Defying 69-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finland and Sweden announced they will seek NATO membership in short order, something prompted by Russia’s Ukraine War. Putin says he has no beef with Finland or Sweden but the two Nordic countries do not trust that the Russian Federation couldn’t switch gears and decide to invade both countries to create a better buffer zone against claims of NATO encroachment by Russia. Putin sees anyone joining NATO as the enemy of the Kremlin because of NATO’s sworn allegiance, especially Article 5, when NATO defends any country attacked by a non-NATO country. How ironic that Finland and Sweden get fast-tracked into NATO but Ukraine remains on the outs for whatever reason. Putin didn’t like Ukraine’s 44-year-old President Volodymyr Zelensky constantly asking NATO for membership.
Zelensky has all but given up on NATO membership, watching Finland and Sweden fast-tracked due to their long history of collaboration. Despite remaining non-aligned during the Cold War, Finland, more than Sweden, has always been obedient and compliant to the Kremlin’s demands. Through the Cold War, Finland didn’t rock-the-boat, showing interest in joining NATO. Now after the Feb. 24 Russian invasion of Ukraine, they now think it’s in their best interests. “This will be another gross mistake with far-reaching consequences,” Ryabkov said. “The fact that the security of Sweden, like that of Finland for that matter, will no be strengthened as a result of this decision, is completely obvious to us,” Ryabkov said, echoing Putin’s views. Russia’s Ukraine invasion changed the calculus for Finland and Sweden, no longer feeling secure with Russia now at war with Ukraine.
Ukraine’s feels confident that if the present trends hold, the war will be over by year’s end, maybe an optimistic forecast. Supplying Ukraine unlimited lethal weapons, President Joe Biden, 79, hopes to get Putin to end the war, pull out his troops. Whether that happens or no is anyone’s guess. What’s known for sure is that Ukraine’s major cities and towns have been bombed into the Stone Age. Whether admitted to or not by Kiev or the White House, Putin controls a lot more Black Sea coastline than before the war started. To get back that territory, Ukraine will have to take it back by force or negotiate for it in Istanbul. Either way, Ukraine has lost more sovereign territory along the Black Sea coast, making its negotiating posture far weaker in Instanbul. Had Zelensky decided to negotiate a settlement earlier, it’s possible that more land would be left in Ukrainian hands.
Every day the war goes on, the more damage to Ukraine infrastructure and the more land lost to the Russian Federation. Biden and Zelensky have a plan to wear the Russian military down to the point they leave Ukraine or surrender. While it all sounds good on paper, there are no guarantees. Wild speculation in the tabloids and U.S. newspapers about Putin’s alleged terminal illness makes the White House and press feel good but lack any verification. Zelensky has begged NATO for membership saying they meet all the NATO membership criteria, especially fighting to preserve democracy on the European Continent. Zelensky, for the life of him, can’t figure out what Finland and Sweden have done to warrant fast-track NATO membership, where Ukraine has waited for the last eight years with nothing happening. Zelensky contends that if NAOT were involved the war would have ended long ago.
Zelensky of course doesn’t know whether NATO or U.S. troops would have precipitated WW III or, worse yet, nuclear war. Putin has put his nuclear forces on high alert, prepared, on an instant’s notice, to respond to his orders. Find and Sweden hope to gain NATO membership soon, just has their Nordic neighbors Denmark and Norway have done for years. NATO’s Secretary –General Jens Stoltenberg has explained that Finland and Sweden are well-known to NATO since they have cooperated with the Trans-Atlantic Alliance for years. Zelensky doesn’t like admitting that Ukraine was one of Europe’s most corrupt countries, not even close to functioning as a responsible democracy. Yet since the Feb. 24 war, the White House and U.S. press have tried to sell Ukraine as a responsible member of the European community. Zelensky can’t understand NATO’s reluctance for membership.
Putin’s warning to Finland and Sweden joining NATO have fallen on deaf ears. Whether the Kremlin admits it or not, both countries have long collaborated with NATO and are no strangers to the alliance. Finish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that “security environment has fundamentally changed” referring to the Ukraine War. Finland’s President Sauli Ninistro believes the Finnish parliament will back his request for an application under NATO’s open-door enrollment policy. “Certainly we hope to achieve it before the August recess when Congress typically goes out of session,” said Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on a visit to Helsinki. Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson confirmed Sweden’s intent of joining NATO. Whatever the threats from the Kremlin, Finland and Sweden show no signs of backing down in their requests for NATO membership.
