International News reaction to the Masserene Killings

international | crime and justice | other press Sunday March 08, 2009 17:13 by macavity - the hidden paw

Because of what is perceived to be at stake (a peace process which is widely acknowledged to have brought, rather than bringing, to an end an internecine conflict of extraordinary savagery and duration) - it is not surprising that the killing of 2 British army soldiers in an attack which also 2 civilian pizza delivery employees threatened - has moved from breaking newswires to front page position across not only European and US media but globally.

Already there are over 200 news reports in Spanish langauge media across the South American continent with some titles and news agencies also providing background sections on "The Troubles" and linking to the condemnatory statement this afternoon by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams.

I have here collected a few of the more interesting reactions outside of the English speaking world "for the record" & consideration.

* The Euskera language news platform "Berria" has reported on the attacks using a close translation of the copy issued by "Europress" in the last hour (at time of writing)
http://www.berria.info/paperekoa/mundua/2009-03-07/022/...i.htm

* The Catalan independence republican platform which is closer than most has reported the facts with a speculatory subtitle that there have been rumours of "a split amongst the dissidents of the IRA"
http://www.vilaweb.cat/www/noticia?p_idcmp=3552868

* "El Periodico" the largest selling newspaper in Catalonia has led with the condemnation of Sinn Fein of the attacks as an attempt to bring open conflict back to the region, soldiers onto the street - & one might speculate provoke a similiarly bloodthirsty action from others in either the province of Ulster or the territory of the Irish state. http://www.google.es/news/url?sa=t&ct2=es%2F0_0_s_20_0_...D1007 That line is repeated in varied form of priority to either Gordon Brown's reaction or Adams by all the Spanish mainstream newspapers and radios. "El Pais" includes reports that MI5 has launched a counter-terrorism offensive http://www.elpais.com/articulo/internacional/Brown/aseg...4/Tes

* the French "leftwing" daily "Liberation" has similarly stuck to the core press statement of "2 dead & 11 wounded" without adding speculation or referring to either Adams or Robinson. http://www.liberation.fr/monde/0101552881-irlande-du-no...nique

*the Italian "communist" daily "Unita" refers to an attack on an "english" base in Ulster and alone in the mainstream European coverage chooses not to refer to Brown but quotes PSNI chief Orde instead. http://www.unita.it/news/82562/base_militare_inglese_at...lster

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So far the commentators which have received the most attention & thus those to whom credibility to comment has been ascribed are ( in order of media appearance and quotation ) :-

Gordon Brown - PM HMG UK & NI
Thomas Burns ( SDLP South Antrim MLA )
Gerry Adams (President SF and MLA)
Martin Mc Guinness (second minister for NI assembly and MLA)
Peter Robinson (first minister of MLA and higher certificate in crochet)
Brian Cowen (taoiseach of Ireland and diploma in banking)
Hugh Orde (top cop in PSNI)

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Please feel free to add links to coverage or reaction or perhaps more interestingly for the purposes of archive - speculation & comment from far away places which may not neccesarily understand the daily ins & outs, ups and downs or life in either statelet of Ireland or the underlying causes of why cultural potlical conflict on the island may be capitalised on to bring violence back into the equation.