Rattled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland yesterday began a process that could lead to seeking NATO membership, a move that would infuriate Moscow.
The assault on Ukraine sparked a dramatic U-turn in public and political opinion in Finland and Sweden regarding their long-held policies of military non-alignment.
Attempting to join NATO would almost certainly be seen as a provocation by Moscow, for whom the alliance’s expansion on its borders has been a prime security grievance.
A report commissioned by the Finnish government that was released yesterday examines the “fundamentally changed” security environment, the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
An opening debate is planned for next week, which is expected to analyze security options for Finland, which shares a 1,340km border with Russia.
Former Finnish prime minister and long-time NATO advocate Alexander Stubb said that Finland making a membership application is “a foregone conclusion.”
Finland has a long history with Russia.
In 1917 it declared independence after 150 years of Russian rule.
During World War II, its vastly outnumbered army fought off a Soviet invasion, before a peace deal saw it cede several border areas to the Soviet Union.
During the Cold War, Finland remained neutral in exchange for guarantees from Moscow that it would not invade.
So the turnaround in sentiment on NATO would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.
As recently as January, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that membership was “very unlikely” during her time in office.
However, after two decades of public support for membership remaining steady at 20 to 30 percent, the war in Ukraine caused a surge in those in favor to more than 60 percent, multiple polls showed.
Public statements gathered by newspaper Helsingin Sanomat suggest that half of Finland’s 200 members of parliament now support membership, while only 12 oppose it.
Others say they will announce a position after detailed discussions.
The government said it hopes to build a parliamentary consensus over the next few weeks, with members of parliament due to hear from security experts.
Marin expects a decision “before midsummer,” with many analysts predicting Finland could submit a bid in time for a NATO summit in June.
Any membership bid must be accepted by all 30 NATO states, a process that could take four months to a year.
Finland has so far received public assurances from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that the door remains open to membership.
Unlike Finland, Sweden shares no land border with Russia and the two countries have not been at war for two centuries.
Nonetheless, pro-NATO sentiment is also rising among Swedes who “are realizing that they might find themselves in the same position as Ukraine, a lot of sympathy, but no military help,” said Robert Dalsjo, research director at the Swedish Defence Research Agency.
James Watson — the Nobel laureate co-credited with the pivotal discovery of DNA’s double-helix structure, but whose career was later tainted by his repeated racist remarks — has died, his former lab said on Friday. He was 97. The eminent biologist died on Thursday in hospice care on Long Island in New York, announced the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was based for much of his career. Watson became among the 20th century’s most storied scientists for his 1953 breakthrough discovery of the double helix with researcher partner Francis Crick. Along with Crick and Maurice Wilkins, he shared the
OUTRAGE: The former strongman was accused of corruption and responsibility for the killings of hundreds of thousands of political opponents during his time in office Indonesia yesterday awarded the title of national hero to late president Suharto, provoking outrage from rights groups who said the move was an attempt to whitewash decades of human rights abuses and corruption that took place during his 32 years in power. Suharto was a US ally during the Cold War who presided over decades of authoritarian rule, during which up to 1 million political opponents were killed, until he was toppled by protests in 1998. He was one of 10 people recognized by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto in a televised ceremony held at the presidential palace in Jakarta to mark National
LANDMARK: After first meeting Trump in Riyadh in May, al-Sharaa’s visit to the White House today would be the first by a Syrian leader since the country’s independence Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday for a landmark official visit, his country’s state news agency SANA reported, a day after Washington removed him from a terrorism blacklist. Sharaa, whose rebel forces ousted long-time former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad late last year, is due to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House today. It is the first such visit by a Syrian president since the country’s independence in 1946, according to analysts. The interim leader met Trump for the first time in Riyadh during the US president’s regional tour in May. US envoy to Syria Tom Barrack earlier
US President Donald Trump handed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban a one-year exemption from sanctions for buying Russian oil and gas after the close right-wing allies held a chummy White House meeting on Friday. Trump slapped sanctions on Moscow’s two largest oil companies last month after losing patience with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his refusal to end the nearly four-year-old invasion of Ukraine. However, while Trump has pushed other European countries to stop buying oil that he says funds Moscow’s war machine, Orban used his first trip to the White House since Trump’s return to power to push for
RSS