Posted on 04/04/2022 7:08:36 AM PDT by lodi90
Finland appears to be getting closer to joining the NATO military alliance despite Russia's threat of military consequences if it becomes a member.
The country's politicians and NATO itself have both pointed to the possibility of Finland joining soon, and a recent survey showed a majority of the country in support of membership in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Sanna Marin, Finland's prime minister, said on Saturday the decision on whether or not to join should happen "this spring," the Financial Times reported.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on March 31 that while the decision to join the bloc was one for Finland to make, he expected that NATO would allow the country to join quickly.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Finland has great sardines, they hold together nicely and stay firm. I like them on pumpernickel bread with a tall, cold beer, or two. As far as NATO membership, they need to not poke the bear.
I see no indication in this article the headline is true, just a statement from Finland’s main opposition party and a public poll.
Does Putin think he can fight a two front war? He can barely manage the ne he has now. At the end of WWII General George Patton wanted to reconstitute the German Army and attack Russia. Patton identified problems with the Russian military, none or very few of those were fixed.
Stalin had real problems taking on Finland. Putin would be foolish to attack them. Simo Haya lives!
Finland’s problem is that close to 90% of all businesses are working on the Russian market, of them for 20-25% Russian is a primary market.
Nokian makes 75% of advanced tires in Russia, and all the supply chain for the Russian factory is outside Finland.
Sweden and Finland are both likely to join, and will both be useful members of NATO.
The big project that a competent president needs to do is expand NATO into a global alliance.
We need Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore on the same team with our European allies.
> As far as NATO membership, they need to not poke the bear. <
I would have completely agreed with that statement a year ago. Finland occupies a strategic position, and Russia would be right to be alarmed about NATO forces being stationed there. Best not poke the bear, as you said.
But Putin foolishly upset the apple cart. So now it’s Finland’s turn to be alarmed.
Finland total exports 2021: $68 billion
Finland total exports to Russia: $3.7 billion
Russia is too poor to buy many exports from any country.
I find this dynamic to be the most confusing part of the equation. Did Putin expect his neighbors to stand by and wait for their turn to be attacked? Seems like a significant miscalculation for a "superpower" nation state. But time will tell, I suppose. I'm sure there's plenty more miscalcs to come.
As bravely as the Fins fought Russia’s takeover in WW2, they are no match for Russia then or now.
Quote
Sweden and Finland are both likely to join, and will both be useful members of NATO.
https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/4052179/posts
From article..
In 17th Century Europe, you’d have swung for blaspheming against the dominant church of the day. In 2022, you can now be criminalised for professing the scripture of that same faith.
A Bishop and a parliamentarian have been tried for ‘hate speech’ in Finland, in this case for merely quoting and affirming biblical views. In 2019 MP Päivi Räsänen, grandmother of seven, had sent a tweet, accompanied by a Bible verse, criticising her church for co-sponsoring the Helsinki Pride parade.
Less than 280 characters triggered a life-changing police investigation. Räsänen was charged for the tweet, and also for backing biblical teaching on marriage and sexuality in a radio interview. Her third strike was a pamphlet she had written for her church in 2004 titled, tellingly, ‘Male and Female He Created Them’. Bishop Juhana Pohjola was tried for having published the pamphlet.
Maybe what you see as allies are the useful idiot nations of Satan..
Your illiterate economic statements are getting goofier. If 70% of Finnish tires are made in Russia how do you think it relates to the figures you posted? Buy some book on the economy. Retelling McCain and Hillary makes you look like a simpleton.
Maybe they read this.
While people witter on about convoluted conspiracies and ideology, Russian media and politicians have been pretty clear about the objectives.
1. Warsaw Pact back where it belongs - under Russian thumb.
2. In Putin logic there is no such thing as a legitimate independent country in the Warsaw Pact region. They’re all ornery vassal rebel scum.
3. If you’re Ukrainian then you are untermensch. So you’re either handing out flowers to the Russian army, or you’re expendable.
4. If you’re an armed Ukrainian, or simply wearing the Ukrainian flag, then you are a defacto Nazi and because all Nazis must die, so must you. Quite unequivocal on this point. In Russian troop logic, a five year old Ukrainian seen holding a Ukrainian flag is already a nazi beyond redemption.
5. Denazification, de-ukrainisation, De-Europeanization, de-westernization and de-democratization ate all the same.
6. This isn’t about communism, it’s about restoring the pre-communist imperial Russia as an apparent autocracy (Putin) backed by oligarchy and kleptocracy (the Caviar Express) as the new aristocracy.
Rinse and repeat across the Baltics. Europe has known this mindset has been growing for 10 years but we kept kidding ourselves that Mad Vlad couldn’t possibly be THAT mad, bad and dangerous.
Newsflash. He is. Rusdian MSM wouldn’t dare print manifestos for genocide or talk ipenly about reconquering the Baltics if the Kremlin wasn’t signing it off.
Only a globalist would feel happy with Finland joining NATO. The globalists are now controlling NATO and are using its reinvigoration as the muscle to further their agenda. Put another way, the American taxpayer is funding the deconstruction of their own country.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg “
Why is this even a thing?
As has been pointed out elsewhere, one of the biggest results of this invasion is the complete reinvigoration of NATO, including major steps for German rearmament.
Not sure that is something that was in Putin's plan. Maybe he made the mistake of listening to Douglas MacGregor's prediction that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would result in the rapid end of NATO.
Oops.
As the state of our nation continues to deteriorate, and inflation pulls down wages of the middle class, then Americans will become alarmed. That's where I hold my interest, not in Finland.
“Hey, I got an idea - let’s put ourselves on the front line for WW3!!”
“If 70% of Finnish tires are made in Russia how do you think it relates to the figures you posted”
If I buy 70% of gas at the Exxon station, but then Exxon ticks me off I will switch to buying at the Chevron station across the street.
Russia is hardly the only producer of tires, and based on images from the war the tires they have are pretty crud.
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