with Western Europe?

    Im pretty sure Russia has contributed more to our European heritage then Ireland.

    33
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    Mute Sean O'Sullivan
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:39 AM

    That was quite the lecture there Damo! I think we should send you on state visits in future! Clearly you have such high moral standards compared to the rest of us you are growing all your food in the back garden and making all your own clothes and shoes and you would have nothing to do with anything made by a multinational (I.e. in china).
    It’s interesting how we Irish take outside criticism on any issue so well! The whole Irish media goes apoplectic and Joe Duffy gets a full week out of it!

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:26 AM

    Lets face it, ireland is not a major player on the world stage. Kenny was there on a trade mission (holiday at the tax payers expense). If he opened his gob about human rights, does anyone believe they would listen to him lecture them in their own country. Kenny is a nobody to them (and to most other leaders). We have enough human rights problems of our own but if we really want to lecture the middle east we need to be sending someone more state manly like. Not sure they would listen to a woman either although mary robinson type of person would be right for the job if she was a man.

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    Mute Steve M
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:08 AM

    You honestly believe it was a holiday for Kenny and co…? You really are a clueless boy aren’t you

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:30 AM

    You really think kenny could drum up business anywhere. He is an utter disgrace. An american friend said to me recently “its no wonder ireland has problems with a leader like that. Now blueshirts im not interested in hearing anymore of your bull. God help us

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    Mute Steve M
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:06 AM

    I am not a blueshift but they were out there drumming. Up support for Irish business and someone I know out there said they done well. Can you do a better job? Join a party, put your name on the ballot and take action instead of posting easy crowd pleasing comments on the internet.

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:18 AM

    I am a member of a party and i am out there. Now put that in your pipe and smoke it. And if you read my posts you would see that i said it is not the time to be bringing up human rights. And yes i think im doing a better job than kenny

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    Mute Brian Mc Elwaine
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:07 PM

    Saudi Arabia get elected on to UN human rights council in November and Ireland (a wee island somewhere on the edge of Europe) arrive on their doorstep within 2 months on a trade mission and start lecturing about human rights. That will be hard to top for Stupid suggestion of the year.

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    Mute Noel Madden
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:32 PM

    @Ruairi
    What have you done to consider yourself “out there”? Are you currently in an elected position? Did you run in a recent election but failed to get elected?

    By the way, I presume the party membership is not with FG? Can you tell us which party?

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:57 PM

    @noel
    I went to dublin airport and got on a plane and came out here noel. Thats how i consider myself “out there” or out here as is the case.

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    Mute hsianloon
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:27 AM

    When you’re on a trip begging for investment, remember that you are there at their pleasure.

    I agree to leave the white man human rights talk behind and be more practical with the current state of affairs.

    Face it, even if Qatar did make fun of Enda Kenny as some posters mentioned, they would get away with it. They are that rich, and Ireland is just that in need of investment it wouldn’t even print it in the press the next day

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:43 AM

    Absolutely right hsianloon. We are not as important as we like to think

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    Mute Breandán O Conchúir
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:36 AM

    ya human rights is used as an imperialist tool but it doesn’t have to be. the Irish govt should have brought it up at some stage as they should have when Chinese politicians visited and when Obama visited. Our government should never be silent on human rights.

    all it takes for evil to flourish is good men to do nothing

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    Mute Clyde
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:28 AM

    I think you’ve identified the problem there; a requirement for our leaders to be good men, or women, in the first place. You also would need a modicum of bravery, and as evidenced by our leaders defence of their own electorate, I doubt hardships in other states keep them awake at night.

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    Mute D
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:10 PM

    When Michelle Obama was in Dublin last year the media including thejournal.ie were so silent. No questions about drone attacks and no questions about what the Americans get up to around the world. And so on. There was no serious questions asked. The same thing happened when Barack Obama was in Ireland a few years ago.

    Maybe it was ‘not time or place’ to bring this all up.

    In other news:
    http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/07/22163872-us-investigates-yemenis-charge-that-drone-strike-turned-wedding-into-a-funeral?lite

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:30 AM

    I can just see kenny having a go at the qatari king about his terrorist activities saying “nobody believes you”. He would be beheaded.

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    Mute James Darby
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:44 AM

    Yeah, Ruairi, I suppose Gerry would be the right man to lecture him about his terrorist past.

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    Mute Ruairi Colton
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:26 AM

    Yes james gerry adams is a better man than that worm kenny everyday of the week. Kenny the wimp is a traitor. Gerry adams is a true statesman and im proud that i vote for his party

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    Mute Andrew Nolan
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:06 AM

    You’re a comedian!

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    Mute Ed Appleby
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    Jan 13th 2014, 1:49 PM

    “Gerry adams is a true statesman” hilarious, funniest comment of the day. if only he had lost his head all those years ago.

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    Mute Coffee
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    Jan 12th 2014, 8:49 AM

    Thanks for deleting my on topic comment.

    Views that call out the author on his insular views are unwelcome I guess, ironic considering the article.

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    Mute Coffee
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    Jan 12th 2014, 8:51 AM

    Back now it seems, thanks!

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    Mute Jack Mulveen
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    Jan 12th 2014, 9:28 AM

    Careful Now!

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:50 AM

    I don’t get the Latvia thing. Is the author saying that Ireland was silent on the eurozone admittance or that we should demand human rights in Latvia. The article is a bit all over the shop.

    Journal contributors and journalists, will ye ever run a quick eye over your submissions and do the following:

    1.Spellchecker

    2.Have a think if it’s relevant and consistent all the way through.

    3. If you know deep down yer talking shite don’t publish it.

    4. Streams of conciousness doesn’t good copy make.

    Stick to those principles and I won’t have to get the editor on to you

    19
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    Mute D
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:08 PM

    Peace, you should try spellchecker – ye is you or all of you, yer is your or you’re and conciousness is consciousness. And whatever.

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    Mute Peace for All
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    Jan 13th 2014, 3:11 AM

    Its from old English, hear ye hear ye.
    Also known as yizzer.

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:31 AM

    This is a really weird op-ed that starts somewhere and goes nowhere. It’s a complete grab bag of unconnected observations and I frankly would’ve expected more from Declan Kiberd. Saudi human rights abuses, Singaporean governance and the Foxconn plant in China have nothing to do with one another. It’s hardly wimpy for our government to do deals in order to attract sorely needed FDI. We’re a tiny country with a population the size of Greater Birmingham or Chicago. Can we please get over ourselves?

    It’s also a tad old fashioned to be referring to the leaders of the Chinese Communist Party as “princelings”. Xi Jingping is now arguably the second most powerful man in the world. Snidely referring to him as “comrade” merely demonstrates gleeful ignorance of a rising superpower that we would all do well to better understand.

    As for Latvia, it and its two Baltic sisters were once cornerstones of the old Hanseatic League and rightly consider themselves to have a long, rich connection with Western Europe. Latvia’s joining of the euro is something to be celebrated.

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    Mute Fergal Reid
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:33 AM

    Damien* Kiberd, excuse me!

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    Mute Garry Coll
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:02 AM

    Will we ever get an article from Mr Kiberd that doesn’t end with a question mark??
    What is the point of an opinion piece where the author won’t give an opinion??
    Is Mr Kiberd bald because he tears out his own hair or does he sit back and let others do it for him??
    These and other questions will probably never be answered.

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    Mute Blacksod63.
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:58 AM

    Can I just say our universities have no problem promoting themselves in the Middle East . Has anybody ever complained? High end courses in our colleges are more than happy to accept large numbers of wealthy middle eastern students who can pay enormous fees. Therefore what is wrong with our country doing the same thing?

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    Mute GOLDEN ARMS
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:36 AM

    Exactly whats wrong with the world today Mr Kiberd, putting Business and money first over Human Rights, simple as that.

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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Jan 12th 2014, 3:00 PM

    Money, oil etc is the “god” worshiped today.

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    Mute Taxi Bill
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    Jan 12th 2014, 11:49 AM

    We (our political class) are quick enough to lecture Israel on human rights, but I suppose they don’t have OIL (none of the luvies asking for a boycott of Saudi oil( or asking at tesco if it was produced using “slave” labour. etc etc

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    Mute Anthony Cronin
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:10 PM

    You do not instruct a person/country to change.. you lead by example and inspire. Our politicos should fix home first, tomorrow they can save the world.

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    Mute David Burke
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    Jan 12th 2014, 3:22 PM

    Rambling nonsense as usual from Kiberd.

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    Mute Edgar Simis
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    Jan 12th 2014, 1:50 PM

    “Latvia, 34% of whose people are ethnic Russians, has just become a member of the eurozone.” Are ethnic Russians incapable of using Euros? Mr. Kiberd seems to be suggesting that the percentage of ethnic Russians should be added as one of the criteria for admission to Eurozone.

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    Mute Catherine Mill
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    Jan 12th 2014, 3:51 PM

    We are all citizens of our Mother Earth.

    Let us stop this old patriarchal country boundary prison game that has not served us well in the past.

    There were no boundaries and country partitions until wars created them.
    With them came the divide and conquer game and looking at comments here, many still playing right into the hands of those who are behind all wars on the Mother planet.

    Let us return to the way we were where all were are recognized as brothers and sisters on Mother Earth.

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    Mute K
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    Jan 12th 2014, 2:21 PM

    What happens at the other side of the world isn’t really our business or our problem – people should concern themselves only with themselves, their family, friends and to a much lesser extent their country. Life is tough enough without unconsciously burdening yourself with the problems of people elsewhere in the world who wouldn’t give a damn if the tables were turned. I wonder do wealthy people in Qatar give a damn about people here in negative equity or people living in ghettos in Dublin.

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    Mute K
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    Jan 12th 2014, 2:26 PM

    ps. i probably come across as a monster with no empathy but I do empathise with the 95 + % of the world who have it worse than I do, but me feeling bad isn’t going to solve their problems so I just block it out. I spent enough years of my life suffering mentally due to worrying about the well-being of people elsewhere in the world, it is futile …

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    Mute leo
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    Jan 13th 2014, 6:27 AM

    Let the government sign some contracts to bring jobs to the country then criticize the political issues with human rights and stuff. Things need time and beside,before cirtisize others we should start with covered issues here that related to human rights.

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    Mute Mick Potts
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    Jan 12th 2014, 10:02 PM

    my question is why was it necessary for Kenny to go as well as Bruton, a double hit on Irish taxpayers. We all know that Bruton was part of the Heave to topple Kenny a few years ago, it would appear that Kenny doesn’t trust his Jobs minister, so why did he have to go too?

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