GRAFFITI on Belfast walls last year compared Gerry Adams to Michael Collins, with the implied threat that if he sold out, Adams would meet the same fate as the main signatory of the 1921 Treaty with Britain which partitioned the country.
A more apt comparison might be Yasser Arafat since Adams and the Republican leadership are now locked into a process which, as has been pointed out often in these pages, is destined to lead to the very opposite of the aims of the republicans.
The Unionists know that, which is why they are increasing their bluster: most recently in their "concern" at the threats by the Provos against joyriders and other anti-social behaviour, reports DAVID COEN. THE REPUBLICANS' main goal is to achieve their twe Ministerial places on the Executive, which is to implicitly recognise the Northern State.
They have already accepted the Ünionist veto on Trish unity and are almost in a position of having to admit that 25 years of armed struggle has achieved precisely nothing.
Disarmament would be to admit this publicly hence its difficulty, though according to the Independent on Sunday, IRA leaders did promise this to Bair - on condition Sinn Fein were allowed into the Executive. Even then, the Unionists refused to play ball, believing they extract more from the Republicans in Mitchell's review.
It is likely that more will be extracted The Unionists'