THE Northern Ireland peace process teeters on the brink again as loyalists threaten to pull out of the negotiations.

It may be that these are the focus of Protestant fears that the peace process has become ever more accommodating of republican aims.

But whatever foundation or suspicion there must be for that belief, the avenue their Unionist politicians are going down when they approach the quitting point, takes them to a dangerous juncture.

And not just for the sake of the future of Northern Ireland, but for their own case.

For, in the eyes of the watching world, it will be the side that pulls out that will become blamed as the one which killed the peace process and put Ulster back into a new era of bloodshed..

If it is the loyalists who pull the plug, they will hand the republicans a huge propaganda victory.

The Unionists may have had to stomach much to come aboard the peace process, but they will have to suffer more if they are the first to disembark.

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