Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

The countries the Taoiseach visited are very much on the front line of what I will call the escalating new Cold War tensions between the expanded NATO and Putin and his bloc, as it were. It is worth noting that the Balkans is the crossroads of competing empires. Because of that, it was the place where the First World War began, and historically it has been so. These empires are banging up against each other with competing priorities, objectives and interests, and it has resulted in some pretty horrific conflicts. It is worth bearing in mind that historical context when we look at what is a very worrying situation. We all know Putin's invasion of Ukraine was an absolute disgrace. It was illegal, criminal, brutal and imperialist-driven. Equally, the expansion of NATO has not exactly helped matters, particularly when after the fall of the Soviet Union it was strongly urged by people like Gorbachev that it would not be a good idea, and that it would lead to conflict. Indeed, it has certainly contributed to it

At his meetings, did the Taoiseach discuss NATO, the new Cold War and the dangerous tensions that are emerging? It is in the context of a new tailored arrangement between Ireland and NATO that has just been announced, which means we are going to be in a new formal co-operation arrangement with NATO. Is that not a really egregious breach of our neutrality? It is an arrangement with an alliance that is now even more discredited because its leading members, the United States Britain and Germany, are all up their necks in complicity with the Israel's crimes against the Palestinian people. They have really showed their moral bankruptcy and their true colours. If Putin is a nasty imperialist, is it not the case that equally, the dominant powers in NATO have shown themselves to be morally bankrupt, driven by self-interest and willing to support and tolerate some of the most horrific crimes? It should be all the more reason for us to keep a million miles away from NATO.

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