An American Lion

I guess there’s some sort of verification method that escapes the likes of me:

Northern Ireland’s largest Protestant paramilitary group announced Wednesday that it had finally surrendered all of its weapons, more than a decade after the historic Good Friday Agreement formally ended violent sectarian struggle in the province.

Independent monitors confirmed that the Ulster Defense Assn.’s guns and bombs had been put out of commission, meaning that the main armed organizations on both sides of the loyalist-republican divide have been disarmed.

The step was hailed as a milestone by the British government, which has imposed a Feb. 9 deadline for weapons held by underground groups to be turned in without penalty. After that, those possessing weapons could face criminal prosecution.

“This is a major act of leadership by the UDA and further comprehensive evidence of the success of politics over violence in Northern Ireland,” said Shaun Woodward, the Cabinet minister in charge of Northern Ireland affairs.

The UDA was the last major group to surrender its arsenal, a stash it used to brutal effect during “the Troubles.”

Any cursory study of the conflict in Northern Ireland leads a person to believe that groups with religious differences can eventually reconcile. I would submit to you that what has stabilized Northern Ireland is entirely an economic situation that makes conflict unprofitable. During the conflict. the deep post-war economic troubles of Great Britain as a whole exacerbated the poverty of the Catholics and Protestants alike. Laws that disenfranchised Catholics helped maintain that poverty for decades. When you demonstrate to both sides of a conflict that their economic well being is threatened, and then show them that their plight can improve if they turn in their guns and bombs, you might end up with a shaky detente and a partial disarmament.

Northern Ireland still has major problems, not the least of which are economic and racist and nature, but, just the fact that people are turning in their guns is a positive step forward. I used to think it was worthwhile to study the British use of “Counterinsurgency” in Northern Ireland; I think it would be more useful to understand the economic policies that finally brought everyone into the 21st Century.