The implications of JD Vance’s February Munich Security Conference speech are fast reaching the Department of Foreign Affairs halls as the Taoiseach girdles his loins for a potentially bruising White House visit this St. Patrick’s Day.
Ireland has so far been off the shitlist for the new Trumpian presidency as Ukraine signs away its mineral rights to placate the DC and hopefully keep the Russian bear from the door just that bit longer.
European leaders are still running around scatterbrained, trying to establish independent security architecture away from an increasingly unreliable Washington as Ireland pledges to offer a token Defence Forces presence to police the new blood-stained borders of Donbass.
A partitioned island with an Atlantic economy yet a pequilarly anti-Atlantic foreign policy our tax regime and vociferous pro-Palestinian stance has put a target on the backs of the Dublin government with a more conciliatory tone by the Irish government relative to 2016 denouncements of Trumpism rather palpable.
Marinated in decades of diasporic connections to the DNC before entering a golden age following the Belfast Agreement, never mind the past ten years of Silicon Valley investment, Hiberno-American relations are a strange question mark when it comes to the new administration.
Small enough but not entirely insignificant, the Republic has been lucky to avoid the attention span of Trump and the MAGA movement until recently with accusations of being on the wrong side of the culture war regarding migration and gender policy a geopolitical albatross for Ireland going forward.
As one former Tánaiste and EU diplomats voiced concerns that Trump and company sought to remake Europe in MAGA’s image, what are the strengths and weaknesses of Ireland heading into this new era?
A newfound commitment to make Ireland a hub of LNG storage and appearances of an Irish wish to ease up on hate speech laws that could impinge on U.S Big Tech are signs that Dublin is learning to play ball when it comes to a much more transactional White House.
Similar to this, the prudent approach for any Irish government when it comes to transatlantic relations would be to frame Ireland as a pro-American ally against EU overreach,all the while keeping the door open to Brussels and even Beijing.
Trumpism today represents more than it did in 2016: a permanent change in Ireland and Europe’s American connection as Washington moves to consolidate its global holdings against a rising China.
Ireland is a small patch in a global game with bilateral military deals, a commitment to lobby against EU digital policy as well as cyber and intelligence collaboration.
An attempt to impose American regulatory standards in the Dublin docklands or the IFSC contra the EU or even pressure from the U.S deep state to take control over data centres are all potential landmine issues that will potentially crop up over the next four years.
The question of the North is another worry considering the thirty years plus that the U.S, particularly the Irish-American wing of the DNC, has acted as a guarantor of peace in the region with unionists quickly copping the necessity to market the statelets’ value to Washington relative to a woke and militarily freeloading Republic.
For any budding populist right in Ireland, the Trump presidency offers itself as much pitfalls as well as opportunities with the genuine risk that many sincere patriots will, in effect, act as American patsies as the new administration hoovers up Ireland’s economy.
The United States under Trump may appear to want to export its brand of national conservatism abroad but ultimately will pursue its interests wherever it may see fit.
Regardless of whatever avenue Irish relations with DC will go, we are at least seeing greater clarity in how the Irish state should view Wasington’s interactions with the country at large relative to 2016.
The United States is no longer an omnipotent cash cow by which to peg our future to no questions asked but an evolving power by which we must engage bilaterally with as required and in a way that does not close doors to both Europe and the wider world.
The Irish state cannot and will not survive as an entity into the 21st century if it continues on the path of decommissioning its sovereignty and fails to act in proper national interests away from the multilateral doctrine that has defined our decision-making post-Emergency.
Real politics is returning to not just Ireland but Europe as a whole with a more calculating Washington DC ready to pull rank on any state failing to make the mark.
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And The Deal Is Mr President – Make Ireland Green Again
It’s not what your Country can do for U[s]
It’s what we can do ( and did ) For Your Country.
We share a common ground, and a common history…to this very day.
We helped create America Today,you’ve acknowledged Our contribution,
including almost half of American Presidents and 30+ million electorate
regardless of being Republican or Democrat…Their Irish Americans.
You Want Buck for your Bang…We want Bang for Buck.
You want hard sell…we will use soft cell.
You want Mackro…we want more than Micro.
We Both Believe in Borders, Sovereignty, and Patriots, having both experienced the damage that Traitors and Woke Queerism can do to us.
We are not challenging your status or power but we do not come Cap in Hand…we are not weak,we have Our Own Power…it’s not used properly.
STRATEGICALLY, we’re your Atlantic Neighbour across the water.
We are the Outlier of Western Europe, We have the largest fishing grounds in the EU and Our Foodbowl Farms are the envy of the world.
We have a vast untapped resource potential and despite our small size and population we invest heavily in America and the Global Economy.
We’ve always punched above Our Weight at Home And Abroad.
…but we’ve always been taken advantage of, by incompetent governance.
I’m sure A President like you can see Our Potential is Your Opportunity
because everybody else does throughout the globe except those who pretend to govern in Our Interests…other Global Interests are knocking.
At the moment many Global HQs are here, ON OUR LAND, their choice
they took the opportunities for their reward…not for Our Benifit.
Think About It, better the devil you know than the one you don’t .
God Save The Green. ☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘☘