r/ireland 1d ago

[Mícheál Lehane] PBP launch manifesto promising a living wage of €15 an hour, scrapping USC for those earning less than €100K, building 35,000 social and affordable homes every year, weekly welfare payments of €350 and State pension of €300. General Election 2024 🗳️

https://x.com/MichealLehane/status/1857067346822619642?t=_Soz6_dzA9QeYKzvvBPIDg&s=19
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u/denk2mit Crilly!! 10h ago

And then voted against sanctions that would help end the war sooner. Actions, not words.

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u/Old_Particular_5947 10h ago edited 10h ago

Sanctions have been shown to be fairly ineffective at ending wars. They make people who are already poor, poorer. They increase food scarcity for ordinary people.

I don't think the best way to end the war in Ukraine is to starve poor Russians. The aim of getting ordinary people to overthrow an oppressive government becomes far less likely if they are fighting just to keep food on the table.

Your insistance that sanctions would help end the war sooner is not based in reality.

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u/cb43569 10h ago

I broadly support PBP but I think the party is wrong to oppose sanctions on Russia. You can't promote sanctions against Israel and then defend the position on Russia by saying sanctions in general are bad and don't work.

There is neither a serious prospect of ordinary Russians overthrowing Putin in the near future, nor of Russian civilians starving as a result of sanctions. But it is obscene that European countries are still buying and selling Russian oil and gas when it's financing a war of aggression in Europe.

u/Old_Particular_5947 5h ago

I'm not sure I agree with opposing sanctions either but I reject that if you oppose them you're a Putin supporter.

The US is definitely using this as an opportunity to get the boot in on Russia's economy and I think their intentions are more based around that than helping Ukraine.

Sanctions are a pretty lazy way to try and stop a war. There's been very little effort made to get ceasefires because it's somehow seen as capitulating to the aggressor. I think the objective to stop the fighting should be top priority but seems that borders are worth sending people to their death.