Briefing+Book

media type="custom" key="9500130"

 =Headaches and Hope: What the Queen's First-Ever Visit Means to Ireland= In the coming weeks, Ireland will host two of the world's most recognizable VIPs: Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama. The Queen is the first ever British ruler to visit Ireland. She is doing this out of respect of good friday and to show political maturity. The Queen and the presidents visit has got the police force very worried. Ireland has hirred 10,000 police officers to cover the scene. Before her arrivial they will search Dublin for bombs.  =NORTHERN IRELAND / In the Shadow of the Gunmen=

"The country is gone mad. Instead of countin' their beads, now they're countin' bullets; their Hail Marys and their paternosters are burstin' bombs —burstin' bombs, an' the rattle of machine guns; petrol is their holy water; their mass is a burnin' buildin'; their De Profundis is 'The Soldiers' Song,' an' their creed is, 1 believe in the gun almighty, maker of heaven and earth —an' it's all for the glory o' God an' the honor o' Ireland." —Sean O'Casey, The Shadow of a Gunman. The shadow feel on Ireland in the 1920's. This is when the trouble started and the bullets went flying. This was a full out war against the people of Ireland and other people of Ireland. There where bercades on the roads and barb wire everywhere. They where looking for who ever they felt like killing at the time. But they where most perticurly looking for the British.

=Why the Irish Crisis is Going Global=

The Emerald Else are causing a whole lot of problems. Even though a lot of countries are going into debt they are not generaly wealthy contries but Ireland is. They have a capita GDP of nearly 38,000. They are in the top three of Eurapion Contries GDP related.

They now have a failed banking sector that Irelands goverment can not no longer hold up on it's own. This will cause troubles for Irelands brothern in Eroupe. They have headed into a realestate bust which could leave at least parts of Ireland as gohst towns.

=What George Mitchell, the Middle East Peace Process, and Students in Ireland Share=

President Obama's new envoy to the Middle East, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, is well known in Washington for his work on the Good Friday Accord in Northern Ireland and for chairing the investigation into steroid use in Major League Baseball. It's the biggest secret in town, and it will end up being his best legacy to future generations: the Mitchell Scholars program, which has become the Irish equivalent of a Rhodes Scholarship. A dozen or so candidates (chosen out of thousands of applicants) win a year of post-grad study at the Irish university of their choice.

Like the Rhodes Scholars, they're chosen on the basis of academics and athletics. But unlike the Rhodes, they must also prove their leadership in community service. These are the kind of kids who want to save the world—they've worked in places like Darfur, Rwanda, Kosovo, post-tsunami Sri Lanka, Lebanon, you name it.

=Northern Ireland Flashes Back to the Troubles=

Last week old memories brought up new clashes aross in Northern Ireland. Protesters broke into shops and even set a car on fire. They injured more than 80 officers which fired at the protesters with rubber builts and water cannons.

They say the reason of the protest is because of the recession in Ireland. But even though Ireland is still in a recession the United Kingdom has come out of theirs. In parts of Belfast nearly 20 perecent of men are out of work but in the UK only 7.8 are out of work.