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Finland Races Toward Likely NATO Membership as Putin's Warnings Backfire

Rogue Valley

Rogue Valley

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Finland Races Toward Likely NATO Membership as Putin's Warnings Backfire

iu

4.4.22
Finland Prime Minister Sanna Marin said Saturday that the country will make a decision on applying for NATO membership by the end of spring, because "Russia is not the neighbor we thought it was." Finland's relations with Russia have changed in an "irreversible" way, said Marin, reversing course on earlier remarks that it would be "very unlikely" that Finland would apply for membership with the military alliance during her current term of office. Russian officials have warned of potential retaliation, in the form of military and political consequences, should Finland and Sweden join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Sergei Belyaev, director of the Second European Department of Russia's Foreign Ministry, told Russia's state-run news agency Interfax that Finland and Sweden not joining NATO is "an important factor in ensuring security and stability in northern Europe."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on February 25—a day after the start of the invasion of Ukraine—said that Moscow would have to respond if Sweden and Finland intended to join NATO. "Clearly [the] accession of Finland and Sweden into NATO, which is first and foremost a military alliance, would have serious military-political repercussions that would demand a response from our country," she said. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said NATO's expansion east poses a security threat to Russia. He cited the alliance's expansion as part of his justification for launching his "special military operation" in Ukraine on February 24. Moscow's attack in neighboring Ukraine has left Finland with no choice but to reexamine its security policy, Marin said. The Finnish prime minister said a decision to seek NATO membership would be made "thoroughly but quickly," by this spring, according to Finnish broadcasting company Yleisradio Oy. Finland is likely to face consequences either way, she said.
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As with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia wants the power to dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can't do.

Moscow warns Finland and Sweden that they can become the next Ukraine if they request NATO membership.
 
I'm loving how the invasion of Ukraine has literally had the opposite effect of everything Putin intended when he initially invaded.

Throw some cold water on the myth of the cunning KGB agent and "strong leader."

At the same time, none of it makes him less dangerous when he becomes more cornered.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Or their past performance in Finland!
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Finland surrendered twice and Russia ended up with more territory than they originally asked for.
 
Rogue Valley said:
Finland Races Toward Likely NATO Membership as Putin's Warnings Backfire

iu




As with Ukraine and Georgia, Russia wants the power to dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can't do.

Moscow warns Finland and Sweden that they can become the next Ukraine if they request NATO membership.
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We dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can’t do all the time. It’s what superpowers do.

That being said, Russia has nothing to fight Finland over. It got what it wanted from Helsinki decades ago.
 
RabidAlpaca said:
Or their past performance in Finland!
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…..you mean like when Finland decided to jump on board with Barbarossa and wound up having to beg Stalin for mercy because the next Soviet offensive would have ended in Helsinki?

Because that was Russia’s most recent “performance in Finland”.
 
Tigerace117 said:
We dictate to sovereign nations what they can and can’t do all the time. It’s what superpowers do.

That being said, Russia has nothing to fight Finland over. It got what it wanted from Helsinki decades ago.
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If it's bad for the US to bully smaller countries, then it's also bad when Russia does the same thing.
 
Rogue Valley said:
No. According to the Theory of Tigerace117, Russia has powers far beyond those of any other country.
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STILL waiting on that evidence of me being a “Stalinist” bud.

Funny how it’s yet to materialize. Hmm, I wonder why 🙄 😂
 
lwf said:
It has become obvious that they will become the next Ukraine if they DON'T join NATO, along with every other non-NATO country that borders Russia.
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Obvious to who? Again, Russia has nothing to fight Finland over. They gained what they wanted— Karelia— decades ago.
 
Tigerace117 said:
Obvious to who? Again, Russia has nothing to fight Finland over. They gained what they wanted— Karelia— decades ago.
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Obvious to anyone who has been following the Ukrainian invasion. Russia wants more territory. Russia is expansionistic and has shown itself both willing and able to violently invade its weaker neighbors in a conquest for more territory, so long as those neighbors are not in a defensive alliance with other nations that are stronger than Russia.

It is foolish for Sweden and Finland not to join NATO as soon as they possibly can.
 
lwf said:
Obvious to anyone who has been following the Ukrainian invasion. Russia wants more territory. Russia is expansionistic and has shown itself both willing and able to violently invade its weaker neighbors in a conquest for more territory, so long as those neighbors are not in a defensive alliance with other nations that are stronger than Russia.

It is foolish for Sweden and Finland not to join NATO as soon as they possibly can.
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Russia wants territory with an abundance of resources and a large Russian speaking/ethnic Russian populace that can be easily carved off. Finland’s ethnic Russian populace makes up about 1.5 percent of the country. That isn’t even remotely comparable to the percentage of Russian speaking/ethnic Russians in, say, Ukraine.

I get that hysterical fearmongering is the order of the day, but at least try to learn something about the country in question.

Especially since Russia has been more than happy with Finnish neutrality for decades, much to American annoyance.
 
Tigerace117 said:
Russia wants territory with an abundance of resources and a large Russian speaking/ethnic Russian populace that can be easily carved off. Finland’s ethnic Russian populace makes up about 1.5 percent of the country. That isn’t even remotely comparable to the percentage of Russian speaking/ethnic Russians in, say, Ukraine.

I get that hysterical fearmongering is the order of the day, but at least try to learn something about the country in question.

Especially since Russia has been more than happy with Finnish neutrality for decades, much to American annoyance.
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Then call NATO membership an insurance policy in case Russia finds something that they feel is worth stealing from the Finnish.
 
lwf said:
Then call NATO membership an insurance policy in case Russia finds something that they feel is worth stealing from the Finnish.
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Again, the Russians have been more than happy with Finnish neutrality over the years. The hysterical fearmongering that Russia is going to suddenly invade them for shits and giggles is laughable.
 
Tigerace117 said:
Again, the Russians have been more than happy with Finnish neutrality over the years. The hysterical fearmongering that Russia is going to suddenly invade them for shits and giggles is laughable.
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Still. Better safe than sorry, right? Who knows when Russia will become unhappy with the Finnish?
 
lwf said:
Still. Better safe than sorry, right? Who knows when Russia will become unhappy with the Finnish?
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Tell that to the poor Danes or Slovaks who got killed in Afghanistan for.....something? That’s the problem with joining one superpower’s camp.....it makes it that much harder to tell that superpower “no”.

Which is why, unless there’s an actual, credible threat— and for Finland there isn’t one— neutrality is the better option.
 
Tigerace117 said:
Russia wants territory with an abundance of resources and a large Russian speaking/ethnic Russian populace that can be easily carved off. Finland’s ethnic Russian populace makes up about 1.5 percent of the country. That isn’t even remotely comparable to the percentage of Russian speaking/ethnic Russians in, say, Ukraine.

I get that hysterical fearmongering is the order of the day, but at least try to learn something about the country in question.

Especially since Russia has been more than happy with Finnish neutrality for decades, much to American annoyance.
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Wow. If Russia doesn't care about Finland, why did it threaten them if they join NATO? Russia brutally invades its neighbor and you wonder why other neighbors are joining NATO? Is something wrong with your logic lately?
 
Tigerace117 said:
Tell that to the poor Danes or Slovaks who got killed in Afghanistan for.....something? That’s the problem with joining one superpower’s camp.....it makes it that much harder to tell that superpower “no”.

Which is why, unless there’s an actual, credible threat— and for Finland there isn’t one— neutrality is the better option.
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Russia is getting what it deserves. Act like an asshole, get treated like an asshole.
 
MaryP said:
Wow. If Russia doesn't care about Finland, why did it threaten them if they join NATO? Russia brutally invades its neighbor and you wonder why other neighbors are joining NATO? Is something wrong with your logic lately?
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Because threats are literally the cheapest thing there is, and because it doesn’t matter what country you’re in, people LOVE tough talk.

As I pointed out earlier, there’s no equivalence whatsoever between Finland’s situation and Ukraine. Russia already has the only thing it ever wanted from Finland. If Stalin himself didn’t stick around and set up a puppet state, what makes you think Putin would?
 
Tigerace117 said:
Tell that to the poor Danes or Slovaks who got killed in Afghanistan for.....something? That’s the problem with joining one superpower’s camp.....it makes it that much harder to tell that superpower “no”.

Which is why, unless there’s an actual, credible threat— and for Finland there isn’t one— neutrality is the better option.
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Russia IS a credible threat. Vladimir Putin just threatened them with becoming the next Ukraine if they sought NATO membership. Joining NATO could prevent this from happening. Therefore, they ought to join NATO.
 
lwf said:
Russia IS a credible threat. Vladimir Putin just threatened them with becoming the next Ukraine if they sought NATO membership. Joining NATO could prevent this from happening. Therefore, they ought to join NATO.
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Uh.....did you read the article? Putin didn’t say anything about Finland. A Russian spokeswoman literally just said that Russia would have to respond in some way if they joined NATO, and that that decision would have repercussions, which the Finnish prime minister herself pointed out. That’s a far cry from a threat of invasion.
 
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