Scratch the surface rhetoric of a transatlantic rift and you find deepening European dependency on the US.
“The strength of our franchise is built on the alliances the US has with the UK and Europe, which is absolutely vital for the US’s position in the world”.
www.ft.com/content/dd00...
Remember when Catherine Connolly warned of Germany's military-industrial complex.
'As its export model breaks down, Germany is pivoting from cars to cannons—and trying to turn industrial decline into a defense boom.'
www.wsj.com/world/europe...
The increase in US military flights, particularly the 56% increase last month, is clearly linked to active military operations.
But Helen McEntee said there is “no reason to believe” US aircraft involved in the Iran war are overflying Ireland.
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2026...
Nearly half of urban dwellers use natural gas as their main energy source for heating.
In contrast, 41% of rural dwellers use kerosene. Couple that with increased dependence on diesel/petrol for transport and rural livelihoods.
Politics of fuel has a geography.
The consolidation of the dairy + beef industry, profiting a handful of export-led processors, pushed by the Irish state for 50 years.
-> food insecurity, fossil fuel dependency, environmental degradation, massive income inequality and farmer indebtedness.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
“We’re excited for the US government to use this technology,” he says, suggesting it could help “dissolve” authoritarian regimes.'
In some ways the seeming naivety of the Anthropic CEO is more worrying than the Silicon Valley techno-fascist ideologues.
www.ft.com/content/9e0e...
30 years ago today, 19 landless peasants were killed by Brazilian military police as they protested for agrarian reform and land rights.
International day of peasant struggles remembers them and those that continue to fight for food sovereignty and national liberation - from Palestine to Cuba.
The EU wants to become a global leader in AI by deregulating the industry so US tech companies can build more data centres, thereby deepening EU dependency on US cloud infrastructure (all while wrecking the climate and social life).
www.theguardian.com/technology/2...
Next week is the second (now annual) Festival of Palestinian Culture in @maynoothuniversity.ie. Fair play to the organisers - so important to have this on campus and across Maynooth.
This is on Thursday - couldn't be more important as the campaign to stop the Ireland v Israel game builds.
'They'll bring their own solutions from an energy point of view. It's likely we'll see lots more renewables co-location alongside data centres as this AI wave plays out.'
Energy apartheid - renewable energy for US tech, fossil fuel dependence for rest.
www.rte.ie/news/busines...
Liberal authoritarianism - suppress dissent to protect liberal institutions.
'What should be of real concern to all who believe in basic democratic norms is that so many members of the public don’t appear to have any great problem with such protests.'
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
Louth Neutrality Network have created two email templates to send to FF and Independent TDs calling on them not to support the Government's effort to remove the Triple Lock.
Now is the time to remind them that the majority support the TL and neutrality.
linktr.ee/louthneutral...
“This is really highlighting some of the deep inequalities and contradictions of the agricultural system,” Patrick Bresnihan, a researcher at Maynooth University, Ireland, told Al Jazeera.
@tommygreene.bsky.social on fuel protests.
www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
I'm looking forward to presenting at this on the hope of Seed Sovereignty& Farmers' rights &hearing all involved. Much work to do in Ireland to address the inequities, environmental harm&missed opportunities of our globalised industrial ag system & threat it now poses to our food security.
'The international order is being openly called into question...and that is why Spain is being so firm and so vocal in defending international law.'
This position should be the bare minimum for the Irish government and yet we hear nothing but equivocation.
www.middleeastmonitor.com/20260414-spa...
Rashid Khalidi in @maynoothuniversity.ie on how British counter-insurgency practices developed in Ireland and Palestine during the interwar period and later became part of Israeli military doctrine.
Particularly for those who deny the historic links between Ireland and Palestine.
'European states are designing an industrial strategy to cement themselves in a US-led military architecture rather than building economies that can survive the accelerating climate crisis.'
Khem Rogaly & Rebekah Diski @lrb.co.uk
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ap...
This is very good from Conor McCabe and one of the few piece's of analysis I have read that clearly links the fuel protests with Ireland's deeply unequal and dysfunctional grass-fed agricultural system.
www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/comm...
O'Toole demonstrates again how lazy, liberal tropes passes as media analysis.
Focussing on a few statements by protest spokespeople substitutes for any understanding of the grievances of the protestors or how populist politics is not all 'far right'.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
"We would ask the minister to respect the role of independent journalism. There's no place for Trumpian ad hominem attacks on journalists and the minister's comments have caused genuine concern."
Séamus Dooley, NUJ assistant general secretary
www.nuj.org.uk/resource/nuj...
Three reports commissioned by Afri on the arms trade and military industry in and through Ireland. One is from 1996, the other two from 2002.
Hard to believe that there has been no follow up research since when we know that the development and trade of dual use goods has only grown.
This response by @barryandrewsmep.bsky.social to a letter signed by over 400 academics and university workers last week is disingenuous, confused and illogical.
Which pretty much sums up the Government's case for removing the Triple Lock.
The fuel protests have once again highlighted the deep inequalities and insecurity at the heart of our agricultural system. We need food sovereignty.
This Saturday we'll be hosting the annual Food Sovereignty Festival in @maynoothuniversity.ie with Afri Ireland.
www.eventbrite.ie/e/maynooth-f...
I'm not making any claims to know more - there is v little critical research on the political economy of ag labour in Ireland. But we have been here before with the beef protests in 2019, and we will be here again unless we transform the agri-food system.
www.rundale.org/2024/02/29/f...
The majority of farms in the country earn less than €20,000 pa, with ag having the most severe inequality in income distribution of any sector in Ireland. Contract work is a way to make off-farm income but it also tends to be highly precarious (and fuel dependent) 3/4
Many of those protesting were contract workers, who carry out work (spreading slurry, making silage etc) to supplement meagre farm incomes. This is the sharp end of a highly unequal, exploitative ag economy. 2/4
The spark for the protests was fuel prices but the deeper the problem is the structure of Ireland's agricultural economy - which has received v little attention, mostly because the main (urban-based) commentators don't know much about it. 1/4
www.eventbrite.ie/e/maynooth-f...
I am looking forward to sharing recent work on this with others as we bring practical solutions to the root& truth of our food/seed security in Ireland & beyond next Saturday in Maynooth university Kildare.
@pbresnihan.bsky.social
This author objects to sending out the army against protestors because it weakens the argument for increased defence spending.
The author is co-founder of Security Ireland, another think tank providing services to the defence-tech industry.
www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...
As Ireland remains locked down by farmers and hauliers protesting hikes in fuel prices brought on by US-Israeli wars in West Asia, these technologies offer the only future.