Northern Ireland: Here we go again

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/soldiers-shot-dead-in-northern-ireland-terror-attack-14217509.html

Just great.

 

Well shit.

 

I was really hoping this thread would be about sports, not news.

 

Fuck.

 

We really are back in the 1990s

 

Damned republicans again.

 

I have a friend who recently sold everything he had and moved to Belfast. Hope everything's going to be OK.

 

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/mar/08/northern-ireland-soldiers-killed-antrim

The faintest of silver linings:

At midday, hundreds of churchgoers from churches across Antrim gathered at the police cordon near the murder scene to hold a prayer service. Traffic was halted as congregations from the Roman Catholic, Church of Ireland, Presbyterian and Methodist churches came together to pray for the victims.

This is terrible news, but I don't think these murderous shits have completely undone the work of the last decade. The overall trend on both the Republican and Unionist sides has been away from sectarianism and violence- I don't think that overall trend is in danger.

Footnotes from 21st-century Ireland: The two soldiers killed were scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan. And one of the pizza delivery guys who was shot is Polish.

 

Good to hear that the initial reaction has been rational.

Now time will tell as to how the military or UDA types react.

 

Shit. Hopefully this won't undo so much recent reconciliation.

 

I wonder if this attack isn't more about the Irish Tiger economy slowing down than anything else.

 

I was thinking the same exact thing. The best way to prevent terrorism is to keep people employed. (Dr. J)