Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Press the button on Stormont’s time
IHOPE you’ve all been attending your yoga and pilates classes and are nice and flexible and limber, as it would appear there is every possibility we are going to be kissing our asses goodbye sooner than we thought.
I’m writing this on Sunday morning, fresh from the news that North Korean has tested an underground nuclear explosion, 10 times more powerful than the last one tested and around 20 times more powerful than the atomic bombs that decimated Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, killing more than 200,000 people.
The Second World War bombings, conducted by the US with full consent of the Allied forces, UK included, forced the surrender of Japan.
J Robert Oppenheimer was an American physicist and the director of T h e Manhattan Project, the programme to develop the first nuclear weapons.
The Trinity Test, the first successful test of this new weapon, was in New Mexico in 1945. You are undoubtedly aware of it as the black and white film footage of its enormous mushroom cloud has been screened and referenced through the decades, giving it almost pop cultural status.
It is recorded Oppenheimer said, “Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds”, a quote from Hindu scripture.
America was established as the dominant superpower in the world, thanks to this deadly new toy.
It also started a form of global competition, with every other country, but mainly Russia, throwing the bulk of military budgets and resources into developing their own nuclear weapons, all claiming it was a form of defence should they come under a similar attack.
Underground reinforced dwellings were dug in many back yards of suburban American homes, canned goods and water stockpiled and families acquainted themselves with the government instruction of what to do should the sirens go off and full scale nuclear war become a reality.
It became a big possibility again in the 1980s with Reagan in the White House and Thatcher in Number 10.
The Bush father and son reign as presidents seemed to take us close again, this time in Iraq and here we are again.
A maniac who looks like a goth Augustus Gloop in North Korea and demented, paranoid, narcissistic Oompah Loompah in the White House are supposed to keep the peace now. I have to admit, I don’t have a lot of faith in that particular political relationship producing anything positive or even nearing anything that can be described as compromise.
Now, I’m no political expert or theorist but I always thought the ability to compromise would be somewhat advantageous when discussing potential global crisis that would lead to the end of most of life on earth.
But NI and UK politics have taught me that compromise is seemingly impossible for decision makers.
They seem to want to actively avoid being in a position of making major decisions, content instead to focus on the petty oneupmanship and what are deemed “cultural” issues, but are really just the tired old tribalism that have made us somewhat of a laughing stock.
I do firmly believe the UK wouldn’t really care if NI left, but then again, I doubt most people in the South would be too jazzed to have their troublesome Nordie cousin and all the issues that come with it.
Kinda leaves us between two stools. Those in favour of being part of the Union won’t adhere to all the laws of said Union, whilst those in favour of a united Ireland, aren’t really considering whether the 26 counties want these six counties back. Who could blame them?
I have no idea how that is going to pan out. In one sense, it is daunting to be ruled “remotely” from Westminster, but on the other hand, I don’t have much faith in the bunch we have on the Hill right now.
The Peace Process, once one of the most important steps forward in NI, now seems almost quaint, a tokenistic gesture that isn’t fulfilling the great promise it could have.
Maybe WW3 won’t happen. Maybe it’ll all be alright. In this country, should the worst happen and we have to prepare for the fire and brimstone, our shower will probably be more concerned about the three-minute warning being read in English, Irish and Ulster Scots.