CS Blenner 🇺🇦🇵🇸🇱🇧🇬🇱🇪🇺

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.👇

Everyone associated with these institutions should be thoroughly probed on their relationship and proximity to russian funding of they ever want to venture a public opinion on anything ever again

@Partisan_12 Hold on, she has no issue with Russia slaughtering Ukrainians because it’s ‘NATO’s fault’. She’s not calling out the hypocrisy as it should be called out, but because she feels Russia should be allowed compete.

🇪🇸Spain’s Irene Montero just dropped absolute FIRE on Eurovision’s disgusting hypocrisy! “Europe prohibits the participation of Russia, but continues to allow the participation of a TERRORIST STATE that continues to bomb Lebanon and Palestine" "Israel is CHEATING the votes, the top 3 are financed with Israeli money, and the organization itself admitted the irregularities!” The only solution? TOTAL BOYCOTT.

@RomaissaTahar Bardem, Sanchez and Yamal, three high-profile Spaniards who are not afraid to stand up for the people of Palestine.

Javier Bardem told AFP he is receiving more work despite his public criticism of Israel’s genocide in the Gaza Strip, saying the industry narrative around the issue is changing. he called for “No to war and a free Palestine,”

@Macarena_Olona Se os tendrían que caer las caras de vergüenza a los fachas españolitos, menudo papelón en Cataluña pegando porrazos a abuelas. Regalasteis miles de horas de contenido a los rusos y chinos para que hagan propaganda anti-Europa. Y encima estáis orgullosos de ser idiotas.

La amnistía de los responsables de estos terribles hechos. El juicio que se va a celebrar únicamente contra los Policías que mantuvieron la línea en Cataluña. Considerar accidente laboral el asesinato de nuestros Guardias Civiles. Sé que muchos añadirías otros motivos, pero estos son los míos. No. El resultado electoral en Andalucía no es una buena noticia para España. Porque el castigo electoral debería haber sido evidente. Y no lo ha sido. Dicho esto, no comparto los análisis que critican a VOX por haber obtenido un 13%, mismo porcentaje -incrementado en unas décimas- que en las pasadas elecciones de 2022. Ese 13% en 2026 tiene un valor infinitamente superior porque el ganador de la noche no ha alcanzado la mayoría absoluta. Para mí, como española, es una noche amarga, pero ambas derechas hoy tienen motivo de celebración. Que el bien de España guíe las negociaciones para formar gobierno.

@elespanolcom @pedroj_ramirez La realidad es que por mucho que vendas al PP como la salvación y ataques al Perro sin piedad, el PP sigue estancado en los sondeos e incluso por debajo que en las últimas generales. Por qué será?

🎥🗣 #ElVideoblogDelDirector | El PP se refuerza como instrumento del cambio mientras Sánchez sigue creando 'monstruos' "Amarga goleada. El PP de Juanma Moreno le saca al PSOE más de 18 escaños, casi 900.000 votos, a un PSOE hundido por debajo del 23%" 🗣 Por @pedroj_ramirez

@TullMcAdoo Doolan sounding suspiciously like Trump there. Everyone of those comments is a standard Trump line.

Doolan tried to explain why Nolan was on the campaign trail. pressreader.com/ireland/irish-…

Cllr Dathi Doolan posted this to his FB page on May 13th, pictured with Eamonn Nolan, canvassing for Janice Boylan in Dublin Central. Nolan was convicted of murdering a civil servant in front of his 3-year-old at a bank in Tramore.

@MichaelShurkin I heard the Cherokee were going to attempt genocide on the US settlers, so the Trail of Tears was a boomerang. Nasty indigenous population getting ideas above their station and trying to protect their homelands got what they had coming to them!

The "Nakba" was an attempted genocide of Jews that failed, and boomeranged. Had they won, the date would be celebrated, while Jews would have marked falling victim to the second genocide in a decade.

▫️The far right barely inched forward – it ran a shamelessly racist campaign on ‘national priority’ for ‘native Spaniards’ ▫️The hard left united under one banner and kept its 5 seats, but lost out to the leftwing regionalists ▫️ Andalusia’s rightward shift is consolidated (map)

▫️The big winners are the leftwing regionalists, a pattern seen in other regions – it’s almost like progressive voters are sending Sanchez a message ▫️The conservative PP, led by the smarmy first minister Juanma Moreno, has lost its overall majority 2/

All over by the shouting in the Andalusian elections. Key takeaways: ▫️The usually streetwise Pedro Sanchez keeps repeating his mistake of putting forward senior cabinet ministers as candidates for first minister. And, with the exception of Catalonia, they all flop 1/

She should say this to the doctor/mother who had to identify the charred remains of her slaughtered children. Or to the staving children alone in the world after israel blew up their parents. Or the doctors who spend their days removing bullets from children’s chests and heads.

@sanchezcastejon @JuanMa_Moreno @mjmonteroc @psoeandalucia Lo de presentar ministros no está funcionando. No entiendo cómo alguien con tu instinto político sigue tropezando con la misma piedra.

Enhorabuena a @JuanMa_Moreno por su resultado en las elecciones de Andalucía. Quiero felicitar a @mjmonteroc y a todo el @psoeandalucia por su trabajo y compromiso. Gracias por una gran campaña, en defensa siempre de los servicios públicos y del bienestar de todos los andaluces y andaluzas. Los socialistas seguiremos impulsando los avances sociales y la política útil, esa que mejora la vida de la gente.

@Marcusgmn39 I imagine all the boycotters will eventually relent because Germany will never allow anything that penalises Israel.

@CSBlenner Ireland might never be in the Eurovision again. Which is crazy

The conservative papers in Spain and Ireland happy to push Israeli narratives in order to attack their own public broadcasters, leaders and compatriots.

@banie01 Exactly, opinion polling consistently shows the contempt in which Israel and Russia are held by the vast majority of Europeans. And both their state broadcasters are propagandists who justify war crimes.

@CSBlenner The Israeli Hasbara budget and the effort to paint themselves as beloved by Europe & Eurovision... Well, it falls flat every time the audio from the arena is heard. KAN need to be treated the same way as VGTRK. No place for Russia, nor Israel within EBU. middleeasteye.net/news/israel-bo…

Surely we can put paid go the theory that opposition to the Afghanistan war was what did for the Soviet Union? What caused its collapse was glasnost and perestroika. It was a system that could not withstand internal criticism. One the lid was lifted, it was curtains.

@RALee85 @ale_paz06 It’s one thing ‘to increase their deterrent capabilities’, quote another to attack Guantanamo Bay, which sounds like an excuse for an pre-emptive on Cuba.

@ale_paz06 I mean, the US is threatening regime change in Cuba. Not shocking that they would try to increase their deterrent capabilities.

"Cuba has acquired more than 300 military drones and recently began discussing plans to use them to attack the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, U.S. military vessels and possibly Key West, Fla., 90 miles north of Havana, according to classified intelligence shared with Axios... Cuba has been acquiring attack drones of 'varying capabilities' from Russia and Iran since 2023, and has stashed them in strategic locations across the island, U.S. officials say. Within the past month, Cuban officials have sought more drones and military equipment from Russia, the senior U.S. official said. The official cited intelligence intercepts that also indicated Cuban intelligence officials are 'trying to learn about how Iran has resisted us.'" @MarcACaputo axios.com/2026/05/17/us-…

@osheaf01 @robggill I’ll never forget how she advocated using brute force to deal with Scottish nationalism. It was jaw-dropping.

@robggill Lisa Nandy is a) passionately pro-Brexit and b) an idiot

Labour have been so cowardly on this issue. Brexit has been an utter disaster. That is why UK has had 6 PMs in last 10 years, after having 5 in the previous 36 years and an economic disaster ever since and they can't show courage.

@DanStephen1775 @BulwarkOnline Can’t wait for Trump to claim that China wouldn’t have invaded Taiwan had he been president.

@BulwarkOnline Well, if that doesn’t give China a big green light to go for Taiwan, I don’t know what would

Baier: "Xi probably liked that you haven't approved the weapons to Taiwan." Trump: "I would say 'like' is maybe too strong of a word…China's a very, very big country. That's a very small island. It's 59 miles away. We're 9,500 miles away…[Taiwan] stole our chip industry."

@PaulHen08404530 @RobLooseCannon It was sold 2 years ago. Maybe Opus Dei was the buyer? myhome.ie/priceregister/…

@CSBlenner @RobLooseCannon Yes but it's got nothing to do with Opus Dei.

Did you know Opus Dei, the Catholic secret society has a strong invisible prescence in Ireland? In 1947, a young Spanish engineer named José Ramón Madurga stepped off a boat in Dublin. Officially, he had come to pursue a Master’s degree at University College Dublin. Unofficially, he carried instructions delivered personally by St Josemaría Escrivá, the founder of Opus Dei. He didnt recruit among the poor or the marginalised. Opus Dei sought students, doctors, engineers, and lawyers, people who would one day occupy lecture halls, hospitals, boardrooms and Dáil Eireann itself. Their first base opened quietly in 1948, a rented house at 27 Northbrook Road in Ranelagh. From here, Madurga and a small inner circle moved through UCD, the Royal College of Surgeons, libraries, and professional colleges. Their modus operandi was discipline, daily prayer and the promise that ordinary work, done perfectly could lead to holiness. Opus Dei is Latin for "Work of God" and their members reffered to their mission as "The Work". By the early 1950s, Opus Dei was embedded among the intelligencia, its university residences doubled as "formation centres". The key moment came in 1954 with the opening of Nullamore University Residence in Dublin.The guest list included Taoiseach John A. Costello, Éamon de Valera and Archbishop John Charles McQuaid was there too. Opus Dei had infiltrated Ireland’s ruling class. Other centres followed. Ely University Centre near St Stephen’s Green became a hub for talks, retreats, and discreet recruitment. In Galway, Gort Ard focused on students in medicine, engineering, and law, later followed by Limerick. The Work knew exactly where influence was incubated and it went there deliberately. Ireland did not merely host Opus Dei, we exported it. Irish members rose quickly within the organisation’s international hierarchy. Cormac Burke, a Sligo barrister, became one of the first Irish priests ordained within Opus Dei and later served as a judge on the Roman Rota. Richard Mulcahy an army officer and nephew of General Richard Mulcahy, was among the earliest recruits. Dr Dan Cummings relocated to Rome to assist with central administration, part of a steady Irish contribution to the Work’s global machinery. For decades Opus Dei enjoyed institutional goodwill in Ireland. But by the more secular late twentieth century, criticism began to surface. Former members and groups such as Dialogue Ireland accused Opus Dei of blurred boundaries between spiritual guidance and recruitment, particularly among young students. Others focused on gender. Women, especially assistant numeraries responsible for domestic labour in Opus Dei centres, later described rigid control, limited education and exploitative slavelike working conditions. Where the story becomes genuinely troubling is not in imagined state capture but in the testimonies of women who worked behind the scenes. Throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, Opus Dei relied heavily on assistant numeraries, young women often recruited from rural or working-class backgrounds. Many were promised education or training that never materialised. Instead they cooked and cleaned for male residences, working long hours with little pay, limited social insurance, and strict control over movement and contact. In her 2024 memoir Serve: My Lost Years at the Heart of Opus Dei, Anne Marie Allen described her experience as indistinguishable from trafficking, a claim echoed by former assistant numeraries from Ireland and beyond. Today, Opus Dei in Ireland is smaller than its mid-century ambitions once suggested, but it remains significant. As of 2025 it counts roughly 800 members, mostly laypeople living ordinary lives. Clonskeagh Castle serves as its regional headquarters. Glenard continues as a women’s residence and study centre. University houses still operate, though now in a vastly altered cultural landscape. Buy the Dublin Time Machine a pint and support the DTM Book ko-fi.com/buchanandublin…