What part-if any-should Ireland play in the defence of Ukraine if Russia invades?

Could we just shake a furious fist at them?

I'm sure a Cuban-Venezuelan defense union would delight the Irish lefties.

Even recognising we couldn't do anything unilaterally, I find it mad some people think it is none of our concern.

It's a very good point.

I watched a good documentary on the Falklands War over Christmas (40 years ago this year, can you believe it).

As you probably know, one of the main motivations of the ruling Junta to occupy the islands when they did, was to distract from huge domestic problems in Argentina, rampant inflation, economic collapse etc.

13,000 Argentines, most conscripts, basically gave up as soon as half that number of Brits came ashore. They were unmotivated.

Same goes for Putin and this whole feckin charade he's mounting, just to distract from the colossal political and economic issues in Moscow.

The 120,000 Russians are going to be greeted by 2,000,000 fervently nationalistic and highly motivated Ukrainians, swinging 5 billion quids worth of state-of-the-art Western gear.

Could be the biggest Russian humiliation since Afghanistan.

Unless Vlad starts chucking battlefield nukes at them, in which case we're all shagged anyway.

Unfortunately for you, that's total and utter bullshyt.

The only ones trying to keep sovereign, foreign nations from exercising their free will to associate as they want internationally, is Russia. By any means at their disposal.

And there's really no getting around that.

Russia use their threat of force far better than any country in the world right now. It's why people just talk about sanctions that mean nothing, as they fear Russia's power. Years ago the USA held all the cards, they were like, '' you sank my boat, cool, here are some Atomic bombs that we'll drop on thousands of innocent people, guess you won't sink another of our boats eh''

Release lots of strongly worded statements. Simon Coveney will be in his element. Towing the NATO/EU line of course. Gotta look out for his future job opportunities.

Unfortunately for you, no it's not.

Keeping lines of communication open is pivotal to preventing war. NATO is the biggest threat to these lines of communication, it more or less forces generally neutral countries to adopt antagonistic, anti-russian sentiments held by countries like the US. This is why countries like Finland, who have long borders with Russia, refuse to join NATO.

This is before we even talk about the military bases setup in places like Romania, which are tantamount to the Cuban missile crisis of the 60s. But because it's Russia, who gives a fk?!

Feel free to look it up? I know it for a fact, that's why I stated it, I'm not just making **** up by what I feel might be right like you. I have a substantial financial interest in a farm myself.

It's a fact that Russia imported a huge amount of agricultural products from Ireland, it's a huge market that's now gone, it was all over the news. "We probably exported more to somewhere like Yorkshire" my hole!

"The ruble is... fart in the wind", get the hell out of here. What kind of idiot thing to say is that about a currency?

You will apologise for that, then ask politely and say you will concede and say I was right if I will post the correct links proving you completely wrong, especially since brexit.

There has been over 10 flights full already... the air bridge is already in place