British troops have no permanent bases in NATO Europe (except in Cyprus, which is not NATO) - only an extremely small contingent in Germany (less than 200 after the post-WW2 mission was scrapped).
British troops would be stationed in Ireland no more than there are no Turkish troops stationed in Greece.
Should we join NATO, we may see a small US detachment based in Ireland, but that's likely it.
*Not a mega strong NATO membership proponent, I favour strengthening defence capacity and spending generally, but believe NATO membership should never be taken off the table via referendum as some of the fringe left suggest.
I agree. Russia is not coming for us. The only way will will be bombed would be if the pilot thought Ireland was England like some German pilots did in WW2 but I doubt that would happen these days with GPS and what not. The only country we have to watch out for is UK them scumbag still haven't giving us back our occupied six counties.
Their reputation wasn’t exactly great before this invasion but it will be absolutely in the toilet at this stage.
A lot of companies will be completely unwilling (and even without sanctions unable) to take the kinds of risks presented by the Russian market now. So you can expect no FDI, even businesses from countries that aren’t sanctioning them are going to be extremely nervous of being caught up in some mess like having assets seized.
There are also likely now complications where companies exporting technologies that are dependent on Western software, hardware, components, banking services, IT services etc are all likely to be hugely problematic. Major insurers also wouldn’t touch you. If you’re a consumer focused company, or a big brand or even a business to business supplier, you could well also be boycotted by your customers and land in extremely negative PR and reputation all damage.
You’ve also got a likelihood of opening a company to sanctions by the US, EU and others, and Russia is a relatively unattractive market to begin with and its spending power is shrinking dramatically and you’d have to be paid in Rouble, so yeah … I can’t see companies being very enthusiastic.
Nevermind, didn't realise this site is complete **** on mobile and replies don't function correctly.
The German Govt have put up more of a fight for Putin than most of the Russian army.
Well I am not suggesting that we join but I wouldn't take it for granted that Russia would never target Ireland to send a message.
A Western European country with effectively no ability to fight back, but also no trigger of a NATO response.
‘We can’t house our own’
at the risk of derailing the thread, get the fück out with that shitè. The ‘housing crisis’ was caused by a stroke of a do-gooding pen which made every Jamella in the country pack her bags in her mams council house and declare herself homeless in order to get her own free forever house. A fücking shambles that Johnny taxpayer gets screwed for again.
we should join nato, if they’ll have us. It’s wrong just to sit back and let uk/USA defend us because they have to.
For me I would like to see us become a full participant in the likely future EU defense forces and we can look at whether NATO makes sense down the road after we have been a full partner in the EU defense force for a time. Being part of the EU is where we are and where our future lies.
Sure we are a tiny country and nobody is suggesting suddenly we are supposed to be some serious military force. But what we can do is look for a niche where we can provide a high level of contribution and skill. Given we are an island national maybe an increased naval capability would be the way to go. We used to spend about 1.5% of our gdp as recently as the early 1980's so certainly there is scope for us to build up to that level again from the paltry 0.3% we were at in 2020.
I was in favour of eu defence v nato but seeing how appallingly the Germans have been about this.....I'm leaning towards nato.
Regardless we should strengthen our defences and decide if we join anyone or stand alone. At a minimum we need to be able to deter Russia from deciding the undefended island between the USA and the EU would be a good place to set up.
This looks like it'll cause a strain in EU relations considering the German's approach compared to many others in the bloc. I don't think it'll collapse or anything drastic like that but I wonder if there will be an attempt to reduce Germany's political power within the EU.
It good to hear that one side will take war crimes seriously even when it involves their own troops.
Warning: some viewers might find the Videos in the tweet/responses difficult to watch or gruesome.
Here's an idea, kick Germany out of the EU or sanction them for being Russian stoolies
The ex Greek finance minister -Yanis V I think , apart from making a number of ‘gaffs’ made the following one . He absolutely RUBBISHED the idea of the EU establishing a 5000 strong Rapid Reaction Force and one of its main jobs would be to evacuate embassy personnel and suchlike if required. On the assumption that most/all of EU members are in NATO Does he not realise that NATO would look after the ‘rest of the business’? A highly dangerous man to listen to without analysing what he is about.
Pales into insignificance compared to what the Russians are doing
The Germans let the fox into the hen house. They're attitudes to Russia are pretty at odds with reality frankly.
Let's not get silly though. But they need some extreme internal introspection at government level. It seems at odds to public opinion there.
The claim that Ireland is of no strategic value to the Russians is nonsense.
Even back to 1981, Ireland's strategic importance was the discussion of many UK Military discussions and papers.
One paper specifically mentions Irelands role and importance, to the UK and NATO, in the event of WW3 and a Nuclear Exchange.
It identifies the possibility of recruiting 500,000 extra soldiers. The UK paper also identifies Irelands abysmal radar and lack of Early Warning Radar, which if installed would further protect the Western Flank, allowing NATO to focus on the East. The paper identifies 38 airports ( from main ones to airstrips) and mentions that, in the event of USSR decimating and capturing large parts of Eastern Europe ( as it was in the '80's), that governments in exile would come to Ireland and work from here, generally situated at The Curragh.
Regarding Nuclear strikes, the UK Military paper also states that both Shannon and Bantry were candidates for a direct nuclear strike and an airburst strike over strategically important communications sites, such as the Curragh, would render all electronics useless due to the EMP.
I remember reading the details of the paper, which was published here in Ireland under FOI documents release. I'll try to find the link.
.
There is a lot of Thai about the west do not give a dam about Ukr. What comes to mind - a simple example- isa neighbour situation . You have two neighbours who mind their own business . They pass by eachother every morning going to work and exchange a brief hello . They respect eachother - their ‘sovereign state status’- and get on with their own lives in a discrete way. BUT each ‘know’ that if something happened that needed the help of a neighbour that each would be very willing to help out and with a heart and a half. I see the same with soverighn states that respect eachother. Do not the vast majority of soverign states reciprocate embassies for a start
+1 IMHO this is one of the bigger stories and one of Russia's biggest mistakes in this war as far as Russia and mid to long term investment goes. Unless the war is over in afew weeks and Russia releases them those aircraft are now essentially worthless. Even if sanctions were lifted by the summer, few if any international leasing or insurance companies will touch Russia for the foreseeable. They've cost them too much and their economy is too small to offset that. This means good luck with Russia getting international lease and insurance deals which they need. That move alone proves putin and his pirates have little if any cop on. The clever move would have been to just give them back to the lessors. That would have told the international finance and business community that regardless of politics they'd play by the wider rules. Indeed releasing the what 700 aircraft back to the lessors would have hit the "West" more by flooding the market with "cheap" planes, while preserving faith and confidence in Russian business dealings. Instead of giving the ball back, Russia reacted like an emotional child, took their ball home and now the rest of the kids don't want to play with him anymore.
Germany, on a governmental level at least, has always been 100% self serving whether its a financial crisis or War. They don't seem to do philanthropy on any scale unless its 100% necessary and means little or no impact to their economy.
If you'd asked 100 officials in similar high positions in any country they would have said much the same. Absolutely nobody really gave them any hope of holding out for more than 3 days.
If it’s of no strategic value, we’ll what the hell is Ru doing with 30 or is it 40 staff members. Maybe it does take 28 workers to change a light and being overseen -generals- by the balance of 12 -‘generals’
Call me whatever you like, but I don't care if Russian POWs are getting shot in the legs. Some people need to get a sense of proportion.
You are referring to The Strategic Importance of Ireland to the UK in Times of War document of 1981:-
Very true, but it highlights that it has a chance of being addressed by Ukraine and not acceptable, while Russia appears to encourage war crimes.
If Syrians who want more democracy and have suffered under Russian bombs were to travel to Ukraine and fight the Russians I'd have no problems with it (but who's going to bring them? Not the Russians)
If jihadists join the Russians so they get a free passport to Europe to kill infidels in Ukraine then try and slip into Poland I do have a big problem with it.
I'm surprised that's so hard to understand
So just a bigger version of this:
I’m amazed at Russian technology!
If it's any consolation, the German press have been pretty critical of Scholzs "half in, half out" approach to helping Ukraine and general sense seems to be that's he's overwhelmed by the whole thing
Unless of course the whole strategy is going according to plan as some would have us believe. It is 4-D chess and us mere mortals are too thick to understand it.
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