This is a weekly thread for people to discuss international news, foreign policy or IR history. I usually start off with coverage of some current events from a mix of countries I follow personally and countries I think the forum might be interested in. Feel free to drop in with coverage of countries you’re interested in, talk about ongoing dynamics like the the wars in Israel or Ukraine, or even just whatever you’re reading.
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Notes -
I don't think the protesters will be the influence here, the people protesting asylum seekers and by and large a portion of the old working class base that the party abandoned as it became more popular. Every protest these types have (Covid protests preceded this) is politically toxic and only the small far-right parties make the attempt to win them over. Sinn Fein have gotten such a boost in recent years from appealing to the middle class voters, they want to shed as much of their radical image as possible while still presenting a left alternative to Fine Gael/Fianna Fail.
Northern Ireland is far more divided and it's very visible, Loyalists identify with the Israeli siege mentality and fly Israeli flags alongside the Union Jack and Republicans do the same with the Palestinian flag. In Ireland there's no real pro-Israeli voice, the left are strongly in favour of Palestine and the rest support them as much as they can without venturing into territory that would cost them reputation internationally or with the multinational corporations they rely so much on (for example: https://twitter.com/businessposthq/status/1715030115409924395?t=JWmdG5v7C0LGoIECrSDOBg&s=19).
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