THE weekend's devastating bombings in London are evidence, if any were needed, that the Irish Republican Army has long since become so blinded by its own callous code of terror that it no longer has any sense of cause or direction. Like Hongkong's triads, whose honourable and patriotic origins in the resistance to Manchurian rule bear no relation to the degenerate gangsterism of today, the IRA is no longer a company of proud men fighting to throw off the British yoke. If the British left Northern Ireland tomorrow, the IRA would continue its campaign of murder. Stripped of its liberationist mystique it would reveal itself, like the triads, for the self-serving mafia it really is. The blast in the financial district of the city of London that left at least one dead and over 40 injured, may have been intended as an anniversary reminder of a bomb last April which killed three people and injured 80. What it showed far more clearly is that the IRA has learned none of the lessons of the recent Warrington bombing, where the senseless murder of innocent English children sent a wave of revulsion throughout the world. It has re-awakened the dormant peace movement among people it might once have considered its main supporters. That the Hongkong Bank Building should have borne the brunt of the blast, although the main target was presumably the giant NatWest Tower nearby, demonstrates that terrorists have no more respect for businesses with no connection to their ''struggle'' than they have for the lives of innocent bystanders. It is also a stark warning of how vulnerable Hongkong itself could be, should the IRA take the unlikely decision to attack British garrisons abroad as it has done in the past to British troops stationed inGermany. Security at many military installations and quarters here is minimal. At Government House, too, security has recently been reported to be poor. Although Hongkong is rightly considered to be among the safest cities in the world, the devastation wrecked on the Hongkong Bank office in London is a reminder of how easily such a view can be shattered. Hongkong has had its fair share of violence recently as armed mainland criminals show their disdain for the law by using their weapons against police and civilians alike. It should not be assumed that the territory's distance from Britain ensures it is insulated from political violence as well.
