I’ve heard it said that Northern Ireland’s economic decline is the result of the Troubles. But they themselves were the result of a rotten political system. And nothing exemplified this more than the office of prime minister of NI. THREAD.👇.

RT @CSBlenner: I was talking to someone recently about the ‘golden age of international terrorism’ when the likes of Carlos the Jackal, the….

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RT @dszeligowski: In 1945, Polish underground leaders accepted a similar invitation from comrade Stalin. Despite "security guarantees", the….

Is it any wonder the Trump administration is pushing Ukraine and the EU so hard to recognise Russian annexations of Ukrainian territory?.

For the life of me, I’ll never understand the obsession with the trans community that Linehan, Rowling, Davies et al have.

The last fatality of the continental campaign came just four days later. British soldier Michael Dillon-Lee (34) was shot dead in Dortmund, West Germany. ENDS.

Twenty years later, the Melrose family travelled to the Netherlands to visit the site of the murders. They then went to NI, seeking a meeting with Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness. Apparently, both refused.

In May 1990, the PIRA struck again in Roermond, the Netherlands. Two Australian tourists – Nick Spanos and Stephen Melrose – were shot dead. Once again, the Provos claimed they thought they were British soldiers.

Her tiny white coffin, carried by a soldier, remains one of the most haunting images of the Troubles.

Witnesses described the horror of seeing Nivruti’s mother clutching her tightly, refusing to let go. She became the youngest victim of the PIRA’s continental campaign.

A month later, it got worse. At a petrol station in Wildenrath, West Germany, the Provos shot dead India-born British soldier Maheshkumar Islania (34) and his six-month-old daughter Nivruti.

The next day they issued a chilling message:. “The outcome of last night’s attack reinforces a warning we gave on 2 Aug 1988, for civilians to stay well clear of British military personnel.”.

In September 1989, the Provos shot dead West German civilian Heidi Schnaars (26). Her crime? Being married to a British soldier. They later claimed they thought she was one.

Back to business as usual, you’d think. But the next few attacks proved devastating for the PIRA’s image.

The next fatality came in July 1989, when British soldier Steven Smith (31) was killed by a car bomb outside his home in Hanover, West Germany.

Things then went quiet, perhaps because two Provos were caught all tooled up in their car by West German border guards. Here’s RTÉ’s report on the start of their trial – they look like men carrying the weight of the world.

In August that year, Welsh soldier Richard Heakin (38) was shot dead in Ostend, Belgium.

Near Roermond, they opened fire on a car, killing Ian Shinner (20) and wounding three others. Hours later in Nieuw-Bergen, a car bomb killed Millar Reid (22) and John Baxter (21).

Two months later, on 1 May, the Provos got their revenge. They killed three British soldiers in two attacks 65km apart in the Netherlands.

Their deaths set off a chain of reprisals in Northern Ireland, including barbaric killings, and triggered a disgraceful press campaign in London aimed at discrediting witnesses. More on that later in this thread.

That year, a PIRA unit in Gibraltar walked into a trap. Three Provos – Seán Savage, Mairéad Farrell and Daniel McCann – were shot dead in cold blood by SAS commandos lying in wait.