Finland Deals a Blow to Putin as It Enters NATO

The New York Times ^ | April 4, 2023 | Steven Erlanger

[Timber Rattler]

The Nordic country will become NATO’s 31st member on Tuesday, expanding the alliance in a strategic setback for President Vladimir Putin of Russia.

(snip)

Finland’s flag is being raised on Tuesday afternoon at NATO headquarters, a deeply symbolic moment marking the Nordic nation’s official welcome into the alliance and the shifting power calculations as the West strengthens its allegiances in response to the war in Ukraine.

The president of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, is expected to attend the ceremony, on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 74th anniversary, in what amounts to a strategic defeat for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who has made blocking NATO expansion a goal of his leadership.

With Finland’s membership unlocked by Turkey’s vote last week to ratify its entry, NATO’s border with Russia is doubling and the alliance has gained access to a strong military with a deep history of countering its bigger neighbor.

The ceremony comes as foreign ministers from the alliance gather in Brussels for a two-day meeting. Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, will attend the meeting — Finland’s first as a full-fledged member — although many details about how his country, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia, will integrate into the alliance are yet to be determined.

A new Finnish government, still to be negotiated following an election on Sunday, will have to decide whether Finland will accept foreign troops on its soil, for example, or even nuclear weapons belonging to allies.

Mr. Niinisto judged quickly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine that Finland’s best protection was to drop its military nonalignment and apply to join NATO. His judgment was influential for a more hesitant Sweden, which has also applied to join.

[Cronos]

The Finnish border is relatively unarmed because Putin desperately withdrew troops from there to bolster his failing forces in Ukraine.

Finland has conscription and has been preparing for a potential Russian invasion for 78 years

[Cronos]

The finns pay.

[hardspunned]

What an idiot! Only Finnish troops and equipment in Finland, only German troops and equipment in Germany, only Polish troops and equipment in Poland, only British troops and equipment in England. Where are all those American troops in NATO hiding? I guess we’ve hidden our men and equipment at our embassies. What an idiot. Keep the comedy coming,

[Cronos]

You definitely describe yourself in your first 3 words “what an idiot “

I replied “The Finns are paying for the F 35s.”

To your false post 37 where you said the American taxpayer would pay for it, you are wrong.