Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

On Wednesday the United Nations General Assembly agreed to refer Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence to the International Court of Justice. On Comment is Free, Ian Bancroft asks why most European Union countries elected not to back Serbia’s request to have the matter’s legality tested. The bulk of EU countries abstained from the vote, although the UK referred to Serbia’s request as ‘highly political’. The US did not even adhere to such proprieties, showing its disdain for international law by voting with 5 other opposed members. Albania and four microstates made up this sextet. Serbia’s request for an advisory decision from the ICJ is an honourable route to take. It shows willingness to seek resolution through diplomacy, arbitration and international law, rather than through force or other strong arm tactics. Kosovo’s independence is recognised by 48 states, but 140 countries dissent from this view. The Serbian province’s status is manifestly a matter of internat...

Alan Cochrane’s Telegraph article , examining the impact of the financial crisis on Scottish nationalism is worth reading. Iain Martin adds his comments on Three Line Whip. “The Nationalists look worried, I am told, about the upcoming Glenrothes by-election and no wonder. It's there for Labour to win now……. With banks being bailed out and markets melting down would Scots really fancy being on their own? Of course not.” Both men point to Alex Salmond’s description of an ‘arc of prosperity’, whereby he wishes to add Scotland to a series of independent northern European states, perceived to have achieved economic success. One of the chief of these is Iceland, much to the satisfaction of Scottish Unionist. Another is the Republic of Ireland, which fell into official recession quicker than any other EU state other than Denmark. After all the talk of small economies being nimble and therefore equipped to react swiftly to the market, it is those very economies which have proved most...

“You know, it’s irony on a base level, but I like it. It’s real basic irony, but still you can get a hoot”. Bill Hicks, speaking about extreme pro-life campaigners, attempting to kill abortion performing doctors in the United States. And also the sentiment which sprung most immediately to mind reading these comments from Alliance Youth chair Steven Martin, who shared his thoughts on the Ulster Unionist conference’s one month postponement . "The postponement of the Ulster Unionist Party Conference shows the terrible state their party is in.” Yes. That is an Alliance Party NI member, inferring from a delayed conference, the terrible state of the Ulster Unionist Party! Real basic irony, but you can get a hoot! Incidentally, Reg Empey has been quick to play down the postponement’s significance, stating that the delay is for purely practical reasons.

After the withdrawals of Sammy Clingan, Stephen Craigan, Chris Brunt and Michael Duff, Northern Ireland finally had some good news when Jonny Evans arrived with the squad in Slovenia late last night. The 20 year old Newtownabbey man has been suffering from a virus and had not initially joined his team-mates in Maribor. Evans produced man of the match performances in two of the last three games and he is maturing into a lynchpin of Northern Ireland’s defence. With almost three days to shake of the remnants of the virus, it now looks likely that the Manchester United player will feature in Saturday’s World Cup qualifier. Nigel Worthington will be relieved, to put it mildly. Although Worthington’s problems in defence have been alleviated with Evans arrival, the absence of Clingan, Brunt and, long term lay-off Damian Johnson, leaves the midfield rather threadbare. Grant McCann might find himself recalled on the left hand side and it is likely that Chris Baird will once again play in t...

News that the UUP conference has been delayed by a month has been greeted with glee by DUP inclined commenters on Slugger . They believe that the postponement is due to talks with the Conservative party gradually unravelling. If movement to align the two parties were to stall at this stage, it would be cause for DUP celebration. From the moment Cameron and Empey released their joint statement, Peter Robinson’s party has been disorientated and apprehensive, perhaps even panicked by the possibility of a Conservative / UUP alliance. I have previously indicated that I could understand why there might be the odd wobble within UUP ranks. And I do not underestimate the difficulties incumbent in what members are being asked to consider. It represents nothing short of subsuming their party into a movement dominated by a much larger organisation, with a set of values and principles which may not accord with every Ulster Unionist member’s sensibilities. By no means does this offer an ins...

It was an inevitability that Russia’s mooted 4 billion Euro loan to Iceland would provide grist to the Russophobe mill. Today the Telegraph website carries a piece demanding that Iceland reject any loan Russia offers in response to its request for credit, suggesting that America should pressurise the IMF to respond with a generous counter offer. Russia is suffering its own stock market collapse and has moved to underpin its financial sector to the tune of 140 billion Euro. In the light of this internal crisis, the Telegraph speculates that the Kremlin will seek to extract substantial concessions from Iceland in return for the loan. Clearly, if a loan is to be secured, there will be conditions on which it will rest. Russia may wish to house refuelling facilities for its air force on Iceland for example. The island will, however, remain part of Nato and speculation that a Russian military base could be situated there, is wide of the mark. The USSR enjoyed a more convivial relation...

Last night I attended the inaugural Slugger Political Awards at W5 in Belfast’s Odyssey complex. Three Thousand Versts had been nominated as one of the three contenders in the Political Blogger category . In the end the honour went to North Antrim Local Interest List , which satisfied very neatly the criterion Mick Fealty ascribed to any potential winner in the award’s accompanying film. NALIL doggedly worried at the Giant's Causeway / Seymour Sweeney issue last year until it came to prominence in the local media. The Causeway / Sweeney fiasco provided another winner. Sinn Féin’s Daithi Mckay won the ‘Up and Coming’ gong, despite his relative anonymity beyond commenting on the affair. Nonetheless it was a good night, with some interesting discussion taking place in the bar afterwards. It was good also to meet some readers and put names to the faces of several Slugger commenters. Given the competition, I was very pleased to be nominated for the blogger award. The synopsis...