Quote:
Originally Posted by waiting4something
Sure, this was embarassing to admit I never knew this, but when I looked this up I found out I was not alone.  It's no reason to get insulted, Ireland is just a low key country. When I think of Ireland I think of happy people drinking and fighting with each other. The important lesson here is Ireland is not part of the Uk.  |
Waiting4Something,
As Fusilier is Canadian I'm confident he's probably not personally insulted or upset in the least when it comes to Ireland. In fact, no one seems out of sorts, so don't sweat it.
The Republic of Ireland was created by an act of armed rebellion, not some kind of slow devolution from the UK or other political process. A useful analogue might be that of the USA and the UK after the American Revolution. They share many ties but are no longer the same country.
They are not a client state of the UK nor are they politically or socially dominated by them in the same way that, say, Moldova is dominated by Russia. Ireland does have strong economic ties with the UK,as well as social ones. In the 90's, Ireland enjoyed an incredible economic boom where there the Irish became some of the most wealthy per capita in the world. It was called the "Celtic Tiger", although that bubble did burst in the recent banking cataclysm. At the time of the war Ireland was still part of the Commonwealth so that is relevant to the T2K timeline.
Northern Ireland, on the other hand, is still very much part of the UK in the same way that Scotland, Wales and England are, although it has more extensive home rule due to decades of political turmoil. If you are thinking of a part of Ireland that is dominated by the UK (part of the same national structure) you are probably thinking of Northern Ireland.
Tony