It *literally* doesn’t make economic sense sense for Ireland to join NATO and commit to 2% spend when other countries will do that for them. The US and every other country in Europe that is in NATO will protect Ireland in the bizarre situation that Russia attacks them.
Ireland hasn’t joined so far, saved itself 2% of GDP annually, and hasn’t lost any political capital as a result. That’s a win. Whether they can do the same for a future EU army is another matter. But they probably can there too.
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It *literally* doesn’t make economic sense sense for Ireland to join NATO and commit to 2% spend when other countries will do that for them. The US and every other country in Europe that is in NATO will protect Ireland in the bizarre situation that Russia attacks them.
Ireland hasn’t joined so far, saved itself 2% of GDP annually, and hasn’t lost any political capital as a result. That’s a win. Whether they can do the same for a future EU army is another matter. But they probably can there too.
If they spend 2% of GDP on defence, sure.