Finland & Sweden Move Towards NATO Membership Despite Russia's Threats

My, my. The putin appears to not be a much greater genius than the trump. Based on the putin's war of id and the horrific Russian war fought to eliminate the Ukraine civilian population including civilian infrastructure and even Russian speaking Ukrainian civilians that they were going to 'liberate', just what Middke European country would not want to join the unity of the NATO alliance?

In putin's FACE! 

Now being reported UNOFFICIALLY, Ukraine reports that they have struck a Soviet Missle cruiser with two missles. The 'Moskva' was a 'Flagship' for the Russian fleet. 

Might want to watch the news. 

Can we let this situation in Ukraine die down before stirring the pot?

Comrade Putin already attacked Ukraine because NATO would not promise that Ukraine was not going to be admitted into NATO. 

what would we do if Mexico decided to get friendly with Russia and China and Iran and Syria and gave them military bases in Mexico just a few miles south of our border? 

as these countries brought thousand of tanks and 500 top line jets and artillery units to Mexico I think we would have a problem with that. 

Ukraine was Putin's buffer with NATO. 

There was an interesting unverified commentary on the Ukrainian use of drones. They would dress-up commercial drones to look like 'terminator' bots and fly them low over Russian tanks temporarily based in a staging area.. The Russian tank crews would see the drones and run to the shelter of their current  base facilities - which the Ukrainians would then shell.

This and other innovative tactics are things that an autocratic society has difficulty recognizing, understanding or coping with. The people, including the military have no incentive and, in fact, discouraged from showing any initiative or 'out-of the-box' thinking.

Years ago, as part of the last stages of Nixen'x 'ping-pong-diplomacy' initiative with China, I participated in technology exchange talks with Chinese researchers. Our group talked about non-classified research and I talked about an experimental rig that we built to study a particular problem and then decided to use it to study another issue of current import. The Chinese were amazed that we could do that. While we talked about the probkemd we wanted to address abc the indights we gained, the Chinese talked about meeting the gists of the 5 year plan that they were given, and report that they had conducted yeah-many tests to-date and would meet their assigned number if tests on time.

Their was little incentive to improvise or do anything other than meeting the requirements of the autocratic plan that they were incentivized to complete.

To it's credit, the Chinese leadership recognized this as a potential issue and took the steps to encourage entrepreneurship, kind of an autocracic version of capitskidm, where innovative thinking and risk taking was encouraged and rewarded. This, I believe, greatly contributed to China's recent rapid economic  growth. 

Sweden and Finland see the handwriting on the wall especially Finland that borders Russia. 

Neutral Funland hoped to appease Russia but sees Ukraine which is not a NATO member invaded, and offers of neutrality at peace talks are not being accepted as a peace settlement leaving Finland with no other option but join NATO.

Kissinger had suggested Ukraine follow in Finland's footsteps but this got Ukraine nothing at the peace talks. Funland received the message loud & clear, and Putin is getting everything he didn't want:

1) NATO expansion eastward

2) more unified NATO

3) neutral countries (Finland, Sweden, Switzerland) sending military equipment to Ukraine.

https://www.russiamatters.org/analysis/nato-or-bust-why-do-ukraines-leaders-dismiss-neutrality-security-strategy

Just talk. Sweden has been neutral over 200 years.. 

Public support for NATO membership in Finland and Sweden began to rise after Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine and invaded the Donbas in 2014, but remained less than a majority at the time according to polls. Since Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, support for NATO membership has grown to outright majorities in Finland and Sweden that trend to supermajorities if both countries join the alliance simultaneously.
Marin said Wednesday that Finland will make a decision on a bid to become a NATO member “within weeks” rather than months, while Andersson now reportedly wants Sweden to apply for membership this June.

I support NATO Membership for Finland and Sweden, I urge my Congressmen to support Nato Membership too.

With what Russia is doing in Ukraine, absolutely! With how poorly Russia is doing against a much smaller military, Russia must know that it is no match for NATO in any imaginable sense. 

The proximity of Finland and Sweden to the three Baltic states ― Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania ― means that their geography would make them an integral part of NATO’s defensive plans in the Baltic Sea region. The Swedish island of Gotland, strategically located halfway between the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad and the city of St. Petersburg, is considered a possible Russian invasion target if Putin attempts military action in the Baltic. 
NATO’s mutual defense guarantee under Article V would deter Russian aggression in the region by raising the stakes of a Russian attack against an alliance member.
The strategic impact of Finland and Sweden joining NATO would also be seen further north as they are two of the eight Arctic countries and five of the others are members of NATO (the only non-NATO Arctic country is Russia). 

Can Americans stand to see Finland & Sweden getting ravaged by a war with russia?

Of course, perhaps putin/Russia should have thought about this before invading, terrorizing, harming, injuring & killing another sovereign country unprovoked. If not stopped in the EU/NATO you can expect this/these actions and behaviors to be coming to a country near you or yours. If it hasn't already, not all acts of war against a country are as obvious as what is being witnessed in Ukraine against innocent people/civilians. The fact that Putin among others had their hand on the prior djt & co administration along with in fact our own inserection coup attempt should wake up/scare the crap out of people and for our democracy. You will not like what you get no matter how you've been played to believe otherwise. All the let's go Brandon's and other cos play clowns they really aren't into or interested in you or your better interests either. They could care less

I agree Sweeden should be allowed to join but Finland belongs to Russia so I suppose Putin can stop them.  I am not opposed to Finland joining NATO but not if it is going to cause trouble for Ukraine or any other neighboring country.  As Americans we have to choose our battles and when we turned a blind eye to Hong Kong and Taiwan we knew that Putin was watching.  He wants Russian soil back.  The American people do not want another war so I suppose we are going to have to accept his choices.  I just don't understand why he has to raise all of the existing real estate to the ground.  Surely he could just negotiate with Ukraines leaders upon a settlement.

Russia/Putin have No Say who joins NATO. More power to us all if Finland & Sweden join NATO.

If you let a authoritarian fascist dictatorship threaten you that is not freedom, but fear. Putin orthodox Church bless the invasion and basically declared it was a holy war against the Jewish  people. 

I believe the root of all evil is religion in justifying a dictatorship to enslave and killing people!

Putin is an idiot, as are any Russians who are on board with his imperialist policies.  Maybe if enough countries ally against him,  sensible Russians will feel confident enough to get the dufus out of power.

We are stronger together!

One obstacle is the Republican party that might be in step with Trump who is entralled with Putin. Finland has a considerable defense set in place and Sweden has a functional navy that coule be helpul to Nato. 

Yes, and so should Ukraine.

Democracies of the world need to show oligarchs that they can not bully us and can not steal our lands. We will support each other. It is terrifying to think what would have happened to Ukraine if we had left NATO, which was the plan of the former administration. 

Ukraine is de-nozifying Russia, one soldier at a time, need to take it to authoritarian fascist Putin.

It is only logical thing to do. We welcome Finland & Sweden

I think it's great that they want to be a part of NATO and they should be allowed to join.  If their actions speak otherwise, they can always be banned or pushed out.  Give them the benefit of the doubt.

Republics that border Russia need to band together for mutual self defense. Putin can't stand countries with happily functioning liberal democratic governments that Russians might like for themselves. His objective in his war with Ukrain is to depose Zelensky's government and replace it with an autocratic Putin puppet regime similar to the dictatorship of the Czar. Remember the USSR? The R stands for Republic, not dictatorship. May Zelenski win.

And they do not need to announce thier intentions to Russia

i think it's a great idea. In order to evolve beyond our current nation states system we will need a single world government. Perhaps nato, rather than the un, can be the platform we build that on. 

I would assume all the free nations of eastern europe would want to be in NATO. Isn't that the idea in the first place?