Neutrality, “Triple Lock” and Russia

In the course of the current debate in Ireland on the issues of national security, neutrality and the “Triple Lock” on missions abroad the Irish government makes an effort to promote an idea that all aspects of the national security policy should be carefully reviewed under the pretext that the geopolitical reality has changed, allegedly, because of Russia and the conflict in Ukraine.

That is a deeply flawed argument, designed simply to mislead people and abdicate responsibility for the current state of international affairs. The joint narrative of the US, NATO and the EU deliberately hides the fact that it has been their anti-Russian policy that created “new reality” in the form of the major crisis of European and, indeed, global security. The world knows that it was the West that created odiously anti-Russian, ultranationalist regime in Kiev, which started a full-scale war against the Russian-speaking people of Donbass in 2014, sabotaged attempts by Russia to achieve political settlement in the Eastern Ukraine, rejected in December of 2021 Russia’s proposals on the legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, Russia and the whole Europe and continues its proxy war against Russia with the ever increasing military support for Kiev. Peace for Ukraine and Russia has never been an option for the Western alliance and the Irish people have to know that.

Another story used in this context – and it is a relatively new twist – is that because of the Russia’s membership in the UN Security Council the Irish “triple lock” mechanism on the participation of its military in the missions abroad should be changed dropping the requirement of the UN mandate. Just the other day Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Simon Coveney supported this idea saying that he “is not comfortable with a country like Russia having a veto over where Ireland sends peacekeepers”. Well, rather surprising statement from the former Minister for Foreign Affairs who, of all the people, should know that this is simply not the case. In reality, Russia has never been an obstacle to the Irish participation in the UN missions. There are 15 members on the UN Security Council and it is their consensus that decides matters. It is so for a reason – any decision on global issues should be well-balanced and have wide support of the international community. The Council is not supposed to be a “comfort zone”, it is a place for debate, hard diplomatic work in search of a compromise. That has always been a guiding principle for Russia at the UN. To question it is to go against the truth.

There is no doubt that it is up to the Irish people and government to decide what is the best course to follow in the area of the country’s security and defence policy. However, it would seem obvious that whatever decisions are made they should be well informed and certainly not based on false assumptions.