Eastern Sentry Has Begun. Ireland Should Be Paying Attention.
When a military operation is called Eastern Sentry, the clue isn’t subtle it’s in the name. It’s a heavy topic for a few days before Christmas.
This is about watching, warning, and readiness.
NATO has tightened its posture along the eastern flank. Defensive. Deliberate. Deadly serious.
And while Ireland isn’t in NATO, anyone who thinks this has nothing to do with us is kidding themselves.
It has everything to do with us.
Europe is now in an era where surveillance never sleeps.
Airspace. Seabeds. Cables. Signals. Data.
All contested.
The war involving Ukraine, and the behaviour of Russia, have killed the old idea that peace is simply quiet.
Today, peace is actively managed.
And Ireland sits in a very interesting and exposed place.
We sit on critical Atlantic geography. Our skies straddle transatlantic routes. Our waters host some of the most important subsea cables on planet earth, its the invisible plumbing of global finance, tech, healthcare and communications.
We are not a target. But we are strategic terrain. That distinction matters. Eastern Sentry isn’t about tanks rolling west. It’s about no surprises such as unusual aircraft, odd maritime behaviour, cyber probing, GPS interference, hybrid tactics that stay just below the threshold of war.
This is the grey zone. This is where modern security is decided.
For Ireland, it sharpens some awkward truths.
We rely on the kindness of others such as the RAF for our eyes in the sky and airspace awareness. Our naval capacity is stretched and we had French boats around our seas during a recent VIP visit.
We have seen thankfully cyber resilience improving greatly but constantly tested.
Our neutrality is very valid, neutrality does not mean invisibility and it certainly doesn’t mean immunity.
And here’s the wider point for leaders and communicators. Security is no longer just soldiers and generals.
It’s hospitals, data centres, air and sea ports,our power grids, elections and public trust.
As Britain’s new MI6 chief Blaise Metreweli will put it this week during her major address today in London, Russia’s “export of chaos is a feature, not a bug.”
She warned the threat will persist until Putin is forced to change his calculus.
That should land in here in Dublin as loudly as it does in London or Brussels.
Today when code rewards on line outrage, strongmen reward obedience and truth loses the algorithmic arms race, global stability doesn’t crack it corrodes.
Eastern Sentry isn’t a warning of war. It’s a signal of reality. The lights are on. The doors are being checked. The drills are being rehearsed.
Ireland doesn’t need to panic. But it does need to be honest with itself. Last week business organisation IBEC gave a strong warning about Ireland’s defence and security.
In a world of permanent vigilance, complacency is the only real vulnerability.
