Off-Topic /
75 Years of Israel and the War - part 3 [352]
Do you think there is state sponsored antisemitism in Ireland?
People don't get Ireland.
How I make sense of Ireland's foreign policy, is by contrasting them with the other neutral people - Austrians, Swiss, Turkmenistanis (haha).
Austrians are traumatized and greedy. They don't take any firm moral stances on anything, and are second only to Switzerland in the number of murky people they allow to live and earn money in Vienna. This prevents Austria from being very credible when challenging world powers.
Swiss are immoral and greedy. They have no morals. They only like money. This also prevents Switzerland from being very credible when challenging world powers.
Turkmens are simply freaks. They love their horses, and their gas, and they don't care about anything or anyone else. They never criticize anyone, and never involve themselves with anything.
Irish are very curious. The first time I remember thinking about this was when there was controversy around the Americans refueling at Shannon Airport during the War on Terror. I was very surprised that this little country was standing up to the US. I had to read up a bit, and then had the pleasure of taking some Irish history too. Very quickly:
1) Ireland is a former colony - kinda like Ukraine
2) Ireland has a much, much more populous neighbor, with incomparably more resources.
3) Against the odds, Ireland gained its independent state. But to preserve it, they knew they had to guarantee that Britain would not one day return. The best way to do it? Declare non-bloc status. This is why Ireland is not a member of NATO to this day, or at least I think so.
4) Ireland, like the neutral Austrians, have always been participating in UN missions like Cyprus, Congo, and Lebanon.
5) Ireland is the first country in the world to recognize the PLO.
6) Irish are Catholics. Catholicism can be associated with a million bad things, but its also associated with compassion for the oppressed and justice for the poor. These aren't exactly Protestant (what's mine is mine) values, which are much more suited to hating Palestinians.
