Through NAFO, I get to know all the characters around the world linked to Kremlin propaganda. It shocks me when they pop up in Ireland meeting Irish politicians. I was reading this article by Gabija Gataveckaite about Sinn Fein and what name popped up only "Dan Kovalik"
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I suspect that only a handful of Irish readers know who Dan Kovalik is so mention of his name in the Irish Indo article might not get much attention. NAFO Fellas bonking Kremlin propaganda know who Dan Kovalik is and his name immediately sets off alarm bells 🔔🔔
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The Irish Indo article mentions that Kovalik travelled to Belfast and met with at least three Sinn Fein politicians during a book launch and public discussion at the James Connolly Visitor Centre. Kovalik is not the sort of character I would be inviting to Ireland.
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Dan Kovalik advertises himself as a lawyer, professor and author. He is most famous for his articles, books and Twitter feed which is all full of Kremlin propaganda. He believes that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was legal and Kyiv is guilty of ethnic cleansing of Russians.
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Kovalik's books are masterpieces of literature.....when viewed through the lens of fiction and propaganda. If Sinn Fein politicians were looking for geopolitical insights then I'd suggest they will get more enlightenment from the Harry Potter series.
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Most worrying though is the frequency of Kovalik's trips to Russia and occupied 🇺🇦 in 2022/2023. In an article dated July 2023, Kovalik confirms that he has visited Russia three times, visited occupied Ukraine twice in just 8 months and supports the Donetsk Peoples Republic.
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It turns out that Kovalik is a frequent visitor to Belfast and the James Connolly Visitor Centre where no doubt you can find copies of Kovalik's books in their library. Kovalik proclaims that if he "needed to go on the run", he'd "find a home in West Belfast".
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Why did Kovalik visit Ireland a few weeks after visiting Russia and the occupied Ukraine? And why was he warmly welcomed in Belfast? Sinn Fein suggested to the Irish Independent that they were reading too much into it. Maybe Sinn Fein doesn't pay any heed to Kovalik's lies.
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At least one Sinn Fein TD, Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, read Kovalik's articles with interest. I note that particular article by Kovalik in the Huff Post about the Colombian peace process doesn't appear to be Kremlin related but it does show that Sinn Fein take Kovalik seriously.
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Although Sinn Fein is adamant that they support Ukraine and condemn Russia's invasion, it's interesting to note Sinn Fein's poor voting record in the EU Parliament on Russia, Ukraine and even Hamas. In this context, does meeting Dan Kovalik begin to make more sense?
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Mick Wallace will likely lose his seat during the 🇪🇺 parliament elections in 2024. I've spoken to multiple political analysts to try to understand what direction Mick's career will take. They all agreed that Mick has a few choices. In this thread 🧵, I examine Mick's options 1/7
Option 1: Strawberry Picker
Mick Wallace's home county of Wexford is famous in 🇮🇪 for its strawberry farms. Picking 🍓🍓🍓 all day will mean that Mick's fingers are too busy to be tweeting authoritarian propaganda. I do expect Mick will skim 🍓🍓🍓 off the top though. 2/7
Option 2: Agricultural Gate Salesman
Just look at Mick below and tell me he wouldn't make a great travelling farm gate salesman. This is the perfect job for Mick. Don't expect the gates to last long though. He'll probably skimp on metal. 3/7
Personally, I don't really care if President Higgins intervened in the debate about Ireland's neutrality even if I disagree with him. I believe all senior figures in 🇮🇪 government/opposition should lay their cards on the table in an open manner without attacks.
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🇮🇪 politicians wear a mask on the subject of our neutrality or NATO membership. 🇮🇪 governments consistently tell the people what they think the 🇮🇪 public want to hear, i.e. 🇮🇪 is neutral. They then enact defence policy that is absolutely not neutral.
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By their actions over a period spanning many decades they have created this fake notion of 🇮🇪 being a neutral country and they've created the mess in our armed forces because we've willfully passed responsibility for national security to NATO, 🇬🇧 and 🇪🇺.
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What are the motives of 🇮🇪 Mick Wallace, Clare Daly, Chay Bowes, Paddy Cosgrave and John Moran 🧵
They've all come to my attention for the wrong reasons over the last year and I've been scratching my head trying to figure out why they do what they do.
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The common accusation I see levelled against Mick Wallace and Clare Daly is that they are simping for authoritarian regimes for 💵. If that was the case, then I have never seen any evidence to back up that theory. Let's look instead for evidence in what they say.
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It came to my attention a few months ago via an old Indo article that Mick Wallace and his political grouping in the European Parliament, GUE/NGL, became the main sponsor for Wexford Football Club. Typical Mick story. It seemed bizarre but innocent.
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Why are the Russians interested in Ireland and what is their strategy? 🧵
This might seem like a strange question. The war is in 🇺🇦, the other side of Europe. 🇮🇪 has no involvement. We're not in NATO. We have almost no army and we’re neutral.
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Let's recap on events. Four officials of the 🇷🇺 embassy in 🇮🇪 were expelled, 🇷🇺 planned to expand its embassy in 🇮🇪 , 🇷🇺 warships are frequently sighted off the Irish coast, Irish MEPs have been listed as 🇷🇺 propagandists and the Ditch website has been accused of links to 🇷🇺
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This can all be explained away quite easily as paranoia. The war in 🇺🇦 is being exploited by a scaremongering centrist dad dominated media, an unpopular 🇮🇪 government blame shifting 🇷🇺 and Fellas like myself pedaling 🇷🇺 conspiracy theories. Paddy Cosgrave would approve 👍.
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Usually, when investigating 🇮🇪 🦇niks, it makes for rather dour reading 😩. The exception is Paddy Cosgrave and Chay Bowes. They are like the Laurel and Hardy of 🇮🇪 🦇niks. Any newspaper article about them is either pure drama or comedy gold 😂.
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Two days ago, Paddy took aim at another Irish journalist who wrote an article about him. This is what Tech Gemma does. He mentioned that this was a "second attempt" article so I went looking for the "first attempt" that seems to have wound up Paddy 😉
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So I found a Mick Clifford article from 2021 and took a read of it. I think this might be the one 😂 If you are a fan of 🦇niks Paddy and Chay then you need to take a read 👇. The description of Chay landing on stage at Web Summit will have you🤣🤣🤣
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Irish Neutrality, NATO membership and the Triple Lock – Part 2 🧵
In this second thread in the series I’ll explore Irish Neutrality, which is closely linked to, but separate from, Ireland’s Triple Lock system (covered in Part 1 🧵linked at the end)
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First, let's examine reference to neutrality in the Irish constitution. That’s simple enough as there is no reference to neutrality in the Irish constitution and there never has been. There is also no reference to neutrality in Irish Statute law. See irishstatutebook.ie
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So how is Ireland neutral if it’s not enshrined in law? Apparently, Ireland has a “traditional policy of military neutrality” if the 2013 Green Paper on Defence is anything to go by. And it’s not. Again, Irish neutrality has no basis in statute or constitutional law