Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
He was also a cowardly assassin, but js makes a much better point.
I do not know what you are refering to here, but surely the army uses assassins? And drones? And bombs meant for hostile leaders?

As to your three points,

(1) If a country fails to act in the face of a perceived strategic imperative, it is likely to be destroyed.
So, when the Sovjet Union took half of Europe after WW2 to make a buffer zone, they were within their right?

If, theoreticallly speaking, it had been possible for Ireland to invade parts of West England to protect their shores, they would have been within their right?

But if one country behaves in a way that its larger neighbour disapproves of, that is no justification for invasion (unless that "misbehaviour" constitutes a threat).
Example?

In the present case, when has Ireland been invaded for displeasing England by its behaviour?
Another poster made that claim, that is why I included it.

(2) The presumption being that England has no right "to be there". By that argument, virtually the whole population of the Americas - north and south - have even less right to be there, because they arrived much later. The same goes for Australia and New Zealand.
You have to distinguish between military invasion, and immigration. But I see colonization as invasion too.

Presumably, if the Aboriginals or Maoris started to foment revolution, you would say that the governments there could not complain about the cost in money or lives spent in maintaining order?
Yes, I would.

(3) Moral right ... England was invited,
No country invites invasion

and being in control, it was obliged to maintain order;
Complaining bitterly about it too, and using excessive force, but yes

divine right (a) Pope Adrian granted the English Crown suzerainity over Ireland, and (b) the Irish Jacobites upheld the Stuart claim to the "Divine Right of Kings". Michael Collins, for example, was born a British subject, studied in King's College and began his career in London working for important financial institutions. His act of rebelling against the established government cannot be anything other than treason, and using violence against the state invites a violent response, even today in any country you care to name.
Nonsense. What right does any pope have to give away other people's lands? They did it in South Africa and Asia as well. It is just another way to say 'we take the right'.

England took Ireland, and any act of rebellion is the right of any invaded country. Ireland was a colony for so many years, that does not mean they do not have the right for independance, just as for example India and many African states.

Just as the other colonies Ireland had so much trouble getting back on its feet economically.