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Article: Risks for peace: Northern Ireland. (the risky Downing Street meeting between Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams and British prime minister Tony Blair on the Northern Ireland issue)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- December 6, 1997
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1997 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BELFAST
WHEN Tony Blair meets Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, in Downing Street on December 11th, Mr Blair's spokesmen will doubtless justify the controversial meeting with the familiar formula that it is necessary "to take risks for peace". In fact the Downing Street meeting holds real danger for only one of the two men, and it is not Mr Blair. Mr Adams is well aware that the last Irish republican to meet a British prime minister in London was an IRA leader, Michael Collins, in 1921. A year later an IRA bullet killed Collins, his death warrant signed, as he said himself, when he agreed a truce with David Lloyd George. Some of Mr Adams's former colleagues are ...