Letters to the Editor: Ask Putin if Russia would like to join the EU
There is a terrible sadness in the EU, formed as a peace-loving and trading entity, being pushed towards the hawkish route, egged on to re-arm by the old Cold War metrics. Goodies and baddies. America good. Russia bad. The EU straddling the middle with peaceful words instead of aggression and war mongering.
Here’s an idea that Micheál Martin might lean into when Ireland takes up its role on the executive as president of the Council of the European Union.
It is a controversial side-step, yet it could solve the stalemate of Russia’s aggressive war with Ukraine.
The EU offers an invite to Russia to come on track to join the EU along with Ukraine and Moldova and the many others on the list.
Coming on track would mean Russia would have to start applying the EU’s Copenhagen criteria for membership: “A stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law.”
If Putin had confidence, he would put this question to the nation he leads. Would you, the Russian people, like to be more like the people of Europe with their democracy, respect for the rule of law, regulation of capitalism, roots in the old world? Or would you like to be more like America with its hegemony, strong-arm president, disrespect for democracy, pleasure in unfettered capitalism and deregulation? Or more like China or North Korea with their authoritarianism? It could expand to be called the Euro-Asia-Union (EAU).
Just ask Gen Zs in Russia if they would like to have freedom of movement across 27 countries in Europe by virtue of holding a Russian passport.
Imagine an EU with Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Belarus in the mix. No more need for Nato. Not to mention a strong counterpoint to the hegemony of the US and China.
In his welcome message (Ireland holding of the presidency of the EU Council) Micheál quotes an Irish proverb: Ní neart go cur le chéile. There is strength with unity. Just so.
In March 2025, Donald Trump castigated Volodymyr Zelenskyy, telling him “you don’t have the cards right now” in relation to Putin’s war on Ukraine.
One year later, at the end of February 2026, Trump, having dispatched almost all the “court cards” in the Iranian pack during the initial ferocious bombing of Tehran, must have felt that he was now invincible, holding as his ego would perceive, the “trump card” and all the aces.
The Islamabad memorandum of understanding of the past few days clearly vindicates the quote most famously attributed to the novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: “Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well.”
As the US mid-terms approach and the reflecting pool at the Lincoln memorial deteriorates into an eloquent algae-covered, fetid malarial swamp, an elegant and dignified presidential centre opens in Chicago. Maga republicans show zero interest in amending the US constitution to allow presidents to seek a third term in office.
There are two reasons for that. They’ve had enough of Trump, and Barack Obama would be unstoppable. Go low, go high, go anywhere. Americans are hard-headed, results-oriented people and, by every objective measurement conceivable, Trump has been a lousy president.
Obama is still only 64 and boy, do we still need him.
The Beatles saw the future when they wrote that song.
The whole idea of the three-day waiting period for abortion was to gaslight women into changing their minds. This is despite a two to one majority in favour of abortion in 2018.
Public policy on the issue of abortion has been decided chiefly by patriarchal Catholic ethics, which took a firm grip of this country after independence.
The three-day waiting period was also designed to shorten the time from women to get to a doctor to be referred and get them outside the approval time. Even today, thousands of women leave this repressive State to get abortion services in the UK because of the restrictive practices in this country. However, doctors still have to decide if women get referred.
In the UK, the woman decides and yet we hear all about this notion of “Irish freedom”. In a democracy, the individual has a right to choose, and it has been established in EU law that a woman has a right to privacy in making a choice and not have it decided for her by the state or religious ethics.
There have also been elements in the media with biases rather than balance directing public opinion.
Ever since the social media revolution other voices have been heard rather than narrow conservatism and fundamentalism on the issue of abortion rights.
Referring to the report — ‘TDs vote to abolish three-day reflection period on abortion’ (Irish Examiner online, June 17) — one is yet again compelled to return to a burning question: Why has not even one of the more than 10,000 women who did not return for a second consultation because of the three-day reflection period been asked to talk of her experience and her reasons for not returning?
Statistics are consistent and convincing that the lives of babies are being saved because of the time for reflection built into the current legislation. In a reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Carol Nolan TD, and answered on January 5, the health minister released figures showing that, in 2022 and 2023, some 3,933 women didn’t return for a second abortion consultation with a GP following the waiting period. (PQ 72028/25 provides data released on January 5, 2026).
A similar pattern is clear across six years. Around one in six women do not return after the reflection period. One can draw a reasonable conclusion that a major reason for the aforementioned statistic is the consistency of the 17% to 19% rate of non-return.
We have thousands of children living normal, happy lives today in Ireland who would not be here today without the three-day reflection period.
We have happy parents whose lives have been enriched beyond measure by these children. I would ask our elected representatives to acknowledge this and to draw back from the abolition of the reflection period.
