Is that Moldovan, Panamanian, Turkish and Japanese ships they've accidentally hit now?
We are effectively in NATO anyway for geographical reasons. If any country invaded Ireland and set up military bases here the UK would be completely vulnerable and the US would lose a lot of its ability to project force in Europe as the Russians for instance could deploy boats and planes from here to intercept anything coming to Europe, remember the treaty ports were wanted to help keep control of the Atlantic. Well a hostile power could use it to keep the US/Brits out of the Atlantic or at least turn it into dangerous waters.
Then you just have the awkwardness of waging war on the other side of Europe for Russia and getting men and supplies here across Europe without violating a load of airspace of people who don't want them to have a military base in Ireland.
I mean we probably should join to make it official but we would gain nothing and add nothing since our military isn't of much value. In fact not having much of a military here is our best gift to NATO. The RAF doesn't help out with our air space for the good of their health, it is important for the UK as well.
Only 7 days in this one.
Wouldn't that be considered gentrification? 😜
Of course I know that.
We are in the European minority not being in NATO
9 billion a year would be the defence bill if we were in NATO. It would be ludicrous
Shades of the 2006 war in Lebanon, where the Israelis were surprised by the effectiveness of the resistance they faced from infantry with modern anti-armor weapons.
You love to see it
But they also have thousands of russians soldiers inside their borders
Better used than all those pup payments.
Yes .
And yet we the world sits back
We didn't have that money either though 🙂
You think Biden would launch a Nuclear counterstrike against Russia over Sweden or Finland? Or Macron or Boris would?
i doubt it.
Agree about our strategic position but we aren’t in NATO until we are in NATO.
Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, and Malta, Finland and Sweden are not in NATO.
Which country doesn’t have radar, sonar or a military that has admitted it can’t defend themselves while having Russia war games off their coast recently………..
I don't know. I didn't say they would.
During the Cold War Sweden wanted to develop its own nuclear weapons and the US made they commit to not doing it.
Where did you pull that figure from? Nato set spending targets but it's a national competency how much they choose to spend. Luxembourg spends about .5% of GDP on defence.
I'm not particularly advocating joining Nato, we need to have a serious conversation about defence, but be accurate about what Nato membership would mean. If we were a member, the Treaty organisation can't make us pay a penny more on defence than we want to.
Someone is now keeping a record of incidents on their Trello.
Can't find that video now but I'll post it if I see it again.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/russian-military-commits-indiscriminate-attacks-during-the-invasion-of-ukraine/
Amnesty International mentioning that Russian claims of precision guided weapons as false.
We need to currently spend 2-3 billion ,
No idea where your getting 9 billion per year ,we currently spend more money helping African countries buy jets and attack helicopters than we currently spend on our defense forces forces ,we spend on average 800 million per year but 400 million goes on wages and pensions
The guideline defence expenditure is 2% of GDP. I know that's just a guideline, but even 1% wouldn't be justifiable
The Turks are also a strong power in NATO and I see Erdogan has called for stronger action against Russia. Not what I expected but a definitely a welcome voice.
We spend less than Caribbean islands ,
We're pathetic
The Kremlin’s objectives are not limited to Ukraine, Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg says.
He describes Putin’s decision to pursue aggression against Ukraine as a “terrible strategic mistake” for which Russia would pay a “severe price for years to come”.
We are facing a new normal in European security.
Nato allies and the EU have already introduced significant sanctions and must stand ready “to do more”, he says.
Even if it means we have to pay a price because we are in this for the long haul
From the Guardian live blog
https://twitter.com/ww32022/status/1497267470083702787?s=21
No wonder we have a debt the same as a big Country like Russia.
The convoy with the ammunition that we hand over to Ukraine has already reached our neighbors. We support Ukrainians, we stand in solidarity and we firmly oppose Russian aggression
Translated from Polish.
Erdogan really hates Russia so must have weighed things up!
Aughinish alumina in Limerick under threat now due to Russian links. This could have serious consequences for Limerick if those jobs are lost. This is the potential impact of sanctions. We may have a heavy bill to pay and that will be just the start.
But won't close the Bosporus straight to Russian warships or impose a no fly zone .
Like the rest of the west all talk no action
Stupid post.
Why does a British person feel the need to come on here to belittle and insult us?
It's a bit sad really.
they must be infested with drug addicted nazis as well one can imagine the kind of scum putin is itching to find in estonia, latvia, lithuania, poland, moldova next ....
because putin would declare we are run by drug addicted nazis next ..
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