Leaders distance themselves from Higgins remarks on Ukraine neutrality
President Higgins had said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace
President Higgins had said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace
Thursday March 24 2022, 12.01am GMT, The Times
The government has distanced itself from the president’s remarks that Ukraine should become a neutral country in the interest of peace.
President Higgins said last week that a neutral Ukraine could discuss “what might be agreed in terms of defence rather than aggression” with other neutral EU member states.
Neither Leo Varadkar, the tanaiste, nor a spokesman for the Micheál Martin, the taoiseach, would support Higgins’s comments when asked this week.
Varadkar said: “I think fundamentally that’s a decision for Ukraine. In many ways that’s at the heart of this conflict, is that Russia is still approaching its neighbours from an imperial point of view.”
He added: “It should be for Ukraine to decide whether it’s neutral or whether it joins Nato, and whether it wants to join the European Union or not.”
Varadkar said that while he had not seen the full remarks by the president, it was his view that Ukraine was an “independent, sovereign democratic country”.
He added: “And it’s their decision as to whether they want to apply for Nato membership. It’s their decision as to whether they want to apply for EU membership. I don’t think it’s Russia’s decision.”
A neutral Ukraine, along with a commitment not to join Nato in the future, is considered one of the crucial demands by the Russian government in negotiations between the two countries. President Zelensky has agreed to take Nato membership off the table, but has resisted agreeing to full neutrality.
A spokesman for the taoiseach said he had not seen Higgins’s remarks as he was in Washington last week. He declined to be drawn on whether the government agreed with the president, saying Higgins was “perfectly entitled” to articulate his point of view. However, he said it was not for the Irish government to say whether Ukraine should be neutral or not. “We are here to support them on a humanitarian aspect and to support their territorial sovereignty. It’s not for me to make a comment [on neutrality],” he said.
Higgins had said the most “urgent task” was to stop the killing in Ukraine, achieve a ceasefire and allow the full flow of the humanitarian relief that was necessary. “To do this, I must repeat that we need to utilise every chink of diplomacy that is left,” he said.
Higgins said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace. He suggested that Ukraine could become a neutral country.
“I have already referred, for example, to the contribution the neutral members of the European Union might make by indicating a welcome to their ranks of Ukraine as neutrals for discussion on what might be agreed in terms of defence rather than aggression,” he said.
The taoiseach will attend a meeting of the European Council in Brussels today on Russian military aggression against Ukraine, security and defence, energy, economic issues, Covid-19 and external relations. He has received two negative Covid-19 tests after spending the past week in isolation in Washington DC.
The government has not taken a position on Ukrainian neutrality and ministers have not suggested that a neutral Ukraine would potentially help the country. The remarks of a president are generally understood to have been approved by the government of the day, though this does not always happen.
This month Varadkar warned that the assumption that Ireland had made for 70 years that nobody would attack the country because it was neutral militarily was not necessarily true in a modern context.
He said: “Ukraine was neutral militarily. It was not part of any military alliance. It was attacked because it was politically part of the West, or at least wanted to be. We make the assumption that, even if we are attacked, the British and the Americans will come and save us anyway. I am not sure that is the kind of assumption a sovereign country like ours should make.”
Is MiggleD a closet Tankie?
Unfortunately he’s not wrong in one way, Russia will level Ukraine now, they can’t be seen to be unable to defeat a smaller neighbour* otherwise it might precipitate the breakup of the federation. Who cares about Russia on the international stage now if they signed any treaty that didn’t favour themselves and punish Ukraine?
War is such nonsense. It’s disturbing that no one seems to learn anything from the last one bar how to kill more effectively.
*Russia isn’t losing against Ukraine per say, it’s losing against Ukraine coupled with a global supply chain that’s untouchable due to not being “directly involved” in the war, at the same time as their supply chain is decimated by Ukraines supply chain.
The Irish State gains nothing from a war so no one should be cheerleading pointless death.
The letter is best read in full. He is not suggesting in any way that Ukraine surrender to Russia’s terms, and specifically mentions diplomacy continuing amidst the ongoing process of supporting Ukraine in any way possible.
His suggestion is that Ukraine confirm it’s neutrality *while continuing EU accession*, so that it would become fully sheltered by the EU defence pact.
All in all, a badly slanted article from the Times which is mostly shit-stirring and trying to drum up a picture of division.
6 comments
Leaders distance themselves from Higgins remarks on Ukraine neutrality
President Higgins had said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace
President Higgins had said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace
Thursday March 24 2022, 12.01am GMT, The Times
The government has distanced itself from the president’s remarks that Ukraine should become a neutral country in the interest of peace.
President Higgins said last week that a neutral Ukraine could discuss “what might be agreed in terms of defence rather than aggression” with other neutral EU member states.
Neither Leo Varadkar, the tanaiste, nor a spokesman for the Micheál Martin, the taoiseach, would support Higgins’s comments when asked this week.
Varadkar said: “I think fundamentally that’s a decision for Ukraine. In many ways that’s at the heart of this conflict, is that Russia is still approaching its neighbours from an imperial point of view.”
He added: “It should be for Ukraine to decide whether it’s neutral or whether it joins Nato, and whether it wants to join the European Union or not.”
Varadkar said that while he had not seen the full remarks by the president, it was his view that Ukraine was an “independent, sovereign democratic country”.
He added: “And it’s their decision as to whether they want to apply for Nato membership. It’s their decision as to whether they want to apply for EU membership. I don’t think it’s Russia’s decision.”
A neutral Ukraine, along with a commitment not to join Nato in the future, is considered one of the crucial demands by the Russian government in negotiations between the two countries. President Zelensky has agreed to take Nato membership off the table, but has resisted agreeing to full neutrality.
A spokesman for the taoiseach said he had not seen Higgins’s remarks as he was in Washington last week. He declined to be drawn on whether the government agreed with the president, saying Higgins was “perfectly entitled” to articulate his point of view. However, he said it was not for the Irish government to say whether Ukraine should be neutral or not. “We are here to support them on a humanitarian aspect and to support their territorial sovereignty. It’s not for me to make a comment [on neutrality],” he said.
Higgins had said the most “urgent task” was to stop the killing in Ukraine, achieve a ceasefire and allow the full flow of the humanitarian relief that was necessary. “To do this, I must repeat that we need to utilise every chink of diplomacy that is left,” he said.
Higgins said that the debate on providing arms to Ukraine had “excluded some crucial opportunities” for seeking to advance peace. He suggested that Ukraine could become a neutral country.
“I have already referred, for example, to the contribution the neutral members of the European Union might make by indicating a welcome to their ranks of Ukraine as neutrals for discussion on what might be agreed in terms of defence rather than aggression,” he said.
The taoiseach will attend a meeting of the European Council in Brussels today on Russian military aggression against Ukraine, security and defence, energy, economic issues, Covid-19 and external relations. He has received two negative Covid-19 tests after spending the past week in isolation in Washington DC.
The government has not taken a position on Ukrainian neutrality and ministers have not suggested that a neutral Ukraine would potentially help the country. The remarks of a president are generally understood to have been approved by the government of the day, though this does not always happen.
This month Varadkar warned that the assumption that Ireland had made for 70 years that nobody would attack the country because it was neutral militarily was not necessarily true in a modern context.
He said: “Ukraine was neutral militarily. It was not part of any military alliance. It was attacked because it was politically part of the West, or at least wanted to be. We make the assumption that, even if we are attacked, the British and the Americans will come and save us anyway. I am not sure that is the kind of assumption a sovereign country like ours should make.”
Is MiggleD a closet Tankie?
Unfortunately he’s not wrong in one way, Russia will level Ukraine now, they can’t be seen to be unable to defeat a smaller neighbour* otherwise it might precipitate the breakup of the federation. Who cares about Russia on the international stage now if they signed any treaty that didn’t favour themselves and punish Ukraine?
War is such nonsense. It’s disturbing that no one seems to learn anything from the last one bar how to kill more effectively.
*Russia isn’t losing against Ukraine per say, it’s losing against Ukraine coupled with a global supply chain that’s untouchable due to not being “directly involved” in the war, at the same time as their supply chain is decimated by Ukraines supply chain.
The Irish State gains nothing from a war so no one should be cheerleading pointless death.
The letter is best read in full. He is not suggesting in any way that Ukraine surrender to Russia’s terms, and specifically mentions diplomacy continuing amidst the ongoing process of supporting Ukraine in any way possible.
His suggestion is that Ukraine confirm it’s neutrality *while continuing EU accession*, so that it would become fully sheltered by the EU defence pact.
All in all, a badly slanted article from the Times which is mostly shit-stirring and trying to drum up a picture of division.
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