Finland and Sweden Set to Join NATO This Summer

[applegrove]

Finland and Sweden Set to Join NATO This Summer

April 10, 2022 at 9:58 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 41 Comments

https://politicalwire.com/2022/04/10/finland-and-sweden-set-to-join-nato-this-summer/

"SNIP......

Russia has made a “massive strategic blunder” as Finland and Sweden look poised to join NATO as early as the summer, the Times of London reports.

......SNIP"

[RKP5637]

1. Excellent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! n/t

[mitch96]

14. +1...that's gonna piss the little ruskie off...HA!..nt

[RKP5637]

15. Yeah, I'm getting tired of that asshole screaming and trying to threaten the world. And

it is not going to get better with him.

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. HAHA!

[Takket]

3. Welcome aboard!

🇫🇮🇸🇪

[dalton99a]

5. "We simply don't want to be left alone again"

Alexander Stubb, who served as Finland's Prime Minister in 2014-2015, echoed this sentiment, telling CNN there had long been a tension in the country between idealism -- wanting to be able to work with Russia, with whom it shares a border -- and realism, which required Finland to maintain a strong standing army in the event that Russia ever invaded.

That idealism has now largely evaporated in the wake of Russia's attack.

"The Finns think that if Putin can slaughter his sisters, brothers and cousins in Ukraine, as he is doing now, then there is nothing stopping him from doing it in Finland. We simply don't want to be left alone again," Stubb said, recalling the Soviet-Finnish Winter War, which lasted from November 1939 to March 1940.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/08/politics/finland-sweden-nato-membership/index.html

[roamer65]

6. Wow...Putler killed Swedish neutrality.

[applegrove]

7. Switzerland's neutrality was it not?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. Switzerland is still neutral. How long that lasts is anybody's guess.

The world is not the same as it was a hundred years ago, and the value of a small, neutral mountainous area is questionable. Sweden and Finland were scared shitless by Putin.

The Swiss will, of course, take their time thinking about it.

[Wounded Bear]

18. Switzerland is still taking money from all sides of the moral compass...

Some screws have been tightening on their ability to hide dirty money for criminals, but they're losing that ability to other small countries scattered around the world.

[PortTack]

8. Good! Finland already responded to Russia with their vailed threat telling them ...bring it!

We’ll bury your soldiers with the 200k already buried here in your senseless attack on us in 1938.

[Wounded Bear]

19. "Veiled"

[PortTack]

25. Autocorrected ...please stop

[LetMyPeopleVote]

9. Putin is the reason for this move

This is a smart move by Finland and Sweden

[Raine]

11. Wonderful news! nt 😃👍

[Larissa]

12. This is huge

No doubt the horrifying images of the slaughter/torture of Ukrainians and the wholesale physical destruction of the country, has had enormous impact. This is one reason why the free press is so crucial. Sweden was becoming increasingly rattled by recent episodes of Russia flying war planes in their airspace without permission.

[EndlessWire]

13. I don't think Sweden is rattled.

I don't know much about Sweden (love the Swedish Chef, though) but I read that they beefed everything up defensively well before this Putin war. Russia frequently intrudes on Swedish air space, the same way they intrude up in Alaskan air space. It's just that now is not the time to start something, and this last one occurred after Sweden started thinking about joining NATO.

Good for Sweden and Finland! If they do not join, there's not much NATO can do to help. Putin has to be stopped, and the world cannot rest perhaps until Putin is permanently retired. Putin is destroying his country's future all on his own. He seems to be stuck in the 1930s.

[RKP5637]

16. Yeah, Putin is a throwback to a time not many want to repeat. n/t

[Slammer]

20. incursion

Well, incursions by Russian aircraft aren't terribly unusual especially since Sweden claims airspace out over the Baltic.

But incursions by aircraft which are armed with nuclear weapons is a bit more unusual.

[ripcord]

17. Too bad Ukraine wasn't given the same fast track n/t

[EndlessWire]

21. I agree with this.

There is no reason why they could not have admitted Ukraine immediately. Not unless someone objected. The reason stated was, what, they were suddenly in conflict and therefore could not be admitted? Nations can do what they want; if NATO had wanted Ukraine, they could have admitted Ukraine.

I think it looks terrible that they swiftly admit Sweden and Finland (no offense to fans of those nations) but obstruct Ukraine. I think that Ukraine would be a strong potential member, in view of their prowess and willingness to sacrifice. What chance do they now have to ever get into NATO, given the long period of rebuilding they will face after Russia bombs them to rubble?

Meantime, Russia brought about the circumstance that it stated it did not want, that of NATO expanding exponentially. I don't see how Sweden and Finland have any choice now. Russia isn't stable and has shown a tendency to take territory, pause, and then move on again. Now that there is a major war with the parameters defined such as they are, Russia can have confidence that circumstances favor them attacking any nation not buddied up in NATO.

But, I don't think Russia will ever get sanctions lifted, so there's that.

[Igel]

23. No. There are strict interoperability requirements.

If NATO goes to war, they have to be on the same page.

Same com channels, same sort of chain of command. If you need tanks, sure, you can have mine--wait--you don't know how to use them. And those bullets you sent don't fit our guns."

You can get by with some deviation, but a lot of things must be in paralle.

Ukr *might* have assimilated in the last 8 years, but it's not an easy road.

Like EU membership--it's a tough thing, bringing yourself in line with all the requirements, regulations, bureaucratese ...

[EndlessWire]

24. And yet

EU has offered Ukraine a fast track to membership. Being on the same page as NATO today means getting in the suck and laying your life down for your country. That's what counts. How quickly NATO responded with what Ukraine needed to stave off Russia as much as they have. Wasn't a problem.

[Igel]

22. Hardly original,

non-admission of Ukr in 2008 was a "strategic error."

Something I read today.