{Note from the author: My original heading to this article was apparently deemed to be sexist and was replaced by the above, which is not my creation.}
"Ireland will become the new U.S. border when Universal Aviation opens its unique pre-clearance facility for U.S. immigration, customs and agriculture at Shannon Airport. The Shannon site will be the only one in Europe with full U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) approval and it will be available for private flyers in September." – So crows the popular publication, Aviation Week. One reads it in the context of our neutrality, and one weeps, remembering how this operation is in bed with the now-permanent US military presence at Shannon.
{Note from the author: My original heading to this article was apparently deemed to be sexist and was replaced by the above, which is not my creation.}
"Ireland will become the new U.S. border when Universal Aviation opens its unique pre-clearance facility for U.S. immigration, customs and agriculture at Shannon Airport. The Shannon site will be the only one in Europe with full U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) approval and it will be available for private flyers in September." – So crows the popular publication, Aviation Week. One reads it in the context of our neutrality, and one weeps, remembering how this operation is in bed with the now-permanent US military presence at Shannon.
NOW READ THAT LINE AGAIN: "Ireland will become the new US border . . ." Really? Does that make Ireland a part of the US? Border Patrol approval means what, exactly? Overweight blokes in tight shirts and dark glasses stopping Irish citizens and asking them what they are doing on Irish soil, y’all? Needless to say, the Irish people (those whom Cowen expects to be good to him and vote against themselves over Lisbon) were not consulted on any of this, and greed-gullible business interests at Shannon will purr mindlessly about increased trade and the rest, while part of Co. Clare becomes another star on the American flag. So perhaps it is time demonstrations and protests turned their attention to this new US border crossing, before we choke on our own disgrace; and let’s not forget that any Irish citizen can arrest any US citizen who is in official US uniform if he or she strays into the swamps of Shannon. Naturally, this new boon to Shannon’s fortune IS the only facility of its kind in Europe, chiefly because, rightly, no other country will permit it. From Shell to the US administration, Ireland under successive governments has prostituted herself to the maulings of the passing super-salesmen, who, naturally and as if to underline the whoredom of it all, when done with her, toss her to one side and go where the prices are cheaper. Let’s hope it is not too late to protest against further incursion by the US into our country and into our rights; for be assured, the government that we have at present will consult the political Kama Sutra in order to find new ways to satisfy the rapine and pillage under weigh in Shannon. Watch – closely – that space.
