I would still be a bit worried about Russia long term. It is not a democracy, has received a shot of steroids in the arm from a high oil price, and is currently sniffing around Georgia to try to reextend its sphere of influence.
This is an extract from todays FT
"Mikheil Saakashvili, the pro-west Georgian president, on Friday appealed for western support at the “highest level” in Tbilisi’s worsening dispute with Russia over Abkhazia and South Ossetia, two Moscow-backed Georgian breakaway territories.
Speaking a day after Russia admitted its fighters flew into Georgian airspace over South Ossetia, Mr Saakashvili told the Financial Times that Moscow’s approach was a challenge not to Tbilisi but to the US and the European Union."
Unfortunately, we need to anchor the fringe eastern states into the western sphere to keep a credible democracy alive, and that means NATO, the EU and a potential european defence pact.
We should not kid ourselves about Russia, just see how they helped China veto sanctions against Zimbabwe yesterday. ( kind of makes a joke of the "triple lock" Ieland has to authorise our army getting involved with anything. The security council never acts a noble force for good).
Europe still needs the US for her defence. We are currently moving from a world with one major power, to a multipolar balance of power. We are blessed with our geography in Ireland, many others are not so, and we should not criticise them for trying to secure their democratic and free market existence.