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Numerous innovations (like the bandage that saved Gabriel Giffords' life), numerous American companies doing R&D in Israel (Intel is fabricating their upcoming Sandy Bridge line in Israel), and of course, military relations (weapons/defense technology, American weapons caches in Israel, intelligence cooperation, stuxnet).

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So they have some R&D there. Lots of countries do that, and our relationship with them isn't quite the same. Lots of tech in Ireland for example, but we weren't getting in their mini-religious war quite so much in the 90's and protecting one side like that.

> So they have some R&D there.

As I outlined above and which you are purposely and blatantly ignoring, our relationship is more than economic.

Ireland doesn't face an existential threat from anti-Western regimes, nor does it have the same military relationship that we do with Israel. The situations could not be more different.

The Irish were fighting against one of our closest allies.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_Relationship

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