“My own sardonic sense of humour makes me think that right hand left foot amputation might be singularly effective with those mongrels if the IRA takes care of them.:)”

Moving from serious geopolitics to a lighter thought, I am reminded of this Gaelic blessing; which hangs in our kitchen:

May those who love us, love us.
And those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts.
And if He doesn’t turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles.
So we will know them by their limping.

Mind you, if such were to come to pass the assembly of our Congress and the Administration at the Capitol for the State of the Union Address would look like an ambulatory game of whack-a-mole.

Subotai Bahadur

Many Irishmen volunteered and served in the Allied cause.

Regarding your other point about Ireland wanting Britain to lose in WWII, this is from the last page of Cecil Woodham-Smith’s history of the famine “The Great Hunger” –

“…Along the west coast of Ireland, in Mayo especially, on remote Clare Island, and in the dunes above the Six Mile Strand are a number of graves of petty officers and able seamen of the British Navy and Merchant Service, representatives of many hundreds who were drowned off the coast of Ireland, because the Irish harbours were not open to British ships…”

buddy and blert – The 13th Warrior is a terrific movie, though its plot is more a deconstruction of Beowulf than anything else. The link was interesting but I think they’re running fast and loose with the linguistic claims. Algonquin isn’t one language, it’s a family of languages, and a pretty big one, too. I can’t help noticing they don’t have a linguist on board. The pictures were more convincing, as far as the theory goes, but don’t you think Vikings would have stayed with their ships and come up the St. Lawrence, rather than hoof it clear across Quebec?

Much of the government of the Republic was pro-German during WW II, and their official neutrality was a cover for wanting the British to lose in hopes perhaps of regaining the 6 Counties. I remember the first time I saw pictures of not only the Irish Army but also the Garda in the late 1930’s and early into the war in battle dress. They were wearing German style Stahlhelm’s and carrying Mauser 98’s. I admit to being quite surprised. Such sympathy, along with the contemporary Catholic attitudes, probably precluded any aid to the newborn Israel. Even after relations between the two countries, it took almost half a century before an Israeli embassy was opened in Dublin.

#128 NinefiftyNine

Granted that the [insert variant here]IRA may not have popular support in Northern Ireland; but you have to remember that the Provos are not interested in or committed to only what we would consider normal political means. Terrorist and Marxist organizations are more than willing to operate against us both politically and militarily.

The question that needs to be answered [and we do not have the data points to reach a conclusion yet] is whether the attacks are in fact a Provo “false flag” operation. We do have a documented history of Marxist and terrorist organizations doing so on a regular and ongoing basis; which should raise our index of suspicion. But there is no publicly released data to confirm.

From our point of view, in a sane American foreign policy; we would first normally be concerned about the prospect of an ally being subjected to terrorist attacks in what it considers its home territory [I know that there are quite a few who do not consider the 6 Counties to be such] and its manifold effect on American interests. The current occupants of the White House are more probably enthralled by the “Change and Hope” involved in the tactical and strategic acumen of the Provos, and are hoping it is in fact a double game. They will [possibly] consider any unpleasant sequalae for this country only after they all [minus Hussein Pasha] have a post-event cigarette and bask in the afterglow.

Subotai Bahadur

http://2164th.blogspot.com/2007/03/vikings-and-algonquins-first-american.html

The legend describes Norsemen coming down out of the Arctic.

I can’t find my old web link.

But, the jist of the legend would make you think of the plot to “The 49th Parallel,” the Canadian propaganda film. In the film, a U-boat crew is stranded on the shore of Hudson Bay and has no choice but to march south so as to get below the 49th parallel.

Such a scenario would neatly fit with an explorer team getting way up in the Arctic and then driven by a twist in the weather to head south into the bay. Perhaps they were hunting polar bears.

What seems to be clear is that a whole string of place names around Milwaukee have Old Norse word elements.

The legend also described the Norse as being accepted into the tribe and marrying.