Russian Foreign Policy

I hears an analyst say that Russia will seek to impose a new Federal constitution on Ukraine which contains an explicit statement that they will not join NATO. If they do then the Tanks will roll again.
Something along those lines reported by BBC...

a source in Ukrainian counter-intelligence has told Ukrainska Pravda website details of Russia's plan to take control of the city to take control of the country. It's all unconfirmed but this is what they report Russia wants to do:

  • Seize a major Kyiv airport and air traffic control to allow 10,000 troops to land, distracting the military with attacks on the border
  • Sabotage Kyiv's electricity and communications to cause panic
  • Provoke an exodus of refugees to prevent Ukrainian armed forces moving around
  • Seize government buildings including cabinet and parliament and capture the state leadership, forcing them to sign an agreement on Russian terms
  • Bring in pro-Russian leaders and split Ukraine into two parts, like East and West Germany
 
The Russians are some peace-keepers
 
Putin may consider Ukraine part of Russia but the people there don't.
Even back in the 1990 election for the Soviet Congress of People’s Deputies, back when Gorbachev's reforms had allowed the first semi-free election in their history, Ukraine voted solidly for pro-independence candidates (as did Georgia).

It's interesting that in the same election Russian Nationalists won enough seats in the Russian Congress of People’s Deputies to narrowly elect Yeltsin as chairman. A few months later that legislature voted for Russian Sovereignty from the USSR. Just like in the UK the Union could survive Nationalism in it's peripheral regions but not at its core.
Therefore it is Russia, and not Ukraine or anyone else, which caused the collapse of the Russian/Soviet Empire.
 
Is it now time for us to decide if we stand with democracy or continue out cowardly policy of unalignment, often mistakenly referred to as neutrality?
 
Last edited:
Is it now time for us to decide if we stand with democracy or continue out cowardly policy of unalignment, often mistakenly referred to as neutrality?
I'm sticking to supporting our neutrality. If you don't agree I'm sure Ukraine will be delighted to accept you as a volunteer soldier to fight against Russian might.
 
I'm sticking to supporting our neutrality.
Why is "neutrality" against evil so meritorious? Genuine question. I agree with a lot of your posts but I genuinely don't get this neutrality fetish that a lot of Irish people elevate to the ultimate virtue signal.

If you don't agree I'm sure Ukraine will be delighted to accept you as a volunteer soldier to fight against Russian might.
We have already suffered the HSE cyber attack which originated Kremlinside. Then there's the incursions into Irish controlled civil airspace, and the military exercises in our EEZ. We simply don't have the option of being neutral.
 
finland also borders russia reports says he is also eyeing there as well .(was part of russia old days) plus there is strategic island south of sweden (swedish territory) correct me if i am wrong i think it was called gotland or something like that
see number of countries have banned all fights from russia (aeroflot). actually one has cancelled all airlines flights from what i hear ,
also hear a lot of sport competitions due to be in russia now withdrawn .russia may have complete control over what is broadcast on tv about ukraine ,but the reason/purpose for these cancellations will get out to people quickly i think?
quick question who in belorus is under sanction ,think every gov Politian there need to be hit with everything we got including swift, they might then cause a few problems i use words (red tape delays) for russian convoys crossing from north
 
Ireland's Neutrality was hard won. It wasn't given to us and history shows we won it. The sooner other nations copy what we have done regarding wars the sooner we'll have some kind of world peace.

The war in Ukraine like the Middle East conflict, like any African country civil war and Asian difficulties are all about land. No land, even in Belfast, Dublin and Kiev is worth the shedding of a single drop of blood, let alone dying for.

So Putin is extending his territory and being not much different to Hitler, Napoleon, the Brits, the Yanks etc thinks he is doing the right thing. Putin is a terrorist and terrorists in the long run don't win. Putin may not be beaten by military means, but a determined people will make him look stupid and eventually the people of Ukraine will achieve this.

But, here on a good forum (called Ask About Money, no less!) we have some people thinking Ireland should cease its entitled status of being Neutral. They want to send our army, bit of a navy and air corps to fight Russian Might. Our army has been underpaid for years, treated disgracefully and is a "laugh" in many an Irish town, Our army had to depend on their wives and girlfriends to fight their pay and conditions claims which has taken years and is still ongoing. Some of the female members of our army have waited years to have alleged rape claims from within our forces even to be heard.

And still you want them to fight the might of Russia . . . ask their wives and girlfriends first.
 
Last edited:
John, Please use a few capital letters, commas, full-stops and divide some paragraphs which will make your post more readable and understandable.
 
Ireland's Neutrality was hard won. It wasn't given to us and history shows we won it.
True enough. We had to, er, go to war against what was then the world's largest empire to win the right to be neutral. (John Lennon's apt comments on virginity come to mind!) Or, equally, the right not to be neutral. They're complementary rights.

The sooner other nations copy what we have done regarding wars the sooner we'll have some kind of world peace.
Kumbaya, my Lord, Kumbaya! Great thought. Now go sell it to Vlad, Xi, Kim and the approximately 80% of the world's nations that aren't democracies where the military is under civil control.


The war in Ukraine like the Middle East conflict, like any African country civil war and Asian difficulties are all about land. No land, even in Belfast, Dublin and Kiev is worth the shedding of a single drop of blood, let alone dying for.
That's a pretty extreme pacifist position. So when the guys with tanks show up and want some of your land, you should just..... give it to them?? Because that's the inescapable logic of your position. And then, what do you do when they swallow the first bit and demand more. (Anschluss, Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Poland.......)

So Putin is extending his territory and being not much different to Hitler, Napoleon, the Brits, the Yanks etc thinks he is doing the right thing. Putin is a terrorist and terrorists in the long run don't win.
Actually they do sometimes. And the long run can be very long indeed.

Putin may not be beaten by military means, but a determined people will make him look stupid and eventually the people of Ukraine will achieve this.
One can only hope. Because we've got no better ideas......

Very salient points. We have treated our armed forces disgracefully, and harmed them as individuals and us as a society in so doing. There's a very instructive article in the Irish Times today about how Finland and Ireland deal with our respective neutralities. Theirs is real. Ours is makey-uppy. They have a navy of 200 ships. With territorial waters thirty times their size, we have nine. Not all of which can put to sea for want of crew. They're about to buy a couple of squadrons of F-35s, the most advanced warplanes ever. Our only jets are trainers with tiny machine guns mounted. It's pathetic.

Ireland and Finland: Similar countries with vastly different security approaches (via @IrishTimes) https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ire...astly-different-security-approaches-1.4812357
 
Pacified means will defeat Putin eventually. Ghandi and Fitt are testament to these. Waging an all-out war on Putin is playing into his hands.
 
Pacified means will defeat Putin eventually. Ghandi and Fitt are testament to these. Waging an all-out war on Putin is playing into his hands.
I wish I had your optimism! Putin has nibbled away South Ossetia and Abkhazia from Georgia. And what did the West do? Deepened trade links, opened NordStream 1 and went to his winter Olympics. Then he nibbled Crimea and the Donbas. And we went to his world cup and built NordStream 2. If you're Putin, you gotta be thinking the West are wimps who'll accept anything from him. Which is why he's back for Ukraine Mark 2.

What'll be next? Moldova, perhaps? What will we do when he invades Lithuania? Does he seem afraid of the consequences?

If you meet bullying with weakness, you get more bullying. And Gandhi and Fitt were dealing with a democracy where public opinion mattered.
 
Although I have no qualifications in Psychiatry I have no doubt Vladimir Putin is mad. If anybody saw last evening's interview on RTE News at 6.00 pm with the Ambassador to Ireland of Russia you'd have no doubt he is mad also. If he isn't mad then the situation in the Russian Embassy is worse than I thought and the Ambassador is a downright liar. I believe Ireland's first "shot" should be to expel the Russian Ambassador and his entire delegation immediately.

Then our government should press for more sanctions and treat Russia like lepers. We need the EU to row in behind this too. An armed response is futile and is what Putin wants.
 
Last edited:
Hadn't Fintan the Tool a point? Putin remembers Napoleon and Hitler. That's what I like about the Tool, he is so capable of thinking outside the box.
 
I believe Ireland's first "shot" should be to expel the Russian Ambassador and his entire delegation immediately.
Wouldn't that be rather incompatible with neutrality?
We kept open the German Embassy throughout Hitler's conquest of one innocent country after another and throughout the Holocaust. Dev offered his condolences to the German Ambassador on the suicide of Adolf.
A bit ironic to expel the Russian Ambassador at the first stages of the de-nazification of Ukraine.
 
Did that German ambassador brief the press with disinformation though... I think the Russian ambassador should be expelled for his specific conduct.
 
Reports that Turkey will close Black Sea straits to Russian warships, it seems to be more of a symbolic rule as they cannot stop 'returning' ships.
 
Putin and his lackeys would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to be aware of soaring worldwide revulsion.

Eventually, it will reach ordinary Russians, that the global community want nothing to do with Russia under his leadership or want Russian participation in any international events, regardless of their nature.

The few who do can dictate their own terms.