Again, I'll repeat. To be recognised as a sovereign state, you must have the means of exercising your claims to territory
As for the general question, I think it might be an idea to recognise that there are two separate questions here;
(a) What good is the RDF now?
(b)What should the RDF be able to do?
(a) I'm not in a position to answer, nor should anyone take a detailed stab at for a variety of legal reasons.
(b) is pretty obvious also; everything the PDF can do.
As to why does the DF exist at all, well, loads of people have answered that, (Carrington's being an interesting answer) - in reality, there are several reasons. Here are a few.
(1) Internal Security. The DF are the ultimate arbitors of law and order and the power of the state.
(2) Defending the state against external agression. Ok, so the current DF couldn't 'take' the US Armed forces, big whoop, who could. They do act as a deterrent to lesser forces however, and least give the state a right of reply.
(3) They would form the basis of a much larger 'wartime' force - were such an extreme situation come to pass. Ok, unlikely that the state could get arms and equipment in a timely fashion - O'Halpin's "Defending Ireland" agrees with Expat01 on this.
(4) They provide forces for the state to deploy abroad in a variety of regional security roles, be they peacekeeping in Liberia, or stablising regions on the fringes of the EU. KFOR being an obvious and topical example of where the DF are currently working to defend the state. How? Regional security is a communal business, we have to pull our weight, meaningless scaremongering about a 'European SuperArmy' aside.
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