On Mon, 18 Aug 2008, Wendy Lyon wrote:
>> By the way, it is a mystery how the South Ossetians, who live in
>> Tskhinvali, were given Russian citizenship at a time when many people
>> who have lived and worked in Russia for several years cannot get it.
>> The South Ossetians do not pay the Russian taxes and do not serve in
>> the Russian army. They have no duties, they have only rights. The
>> Russian government is reluctant to take care of many of its citizens
>> living in Russia and to protect their rights.
>
> Sorry if I sound like I'm beating a dead horse here, but again, the
> Irish analogy works well:
>
> "It is a mystery how the northern Irish, who live in Belfast, were given
> Irish citizenship at a time when many people who have lived and worked
> in Ireland for several years cannot get it. The northern Irish do not
> pay Irish taxes and do not serve in the Irish army. They have no duties,
> they have only rights. The Irish government is reluctant to take care of
> many of its citizens living in Ireland and to protect their rights."
>
> The above paragraph as edited is 100% factual. Anyone born in the part
> of this island that is under British jurisdiction is entitled to Irish
> citizenship on the same basis as those born in independent Ireland.
> That's in the Irish constitution. Furthermore, it's widely assumed that
> in the event of a British withdrawal, those residents of the north that
> still wanted British citizenship would be granted it, for at least a
> generation or two. Nobody here seems to have a problem with this. I
> would be surprised if similar arrangements didn't exist in many other
> disputed territories. Russia's policy of giving citizenship to the
> residents of a territory that aspires to rejoin it is neither
> unprecedented nor, it seems to me, particularly remarkable.
I think you're leaving out a crucial part of the analogy, Wendy: nobody would consider this arrangement a justification for the Republic of Ireland to suddenly occupy the North on the pretext that it was protecting its citizens.
Michael