Ourna ïve Taoiseach should really leave it to the big boys to pick a scrap with Russia
LAST Saturday, ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes sat in the cockpit of his homemade rocket as it blasted off from the Mojave desert. ‘Mad’ Mike, as you undoubtedly know, is a leading figure in the Flat Earth movement. He remains determined to discover for himself whether the Earth is round, as is now fairly widely accepted, or whether it is actually, as he believes, shaped like . . . a Frisbee.
As he was being stretchered the ambulance following his unsurprisingly rough landing, ‘Mad’ Mike gave a thumbs-up and then complained that a “lot of nuts” are attracted to the Flat Earth movement, but said he remains determined in his quest to prove his theory of a Frisbee-shaped planet.
It’s quite possible that Mad Mike may have approved of Leo Varadkar’s threat to expel Russian diplomats from Ireland in retaliation for the now infamous nerve agent attack on a former Soviet spook and his daughter in Salisbury. But then again, even Flat Earthers have their limits.
Even John Halligan, the one member of Varadkar’s Cabinet who openly admits to believing in aliens, felt that this latest intervention by the Taoiseach on the world stage into was a step too far, admitting that he was “taken aback” when the idea was floated during a meeting between the Taoiseach and French President Emmanuel Macron during the EU summit in Brussels last Thursday.
Proving that the spirit of ‘The Skibbereen Eagle’ is alive and well and thriving in Leinster House, Mr Varadkar claimed that: “We will now consider in the coming days . . . whether we want to take individual action regarding Russian diplomats in Ireland, bearing in mind that what the UK did was to expel 23 diplomats who, they believed, were not actually diplomats but agents . . A security assessment will be done. We will make that decision, would say, the early part of next week.”
This brought a stony-faced I . reaction from the Russian ambassador to Ireland, Yury Filatov, who responded by saying that: “Every time that kind of thing happens you would think of it as an unfriendly action, and that’s certain.”
If anything, the Russian response would seem to be one of genuine bafflement that we would choose to get involved in something which has nothing to do with us.
While the UK was able to shore up support which had been wavering from within the EU – the Greeks and Italians were particularly reluctant to call for expulsions and sanctions – there is simply no need for a small, neutral country to go on what has been described even by some of Mr Varadkar’s own Cabinet as a solo run.
Obviously, as part of the EU, we have a legal obligation to stand firm with our 27 European neighbours, particularly when it’s a crisis involving our nearest, if not always dearest, neighbour, the UK.
But there was something almost wince-inducing about the sight of the Taoiseach, fresh from his embarrassment in Washington, taking to the plinth and doing his best impression of the mouse that roared.
Relations between Europe and Russia are now at their lowest ebb since the end of the Cold War.
Even their foreign excursions, whether into those countries which used to be Soviet republics, or their strategic power grabs in the Middle East, have failed to excite the imagination quite like the attempted hit on Skripal and his daughter on a leafy English high street.
This doesn’t appear to be so much a clash of cultures as a clash of eras, with the Russians seemingly prepared to drag the rules of engagement back to the bad old days which we all thought had passed into pages of the history books.
Everyone suspects the Russians, because the evidence clearly points in their direction. But as we have seen in the all too recent past, from dodgy dossiers about WMDs in Iraq to a variety of fraudulently concocted ‘leaked’ memos, international intelligence is a dirty, messy business and what seems
certain to be true on a Tuesday can be exposed as an obvious fake by the Wednesday.
If we assume the Russians were behind the attack, we should have done the sensible thing for a small country – let the big boys rattle their sabres while we dutifully sign whatever letter of condemnation is expected of every EU member.
What we should not be doing is sticking our head above the parapet while the Russians wander the international stage with the proverbial chainsaw in hand, ready to strike out at anyone who picks a fight.
That there has been a marked increase in Russian intelligence personnel operating in Ireland has long been an open secret. As a digital hub for the likes of Facebook, that makes sense.
There have also been rumours and hints – as tends to be the case whenever international espionage is involved – of hacking attempts and exploratory nibbles at Ireland’s electronic infrastructure.
If Mr Varadkar had fired a shot across the Russian bows and warned of expulsions if such activities continued, that would make sense. It would certainly make far more sense than needlessly inserting ourselves into a diplomatic quagmire which has already exposed some of the barely hidden fault lines that exist with the EU alliance.
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HERE is also the factor of our neutrality to take into account. While we may be proud members of the EU, we’re equally proud not to be members of Nato and if ever there was a crisis which should be kept within the Nato countries, then surely this is it.
How can we present ourselves as non-aligned, neutral, independent and honest brokers when we so quickly jump to the head of the queue of those looking for a fight with the Russians?
If the Taoiseach wants to have a debate about our neutrality that should be welcomed.
But does he want this to be the hill on which he fights that argument?
After all, if history has taught us anything, it’s surely that you never pick a scrap with the Russians. They play for keeps, and we seem to have succumbed to that stubborn Western refusal to admit that the Russians have legitimate complaints about how they have been treated by the West since they ‘lost’ the Cold War.
If the Government decides that Russian interference on Irish soil has become so great that it requires expulsions, then so be it, and we should support that decision.
But this isn’t our fight. Sometimes you say it best by saying nothing at all.
A lesson our callow Taoiseach would do well to remember.