So, Finland has announced its decision to join NATO as quickly as possible, Sweden is expected to follow suit shortly.
Is Putin feeling cornered? Will he lash out with nukes? As Captain Miller said in Saving Private Ryan; “Things have taken a turn for the surreal”.
Moscow has, of course, warned of consequences. Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, has stressed that NATO's eastward expansion would not bring stability to Europe. And last month former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev warned that Moscow would fortify its presence in the Baltic region if Finland and Sweden joined NATO.
But there is the other side of the coin given what we see on the idiot box daily, the lady below may be right.
Elisabeth Braw, Resident Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, says that a Russian invasion of Finland or Sweden is highly unlikely.
"Nobody would seriously argue that Russia is likely to invade Sweden or Finland if they apply for NATO membership because Russia clearly doesn't have the resources. At the moment it's not only tied down in Ukraine, but is putting on a really poor show in Ukraine. So now would not be the time for Russia to retaliate militarily against Sweden and or Finland," she said.
And what will NATO get out of it?
Quote; Harry Nedelcu, NATO expert and director of policy at Rasmussen Global, an international political consultancy.
"The first message of these nations joining NATO is political and targeted towards Russia. Secondly, for NATO it's all about the genuine capabilities that Finland and Sweden are bringing to the table. While everybody else in Europe has been sort of winding down their military capabilities after the Cold War, Finland and Sweden have been building their military capabilities, that can bring quite a bit to the alliance,"
End
Sounds like a smart move on Nato it would seem
But it’s all in the hands of the closest thing to a deranged hitler we have had since, well, hitler. And who knows if a madman might just say fcuk it, and hit the big reset button.
(ok, and stalin for the anally impaired, and the likes of pol pot, idi, mugabe et al were just amateur sideshows).
Interesting times.
