boznia t1_iu4f1dv wrote on October 28, 2022 at 1:57 PM

Ireland is not a member of NATO and has a neutrality stance when it comes to war. The Russian ambassador is taking advantage of this to suggest Ireland is violating its principles by being involved in training Ukraine's military to remove land mines. I'd argue training others to remove land mines is not necessarily a military action but rather a humanitarian action.

DontWakeTheInsomniac t1_iu5c28a wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:40 PM

Special Training Operation.

Although I'd like to mention that neutrality simply means we do not sign defensive pacts or join allegiances. This allows us to decide how to react to each war on a case by case basis.

EightandaHalf-Tails t1_iu80sms wrote on October 29, 2022 at 7:25 AM

Ireland's neutrality here surprised me. You'd think they'd be sympathetic to the little guy getting picked on by their bigger neighbor.

MilfagardVonBangin t1_iu84c5y wrote on October 29, 2022 at 8:18 AM

It’s not a one off stance. We have neutrality (non-belligerence would be more accurate really) written into our constitution. It’d take a national referendum to remove it.

We do peacekeeping really well, and the training we'll provide is part of that tradition. We do support Ukraine.