Posted on 06/19/2014 10:30:31 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Finland should seriously consider joining NATO because of Russia's aggressive actions in Ukraine and could hold a referendum on the issue some time after its 2015 election, its defense minister told Reuters.
Opinion polls show only one fifth of Finns favor joining the Atlantic alliance but Carl Haglund said he expected that to change if Finland, which shares a 1,300 kilometer border with Russia, had an honest and open debate about NATO membership.
"I think the grounds for NATO membership are stronger than ever," Haglund said in an interview scheduled for publication on Wednesday.
"It shouldn't come as a surprise to Russia that this kind of debate is going on in their neighborhood. They have caused it themselves," he said, citing Moscow's brief 2008 war against Georgia as well as its actions in Ukraine.
Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March and the West has also accused it of actively backing pro-Russian separatists who have declared 'people's republics' in eastern Ukraine where they are battling Ukrainian forces. ....
Were Finland, a country of 5.5 million, to join NATO, its trade with Russia might suffer temporarily but Russia should respect its decisions, Haglund said.
"Russia has painted a dismal picture about what will happen if Finland joined NATO. They should take a deep look in the mirror," he said.
"They haven't respected the agreements they have made, which is why trust in them has suffered among their neighbors."
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
We will stand up to them, and defeat them.
Come on now, don’t you understand that Russia simply is defending itself against Ukrainian Nazis?
Jewish Nazis are the worst.
Has NATO shown the resolve necessary to prevent future Russian incursions?
Considering Russia has not dared to invade any NATO country, but has invaded non-NATO countries unprovoked, I’d say NATO membership is pretty important, if you don’t want your country invaded by Russia.
There does appear to be a statistical correlation between belonging to NATO and not being invaded by Russia.
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