Defence

Editorial: We must not avoid hard questions on our role in the defence of Europe

Ireland’s security may not require the country to join Nato, but we must not delude ourselves into thinking we need to do nothing

The entry of Finland and Sweden to Nato would be the most dramatic evidence yet that Vladimir Putin’s war on the people of Ukraine is reshaping the security architecture of Europe. Picture: Getty

One of the many falsehoods Vladimir Putin has employed to justify his monstrous war in Ukraine is that it was a response to the threat posed to Russia by the Nato military alliance. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990, Nato has expanded up to Russia’s western borders, after Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and the Baltic states became members of the US-led alliance.

Putin claims this expansion poses an existential threat to his country. ...