It took Vladimir Putin 81 days to intimidate our neighbors Sweden and Finland into NATO. Many Russia experts have tried to creep into the head of the Russian president in recent months. To interpret the man’s plans and opinions.
Putin had hardly imagined that the Ukraine war would lead to new NATO members from the north. Some diplomats at NATO headquarters in Brussels and in other member states still seem a little put off by what is happening. In record time, history has been written in Europe. In 1949, Sweden chose to stand outside the military alliance. In war, the country should be neutral. Finland, with its border with the Soviet Union and vital trade with the communist dictatorship, never had a choice.
Replacing a country’s security and defense policy is not something you usually do in a few weeks. The most recent new members of NATO, Northern Macedonia, Croatia and Albania spent years joining. Among other things, the countries must be able to afford to join NATO, and have a defense that can easily cooperate with other countries’ defenses. In NATO, it is called interoperability.
Releases the waiting room
Sweden and Finland get fast-track into the alliance, although there have been some bumps in the road in recent days. The plan is that the applications from Sweden and Finland will be sent in the next few days. Either together or separately. After a couple of weeks of formal treatment in NATO, perhaps as little as two weeks, the NATO ambassadors will sign a protocol in Brussels. It invites countries as members, but Sweden and Finland are still not full members. Therefore, Article 5 of the NATO Treaty does not apply to them, the whole point of NATO. If one is attacked, then everyone stands up for it. Only used once in history. Following the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001.