Car bomb in the UK

[Darat]

Policeman hurt in car bomb blast in Randalstown: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8447829.stm

With the power-sharing being so fragile I do hope it doesn't contribute to it breaking down again.

 

[funk de fino]

I have great faith in the strength of the community to not allow this to affect the progress made.

 

[The Drain]

The dissident Republican factions have been trying to raise tensions here for years, in order to get the 'war' started again. Omagh in August 1998, in which a 'Real IRA' car-bomb killed 29 people (including a woman heavily pregnant with twins), is the outstanding example.

Today's attempted murder is part of a pattern aimed at Catholic Police-officers in order to persuade young Catholics not to join the PSNI. One Catholic policeman from my hometown, Banbridge, was killed last year.

The greater danger to our power-sharing set-up is the continued failure of the ruling Democratic Unionists and Sinn Fein - the two largest parties of the 4-party coalition - to agree on the devolution of Justice & Policing from Westminster. The tricky question for our politicians is that nobody can trust anybody else to run the prisons, courts, and above all the Police.

All of this is exacerbated by the extraordinary goings-on of our 'First Couple', First Minister & DUP leader Peter Robinson MP MLA and his wife Iris Robinson MP MLA & councillor. Iris has just been uncovered to have had an affair with a 19 year old businessman, and to have secured £50,000 for his business from friends in the construction industry.

The Mrs Robinson saga means that this morning's car-bomb was barely in the headlines here in Northern Ireland.

It has also led to doubts over Mr Robinson's suitability as First Minister, and that in turn leads to doubts about the DUP being able to do a deal with Sinn Fein over Policing.

 

[commandlinegamer]

My fear for NI is twofold: that 'dissident' groups are simply those who were part of more mainstream paramilitary groups and have left because they did not agree with the peace process; also that a younger generation may take up arms even as the elders renounce them Adams, Paisley etc.

 

[The Drain]

My fear for NI is twofold: that 'dissident' groups are simply those who were part of more mainstream paramilitary groups and have left because they did not agree with the peace process; ...

That is certainly the case on the Republican side. The 'Real' IRA (who don't call themselves that) and the Continuity IRA are both splits from the mainstream Provisional IRA after disagreements over the peace process.

On the Loyalist side, the UVF decommissioned their weapons sometime ago; the majority UDA decommissioned this week (but the news was completely overshadowed by the unfolding Robinson scandal); and a split from the UDA, the South-East Antrim UDA, still have their weapons but it looks like they'll decommission too in the next few weeks.

The problem for the authorities and society with the Loyalists isn't any disquiet over the peace process; rather, it's continued criminality.

... also that a younger generation may take up arms even as the elders renounce them Adams, Paisley etc.

Fair point.
Continued sectarian strife along our numerous 'Peace Walls' in Belfast - mostly in the form of stone-throwing, forcing people out of their homes, and occasional car hijackings - is often carried out by young lads who clearly have little or no personal memory of what life was like during the troubles. (They remind me of Mugabe's younger "war vets" in Zimbabwe).

At least there isn't the groundswell of civic unrest and genuine complaints of gross unfairness that we had in the 60s and 70s.

Life here really is very very much better than it was when I started in journalism in Belfast in the mid-80s.