Finland’s political establishment is fully behind applying for NATO membership after 75 years of neutrality.
Joint statement by the President of the Republic and Prime Minister of Finland on Finland's NATO membershiphttps://t.co/IWJQg6Hj69 pic.twitter.com/0LV3FVyNdw
— TPKanslia (@TPKanslia) May 12, 2022
Sweden is not far behind.
dmsilev
I see Putin’s strategy of pushing NATO farther back from Russia’s borders is definitely working out well.
Math Guy
Finns are scrappy fighters, like the Ukrainians.
Baud
??
lowtechcyclist
@dmsilev: They’re winning those glorious victories closer and closer to home.
Elizabelle
Thanks, Putin. Seriously.
Welcome, Finland. And Sweden. And eventually, Ukraine. And you and you and you and you …
VOR
Another strategic self-own by Putin.
bbleh
“Боже мой … if ONLY Trump had won again … oooh, my head …”
Balconesfault
Although I was annoyed the other day when a CNN commentator said something like “Putin claimed to invade Ukraine for Russian security … but he’s decreasing Russian security because Sweden and Finland are now considering joining NATO.”
NO!!! F***ing talking heads providing fodder to feed Putin’s propoganda machine.
NATO is not a threat to Russian security. It is only a threat to Russian expansionism. Too many blabberheads who don’t deserve to have airtime.
cmorenc
@bbleh:
Had Trump won again, Putin’s stooges would have been in charge of Kiev weeks ago, and the Ukrainian ability to resist would by now have been worn down to scattered guerilla-type operations. And the US would have mostly sat on our hands while this went on.
Zelma
@Balconesfault: Yes! A thousand times yes! The ignorance of much of the commentariat about history is mind boggling.
debbie
Maybe now Putin’s head will explode.
bbleh
@cmorenc: and NATO would be leaderless and in disarray, there would be no movement to wean western Europe off Russian gas and oil, and there might well be additional action by Russia in Moldova and maybe even the Baltic states.
And the MAGA Morons would be cheering them on.
Sandia Blanca
@Balconesfault: Yes to what you said, and also praise for “blabberheads”!
Betty Cracker
Putin makes Junior Bush look like Sun Tzu.
Betty Cracker
Also, the president of Finland has a fabulous Boston terrier named Lennu!
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Awesome photo.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Isn’t it? Looks like it might be an official event, which would be less onerous with a dog.
Hangö Kex
@Betty Cracker: Sadly, Lennu passed away about a year ago due to a malignant pituitary tumor. He was 10 years old at the time.
trollhattan
@Betty Cracker: Confess a crush on the PM, but expect I have a lot of company.
BBC interviewed a few Russians who to a one are indignant at this, with one declaring that a red line has been crossed and “Russia does not ignore red lines” which I take as a poke at Obama and the sarin attack in Syria, which we ultimately did not respond to militarily. Sweden’s vote said to be coming this weekend and they’re sure to have the same result.
Finns I heard interviewed are utterly sanguine about this decision, because they know Russia very well and are accustomed to the bluster.
It’s a 1,300 km border they share. There is some joking about the threat to bring tanks to the Finnish border, “And where are they getting these tanks from?”
jonas
To give an idea of how much Russian forces are going to be stretched now that Finland will join NATO, Russia’s border with Poland is about 150 miles long (not including 250 miles of border with the Putin-esque toady state of Belarus). Russia’s border with Finland is over 800 miles. Plus, Finland probably has the largest and most sophisticated armed forces in Europe outside NATO. I’m not sure how much Sweden is bringing to the table, but the Finns are bringing some serious muscle.
It’s not a good day to be Vladimir Putin.
trollhattan
@jonas: Finland buying F35s must loom large in the potential for controlling the skies. Ukraine’s duct tape air force and meager antiaircraft resources have been enough to keep Russia from establishing air superiority, albeit over a much larger territory than Finland represents.
Joe from Lowell
And I though the invasion of Iraq was a major self-inflicted wound.
Well played, Vlad.
Betty Cracker
@Hangö Kex: Oh no! That sucks. :(
Paul in KY
@Betty Cracker: Ha! A latter day Bismarck he is!
Hangö Kex
As for the membership application I would personally have liked us joining as soon as it became possible, but the public support for that just wasn’t there until now. I suppose the thinking was that post-soviet Russia would develop to a sufficiently ‘normal’ country to get along with and we might just end up mixed up in far-away wars of no interest to us.
Now it remains to be seen what sort of retaliation Russia comes up with, but since this (imo) had to be done in the current circumstances, better do it now when they have their hands full militarily; besides, the more serious the retaliation, the wiser this decision.
Elizabelle
@Hangö Kex: Lovely to have you here.
And Lennu was one expressive doggo. Always loved that photo.
Betty Cracker
@Hangö Kex: The rationale for the timing makes sense to me.
Mike in NC
We toured Helsinki in June 2014, and it was clear back then that nobody trusted that little shitbird Putin.
trollhattan
@Joe from Lowell:
IMHO the prime lasting effect of the Iraq invasion madness was to leave Iran as the clear supreme power in the region, to which I can only say, “well done, neocons.” It’s okay, because they’re our really good friends now.
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us
I recall reading about some get together of world leaders toward the end of W’s time in the White House where Putin was talking to someone – either the German Chancellor or President of France and the gist of the conversation was Bush had gone from tough talker to international embarrassment laughing stock. Now Putin is W.
He can talk tough all he wants but Russia’s military has been exposed. They can’t do squat to Finland or Sweden and everyone knows it.
MisterForkbeard
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us: I don’t think that’s entirely true – Russian can invade/artillery strike and kill a lot of people. But they can’t beat Finland or Sweden.
But yeah, he’s an international pariah now. He was before, but he was a feared one. Now he’s just That Crazy Guy.
Mike in NC
Both the Swedes or Finns could blow St Petersburg off the face of the earth before Putin drained his daily bottle of vodka. He needs to sit down and STFU.
Baud
@Mike in NC:
Apparently, he doesn’t drink.
James E Powell
To quote Our President, “This is a big fucking deal.”
I wonder whether Putin & his entourage considered this as a possible outcome of their decision to invade Ukraine.
Spanky
Do not piss off a Finn.
Yet, it seems Russian needs to be reminded of that every generation.
Sloane Ranger
@James E Powell: I suspect the conversation was along the lines of we’ll be in Kyiv by tomorrow night, have installed our puppet government by the end of the week and all the countries bordering us will be pissing their pants while asking how high we want them to jump.
Anyone who suggested that a Plan B ought to be developed in case this didn’t work out as expected probably fell out of a 10th storey window shortly afterwards- several times
The Lodger
Deleted
StringOnAStick
We have a friend with a brother who married an Estonian woman he met at work; they live in Estonia 6 months of the year, in a remote cabin within 10’s of mile of the Russian border. They were here when Putin invaded Ukraine, and they both went right back to their cabin in the woods. Estonians are tough.
JR in WV
Wife has a friend who was a co-worker and fellow union member from Lithuania. He was named Adolphe during WW II, to piss off the Soviets, but managed to live through that and make it to the US as a kid. Multi-lingual person with a huge sense of humor. Can’t even list all the languages he speaks…