GIBRALTAR
GIBRALTAR
Somebody asked me yesterday “In what year did the Second World War end?” The answer is that it hasn’t ended yet. Nor indeed have the Napoleonic Wars! And, as Mrs May will find out om Sunday, not even have the One Hundred Years War. Theresa should remember that King Richard Lion Heart, returning from the Third Crusade, was illegally kidnapped, detained and held to ransom by Archduke Maximilian of Austria on the instructions of Emperor Frederick, the leader of the First Reich! Students of the Art of War will be familiar with the notion that war need not be waged by tanks and guns, but by whatever means leads you to gain an advantage, legal or otherwise over your opponents. Clausewitz could have designed the European Union as an illustration or a model of what he had in mind. It is a truism of international politics and international law that: “Those who seek to live by botched Treaties, shall come to die by botched Treaties!” It is also true that the attention-span of journalists and entire Nations is decidedly limited. Few would deny that whoever first came up with the idea of a British withdrawal from the European Union has succeeded not just in baffling a whole Continent and most of the World as well, but he or she has succeeded in boring them to tears. The public much prefer to hear about the adventures of Donald Trump and the delightfully-named “Stormy Daniels” than to learn about Theresa’s latest tussle against Jean-Claude, Donald Tusk, Michel and Guy (very poorly cast as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse). The United States and the United Kingdom have not been exactly virtuous of late. One need only pause and consider the worst excesses of capitalism, the human rights abuses, the numerous illegal “proxy wars” as well as the foreign policy pursued by both Nations in relation to Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia. But the United States and the United Kingdom are sovereign States, permanent veto-wielding Members of the United Nations Security Council. At the end of the day, albeit not invariably or consistently, their commitment is to the Charter of the United Nations and to the principles of freedom, democracy, liberty and self-determination which the Charter embodies, enshrines and stands for. Not only are the European Commission and the European Parliament not sovereign States, or indeed in any sense subjects of public international law entitled to conduct or participate in sovereign negotiations, but Germany, their paymaster who controls and dictates to all the senior officials of the European Commission and European Parliament is still correctly described in the Charter of the United Nations as “an enemy State”. That description was not arrived at lightly by Roosevelt and Churchill, nor should it be departed or desisted from lightly. Germany was defeated militarily in 1945 by the United States, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. It was divided, but it was never reformed, so that when forty-five years later, a reunited Germany reappeared at a European Summit presided over by Charles J, nothing had really changed. The European Union pays only lip-service to democracy and doesn’t respect the Rule of Law. The Union’s eagerness to violate and breach every provision of the Constitution of Ireland during the recent economic crisis is sufficient testimony to that. Even worse and more perverse perhaps is the European Union’s very Germanic flagellation of Greece, when men, women and children dying of hunger and illness were denied life-saving foods and medicines. For all their faults, neither the Americans or the British would usually be so cruel or sink that low! America is not just about Capitalism, Trump’s Evangelical base wishes to see Biblical History and Biblical principles applied to the conduct of human affairs. That isn’t quite as mad as some people like to suggest it is. Applying Biblical principles doesn’t just mean avoiding another Holocaust, although that is undoubtedly the most important objective of any endgame worthy of the name. But respecting Treaties and respecting internationally agreed commitments, freely and fairly given, is central to Biblical and human history. The Bible is divided into two parts: “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament”. A Testament is a contract or a treaty, a binding legal document in which and under which men and mankind agree to live and govern themselves in accordance with God’s Laws. God’s Commandments and God’s Truth. So God is, and man ought to be, very angry that the outcome of the two binding sovereign referendums in which Ireland rejected the Treaty of Nice and the Treaty of Lisbon were simply ignored and disregarded, as If Ireland and the views of its people were of no significance, consequence or importance whatever, while at more or less the same time the strictly advisory British plebiscite, no better than an opinion poll really, was given sacrosanct status. Of course, as neither the Treaty of Nice nor the Treaty of Lisbon were ever validly ratified or ever entered into force, the European Union does not actually exist or enjoy any legal status, there is no Treaty of Lisbon, there is no Article 50 and there is therefore no legal basis whatever for the negotiations which the United Kingdom is very unwisely conducting at present with the European Commission and the European Parliament. Though Mrs May seems blissfully unaware of this, she is in fact negotiating with Germany and France, two States who unashamedly and relentlessly colluded throughout the Second World War and who continue to manipulate European Union business to their advantage at all times under the Machiavellian provisions of the Franco-German Pact). One of the worst mistakes a commander can make in war is to think that he sees where the enemy is or that he can see all of the enemy forces. This assumption cost Captain Nolan his life and it cost Britain the Light Brigade. So, on whose side exactly is Spain? And why are they raising the issue of Gibraltar seemingly so late in the day? The negotiations so far have involved a whole load of Europe’s lesser politicians travelling to Ireland to ascertain the lie of the land by staring “googly-eyed” at long blank stretches of tarmacadam and welcoming black-and-white cows on the legendary, but seemingly invisible Irish border. This may offend Premier Leo and Foreign Minister Simon, but this immense and seemingly intense concentration on “the Irish border” is what generals and strategists refer to as a “feint”. While of course the Europeans would be perfectly content to assist Terrorists to run riot in Britain’s backyard, they are much more interested in gaining control over Gibraltar. The Rock, or the Pillar of Hercules, was once described to me by a General in the French Air Force as the most strategic location on Earth. One only has to look at a map to see why this is so. Gibraltar commands access to the Mediterranean Sea, to Israel, to the Suez Canal, to the Middle-Eastern oilfields and to many of the World’s most strategic sea-routes. Spain’s claim to Gibraltar arises from the fact that the Rock is located in its vicinity and is therefore nearby. But such claims are not always or inevitably conclusive. For example, Ireland lies close to Britain, but that does not give Britain the right to invade. Equally Belgium lies close to Germany, but that did not give Germany the right to invade in the First and Second World Wars. The modern Spanish State evolved from Franco’s dictatorship, a dictatorship which emerged triumphant from the Spanish Civil War thanks to the help and assistance it received from Hitler’s Luftwaffe. Just how brutal that assistance was can be gauged from Picasso’s famous painting of what little was left of a once-prosperous Spanish town after the German Luftwaffe had passed. Where do Spain’s loyalties lie in this imbroglio? Just as relevantly, what are Theresa May’s capacities? She would rather not be where she is, but does she even know where she is? Mrs May has been betrayed and double-crossed into becoming British Prime Minister, a job for which she was not at all prepared for or ready, by a whole series of scheming far-seeing villains, including David Cameron, George Osborne, Sir John, Lord Michael, Boris Johnson, Nigel, Tony Blair, Campbell, Jeremy, John and the other militants who have infiltrated the Party, not forgetting the BBC, Sky News and the whole of the printed press. The television coverage of the plebiscite itself and of the last few days should have included a Health Warning to the United Kingdom as a whole and to all of Her Majesty’s Governments in future. The whole saga has been dishonestly misrepresented as the follow-up to a legitimate democratic referendum. It is nothing of the sort. The unprincipled and treasonable strategy undertaken by a group of conspirator as dishonest as any in history has left an honest, but limited woman, who is most familiar with Home Affairs in charge of the most vital and delicate international negotiations since Munich in 1938. Theresa May should not worry about whether she can, or cannot, maintain her Parliamentary majority, just as in September 1939 the freedom of Europe and that of the Free World is at stake. Mrs May should exercise the greatest possible caution in relation to the advice which she is receiving from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and from her Permanent Secretaries and Ambassadors. That advice has led her to lurch forward and to get herself bogged down ever further in this mess. There is a time when every great leader can and must retreat, even if only to gain some time. Germany, France and Spain are now threatening to cancel Sunday’s Summit. Mrs May must remember that she is still Prime Minister. She should go one step further and cancel Sunday's Summit herself! If she were to cancel, I believe that “Even the ranks of Tuscany could scarce forbear to cheer!”
Maurice James, Barrister at Law, United Nations counsel
ABOUT THE WRITER
Maurice James is a diplomat, lawyer, historian and linguist. He has spent more than three decades serving Ireland and the Irish State. He has lectured on international relations, European integration and the European Economic Communities at the National University of Ireland. Maurice is an expert on the Constitution of Ireland, Irish Law, Common Law, Civil Law, Roman Law, Public International Law (the Law of Nations), Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. He was accredited to the United Nations General Assembly, to the United Nations Security Council, to the Council, Commission and Parliament of the European Union, to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, to the Kingdom of the Belgians and to the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg. He served as a Member of and acted as United Nations Counsel to the Counter-Terrorism Committee established by the Security Council to monitor the implementation of Resolution 1373, which the Security Council unanimously adopted after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the Twin Towers. Maurice subsequently co-founded the European Endowment for Democracy and served as the first Irish representative on the Board of Governors of the Endowment. He presented Ireland’s case at the United Nations in support of the Statute of Rome and the establishment of the International Criminal Court. Maurice was awarded the Gold Medal in History by the National University of Ireland. He is an advocate, foreign policy expert. international negotiator, speech-writer, published poet and legal draftsman. Maurice is fluent in English, Irish, French and Latin. He has a working knowledge of German, Dutch, Italian and Spanish.
Maurice works as a Barrister at Law (Attorney) and is an International Relations Consultant. He is a prolific writer on law, politics and history. He is the author of a novel for children "The Peregrine and the Rose". He is currently researching and writing a new book, a legal treatise entitled: "Blasphemy and the Constitution of Ireland". Maurice is married to Georgina (George) and the couple have two children.