Sabina Higgins Letter to Irish Times calling for ceasefire on Ukraine

macvin

I think this and their other interferences have made his position untenable and he will have to resign / leave "due to heath reasons"

Then as a country we need to stop electing people who see this as a cushy retirement number and never again allow a 2 term stint.

The office of president, whist very much a powerless one, still can have great influence for the good. What it can't have is interference in political matters.

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119409760#Comment_119409760

How is calling for peace and a ceasefire "pro Putin". You are probably one of the many posters on boards that call anyone with a different opinion to the general narrative pushed by western media a Putin bot, staggering ignorance.

bloopy

So have we drawn and quartered Mrs Higgins yet?

Was at a wedding over the weekend so am a bit out of the loop.

Jinglejangle69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410512#Comment_119410512

What negotiations can Russia give?

What is ok for Ukraine in negotiations?

littlevillage

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410474#Comment_119410474

Ireland's first family 👑 were probably looking forward to visiting Mullingar and mixing with their "subjects" today.

Not soo anymore Mickelleen.... they say a week is a long time in politics. If he shows up at all today, it'll be brief and no time for any auld poetry

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119405671#Comment_119405671

You’re living in a country whose openly stated policy is not to go to war with Britain - for the sake of peace - to take our 6 counties back. 🙄

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410660#Comment_119410660

What has either of your questions got to do with the question I asked?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119405703#Comment_119405703

Rereading the letter - poetical references etc. - it is most likely the two of them wrote it together. I think it’s beyond borderline inappropriate but if the view being expressed was more mainstream they (in the plural sense of the term, not the trans thing) could have got away with it under the guise of “Is a woman not allowed express her own opinion?”. Publishing it in the Áras website seems stupid and self-destructive.

Some FFG TDs /Senators keeping the pot boiling this morning.

If this survives the bank holiday weekend news cycle they might want to get rid of Michael D! Mad as that sounds.

bcklschaps

Any truth in the rumours that Misneach has taken over the duties of "first lady" after Sabina's recent gaff ?

(Big improvement looks wise and slightly less prone to making a cnut of herself in public)

Jinglejangle69

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410810#Comment_119410810

Well let me see.

Ukraine calling for a ceasefire and negotiations would benefit Russia as they hold illegal territory which they won’t give up without been pushed back through military means.

So yeah calling for a ceasefire and to give up territory is Pro Putin.

GalwayMark

It shows the need for Irish people to be a bit more educated about continental affairs and perhaps increase more participation in continental affairs, more student and cultural exchanges that isn't just language schooling, listen to continental citizens especially in Russian border counties perspectives without giving them lectures on what they should do in their respective countries when it pertains to their dealings with Moscow.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119409354#Comment_119409354

It’s neutral in the same way that “All lives matter,” is neutral.

Snooker Loopy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410512#Comment_119410512

Yeah so presumably you think the Soviets should have sued for peace with the Nazis when the Nazis were at the gates of Stalingrad.

Presumably Putin thinks that too?

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410876#Comment_119410876

You can apply any twisted logic you want to make it fit but she is most certainly not "pro Putin"

Loafing Oaf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410832#Comment_119410832

Were the words 'thundering disgrace' deployed?

20silkcut

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411003#Comment_119411003

nobody should really know or be discussing what her views on Putin are. Not her job to be airing such opinions. Especially when it’s so at odds with the people she represents.

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119410947#Comment_119410947

Absolutely not. However if Lucy Kurtz had been alive at the time and called for an end to bloodshed would the angry media brainwashed mob have been screaming for her head on a spike for being a Nazi sympathiser?

olestoepoke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411047#Comment_119411047

And yet if the opinion she aired fit the narrative this thread would not exist right?

Irelandsnumberone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411041#Comment_119411041

I doubt Mr and Mrs Higgins give 2 shites what A senator who gets into fights on the street after a night out thinks about them

So how will MichaelD handle the doorstep? I’m sure they have been rehearsing a few lines.

What would you suggest?

Fiery mutant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411077#Comment_119411077

The problem here is that her 'opinion' is not some random idea on whether City or Liverpool deserved to win the title last year. She is saying a sovereign nation should give up its right to exist, just so some madman can feel better about himself. And thereby saying all smaller countries should be willing to give up their own nations, should this same madman or similar, ever want to feel like going on a conquest again.

If she was Ukrainian, she would be considered a traitor, or collaborator. The one thing this shows us that if we ever get invaded, these people are showing us their true colours, so we'll know who to look out for.

FrancieBrady

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411071#Comment_119411071

This is were the spinning and selectivity comes in.

She called for a ‘ceasefire AND negotiation’.

She didn’t ask anyone to cede or surrender anything.

She is a pacifist, which is no crime.

Bertie, Hume the UN and numerous others have called for ceasefires and for combatants to get around a table. It is not unusual and not ‘pro’ one side or the other to do it.

There is zero need for spinning or sensationalism.

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411252#Comment_119411252

She needs to be aware that given her position her words can be used for propaganda effect by the Russians. Also, it wasn't just her personal opinion since it was published on an official website. So, I don't think it can just be brushed under the carpet and forgotten about. The presidency should be above politics, but unfortunately "40 pensions" hasn't been following that tradition. Well, now he can come out and clarify the statement.

If she did understand what she was doing, I would suggest that Sabina, Simon Jenkins and Clare Daly form a union to fight for better conditions as they aren't being paid enough. I expect a lot more of this type of thing (peace talks, sanctions don't work etc) as things are going bad for the Russians.

Corben Dallas

Sabina Higgins should keep her opinions on the Ukraine war to herself. The Presidents wife should not offer advice to the Governments of Ukraine and Russia to stop the war and give Russia what it wants. She must realize that publishing her letter in Irish Times could be taken as an official view of the Irish President and possibly by extension The Irish State.

She should retract this immediately and issue an apology.

This 'Peace at any cost' letter would be well received in Moscow and risk giving free Propaganda to Vladimir Putin's regime.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411252#Comment_119411252

You're always determined Francie, to weave in some narrative about Ulster. Forget it, there is no connection.

What the presidential wife has done is to give support & succour to the violent Russian occupation of the eastern part of Ukraine. She had no right to express this opinion publicly, given her particular status as a leading citizen.

Fiery mutant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411252#Comment_119411252

They're are many situations and nations in some kind of conflict around the world, the ceasefire and negotiation are a viable option and worth pursuing for both sides. But this is not one of them.

Russia, and Putin, do not care for anything or anyone. The have been given numerous chances and opportunities in the past to be a part of civilized society, but they always throw it back in people's faces.

She should read Freezing Order by Bill Browder, maybe that might give her an idea of what dealing with the Russians is like.

FrancieBrady

McGahon talking rubbish on News at One at the moment.

A clear tilt at the President more than anything else.

Terrible timing for humility with Michael and Sabina with Tubridy's TV platform off-season. And Tommy Tiernan's. Interview with Jennifer O'Connell it is so! Unless.....

The horror of having to make a cameo visit to the Community Centre on Fair City to improve the optics!

Snooker Loopy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119411066#Comment_119411066

You say "absolutely not" - that the Soviets should not have capitulated to the Nazis when they were invaded (though Stalin did collaborate them previously and was played like a fool by Hitler). I agree. They should not have capitulated. They had to fight. To the end.

Thus you admit your previous "point" is completely bankrupt.

Ukraine should continue to fight and the west should continue to arm it (I would much prefer if the west would fight directly given the threat Russia poses to all of us) until such point as Russia is completely routed and Putin and all his cronies hang from lamposts like the genocidal Nazi scum they are.

Sabina Higgins' words are morally bankrupt, and I say that as somebody who voted for her husband. It is not acceptable for the Irish presidency to give the impression it is sympathetic to Russia and Putin. And that's what is happening.