75849 - The castle of memory

Ν. Lygeros

Ireland is like a castle of memory in the ocean. You can see its loneliness if your thought is oppressed by geography. But if you think about Ireland, in the framework of history, you will discover the knot work of Mankind. That’s why it’s so important to understand this part of the Irish Issue. There is a link between Ireland and the United States of America. It’s not just a relation because its duration in time is impressive. And this is sufficient to understand the old context of the situation. The reality is that from 1949, Ireland wanted a bilateral defense pact with the United States. The opposition about joining NATO was the question of Northern Ireland in relation with the United Kingdom. But in 1999 Ireland became a signatory to NATO’s Partnership for Peace program and the alliance’s Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. Before, the Irish reunification was not acceptable to the United Kingdom as a condition for Ireland joining NATO. That’s why neutrality became more established. And the country never applied to join NATO as a full member. Any changes to neutrality were considered to be possible only after a referendum at least at the political level because it’s clear that there is no need at the legal level. In fact, the situation has changed after the Russian invasion of Ukraine and of course the starting process of joining NATO for Finland and Sweden, which were neutral for decades and centuries.