Finland is set to become the 31st member of NATO as the Scandinavian country is heading toward a momentous vote next week.
Finland & NATO
On Thursday, in a joint statement, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin made a case for Finland to join the transatlantic security alliance.
“During this spring, an important discussion on Finland’s possible NATO membership has taken place. Time has been needed to let Parliament and the whole society establish their stands on the matter. Time has been needed for close international contacts with NATO and its member countries, as well as with Sweden. We have wanted to give the discussion the space it required,” the Finnish leaders stated in a press release.
Now, the Finnish parliament will debate the motion and make a decision on whether the small Scandinavian country will abandon its long-held neutrality and join NATO. Finnish lawmakers are expected to make a decision next week, with everything indicating that they will vote in favor.
“Now that the moment of decision-making is near, we state our equal views, also for information to the parliamentary groups and parties. NATO membership would strengthen Finland’s security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defence alliance. Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days,” the Finnish leaders said.
However, the membership process can take up to a year, but it might be accelerated for Finland and Sweden. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has signed a security agreement with the two Scandinavian countries as a security guarantee for the period before they are formally members of the transatlantic alliance.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that “Should Finland decide to apply, they would be warmly welcomed into NATO, and the accession process would be smooth and swift. . Finland is one of NATO’s closest partners, a mature democracy, a member of the European Union, and an important contributor to Euro-Atlantic security.”
NATO members are bound by the transatlantic alliance’s Article 5, also known as the mutual defense clause. According to the provision, should a NATO country be attacked by a state or non-state party, all NATO countries are bound to help it. Essentially, it’s a “one for all, all for one” clause that has restricted Russia for so long.
Russian Threats
But on the Russian side, the Finnish and Swedish aspiration to join NATO have been received as anticipated: poorly and with hostility.
Following the Finnish statement, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Finland and Sweden joining NATO doesn’t make the world a “more stable and secure” place. Moscow has threatened the two countries with serious repercussions should they abandon their long-held neutrality and join the transatlantic security alliance.
F-35 Flying in Finland. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin.
“Everything will depend on how this… process of Nato [sic] expansion plays out, the extent to which military infrastructure moves closer to our borders,” Peskov said according to the BBC.
The Russo-Finnish border is approximately 830 miles (1,340 kilometers), and a potential Finnish NATO membership would seriously change the strategic calculus in the region.
1945’s New Defense and National Security Columnist, Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations, a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ), and a Johns Hopkins University graduate. His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Alex
May 12, 2022 at 11:57 am
OK. In Ukraine, 10,000 Russian and 1,000 Russian tanks are destroyed every day. It’s not even funny to read, but it’s not interesting anymore. Let’s talk about the collapsed Russian economy:
The Russian ruble has become the best world currency in 2022. On Thursday, May 12, Bloomberg reported.
According to the latest data, the ruble has grown by 11 percent against the dollar since the beginning of 2022. Thus, it has become the leader among the 31 major currencies monitored by the agency’s experts.
The strengthening of the currency came after the measures taken by the Russian government against the backdrop of Western sanctions, writes Bloomberg. It is clarified that the authorities introduced capital controls, and also obliged exporters to sell foreign exchange earnings. In particular, in March, the President of Russia announced a new procedure for paying for gas by European consumers.
As similar examples, the authors of the article cite the Turkish lira and the Argentine peso, which failed to achieve maximum growth rates after the decisions of the governments of these countries. The Russian currency, on the contrary, responded well to the measures taken, Bloomberg experts conclude.
Only facts, not squeals and fantasies of Bandera Nazis and Slavophobes.
L'amateur d'aéroplanes
May 12, 2022 at 1:32 pm
Alex, are you growing increasingly desperate to see your favorite dictator’s strategy fail miserably?
I would like to point out that you will no longer have new computers with the end of imports of Taiwanese and Japanese chips 🙂
If neutral countries find that Russia is becoming too unpredictable to remain without allies, guess whose fault it is?
3.8 million Russians have already left the country out of approximately 140 million inhabitants since the start of the invasion of Ukraine; more than 2% of the population. The Russians voted with their feet. And they are against this madness.
Alex
May 12, 2022 at 11:58 am
Russia’s oil revenues have grown by 50% since the beginning of the year, despite trade restrictions imposed after the start of a special operation in Ukraine, writes Bloomberg citing a report by the International Energy Agency.
“Russia has earned approximately $20 billion monthly since the beginning of 2022 from cumulative sales of oil and petroleum products at an export level of 8 million barrels per day,” the document says. As the IEA noted, supplies from Russia continue to flow despite the fact that the EU is currently discussing a ban on energy imports, and major international oil companies Shell and Total Energy promise to stop purchases.
Russian energy resources are in high demand in Asia, especially in India and China. Experts emphasize that the reduction in the supply of refined products from Russia, such as diesel fuel, fuel oil and naphtha, has exacerbated tensions on world markets. At the same time, stocks of so-called middle distillates (some types of petroleum products that are obtained as a result of the distillation of hydrocarbons, including heating and marine fuels) are at their lowest level since 2008.
Another collapse of the Russian economy. I am sure that in Russia they clap and thank you.
Stefan Stackhouse
May 12, 2022 at 12:53 pm
If the Russians don’t like this development, they have no one but themselves to blame.
Vladolph Putler
May 13, 2022 at 12:07 am
One, two, three… twenty nine, thirty… seventy one, seventy TWO!
Seventy two pieces of armor, and assuming the little crunchies around them did as bad as the armor (probably a lot worse actually) that would be something like… ah yes. 1,400 dead Russians in *one battle*. But at least another Neptuned ship on fire. 🙂 The press is being really nice to Russia on this one. Ukraine hasn’t had that much to say. But the reality is that what little managed to limp away is clearly not combat effective, so Ukrainian forces in a single battle just destroyed nearly TWO ENTIRE battalion tactical groups, and rendered combat ineffective any stragglers.
One could only speculate the brutal thrashing Finland would give the Russians. And the Fins have a lot more reasons to should “Mother Russia” find yet another light socket to lay it’s sausage into.
Alex
May 14, 2022 at 9:05 am
You need to understand the main thing: the United States is hysterical because the United States is losing the war in Ukraine. The only thing is to intervene directly in the conflict. And this will mean the end of the US country.
And here are the real numbers:
In total since the beginning of the special military operation, Russia has destroyed: 165 aircraft, 125 helicopters, 858 unmanned aerial vehicles, 304 anti-aircraft missile systems, 3,051 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 372 multiple rocket launchers, 1,507 field artillery pieces and mortars, as well as 2898 units of special military vehicles.
Will the old American idiot decide on a nuclear war because of a slap in the impoverished Ukraine? We will see. But one thing is clear: the United States will cease to exist not as a country, but as a continent.
Alex
May 15, 2022 at 11:29 am
A demobilized French soldier, author of the book “Get up and go thanks to science” Adrien Boke went to Ukraine on a humanitarian mission and spent three weeks there.
Upon his return, he decided to convey to the French information about the events he had witnessed in Ukraine.
“I take full responsibility for what I say. While in Ukraine, I witnessed war crimes. All of them were committed by the Ukrainian army. But in France we don’t talk about it!
When I returned to France from Ukraine, I was shocked: TV channels invite as experts people who have not been to Ukraine and do not know anything about what is happening there now. However, they dare to speculate about these events. Between what I hear from the TV screen and what I saw with my own eyes is an abyss.
Azov fighters are everywhere. With neo-Nazi stripes. It shocks me that Europe is supplying weapons to neo-Nazis. Not only do they not hide their views. They advertise them. I worked with these people and treated them.
Being there, there was nothing I could do. Just watch and make videos. I have this footage and will use it as evidence of Ukraine’s crimes.
I witnessed how the Ukrainian military shot through the knees of captured Russian soldiers and shot in the head higher-ranking officers.
I have personally seen American videographers making fake footage from the scene of the events staging.
All destroyed civilian buildings, given out by Ukraine for bombardment of civilians, are nothing more than the result of inaccurate shooting by Ukrainians at military facilities.
The Armed Forces of Ukraine hide ammunition in residential buildings at night, without even informing the residents. This is called using people as a shield, ”Boke quotes one of the French media.
The Washington Post recently drew attention to the fact that Ukrainian troops are placing military equipment in residential areas of cities in an attempt to counter the Russian Armed Forces, which threatens the lives of civilians.
Boke also spoke about the untruthfulness of Western media reports about the events in Bucha.
“Bucha is a staging. The bodies of the dead were moved from other places and deliberately placed in such a way as to produce shocking footage, ”the French author noted.
The documents confirming this were submitted to the Federal Security Service – how, who – there are relevant intercepts – on what transport he came to this settlement and created the conditions for organizing this provocation.
Soon all the collected evidence about the crimes of the Nazis in Ukraine will be seen by the whole world. And the most important thing is the help of Western countries to the Nazis of Ukraine and assistance in their crimes.