Ireland's defensive frailty exposed by Russian exercise

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544988#Comment_118544988

i think the problem is your googling has backfired on you

cheezums

How about we tool up the local unemployed "rough lads" in every parish with a cache of weapons and have them on standy in case of invasion? It will give them some self confidence and purpose and we will be better placed to tackle any foreign belligerents.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545004#Comment_118545004

Don't google 😃

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544533#Comment_118544533

Not true according to some. We were allocated a few nuclear targets during the cold war. Dublin and Shannon were mentioned.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544557#Comment_118544557

Come friendly bombs and fall on Schull?

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545127#Comment_118545127

by the brits? Finally get rid of us?

saabsaab

The USSR at the time.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545069#Comment_118545069

name your sources

you tried to find someone to backup your point and you were taken out by friend fire

its a classic

anyway, if it were true, why are you so scared of them when they can't hit the side of a barn door

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545183#Comment_118545183

in fairness they had a lot of nukes at the time, plenty to go around

if that is even true

times have changes though, way less now

As gatling was saying theyd all fall short so we would be grand

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545045#Comment_118545045

Switzerland a neutral country have such a scheme where you have to spend a week or two every year doing military training. They also have caches locally including armoured vehicles ready to go if things go wrong. Their aim is that invasion wouldn't be worth the cost.

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545285#Comment_118545285

we are already in that position, invasion of ireland wouldn't be worth cost to anyone

sjb25

Well our fishermens victory yesterday went down well in moscow i see

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/russians-deny-fishermen-s-claims-on-naval-drills-buffer-zone-1.4787859

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545188#Comment_118545188

No

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545450#Comment_118545450

caught 🤣

brickster69

Great to see the Irish fishermen putting the shivers up the Russian fleet. Time to get the farmers to stand up now and threaten them with launching a mass bombardment of cabbages towards them. That will get them to postpone these exercises.

AyeGer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543763#Comment_118543763

They seem to forget we are a tiny country of 5 million people. Probably more people in greater Boston than in Ireland. We are never going to have the military to deter a country like Russia or China on our own. Those are the only two countries we will ever need to worry about.

Our only hope is to join some EU wide military defence set up. If we are going to spend billions then it needs to be worth it. And it would only be worth it if we were playing our part in a wider European alliance.

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545330#Comment_118545330

I doubt we are depending on who might invade the cost would be very little as it stands. We have a useful position on the edge of Europe ports and potential other resources. I don't think we could rely on military intervention from the EU or the US to assist us if the UK invaded.

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545471#Comment_118545471

Unfortunately I don't play childish games ..

🐒

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545546#Comment_118545546

they are already here, it costs them a whole pile to be here and i'd say they would be glad to be rid of us as there no gain at this stage

No one has come up with a viable other candidate for invasion, similar to the swiss, why invade when they cooperate

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544843#Comment_118544843

Unfortunately thats the level some people are at , people with no real idea about what's going on and why but think they know better than anyone ......

Its either trolls ,bots ,and useful idiots trying to disrupt and derail a thread.

It's getting more and more common around here

monkeybutter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545655#Comment_118545655

other than those whose insight is as deep and profound as a bit of googling, insight that was more easily shot down than a Sopwith camel

firemansam4

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545533#Comment_118545533

It was your typical american or British attempt to belittle Ireland and have a good laugh at how backwards we are, something how they like to portray us in films they make over their.

She reported it in a way to make it sound like we dont have any navy and need fishermen to protect our waters.

Of course the viewers she targeted probably dont comprehend the population difference and just like to have a good aul laugh at the backwards paddys.

Shao Kahn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118545546#Comment_118545546

The UK is not invading. What would be the strategic reason for the UK to invade?

Russia: The cost is that they would be invading right next to a major nuclear armed NATO nation. (who own part of our Island - in case you forgot) Far too risky for no significant reward.

And no, we are not in a useful position geographically. We're a barren outpost on the edge of europe with zero significant resources worth taking. We're a nice spot for business, multinationals etc, but that's really nothing to do with our physical location. It's the fact that we are a well educated english speaking nation with stable politics and we're easy to deal with in business. I guess you could say we're in a stable part of the world, with no ongoing wars etc. But this is no strategic advantage outside of business.

Unless Russia are planning to use Shannon as a stop over, for their bombing raids on the US... I think we'll be safe from invasion. They'd be better off going through Alaska anyway, as they used to own the place, they'll know all the best back roads! 🤣

CGI_Livia_Soprano

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118544843#Comment_118544843

Poster 1 in your scenario isn’t the level-headed one even if you try to frame them as that. The idea that Ireland needs to squirt money on its defence (billions of euros according to one poster) is utterly stupid and well deserved of mockery.

Not every idea needs to be treated like it’s a good idea. Some of them are so stupid that they deserve to have the piss ripped out of them. 😆

saabsaab

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546079#Comment_118546079

That situation is very likely to change soon. A UI is on the horizon so they won't 'own' it much longer. The most likely invader is the one that invaded last i.e. the UK - It is unlikely but not at all impossible. See below

https://www.joe.co.uk/politics/brexit-ireland-lbc-invade-224454

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118546157#Comment_118546157

Case and point .

Posting in a discussion where some people don't have the basics .

🔦

saabsaab

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDa505kpXO0

Tune in at 26.10. A certain Brexiteer.

Manic Moran

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118543728#Comment_118543728

You seem to have completely missed the context of my post and gone from "nothing" to "Red Dawn", scroll back up. I'm talking about basic policing capabilities which Ireland currently lacks, not defending against the Red Banner Northern Fleet.

we'd most likely be one of the places to survive nuclear war due to most russians not being able to find us on the map not mind invade us

Most Russians wouldn't need to, only the ones with the guns, and they had better maps of Ireland than the Irish military (Or the Americans or British, as it happens) did. There's an article on the matter in the Defence Forces Review 2006 by Col Desmond Travers. The two problems they had were an issue in attempting to translate Irish place names into cyrillic, and that a lot of the water mills which were gone or ruined by that point were still on the Soviet maps. Basically, the Soviet military made maps with military requirements in mind, the Irish Army were using Ordnance Survey maps.

goldenmick

This thread is getting a bit tiresome now, weaving back and forth with no 100% valid argument in either direction.

The bottom line is that Ireland would never be in a position - financially or otherwise - to muster up any kind of defence that would even remotely deter any determined nation from invading. We already have nuclear options right on our own doorstep, so I hardly think that any time soon, jack boots or the like are going to be stomping over the Irish countryside. Even if the money were available there's a plethora of better uses it could be put to than trying to set up, arm and weaponize, some tin pot army that would be blown away by the first wave of any major force.

But. Having said the above. You can never say never.

At any given time there are so many wars raging around the world (albeit most on the the other side of the world from us), that you can never categorically say that other countries wont get dragged in somewhere along the line - for the main part if they have alliances. It's only within a lifetime that Hitler tried to take over the world, and if Kim Jong-un is allowed to keep doing what he's doing, then you never know what might happen when China, Russia and the States kick off. Similarly with the Ukraine situation at present.

It is sad to say, but there are currently ongoing wars or minor conflicts in around three dozen countries, most of them in the Middle East, North West Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, and a major ongoing drug-war in Mexico. Wikipedia lists around 40 ongoing wars and conflicts with over 100 combat deaths in 2020 or 2021.

Ireland has enough of a deterrent by having the UK just across the water, a benevolent USA with a soft spot for the Irish, and - as many have said before - a country with feck all worth taking.

saabsaab

Nothing worth taking?

Not really, at the very least their denial to an enemy would be useful. Natural Gas, Ports on the North Atlantic, airports and Data centres 30% of those in Europe. Not to mention transatlantic cables nearby and in our waters. We needn't spend a fortune but enough to make it not worth anyone's while, we aren't there.