Finland poised to request NATO membership as early as May

Fox News ^ | April 10, 2022 | Anders Hagstrom

[McGruff]

The Finnish government is poised to formally apply for NATO membership "before midsummer" and potentially as early as May.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin stated Friday that the country would vote "before midsummer" on sending an application to join NATO. Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb says the vote will likely happen as early as May, according to Agence France-Presse.

"We will have very careful discussions but not taking any more time than we have to," Marin said during a press conference. "I think we will end the discussion before midsummer."

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

NO.

While we’re at it, we need to leave NATO. Forever.

[Bikkuri]

And, WE need to leave NATO and let Europe take care of it’s OWN laundry.
We have our own issues to straighten out.

[LouieFisk]

As if the US needs yet another country to take care of as Americans suffer.

[ASA Vet]

Obviously Finland is full of Nazi’s too.

[crz]

Not only no, but HELL no.

[Deo volente]

Title should be changed to: World War 3 To Begin In 2023.

[crz]

Finlamds GDP is around 260 billion in USD.

They can take 8% of that and build up their own defenses instead of spending it on social engineering programs.

[ought-six]

You do know, I assume, that Article 5 of NATO does not mandate armed involvement, right?

The operative clause is: “...(members) will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

I emphasize the following: “...such action as it DEEMS NECESSARY, INCLUDING the use of armed force...”

So, what one member “deems necessary” may not be what another member “deems necessary,” and each is allowed to proceed accordingly. That may be as benign as providing medical assistance all the way up to carpet bombing an aggressors capital.

[McGruff]

So you are saying NATO is irrelevant. I’m all for disbanding it. Let Europe fight it’s own border wars.

[ought-six]

“So you are saying NATO is irrelevant.”

Not at all. It’s a deterrent, and has served that purpose quite well for about 70 years. It is a defensive pact, not an offensive one. Better to not have to fight a war in the first place.

[tlozo]

Finland poised to request NATO membership as early as May

So Pootie fans want to tell me again how brilliant Putin is and how he plays 4D chess.

[Leaning Right]

> It is a defensive pact, not an offensive one. <

Very true. However, not all Russians see it that way. For example, NATO was formed in 1949, well before the Warsaw Pact was. Nazi Germany was defeated. Then all of a sudden this powerful new western alliance springs up.

So yes, the Soviets - and now Putin - had reason to be concerned about NATO, and NATO expanding eastward. But no, that’s not near enough reason to start a war. Putin squandered whatever moral high ground he had the instant Russian troops crossed into Ukraine.

Disclaimer: I’m not saying that the Russians were right to be worried about NATO. As you noted, NATO was never meant to be an offend organization. I am saying that from the Russian point of view, NATO sure wasn’t a thing to ignore.

[lump in the melting pot]

Good thing you and your ilk have no say in the matter

[crz]

Our security interests are in the Pacific Rim and not in Europe.

And unlike yourself, I do have a say in the matter.

[ought-six]

“For example, NATO was formed in 1949, well before the Warsaw Pact was. Nazi Germany was defeated. Then all of a sudden this powerful new western alliance springs up.”

Yeah, in response to Soviet actions.

Think: Berlin Airlift, which began in 1948. The Soviets had already announced their intentions to absorb ALL of Berlin — which fell within the Russian zone of post-war occupation, but as was Germany itself, divided among the Allies — into the Soviet zone. The Soviets blocked the Western Allies’ railway, road, and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control, thus starving it of electricity, as well as a steady supply of essential food and coal. The Soviets already made moves elsewhere in Europe, installing pro-Soviet communist governments in Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, etc.