Thread by @JohnOBrennan2

THREAD on the bizarrely ill-informed piece by @cjbickerton and Peter Ramsay on Brexit and the Irish Border. Demonstrating yet again how British elites understand little or nothing about Ireland (and don't want to waste time trying to gain understanding) 1
thefullbrexit.com/irish-border

The most striking assertion is that @MichelBarnier and @campaignforleo are seeking to exploit threats from diehard Republican groups in NI to bend UK to EU's will and that "renegade Republican groups have been effectively recruited as the armed wing of the European Union". 2

This claim is both bizarre and truly offensive. The EU and successive governments in Dublin have worked ceaselessly with all parties in NI to bring violence to an end. To suggest now the emergence of an unholy alliance between Dublin/Brussels and NI Rep groups is grotesque. 3

The piece demonstrates in spades the Brexit ideologues obsession with sovereignty. The conception of sovereignty presented is one that is static, unchanging, suggestive of ethnic homogeneity and something that belongs in the nineteenth century. 4

The authors seem regretful that the UK govt hasn't already sent soldiers back to Northern Ireland, having demonstrated an appetite for 'bloody adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan'. Are they seriously suggesting militarism (in the name of exercising sovereignty) as solution? 5

The authors misunderstand the nature of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. It was an agreement to disagree about 'end states' and relationship between sovereignty & such 'end states'.Its very success lay in managing ambiguity about sovereignty through post-sovereign institutions. 6

the ontological confusion about sovereignty extends to the authors understanding of the EU. Brexiters are obsessed with the idea of 'zero-sum' relationships, i.e that EU membership automatically traduces national sovereignty when it can/does enhance national sovereignty. 7

There is real congruence between the 'constructive ambiguity' which defines both the EU as a system of governance and the Good Friday Agreement. Brexiters seem to hate both models because it infringes British sovereignty when actually it enhances it in both cases. 8

Unlike the authors,I've spent a lot of time in NI over past 2 years. Fears about a return to violence are real & have not been manufactured as part of a dastardly (twin) EU-Dublin plot to foil Brexit. We in IRE are dealing with existential consequences of Brexit as best we can. 9

If the authors paid the slightest attention to statements of Irish govt over last 2 years, most recently yesterday by the Taoiseach and Iar-Thaoiseach, they would see that protecting the UK-Irish relationship is a top priority for Dublin. 10

Like most fanatical Brexiters, authors fail to engage in any way with the European Union as a rules-based international order,where protection of the regulatory standards of the SM (mostly driven by UK from within EU) is paramount.They ignore that which is most vital in talks. 11

What's most sinister about this piece is that it turns on its head the reason we now have to contend with threat of a return of violence.This threat materialised because of the crass,unthinking,bumbling way the Brexit fanatics have 'managed' this process, not the ROI response. 12

It is notable that the piece uses, for claims about the Irish position on Brexit, both the fanatical UK right wing @PolicyExchange 'think tank' and an extraordinarily ill-informed former Irish diplomat who never served at high level in Brussels, as key sources. 13

This piece can clearly be viewed within narratives emerging in fanatical Brexit circles to cast UK as pure and unsullied, acting only to uphold its sovereignty, against dastardly neighbouring forces (actually its closest friend in the world). So comparable to Trump on Canada. 14

The piece re-states the suggestion that the European Commission's insistence on the 'backstop' applying to NI only only emerged last week. It didn't. Michel Barnier and his team made it clear from a very early stage in the talks.
UK choose to misinterpret Dec Joint Agreement. 15

The authors argue "the UK government should take the backstop off the table".They conveniently forget Theresa May SIGNED the Dec Joint Agreement on behalf of UK. To resile from it now would shred UK's global reputation as a trusted interlocutor. So much for 'Global Britain' 16

Finally, if the authors cannot understand the implications of their urging UK government to "exercise its sovereignty in Northern Ireland" then they have clearly learned nothing about the history of the island of Ireland. 17

There is no acknowledgment from @cjbickerton and Peter Ramsay of the extraordinary lengths to which the EU went over 45 years to accommodate British exceptionalism and British sovereignty within its rules-based order (ERDF, Budget Rebate, opt outs on EMU, social policy etc). 18

It is truly incomprehensible to me how any academic signing their name to the ‘Full Brexit’ manifesto can describe themselves as left wing. The obsession with a narrowly defined sovereignty is very antithesis of left internationalism. 19