DBWI AHC Ireland is NOT the "North Korea of Europe"

OK, as we get into the umpteenth crisis of Ireland and its nuclear weapons program, what is the most likely way to get to an Ireland that is something other than a rogue state? I realize there has been lots of other threads about this with Ireland remaining part of the UK, but lets try a fairly peaceful independent Ireland.
 
So long as the French government wants "a Sword of Damocles suspended above the head of England", to use President Jalkh's phrasing, CDF will continue to meddle. Keep La Rocque from taking power in 1932, and his party would probably have gone the way of the Nazis, the Falangists, and most of Europe's other Mussolini wannabes from that period.
 
OK, as we get into the umpteenth crisis of Ireland and its nuclear weapons program, what is the most likely way to get to an Ireland that is something other than a rogue state? I realize there has been lots of other threads about this with Ireland remaining part of the UK, but lets try a fairly peaceful independent Ireland.

By allowing the free state's replacement by the Republican Government to go uncontested until the Irish Republican Army was marching on the remaining British facilities in Dublin, the British ceded several months, nearly a year really, of unrestricted access to the majority of the economic wealth outside of Ulster to an organization that declared there would only be peace when the British were completely removed from the entire Island. This was one of the stupidest decisions they could have made, and then they made it worse. By responding to the assault on Ulster by "rogue" (let's be honest, no one actually believes that many armed men and the necessary supplies to carry out a near-successful seizure of Belfast were organized and coordinated without official approval) with a seizure of Dublin and Cork, the British overstretched their already exhausted armed forces and galvanized the Irish population, which now was heavily armed with a large number of men and women trained by veterans of the First Independence War.

Get rid of that, either with an immediate British response to the proclamation of the Republic, a more defensive minded posture in Ulster that didn't stretch the army across the entire island fighting a population that hated them, or have the British throw in the towel earlier without spending three years basically discrediting every Irish politician who'd ever called for peace, and you can almost certainly stop the Communist faction of the IRA from gaining as much power as they did. Without a war driving them into relying on Soviet weapons, advisors, and supplies, the Irish would be more accepted by states like the US, reducing their status as an international pariah in those crucial early years when there was still a chance for democracy.
 
Given how nasty Ireland is, I think it would be more apt to call North Korea the Ireland of Asia.
Ireland is worse, at least North Korea never established camps for killing minorities such as Ulster-Scots and Jews on an industrial scale (“Tugann saothar saoirse” is the phrase most infamously associated with the camps and their revelation to the world), or openly supported fascist groups abroad (remember last year when Richard Spencer openly visited and praised the Irish government?).

By allowing the free state's replacement by the Republican Government to go uncontested until the Irish Republican Army was marching on the remaining British facilities in Dublin, the British ceded several months, nearly a year really, of unrestricted access to the majority of the economic wealth outside of Ulster to an organization that declared there would only be peace when the British were completely removed from the entire Island. This was one of the stupidest decisions they could have made, and then they made it worse. By responding to the assault on Ulster by "rogue" (let's be honest, no one actually believes that many armed men and the necessary supplies to carry out a near-successful seizure of Belfast were organized and coordinated without official approval) with a seizure of Dublin and Cork, the British overstretched their already exhausted armed forces and galvanized the Irish population, which now was heavily armed with a large number of men and women trained by veterans of the First Independence War.

Get rid of that, either with an immediate British response to the proclamation of the Republic, a more defensive minded posture in Ulster that didn't stretch the army across the entire island fighting a population that hated them, or have the British throw in the towel earlier without spending three years basically discrediting every Irish politician who'd ever called for peace, and you can almost certainly stop the Communist faction of the IRA from gaining as much power as they did. Without a war driving them into relying on Soviet weapons, advisors, and supplies, the Irish would be more accepted by states like the US, reducing their status as an international pariah in those crucial early years when there was still a chance for democracy.
The British didn't intervene during the anti-treatyite coup of June 1922 due to fearing that to openly intervene in the pro-Treaty side's favour would drive the population to the anti-treaty side and cause the pro-treatyites to be seen as pro-British puppets, and there's a good chance they were right. Ultimately the Anglo-Irish Treaty was probably doomed from the start, the vast majority of the IRA were against it and a coup was always going to happen.

Although yes without the Second Irish War of Independence and being forced to work with the Soviets, the Irish government could've transitioned into a normal democracy rather than falling into chaos between the communist and fascist factions (preventing the assassination of Irish provisional president Eamon de Valera might also help this), ultimately ending in a fascist victory following Brugha's 1930 Italian-backed coup (ironically aided through inaction by Britain who saw a fascist government in Ireland as being better than a communist one, how that backfired..).
 
One wonders, given the number of Irish immigrants to the US in the 19th century, what the effects might have been here in popular culture and politics.

Take, for example, the rise of Irish politicians especially in cities during the '30s and '40s that got squelched once Ireland effectively became totalitarian: during the '50s and '60s, an Irish surname was the kiss of death to nearly any politician with aspirations above the local level, and sometimes even at that level (recall the rather photogenic Boston politician John F. Kennedy: the highest office he attained was mayor of Boston, and that just by the skin of his teeth; he might have been a senator given a different political climate).

Or take 17 March: at one time, it was observed as St. Patrick's Day throughout the US and Canada. Now, it's just another day. At the same time, you definitely won't see anyone wearing green on that day. To do so in the '50s was tantamount to trumpeting sympathies with the rogue government in Dublin, which would have earned the unpleasant attention of the FBI, the HUAC, and a number of other characters. And the stigma is still alive and well to the point where some make a point of wearing orange on that day.

Or think about distilled spirits: at one time, Irish whisky was readily available, and was a fine alternative to Scotch whisky. The Dublin government commandeered the privately owned whisky distilleries and force-started operations putting out a sort of mass-produced poteen based largely on potatoes, with minimal aging (legend has it that to this day it gets run through a few carbon beds in succession to get the worst of the congeners out and that's it). The result is an alcohol-water solution with no character except the propensity to give headaches after one or two drinks, and a flavor some have likened to particularly vile industrial solvents. (Yes, it's true that the Jameson distilleries relocated from Ireland to the US, setting up shop in Baltimore at Locust Point and in Philadelphia in Bridesburg, and while the product--now simply called Jameson Whisky--is similar to what was made during the heyday, it's definitely not the same.)
 
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One wonders, given the number of Irish immigrants to the US in the 19th century, what the effects might have been here in popular culture and politics.

Take, for example, the rise of Irish politicians especially in cities during the '30s and '40s that got squelched once Ireland effectively joined the Soviet camp: during the depths of the Cold War, an Irish surname was the kiss of death to nearly any politician with aspirations above the local level, and sometimes even at that level (recall the rather photogenic Boston politician John F. Kennedy: the highest office he attained was mayor of Boston, and that just by the skin of his teeth; he might have been a senator given a different political climate).

Or take 17 March: at one time, it was observed as St. Patrick's Day throughout the US and Canada. Now, it's just another day. At the same time, you definitely won't see anyone wearing green on that day. To do so in the '50s was tantamount to trumpeting sympathies with the Communist government in Dublin, which would have earned the unpleasant attention of the FBI, the HUAC, and a number of other characters. And the stigma is still alive and well to the point where some make a point of wearing orange on that day.

Or think about distilled spirits: at one time, Irish whisky was readily available, and was a fine alternative to Scotch whisky. The Soviet-oriented government shut down the privately owned whisky distilleries and force-started spirits operations putting out a sort of mass-produced poteen based largely on potatoes, with minimal aging (legend has it that to this day it gets run through a few carbon beds in succession to get the worst of the congeners out and that's it). The result is an alcohol-water solution with no character except the propensity to give headaches after one or two drinks, and a flavor some have likened to particularly vile industrial solvents. (Yes, it's true that the Jameson distilleries relocated from Ireland to the US, setting up shop in Baltimore, and while the product--now simply called Jameson Whisky--is similar to what was made during the heyday, it's definitely not the same.)
(OOC: TRH established Ireland is fascist)
 
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