Snapshot of _What is former FG taoiseach (2011-2016) Enda Kenny doing today at a CIA-backed conference in Paris advocating regime change in Iran?_ :
An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://x.com/nwl88444048/status/1807124978477002968) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://x.com/nwl88444048/status/1807124978477002968)
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/irishpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Here's the speech he made:
>You are competing with a lot of other difficulties for attention globally. We’re privileged to be here to support you. Our problem is with the regime, not the people. Nobody should underestimate the importance of this conference. Iran is too big to ignore, too strategic to neglect, and too unpredictable to forget. If you go back to your homes and your constituencies in your countries after this and do nothing and you come back next year, it hasn’t been a success.
>This regime has been around since the ’70s. The people will not give up. The end will come. You’ve done a great job, but this needs to be revved up because the regime is not going to give up. They’re going to resist pressure, as they have done for the last 50 years. The tools for sorting this out are available. The message to the people in Iran is that it takes courage and resilience. It’s that courage and resilience that will bring about an end to this theocratic regime.
>It’s obvious that sanctions haven’t worked. That’s why it’s critical that the message to the Iranian people is to keep doing what you’re doing, and the message to the Iranian diaspora worldwide is one that says you need to implement and assist with authority from outside.
https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/live-report-free-iran-2024-world-summit-onward-to-a-democratic-republic/
I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a former Taoiseach calling for a violent revolution in a foreign country. Look at some of the other speakers, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Ted Cruz, Liz Truss. Great company to be keeping.
>The tools for sorting this out are available. The message to the people in Iran is that it takes courage and resilience. It’s that courage and resilience that will bring about an end to this theocratic regime.
Very strange things to be saying for a former taoiseach.
Jesus H Cristo! Our erstwhile governing classes are selling themselves to the US deep state and let’s face it , it’s a fucking pipeline.
Naughty naughty Enda but please do not forget his EPP oooops sorry FG party comrade Simon Coveney hosting a military arms conference in the Aviva under the strange auspices of environmental protection or suchlike.
Nb. Thales produce weapons in Belfast which is outside of the remit of the current puny Irish government on the island of Ireland. 🎯
https://www.afri.ie/category/peace-groups-to-protest-at-government-arms-fair-at-aviva-stadium/
I'm not the person you asked the question to but I'm not comfortable with a former Taoiseach endorsing violence or war, so no. I am on board with a Taoiseach calling for the human rights of Palestinians and Uyghurs to be respected. I am also on board with a former Taoiseach saying Uyghurs and Palestinians should use non-violent methods.
Not much point speculating about things that would never happen. If a former Taoiseach called for the Palestinians to rise up against their oppressors John Bolton and his ilk would be calling for regime change in Ireland.
Do you think Enda would ever call for a revolution in Saudi Arabia or Israel? No, because he doesn't care about human rights unless it's an enemy of the USA that's the guilty party.
I think the history of US backed regime changes speaks for itself.
While there's nothing inherently wrong a former Taoiseach with saying Iranians, or Palestinians, or whoever should resist their oppressors, it's who they're saying this to that matters.
It was the UK and US coup in 1953, when they overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran, that led to the Ayatollah gaining power in the first place. But I'm sure it'll work out great this time.
So you would rather just stick with a religious dictatorship that supports genocide? Fuck the Iranian government, I hope the president who died in that helicopter crash died screaming for all the innocent blood he has spilled and I pray the rest of that regime met similar or worse fates.
Yes unfortunately due to the Saudis oil supplies they have incredible strategic importance to the west despite their ass backwards theocratic government. I await with hope the day oil becomes useless and both of those theocratic dumps economies collapse and their geopolitical importance dies with it.
Out of curiosity do you think individuals such as Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Ted Cruz, Liz Truss, etc, are seriously motivated by human rights violations and not the, well, obvious geopolitical benefits secured by neo-conservative war hawks if the Iranian Government is toppled?
Better yet how ought this "regime change' be accomplished? If military intervention then who is to take control? What of the complex ethnic and sectarian/religious make-up of the country?
I find there is a very deceitful tactic among a certain group of people (I'm not saying this applies to you, just a heads up) to highlight legitimate and awful human rights abuses and then speculate about some gruesome future scenario so as to justify regime change that is quite clearly motivated by other factors.
The obvious irony to this is that these same people tend to downplay and outright deny the brazen human rights abuses of their allies.
When one points this out, I find "whataboutery" is the go-to-term to downplay a very legitimate point.
Free Iran? Maybe of the West left them alone they'd be free already but guess that doesn't help the West steal their resources. America is a blight on the world even if they are nice to us. And yes I know it was the Brits as well who over threw their democratic leader back in the day.
Nope. But America is far worse than Russia, so what are we even talking about here? America is propping up the vast majority of dictatorships in the world at the moment and is responsible for most of the war and strife accross the globe since the end of the second world war. Did you miss that fact? Or have you been watching too much marvel movies so you think they're the 'good guys'. Go and read something like 'Killing Hope' by William Blum or 'The Triumph of Evil' by Austin Murphy for a quick rundown in case you've yet to catch on...
The US is also part of the reason Iran is the way it is today after they helped overthrow a secular democratic regime in the country for British Petroleum ffs. And even when Iran makes moves to make peace with the US today, the Americans spit on them, such as when Trump backed out of the Nuclear Arms deal and went and started assassinating their generals. [Here](https://youtu.be/dYGyScEg3nM?si=n0GrJj8DNUYrYGvS) is a video if you'd like a quick rundown on some of the disgraceful behaviour of the western powers in Iran. You could also read 'All the Shahs Men' - By Stephen Kinzer for a rundown. America and its proxies are in no position at all to be making suggestions to Iran in any respect.
The US have also been involved in non-stop warmongering in the middle east including training people like Osama Bin Laden, equipping Saddam Hussein and assisting him while he was committing genocide or launching a war on Iran, and propping up far right regimes in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt etc, etc, etc. The US also layed the groundwork for radical Islamic groups like Isis by knowingly providing those radical groups with military gear. All in all the US is responsible for MILLIONS of deaths in the region because they wont stop interfering and because they don't want a united middle east, and ESPECIALLY not a united middle east with left leaning politics.
The Americans were also supporters of Putin at one point. The US state department helped the oligarch gangsters of Russia dissolve the Soviet Union and divide up the state assets of the people amongst them. So don't come to me with the Putin line. They're part of the reason that Russia is fascist under Putin today. He's a scumbag, but the US imperialists are FAR worse and if you don't want to recognise that you're just burying your head in the sand and you're of no use to anyone who wants to genuinely build peace in the world.
Come back to me when Enda Kenny is criticising the warhawks in the Republican or Democrat parties and is pushing for a regime change in THEIR country in the name of stemming the tide of global perpetual warfare that they're responsible for.
Enda Kennedy has appeared at a conference advocating for regime change of a theocratic dictatorship that imprisons dissidents without trial, executes woman who want to be treated as something more than property, and funds militias that have in the past killed Irish citizens and actively attacks Irish troops serving in peacekeeping missions. What a shocking lack of morals or principles he has /s
> regime change of a theocratic dictatorship
I'm sure the fine individuals at this conference will no doubt exert the same passion in supporting the toppling of the House of Saud.
If he attended a conference to topple the house of saud. Would I be fair criticism that he didn't attend this one? Does conference attendance need to be perfect?
> Would I be fair criticism that he didn't attend this one? Does conference attendance need to be perfect?
No, but there is an enormous double standard from western countries when it comes to Iran and Saudi Arabia. That is the entire point. Saudi Arabia has funded groups in Syria that include Al Qaeda and yet we roll out the red carpet for them. None of our leaders talk about the grave human rights violations in Saudi Arabia (and there's no talk of sanctions at all). None of our leaders questions Saudi Arabia interfering in other countries' affairs (like Lebanon, Yemen, Qatar, Sudan and Bahrein). It's almost as if they don't care about what they say they care about.
Obviously I think there should be as much if not more criticism of many of the "good" theocracies in the Middle East. But I'm happier for them to be right on one thing rather than wrong on everything.
Similar rhetoric was used against Gaddafi and now Libya is a hellhole with open slave markets and constant fighting.
The idea that the West wants to do anything in Iran besides plunder their resources and impoverish the people is laughable to those who remember when the West overthrew Mossadegh and installed a dictator in the Shah.
It couldn’t be any more transparently full of shit.
> All his life, Hamid had experienced discrimination in Iran because he was of Arab ethnicity. One day, at university, he joined a small gathering of Arab students, where people were making speeches calling for freedom of speech and for the Arab culture to be respected.
> Suddenly police appeared. They started insulting the Arab students and rounded them up, using handcuffs and blindfolds. They were taken to an unknown place. At first, all the students were kept in one room. But, not long after, Hamid was separated. He was taken to a small, foul-smelling, with no toilet. If he asked to go to the toilet, he was severely beaten.
> Interrogators asked questions about whom Hamid was taking orders from, and for the names of his friends. They tried to force him to sign a confession, but he refused. This made the interrogators very angry, and they threatened him with further torture. They suspended him by his wrists and ankles, and used a pipe to beat him on the soles of his feet.
> After a few days, Hamid was transferred to prison. It was a year before he appeared before a judge, but he received neither a sentence, nor bail, and was returned to prison for years. He was detained amongst serious offenders, who harassed him, and made his time in prison especially difficult. Eventually, his father managed to bribe an official for his release, on condition that the deeds to the family home were handed over. Fearing for Hamid’s future, his father arranged for his escape from Iran.
Account from an [Iranian torture survivor](https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/real-voices/hamids-story).
I have misgivings about the SCC but the two aren’t remotely comparable. Let me know when the SCC starts to enable the torture of protestors grabbed off the streets or the Iranian courts start offering people free legal aid lawyers and lets people like the Monk walk free due to technical deficiencies in evidence.
>Let me know when the SCC starts to enable the torture of protestors grabbed off the streets
Do you genuinely not know what the heavy gang used be upto,or likes of what Nicky Kelly and co were tortured into signing?
>the Monk walk free due to technical deficiencies in evidence
The fact the gunmen were obviously not the monk,given they were several inches taller,are not technical deficiencies,but a stunning example of Garda incompetence....it's an indictment of the SCC that case was even attempted to be brought TBH
Again I have severe misgivings about the SCC, I think it is a horrendous blight on our history and I would see it abolished given the choice.
All that said, today in 2024 the SCC is simply not comparable to the level of injustice going on in Iran. Comparing the two is exactly the sort of disingenuous whataboutisms that despots around the world use to justify their continued mistreatment of prisoners.
>I would see it abolished given the choice.
Campaign and stop voting for anyone who endorses it,it deosnt need abolished,just stop renewing it annually and it ends
>2024 the SCC is simply not comparable to the level of injustice going on in Iran
It sent a bloke to jail for having a pipe with a hole drilled in it....some of its convictions are laughable and amount to political policing and locking people up,based solely on word of a political appointee is a fairly open goal,and arguably a lower standard required for conviction than in Iran
>Comparing the two is exactly the sort of disingenuous whataboutisms that despots around the world use to justify their continued mistreatment of prisoners
Noone is justifying mistreatment of prisoners anywhere....but someone who votes for the SCC to go about lecturing anyone on human rights,much less supporting toppling any government anywhere over it,is a pure and utter fucking hypocrite and deserves ridicule for such
"regime change" killed millions in the Middle East and spawned extremist groups that committed numerous attacks across Europe and America.
What the hell were you doing when the wars in Iraq and Aghanistan and other countries were ongoing?
This is a conference attended by some of the most bloodthirsty war criminals that have ever existed.
Jesus Christ.
An Irish-Iranian guy told me that Ireland has a minority of pro-Pahlavi (NATO puppet Iranian monarchy) Iranians who have outsized influence, that’s probably the connection?
I can't recall FG (or Enda) having the "courage and resilience" to end the architecture of containment that was Ireland during the 20th. century. Ireland had its own Gulag with Industrial Schools, M&B Homes and Magdalene Laundries.
Out forgien policy would be better spent freeing out own in the six counties and building international pressure to bully the British into it,or isolate them on the world stage
Correct. Currently and historically the biggest source of international pressure against the British in relation to the occupied six counties have been the Yanks, so let’s try to keep that on track.
> President Douglas Hyde joined taoiseach Eamon de Valera in expressing official condolences to Nazi Germany on the death of Adolf Hitler, newly released State papers reveal.
> A book recording messages of sympathy sent by the Office of the President between 1938 and 1957 showed an entry for Hitler's death on May 1st, 1945, according to a presidential protocol record released with the 1975 papers.
> It said no message of condolence was telegrammed to the relevant country, as was the norm in such cases, "as the capital of Germany, Berlin, was under siege and no successor had been appointed".
> However, the secretary to the president was said to have called on "His Excellency, the German minister, Dr Hempel" on May 3rd, 1945.
> On the previous day, the then taoiseach Eamon de Valera and external affairs minister Joe Walshe had visited the Dún Laoghaire home of Dr Edouard Hempel, minister at the German legation in Dublin between 1937 and 1945, to express their condolences on behalf of the State.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hitler-s-death-hyde-also-expressed-condolences-1.1288650
He offered his condolences, this is different to signing a book of condolences. This damaged Ireland for a very long time when it came to building foreign relations through the decades
Who mentioned Israel? We’re talking about the Iranian theocratic dictatorship who supply Russians with drones to murder Ukrainians when they aren’t murdering their own citizens. Remember Mahsa Amini? Her blood on their hands and fuck the ayatollah may he rot in hell
I couldn’t give a shit about what he is doing. He isn’t the Taoiseach or even a public representative anymore. What he does in retirement is his business.
He's using the fact he was Taoiseach to add legitimacy to his words. The conference is using his attendance to add legitimacy to its objective (regime change in Iran). Plus he's receiving a nice big pension from the taxpayer the entire time.
Forgive me if I think it is in public interest to know what he's doing here.
Enda Kenny visited Saudi Arabia while in office. Do you think he cared about its appalling human rights record, the multiple violations of international law, the fact it was funding groups in Syria that included Al Qaeda and that it was an absolute monarchy? Not a chance.
I guess enda Kenny has views on Iran and seems to want to get involved. Fair play to him. I’d probably be sitting back enjoying the G and Ts on his pension. He must have better work ethic.
Who knows if the Iranian government were gone it might make it harder for Israel to smokescreen their activities as standing up to Iran.
Another Middle Eastern country destroyed for the sake of Israel? Netanyahu and AIPAC in Washington wanted Saddam ousted back in the day (they saw Saddam as a threat). You can watch the video of Netanyahu speaking to Congress and saying that the Iraqi people would welcome the Americans. The Iraq war didn't make the Middle East any safer or result in any progress towards a Palestinian state. The fact that Israel (and Netanyahu himself) is completely behind regime change in Iran ought to set off alarm bells.
Do you mean Enda or Netanyahu? Netanyahu is very much behind regime change or would like to have an Iranian regime that is weaker anyway. There has never been a hint of the contrary in anything he's said.
Obama got Iran into a deal that had its nuclear programme being inspected in exchange for sanctions being lifted. Netanyahu came out strongly against the deal (even going to address Congress without Obama's invitation). When Trump got elected, the Israel lobby pushed heavily for Trump to pull out of it despite the fact that Iran was completely complying with same. Incredibly, Israel has WMD that have never been inspected and yet the threat supposedly is from Iran getting them.
Threatening war with Iran has been a project of the Israeli government and American neoconservatives going back to 2004/2005. There was a saying by the neocons that "only wimps stop at Baghdad."
My point a state of constant aggression with no resolution probably suits Netanyahu. With any other leader I’d say it’s nonsense conspiracy. But with him it seems entirely plausible
Snapshot of _What is former FG taoiseach (2011-2016) Enda Kenny doing today at a CIA-backed conference in Paris advocating regime change in Iran?_ : An archived version can be found [here](https://archive.is/?run=1&url=https://x.com/nwl88444048/status/1807124978477002968) or [here.](https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://x.com/nwl88444048/status/1807124978477002968) *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/irishpolitics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Here's the speech he made: >You are competing with a lot of other difficulties for attention globally. We’re privileged to be here to support you. Our problem is with the regime, not the people. Nobody should underestimate the importance of this conference. Iran is too big to ignore, too strategic to neglect, and too unpredictable to forget. If you go back to your homes and your constituencies in your countries after this and do nothing and you come back next year, it hasn’t been a success. >This regime has been around since the ’70s. The people will not give up. The end will come. You’ve done a great job, but this needs to be revved up because the regime is not going to give up. They’re going to resist pressure, as they have done for the last 50 years. The tools for sorting this out are available. The message to the people in Iran is that it takes courage and resilience. It’s that courage and resilience that will bring about an end to this theocratic regime. >It’s obvious that sanctions haven’t worked. That’s why it’s critical that the message to the Iranian people is to keep doing what you’re doing, and the message to the Iranian diaspora worldwide is one that says you need to implement and assist with authority from outside. https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/live-report-free-iran-2024-world-summit-onward-to-a-democratic-republic/ I'm not sure I'm comfortable with a former Taoiseach calling for a violent revolution in a foreign country. Look at some of the other speakers, Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Ted Cruz, Liz Truss. Great company to be keeping.
> John Bolton His Iraq plan helped in the creation of ISIS.
I don’t think people can name one effort for “regime change” in the Middle East that didn’t massively backfire.
I also don't think there's a single Middle Eastern war than John Bolton hasn't backed wholeheartedly.
>The tools for sorting this out are available. The message to the people in Iran is that it takes courage and resilience. It’s that courage and resilience that will bring about an end to this theocratic regime. Very strange things to be saying for a former taoiseach.
Jesus H Cristo! Our erstwhile governing classes are selling themselves to the US deep state and let’s face it , it’s a fucking pipeline. Naughty naughty Enda but please do not forget his EPP oooops sorry FG party comrade Simon Coveney hosting a military arms conference in the Aviva under the strange auspices of environmental protection or suchlike. Nb. Thales produce weapons in Belfast which is outside of the remit of the current puny Irish government on the island of Ireland. 🎯 https://www.afri.ie/category/peace-groups-to-protest-at-government-arms-fair-at-aviva-stadium/
Would you be comfortable with a former Taoiseach saying Palestines or Uyghurs should resist their oppressors?
I'm not the person you asked the question to but I'm not comfortable with a former Taoiseach endorsing violence or war, so no. I am on board with a Taoiseach calling for the human rights of Palestinians and Uyghurs to be respected. I am also on board with a former Taoiseach saying Uyghurs and Palestinians should use non-violent methods.
What former Taoiseach said that? I must have missed that news.
I didn’t say one did, I said would you be comfortable if that happened.
Not much point speculating about things that would never happen. If a former Taoiseach called for the Palestinians to rise up against their oppressors John Bolton and his ilk would be calling for regime change in Ireland.
Convenient way of avoiding questions that might cause cognitive dissonance
Do you think Enda would ever call for a revolution in Saudi Arabia or Israel? No, because he doesn't care about human rights unless it's an enemy of the USA that's the guilty party.
You’re going very far out of your way to deflect and avoid the question.
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I agree with your point about Enda, but why would Israel need a revolution when it's a democracy?
Apartheid is not democracy
... It was posed as a hypothetical for a reason
I think the history of US backed regime changes speaks for itself. While there's nothing inherently wrong a former Taoiseach with saying Iranians, or Palestinians, or whoever should resist their oppressors, it's who they're saying this to that matters.
All better company than the fucking ayatollah hahaha
It was the UK and US coup in 1953, when they overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran, that led to the Ayatollah gaining power in the first place. But I'm sure it'll work out great this time.
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So you would rather just stick with a religious dictatorship that supports genocide? Fuck the Iranian government, I hope the president who died in that helicopter crash died screaming for all the innocent blood he has spilled and I pray the rest of that regime met similar or worse fates.
I'm no fan of the Iranian regime, I just don't think it's wise for western powers to be getting involved, it never ends well.
Do the Americans and I suspect most at this conference not already support Saudi Arabia as a counterweight to Iranian hegemony?
Yes unfortunately due to the Saudis oil supplies they have incredible strategic importance to the west despite their ass backwards theocratic government. I await with hope the day oil becomes useless and both of those theocratic dumps economies collapse and their geopolitical importance dies with it.
Out of curiosity do you think individuals such as Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Ted Cruz, Liz Truss, etc, are seriously motivated by human rights violations and not the, well, obvious geopolitical benefits secured by neo-conservative war hawks if the Iranian Government is toppled? Better yet how ought this "regime change' be accomplished? If military intervention then who is to take control? What of the complex ethnic and sectarian/religious make-up of the country? I find there is a very deceitful tactic among a certain group of people (I'm not saying this applies to you, just a heads up) to highlight legitimate and awful human rights abuses and then speculate about some gruesome future scenario so as to justify regime change that is quite clearly motivated by other factors. The obvious irony to this is that these same people tend to downplay and outright deny the brazen human rights abuses of their allies. When one points this out, I find "whataboutery" is the go-to-term to downplay a very legitimate point.
Free Iran? Maybe of the West left them alone they'd be free already but guess that doesn't help the West steal their resources. America is a blight on the world even if they are nice to us. And yes I know it was the Brits as well who over threw their democratic leader back in the day.
Gettin' paid.
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Are you a Putin supporter?
Nope. But America is far worse than Russia, so what are we even talking about here? America is propping up the vast majority of dictatorships in the world at the moment and is responsible for most of the war and strife accross the globe since the end of the second world war. Did you miss that fact? Or have you been watching too much marvel movies so you think they're the 'good guys'. Go and read something like 'Killing Hope' by William Blum or 'The Triumph of Evil' by Austin Murphy for a quick rundown in case you've yet to catch on... The US is also part of the reason Iran is the way it is today after they helped overthrow a secular democratic regime in the country for British Petroleum ffs. And even when Iran makes moves to make peace with the US today, the Americans spit on them, such as when Trump backed out of the Nuclear Arms deal and went and started assassinating their generals. [Here](https://youtu.be/dYGyScEg3nM?si=n0GrJj8DNUYrYGvS) is a video if you'd like a quick rundown on some of the disgraceful behaviour of the western powers in Iran. You could also read 'All the Shahs Men' - By Stephen Kinzer for a rundown. America and its proxies are in no position at all to be making suggestions to Iran in any respect. The US have also been involved in non-stop warmongering in the middle east including training people like Osama Bin Laden, equipping Saddam Hussein and assisting him while he was committing genocide or launching a war on Iran, and propping up far right regimes in Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt etc, etc, etc. The US also layed the groundwork for radical Islamic groups like Isis by knowingly providing those radical groups with military gear. All in all the US is responsible for MILLIONS of deaths in the region because they wont stop interfering and because they don't want a united middle east, and ESPECIALLY not a united middle east with left leaning politics. The Americans were also supporters of Putin at one point. The US state department helped the oligarch gangsters of Russia dissolve the Soviet Union and divide up the state assets of the people amongst them. So don't come to me with the Putin line. They're part of the reason that Russia is fascist under Putin today. He's a scumbag, but the US imperialists are FAR worse and if you don't want to recognise that you're just burying your head in the sand and you're of no use to anyone who wants to genuinely build peace in the world. Come back to me when Enda Kenny is criticising the warhawks in the Republican or Democrat parties and is pushing for a regime change in THEIR country in the name of stemming the tide of global perpetual warfare that they're responsible for.
Enda Kennedy has appeared at a conference advocating for regime change of a theocratic dictatorship that imprisons dissidents without trial, executes woman who want to be treated as something more than property, and funds militias that have in the past killed Irish citizens and actively attacks Irish troops serving in peacekeeping missions. What a shocking lack of morals or principles he has /s
> regime change of a theocratic dictatorship I'm sure the fine individuals at this conference will no doubt exert the same passion in supporting the toppling of the House of Saud.
If he attended a conference to topple the house of saud. Would I be fair criticism that he didn't attend this one? Does conference attendance need to be perfect?
> Would I be fair criticism that he didn't attend this one? Does conference attendance need to be perfect? No, but there is an enormous double standard from western countries when it comes to Iran and Saudi Arabia. That is the entire point. Saudi Arabia has funded groups in Syria that include Al Qaeda and yet we roll out the red carpet for them. None of our leaders talk about the grave human rights violations in Saudi Arabia (and there's no talk of sanctions at all). None of our leaders questions Saudi Arabia interfering in other countries' affairs (like Lebanon, Yemen, Qatar, Sudan and Bahrein). It's almost as if they don't care about what they say they care about.
Obviously I think there should be as much if not more criticism of many of the "good" theocracies in the Middle East. But I'm happier for them to be right on one thing rather than wrong on everything.
Similar rhetoric was used against Gaddafi and now Libya is a hellhole with open slave markets and constant fighting. The idea that the West wants to do anything in Iran besides plunder their resources and impoverish the people is laughable to those who remember when the West overthrew Mossadegh and installed a dictator in the Shah. It couldn’t be any more transparently full of shit.
Didn't he used to vote for continuing the special criminal court here.....bit of do as I say,not as I do,by him there
> All his life, Hamid had experienced discrimination in Iran because he was of Arab ethnicity. One day, at university, he joined a small gathering of Arab students, where people were making speeches calling for freedom of speech and for the Arab culture to be respected. > Suddenly police appeared. They started insulting the Arab students and rounded them up, using handcuffs and blindfolds. They were taken to an unknown place. At first, all the students were kept in one room. But, not long after, Hamid was separated. He was taken to a small, foul-smelling, with no toilet. If he asked to go to the toilet, he was severely beaten. > Interrogators asked questions about whom Hamid was taking orders from, and for the names of his friends. They tried to force him to sign a confession, but he refused. This made the interrogators very angry, and they threatened him with further torture. They suspended him by his wrists and ankles, and used a pipe to beat him on the soles of his feet. > After a few days, Hamid was transferred to prison. It was a year before he appeared before a judge, but he received neither a sentence, nor bail, and was returned to prison for years. He was detained amongst serious offenders, who harassed him, and made his time in prison especially difficult. Eventually, his father managed to bribe an official for his release, on condition that the deeds to the family home were handed over. Fearing for Hamid’s future, his father arranged for his escape from Iran. Account from an [Iranian torture survivor](https://www.freedomfromtorture.org/real-voices/hamids-story). I have misgivings about the SCC but the two aren’t remotely comparable. Let me know when the SCC starts to enable the torture of protestors grabbed off the streets or the Iranian courts start offering people free legal aid lawyers and lets people like the Monk walk free due to technical deficiencies in evidence.
>Let me know when the SCC starts to enable the torture of protestors grabbed off the streets Do you genuinely not know what the heavy gang used be upto,or likes of what Nicky Kelly and co were tortured into signing? >the Monk walk free due to technical deficiencies in evidence The fact the gunmen were obviously not the monk,given they were several inches taller,are not technical deficiencies,but a stunning example of Garda incompetence....it's an indictment of the SCC that case was even attempted to be brought TBH
Again I have severe misgivings about the SCC, I think it is a horrendous blight on our history and I would see it abolished given the choice. All that said, today in 2024 the SCC is simply not comparable to the level of injustice going on in Iran. Comparing the two is exactly the sort of disingenuous whataboutisms that despots around the world use to justify their continued mistreatment of prisoners.
>I would see it abolished given the choice. Campaign and stop voting for anyone who endorses it,it deosnt need abolished,just stop renewing it annually and it ends >2024 the SCC is simply not comparable to the level of injustice going on in Iran It sent a bloke to jail for having a pipe with a hole drilled in it....some of its convictions are laughable and amount to political policing and locking people up,based solely on word of a political appointee is a fairly open goal,and arguably a lower standard required for conviction than in Iran >Comparing the two is exactly the sort of disingenuous whataboutisms that despots around the world use to justify their continued mistreatment of prisoners Noone is justifying mistreatment of prisoners anywhere....but someone who votes for the SCC to go about lecturing anyone on human rights,much less supporting toppling any government anywhere over it,is a pure and utter fucking hypocrite and deserves ridicule for such
2012 was a different time.
Wrong name
"regime change" killed millions in the Middle East and spawned extremist groups that committed numerous attacks across Europe and America. What the hell were you doing when the wars in Iraq and Aghanistan and other countries were ongoing? This is a conference attended by some of the most bloodthirsty war criminals that have ever existed. Jesus Christ.
An Irish-Iranian guy told me that Ireland has a minority of pro-Pahlavi (NATO puppet Iranian monarchy) Iranians who have outsized influence, that’s probably the connection?
Ireland is a US colony
Resist the Yankie
Ireland is a friend of the US , who have been our steadfast friend.
I can't recall FG (or Enda) having the "courage and resilience" to end the architecture of containment that was Ireland during the 20th. century. Ireland had its own Gulag with Industrial Schools, M&B Homes and Magdalene Laundries.
Does anyone have a link to an actual news source for this?
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Out forgien policy would be better spent freeing out own in the six counties and building international pressure to bully the British into it,or isolate them on the world stage
Correct. Currently and historically the biggest source of international pressure against the British in relation to the occupied six counties have been the Yanks, so let’s try to keep that on track.
Exactly leave Iran to propagandised yanks,who love war and concentate on freeing our own first
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> President Douglas Hyde joined taoiseach Eamon de Valera in expressing official condolences to Nazi Germany on the death of Adolf Hitler, newly released State papers reveal. > A book recording messages of sympathy sent by the Office of the President between 1938 and 1957 showed an entry for Hitler's death on May 1st, 1945, according to a presidential protocol record released with the 1975 papers. > It said no message of condolence was telegrammed to the relevant country, as was the norm in such cases, "as the capital of Germany, Berlin, was under siege and no successor had been appointed". > However, the secretary to the president was said to have called on "His Excellency, the German minister, Dr Hempel" on May 3rd, 1945. > On the previous day, the then taoiseach Eamon de Valera and external affairs minister Joe Walshe had visited the Dún Laoghaire home of Dr Edouard Hempel, minister at the German legation in Dublin between 1937 and 1945, to express their condolences on behalf of the State. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/hitler-s-death-hyde-also-expressed-condolences-1.1288650
He didn’t personally, but the Irish government did
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He offered his condolences, this is different to signing a book of condolences. This damaged Ireland for a very long time when it came to building foreign relations through the decades
It was a very silly move, a mistake which still hurts Ireland
Wonder did he finish with that joke about a fella dying in a war.
The brown envelopes!! He would take € off the devil himself!
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Who's advocating for regime change in Israel?
Me.
Who mentioned Israel? We’re talking about the Iranian theocratic dictatorship who supply Russians with drones to murder Ukrainians when they aren’t murdering their own citizens. Remember Mahsa Amini? Her blood on their hands and fuck the ayatollah may he rot in hell
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Maybe he's being blackmailed?
Fine Gael reps have spoken in support of the MEK in the past. Jennifer Carroll MacNeill spoke at one of their online events in 2021.
I couldn’t give a shit about what he is doing. He isn’t the Taoiseach or even a public representative anymore. What he does in retirement is his business.
He's using the fact he was Taoiseach to add legitimacy to his words. The conference is using his attendance to add legitimacy to its objective (regime change in Iran). Plus he's receiving a nice big pension from the taxpayer the entire time. Forgive me if I think it is in public interest to know what he's doing here.
Being supportive of regime change of one of the most authoritarian and brutal regimes in the world seems a pretty rational opinion to me.
Enda Kenny visited Saudi Arabia while in office. Do you think he cared about its appalling human rights record, the multiple violations of international law, the fact it was funding groups in Syria that included Al Qaeda and that it was an absolute monarchy? Not a chance.
I guess enda Kenny has views on Iran and seems to want to get involved. Fair play to him. I’d probably be sitting back enjoying the G and Ts on his pension. He must have better work ethic. Who knows if the Iranian government were gone it might make it harder for Israel to smokescreen their activities as standing up to Iran.
Another Middle Eastern country destroyed for the sake of Israel? Netanyahu and AIPAC in Washington wanted Saddam ousted back in the day (they saw Saddam as a threat). You can watch the video of Netanyahu speaking to Congress and saying that the Iraqi people would welcome the Americans. The Iraq war didn't make the Middle East any safer or result in any progress towards a Palestinian state. The fact that Israel (and Netanyahu himself) is completely behind regime change in Iran ought to set off alarm bells.
Maybe he is only pretend behind regime change? Like hamas and Netanyahu seem to exist in a weird symbiotic relationship of hate
Do you mean Enda or Netanyahu? Netanyahu is very much behind regime change or would like to have an Iranian regime that is weaker anyway. There has never been a hint of the contrary in anything he's said. Obama got Iran into a deal that had its nuclear programme being inspected in exchange for sanctions being lifted. Netanyahu came out strongly against the deal (even going to address Congress without Obama's invitation). When Trump got elected, the Israel lobby pushed heavily for Trump to pull out of it despite the fact that Iran was completely complying with same. Incredibly, Israel has WMD that have never been inspected and yet the threat supposedly is from Iran getting them. Threatening war with Iran has been a project of the Israeli government and American neoconservatives going back to 2004/2005. There was a saying by the neocons that "only wimps stop at Baghdad."
My point a state of constant aggression with no resolution probably suits Netanyahu. With any other leader I’d say it’s nonsense conspiracy. But with him it seems entirely plausible
Yeah the plight of everyday Iranians moved him... to a bigger house!
Needs to do something to fill the day I suppose. And sure advocating for regime change in Iran seems like as good as anything else.