The Russians are coming! At the risk of being deported to Moscow, controversial commentator Dr John Coulter uses his Fearless Flying Column today to suggest a helpful way of defusing the Cold War Mark Two between the United Kingdom and the former Soviet Empire.

As relations between ‘Muscles’ May and the ‘Beast from the East’ Putin rapidly descend to political sub-zero conditions, I’d like to emphasise that old maxim – “I told you so, if only you’d listened to me four years ago, this might not have happened!”

In 2014, usually reliable sources told me that Anglo-Russian relations were in danger of taking a serious downturn. It was then I floated the financial solution of a Celtic-Russian Alliance (CRA).

It was not meant to be sabre-rattling about an invasion, or the beginning of World War Three, merely a recognition that a Celtic-Russian Alliance would be a sound economic base for the Emerald Isle and could be used to defuse any future tensions between the two nuclear states of the UK and Russia.

Given that Russia has now threatened retaliation after Mrs May unveiled that around two dozen suspected spies at the Russians’ London embassy were to be booted out of the UK following the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in England, the CRA could have been a forum for debate, compromise, cooling-off or concessions to prevent the current crisis from escalating.

But then I’m reminded of another past British Prime Minister – Chamberlain – who signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler and proclaimed ‘peace in our time’. That appeasement didn’t work, so is my idea of a CRA to defuse tensions merely a Munich Agreement Mark Two?

Russian boss Vladimir Putin may be ex-KGB, but when it comes to leading his nation, he’s the type of ‘no punches pulled’ president which the UK and Ireland can only dream about.

In the bad old days of the Cold War, the Hard Right in Britain used to scream their pants off about Ireland becoming Europe's Cuba.

Groups like the Tory Monday Club always warned the old commie Soviet Union could overrun the UK through the neutral Irish Republic.

Ironically, this ‘Red Under The Bed’ type scare was the same tactic Winston Churchill ranted on about when Ireland was neutral during World War Two.

Then there was much talk the IRA had teamed up with Hitler’s Nazis to use the South as an invasion launch pad into the UK.

With the UK voting in 2017 to leave the cash-strapped European Union, Ireland will have no other choice but to follow ‘The Auld Enemy’ out of the EU after Brexit in March 2019.

Sounds like bitter medicine for the South to swallow. But there is an even bigger nightmare for the Republic. If Scotland ever opts for independence next month, the ruling Scottish National Party has vowed to keep the new nation in the EU.

This could leave the South and the Scots as a lonely backwater region on the backside of Europe. Not a pretty sight!

There’s no doubt that Putin wants to rebuild the Russian empire. The West and the Americans might be mouthing off about Putin’s tactics in Crimea and the Ukraine, but the Russian boss has proven he doesn’t really care what the Allies think or do! So the UK decides not to have either Royal Family or British Ministerial representation at this summer’s football World Cup in Russia – do we really think Putin will lose sleep over this?

In the meantime, what would be so wrong economically about the Irish climbing into bed with Putin and forming the Celtic Russian Alliance? Southern Ireland may be furiously searching for solutions to solve both the Brexit and Stormont crisis, but think of the political kudos it could gain if it managed to ease global tensions between Russia and the UK using the CRA?

Then again, the CRA could be dismissed as mere ‘pie in the sky’ politics as we could be forgiven that the West – and especially the UK – is now spoiling for a fight with Putin.

Irish republicans like to boast about the Irish American links. But with the US facing its own political turmoil under President Trump, the American cash cow – like the EU cash cow – has been milked dry. The EU simply doesn’t have the euros for another Irish bailout.

When the British eventually quit the EU, they will need more political clout than some of the former African colonies to make the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association a viable economic alternative to the EU.

If the UK could team up with Stalin’s Russia to conquer Hitler’s Nazis, the UK could also allow Putin’s Russia to become a CPA member. Now that would be a peace deal worth working for – or have relations deteriorated so much an agreement involving the CPA or my CRA is a non-starter?

And given the British military record in Iraq and Afghanistan, the English need not pontificate about Putin’s ‘kick ass’ policy in Ukraine, or any other of the former Soviet bloc republics.

If the Dáil and a reformed Stormont Executive, along with the Kremlin, were to do a formal deal, it could pave the way for Putin joining the CPA, but it would need maybe my Celtic-Russian Alliance to kick-start the process.

In spite of Putin’s KGB background, the Christian Church is flourishing in Russia, and there’s even talk of a return of the Tsarist Russian royal family. Putin has the dosh to bring Ireland firmly out of potential economic recession, especially with the uncertainties of Brexit looming large.

Think of the financial benefits for the Emerald Isle if Putin persuaded Russian tourists to visit Ireland, and students to continue their education at Irish colleges and universities?

Travel most anywhere in the globe and you'll find an Irish community. Rather than head for a jobless future in the US or Australia, why can’t our young people travel to Moscow and other Russian cities to broaden their horizons?

If Leo Varadkar really wants to remain as Taoiseach, and Arlene Foster wants to be First Minister again, they should be on the phone to Putin and make my Celtic-Russian Alliance a money-spinning reality.

Former British Prime Minister Chamberlain went down in history as a pussy-footing appeaser to Hitler. Okay, brand me ‘Chamberlain Coulter’ for talking about a Celtic-Russian Alliance in the midst of an ever-growing diplomatic crisis, but the CRA could be one appeasement which could cool the heads of potential warmongers on both sides.

Was it not Chamberlain’s successor, Churchill, who coined the phrase that it is better to jaw-jaw than war-war? Even if I end up on a plane on a one-way ticket to Moscow because of my CRA solution, hopefully someone else will have the common sense to pursue the idea.

Then again, in terms of Biblical prophecy, is the cranking up of international tensions another sign of ‘the end times’ leading to the Battle of Armageddon? One interpretation of the New Testament Book of Revelation is that the nations of Gog and Magog are together hostile nations which play a major role in the ending of the world.

In the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Gog and Magog are mentioned as sworn enemies of Israel. Maybe Biblical prophecy is about to become a political reality.


John Coulter is a unionist political commentator and former Blanket columnist. 


John Coulter is also author of ‘An Sais Glas: (The Green Sash): The Road to National Republicanism’, which is available on Amazon Kindle.


Follow John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter

The Russians Are Coming

The Russians are coming! At the risk of being deported to Moscow, controversial commentator Dr John Coulter uses his Fearless Flying Column today to suggest a helpful way of defusing the Cold War Mark Two between the United Kingdom and the former Soviet Empire.

As relations between ‘Muscles’ May and the ‘Beast from the East’ Putin rapidly descend to political sub-zero conditions, I’d like to emphasise that old maxim – “I told you so, if only you’d listened to me four years ago, this might not have happened!”

In 2014, usually reliable sources told me that Anglo-Russian relations were in danger of taking a serious downturn. It was then I floated the financial solution of a Celtic-Russian Alliance (CRA).

It was not meant to be sabre-rattling about an invasion, or the beginning of World War Three, merely a recognition that a Celtic-Russian Alliance would be a sound economic base for the Emerald Isle and could be used to defuse any future tensions between the two nuclear states of the UK and Russia.

Given that Russia has now threatened retaliation after Mrs May unveiled that around two dozen suspected spies at the Russians’ London embassy were to be booted out of the UK following the nerve agent attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in England, the CRA could have been a forum for debate, compromise, cooling-off or concessions to prevent the current crisis from escalating.

But then I’m reminded of another past British Prime Minister – Chamberlain – who signed the Munich Agreement with Adolf Hitler and proclaimed ‘peace in our time’. That appeasement didn’t work, so is my idea of a CRA to defuse tensions merely a Munich Agreement Mark Two?

Russian boss Vladimir Putin may be ex-KGB, but when it comes to leading his nation, he’s the type of ‘no punches pulled’ president which the UK and Ireland can only dream about.

In the bad old days of the Cold War, the Hard Right in Britain used to scream their pants off about Ireland becoming Europe's Cuba.

Groups like the Tory Monday Club always warned the old commie Soviet Union could overrun the UK through the neutral Irish Republic.

Ironically, this ‘Red Under The Bed’ type scare was the same tactic Winston Churchill ranted on about when Ireland was neutral during World War Two.

Then there was much talk the IRA had teamed up with Hitler’s Nazis to use the South as an invasion launch pad into the UK.

With the UK voting in 2017 to leave the cash-strapped European Union, Ireland will have no other choice but to follow ‘The Auld Enemy’ out of the EU after Brexit in March 2019.

Sounds like bitter medicine for the South to swallow. But there is an even bigger nightmare for the Republic. If Scotland ever opts for independence next month, the ruling Scottish National Party has vowed to keep the new nation in the EU.

This could leave the South and the Scots as a lonely backwater region on the backside of Europe. Not a pretty sight!

There’s no doubt that Putin wants to rebuild the Russian empire. The West and the Americans might be mouthing off about Putin’s tactics in Crimea and the Ukraine, but the Russian boss has proven he doesn’t really care what the Allies think or do! So the UK decides not to have either Royal Family or British Ministerial representation at this summer’s football World Cup in Russia – do we really think Putin will lose sleep over this?

In the meantime, what would be so wrong economically about the Irish climbing into bed with Putin and forming the Celtic Russian Alliance? Southern Ireland may be furiously searching for solutions to solve both the Brexit and Stormont crisis, but think of the political kudos it could gain if it managed to ease global tensions between Russia and the UK using the CRA?

Then again, the CRA could be dismissed as mere ‘pie in the sky’ politics as we could be forgiven that the West – and especially the UK – is now spoiling for a fight with Putin.

Irish republicans like to boast about the Irish American links. But with the US facing its own political turmoil under President Trump, the American cash cow – like the EU cash cow – has been milked dry. The EU simply doesn’t have the euros for another Irish bailout.

When the British eventually quit the EU, they will need more political clout than some of the former African colonies to make the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association a viable economic alternative to the EU.

If the UK could team up with Stalin’s Russia to conquer Hitler’s Nazis, the UK could also allow Putin’s Russia to become a CPA member. Now that would be a peace deal worth working for – or have relations deteriorated so much an agreement involving the CPA or my CRA is a non-starter?

And given the British military record in Iraq and Afghanistan, the English need not pontificate about Putin’s ‘kick ass’ policy in Ukraine, or any other of the former Soviet bloc republics.

If the Dáil and a reformed Stormont Executive, along with the Kremlin, were to do a formal deal, it could pave the way for Putin joining the CPA, but it would need maybe my Celtic-Russian Alliance to kick-start the process.

In spite of Putin’s KGB background, the Christian Church is flourishing in Russia, and there’s even talk of a return of the Tsarist Russian royal family. Putin has the dosh to bring Ireland firmly out of potential economic recession, especially with the uncertainties of Brexit looming large.

Think of the financial benefits for the Emerald Isle if Putin persuaded Russian tourists to visit Ireland, and students to continue their education at Irish colleges and universities?

Travel most anywhere in the globe and you'll find an Irish community. Rather than head for a jobless future in the US or Australia, why can’t our young people travel to Moscow and other Russian cities to broaden their horizons?

If Leo Varadkar really wants to remain as Taoiseach, and Arlene Foster wants to be First Minister again, they should be on the phone to Putin and make my Celtic-Russian Alliance a money-spinning reality.

Former British Prime Minister Chamberlain went down in history as a pussy-footing appeaser to Hitler. Okay, brand me ‘Chamberlain Coulter’ for talking about a Celtic-Russian Alliance in the midst of an ever-growing diplomatic crisis, but the CRA could be one appeasement which could cool the heads of potential warmongers on both sides.

Was it not Chamberlain’s successor, Churchill, who coined the phrase that it is better to jaw-jaw than war-war? Even if I end up on a plane on a one-way ticket to Moscow because of my CRA solution, hopefully someone else will have the common sense to pursue the idea.

Then again, in terms of Biblical prophecy, is the cranking up of international tensions another sign of ‘the end times’ leading to the Battle of Armageddon? One interpretation of the New Testament Book of Revelation is that the nations of Gog and Magog are together hostile nations which play a major role in the ending of the world.

In the Old Testament Book of Ezekiel, Gog and Magog are mentioned as sworn enemies of Israel. Maybe Biblical prophecy is about to become a political reality.


John Coulter is a unionist political commentator and former Blanket columnist. 


John Coulter is also author of ‘An Sais Glas: (The Green Sash): The Road to National Republicanism’, which is available on Amazon Kindle.


Follow John Coulter on Twitter @JohnAHCoulter

2 comments:

  1. Its not Putin removing elected Governments in Italy, or writing budgets for the people of Greece or Ireland. Its not Putin that is forcing migrant quotas on unwilling nations, and threatening the UK with ruin if it doesn't yield to the will of a club its citizens chose to leave. I am also suspicious this all happened one week after the Corbyn red spy allegations too.

    Maybe if the Russians are coming, they can free us from this tyranny? They could not do a worse job than the lot we have, they wouldn't have the gumption to be so visibly autocratic for fear of triggering a revolt.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'd rather have Putin as leader than a Tory any day!

    ReplyDelete