“Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day, is an annual holiday or holiday observance in 26 states of the United States. Celebrated on June 19, it commemorates the announcement of the abolition of slavery in Texas. The holiday originated in Galveston, Texas; for more than a century, the state of Texas was the primary home of Juneteenth celebrations.”

Wikipedia.

So, for today, well done Irish public. For tomorrow, though, we’ll have to see. “Capitalist gangsters” are not known to take defeat likely.

Beyond that preliminary point, what Mr Whitney says is essentially correct but he only vaguely grasps the “own goal” that US neocons have scored against themselves. Let me count the ways.

- The whole idea of meddling in the vote was to hamstring the EU, but that has not happened. The defeat of the Constitution had no negative effect, so why should the watered down version cause any problem?
- The Lisbon Treaty was the brainchild of Sarkoky, “pro-American” in neocon mythology. It was supported by Blair, Brown, Merkel and others of the same ilk. The neocons have humiliated every EU politician who was even vaguely friendly to the US!
- The Irish were opposed principally to the US-imposed militarisation of the EU and, like the French, to US-imposed globalisation. A referendum in almost any other Member State would have gone the same way. Thus, the idea the Irish are “isolated” is just not true. Thus, instead of suppressing opposition, the Irish “no” has re-animated it, and on the very themes that the neocons were trying to avoid!
- Libertas, the main “no” organisation, and its leader, a certain Declan Ganley, born in England (sic!), resident in NY (sic!) and a US military contractor (sic!), are in serious trouble with the law for refusing to reveal the sources of Libertas’s financing, contrary to Irish law. Rumour has it that the money came from US military and intelligence sources and that Ganley is a man of straw for some nasty neocon (if you’ll pardon the redundancy!) think tank. He is also said to have connections to some very nasty people in Russia. Libertas is currently being investigated and the whole thing will probably end up in court but if even a fraction of this is true, the US will be seriously discredited in Europe and, on top of all that, Vladimir Putin will be proved right as regards the sinister activities of US-funded NGOs, meddling in European democracy and openly flouting our laws!
- The new Irish PM, Brian Cowan, has been humiliated and he will want to shift the blame for the debacle. The obvious victim is Ganley and his American backers. Rich foreigners steamrolling us and, even worse, Irishmen who take the foreigners’ money are old themes in Irish politics. The “yes” camp, Cowan in the lead, will jump at it, many of the “no” people will be furious at the idea that they were manipulated. It will take years for the current investigation to play out, with the full gamut of hearings and court cases.

In other words, US neocons have shot themselves in the foot several times over!

What will happen now? Well, nothing, in fact! Everybody is shouting their heads off for the moment but when they cool down, they’ll realise that all the various suggestions are cures worse than the disease. It took three years to get from the French to the Irish referendum. I would guess little enough will happen for a few years. Anything that can be enacted by legislation will be (quietly!) and the rest will be left to one side.

One thing it does prove though: the EU is VERY democratic! Ireland is inside and it stops the EU in its tracks. Serbia is outside and it gets crushed under the American jackboot! Q.E.D.

But this won’t stop the relentless march of that Zer0 POINT. Zero Zer0 Zero Zero Zero ONE per CENT, the world’s Super Elites, to eventually turn the infinitely lage majority of this word’s Humankind into their abject playground: to exploit, abuse and nuke to their heart’s content by whichever means is the most profitable….

This is the Grand Democracy being shoved down one’s throat where One Elitist vote has the weight of TEN MILLION votes from the rest of us.

This is why I’m a great admirer of that medical doctor and congressman
Ron Paul who is dead against such megalomaniac schemes. As an obstetrician he has delivered over 4000 babies.

MAY HE NOW DELIVER US FROM THIS EVIL

Amen.

Why doesn’t the EU just cut out Ireland and continue on their merry way?

Or they could do the U.S. thing and impose sanctions on Ireland and no fly zones, freeze their bank accounts, limit the amount of food they can import, do some random bombing, etc…