A lot of the world has close cultural ties and a shared history with Britain for some reason.

Relevant xkcd: Sunset on the British Empire https://what-if.xkcd.com/48/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_that_have_ga...

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_British_Empire.p...

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Tangentially tangent trivia - the largest park in the EU is located about 3° north of the equator. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiana_Amazonian_Park

If it's not Britain, it was France or Spain.

My daily reminder that France and therefore the EU has a land border with Brazil.

My daily reminder that a lot of this world is still directly colonised. Literally colonised in the classic sense.

Yep. For "some" reason that I quite cannot put my finger on ;-)

You could definitely put a finger on the trigger of a muzzle-loaded musket.

A fifth of Ukraine is currently in Russia, and the whole country has very close cultural ties and a shared history with Russia.

Does this help explain why people are quick to point out that Ireland is not in the UK?

No, it doesn't.

I'm from both Northern Ireland myself. I consider myself to come from both Ireland and the UK myself and carry passports from both the UK and the ROI. I don't understand why you would jump to argue my identity against me.

I don't believe that Ukraine recognises Russia's claim, there is an open conflict there.

The Republic of Ireland and the UK are at peace and the portion of Ireland which is administered by the UK is done so with mutual agreement and recognition, with guarantees to the freedom of the people to choose their identity guaranteed by internationally recognised agreements.

The comparison is really reaching.

Ukraine is a war zone now. NI has been at peace in practice since 1998. Both places have been invaded by an aggressive neighbor, rebelled, made peace, etc for hundreds of years.

Your comfort with the current NI situation doesn’t prevent historical comparison.

Yes, Ukraine is a warzone. That war is almost universally condemned.

Northern Ireland is at peace. Its constitutional position within the a United Kingdom is recognises by the Irish government, the British government and all of the other states of the world. This position was agreed through a referendum held for the people of the island almost 30 years ago.

Historical comparison doesn't come into it. The point your were raising was that there was a comparison to be made today to the situation in Ireland and the situation in Ukraine.

Even historically it doesn't fit. What "invasions" of Ireland are you talking about? Maybe John de Courcey's? In the 12th century without support from the crown?

Please note that I say all of this as someone who would vote tomorrow for a united Ireland without a second thought.