So much for democracy!
 

Ireland, that place famed for Leprechauns, shitty, frothy black beer that wouldn't even pass for pig swill in any civilised society, its one redeeming feature being its military neutrality. It refused to get involved when Hitler got caught up in a spat between Uncle Sam and Uncle Joe.

Some of you may know that a few years back Ireland held a referendum on whether it should sign up to the European Unions Lisbon Treaty. It was billed as an alternative to a constitution. At the time, the UK government had been elected on a manifesto of holding a referendum if there were any significant changes to how the UK was governed from Brussels. Because an EU constitution was changed to a treaty, then priminister Tony Blair, of the fund Ghaddaffi and the IRA scandal fame, side stepped a referendum he knew he could not win.

Ireland on the other hand held one. The Irish people emphatically rejected the Lisbon Treaty. They were made to vote again, and were given the (non-legally binding) promise that Irish military neutrality would not be compromised by any future EU formation of a military force. The "yes" vote scraped through, no referendum was held in the UK, the Lisbon Treaty was ratified, and the fate of the European people under a fourth reich was sealed.

Last week in Mali, Irish military personnel serving as part of an EU Defence Force unit came under attack from what is thought to be Islamic militants opposed to a Western presence in the country.

Oh well....