It took Russia years of being threatening, instead of being friendly, to get Sweden and Finland to this point.
The Russian PR failure is hard to believe, idiotic as it is, but there we are.
And this NATO thing is now a popular idea in both Sweden and Finland, when it used to be unpopular. Russia under Putin managed to do what the Soviet Union couldn’t, on its worst days.
Being as I am a peaceful fellow, I suggest that Russia try its best to head this off with a peace, love and flowers offensive to Finland and Sweden. Go make much of the Swedes. Offer them some sort of prize. Pledge endless appreciation for their peaceable Swedishness. The Swedes in particular really like that kind of thing. Give Sweden some sort of gift. Send a horde of pretty girls to do the “negotiating”.
As for the Finns, do a big transborder Finnish culture and language unity thing. Apologize for invading in 1939. Give back some token bits of land as under “mutual sovereignty” or something. Shared mineral rights in the Baltic or whatever. Declare the Estonians (Finnish cousins) perpetually untouchable by Russia. Give them economic concessions, gratis et amore. And all this without a hint of of a threat.
But a major part of the Russian psychological problem is a complete inability to do this kind of love offensive. Is there any love in “official” Russia?
“Being as I am a peaceful fellow, I suggest that Russia try its best to head this off with a peace, love and flowers offensive to Finland and Sweden. Go make much of the Swedes. Offer them some sort of prize. Pledge endless appreciation for their peaceable Swedishness. The Swedes in particular really like that kind of thing. Give Sweden some sort of gift. Send a horde of pretty girls to do the “negotiating”.”
Nicely stated.
But perhaps you missed the peaceable appreciation the Russians recently displayed to the Swedes when they sent two nuclear armed aircraft into >> Swedish airspace << and not just the Swedish ADIZ. They had the idiotic nerve to bring nukes into Swedish territory thinking this display of Russian thuggery would impress the Swedes.
The Swedish response was that henceforth they would assume that all Russian aircraft are armed with nuclear weapons and that any such aircraft found in Swedish airspace again will be killed.
And that was about the limit for the Swedes and now they’re joining NATO when this time last year a good 80% of the Swedes saw no reason to join NATO.
Like you said, Pidor Putin accomplished ending Swedish neutrality and neither the Nazis or the USSR could do that! He ought to be proud of himself!