For this week's edition of Sunday Scrutiny I would like to take a look at the Sinn Fein head honcho himself-Gerry Adams.

It is my opinion that Gerry Adams is determined to put himself in the history books and be remembered alongside men like Michael Collins and Eamon de Valera.
Adams in my view is so blinded by the Irish rhetoric and regalia that his party revels in,that his eyes remain closed to the necessary steps that need to be taken in order to make Irish unity a reality.

To be fair,I see some parallels between Adams and former SF leader,Eamon de Valera.
Adams,like Dev,realised that the policies that were advocated by Sinn Fein were not working with the people and so Adams decided to embrace the constitutional process even if it meant causing a split within the party.
Adams though,like Dev,has one major failing-like numerous leaders of nationalism he fails to understand or indeed respect the integrity of the unionist position.

Admas and SF in their dealings with the two governments and unionism treat the Provisional IRA as the proverbial 'carrot on a stick'.
Hint at decommissioning,hint at a declaration of an ending to the war,hint at disbandment yet all the while planning to do little or none of these things.
Sinn Fein have grown considerably since the absence of violence yet refuse to take the logical step of severing with the IRA completely.Why?Well on the one hand they have no need to,as they hold a very strong mandate but also,in my opinion,it is to give the IRA its special place in Irish history.

Mark my words in the view of Adams and his colleagues,IRA disbandment will only occur when Irish unity is on the verge of being a reality.Unionists and Sinn Fein will continue to negotiate for IRA disbandment but it won't happen until SF know they have unionism on the verge of defeat.
Sinn Fein are not under threat right now so have no need to make such an important moment in Irish history like IRA disbandment.

Adams wants his place in the sun.He wants his efforts and the efforts of his colleagues to go down in history.There's just one big problem that he and nationalists everywhere need to realise-these tactics are doomed to fail!
As long as the IRA are in existence,Irish unity remains a pipe dream as the united Ireland Adams will offer will never appeal to the unionist tradition.
Nationalists are faced with a fork in the road.Do they go down the route of moderate nationalism which involves negotiation on issues of common ground with unionism?Do they try to make Ireland as unified as possible before unity occurs?
Or,do they go down the Sinn Fein route that Adams advocates which involves highlighting the differences between green and orange and making sure that the IRA and its activities are not halted?

It is the choice of nationalism but it is my opinion that the latter choice leads nationalism face to face with a border that will become increasingly difficult to dislodge.