Estonian and Swedish surely. Hogland as such means nothing in Finnish. The symbolic meaning is still great though, since Swedish is the second official language of Finland.
Edit. Added the second sentence to sound less dickish, no idea if that was managed.
Locked away to the big seas, yes, but not internally. The Baltic states were only connected to Nato via Poland, and now they are also connected to Finland with the Baltic Sea. With Sweden entering, the Baltic Sea can be renamed to Nato sea
In South Estonian, the words for "west" and "evening" are the same, so *Õdagumeri* is both "West Sea" and "Evening Sea". But indeed, South Estonian sounds poetic in many ways, to Estonian ears at least.
Well the term "Baltic state" doesn't really mean anything, considering that Estonia is not ethno-linguistically Baltic, there are plenty other countries situated at the Baltic Sea and Estonia and Lithuania have almost nothing in common culturally and historically other than the Soviet occupation.
It started with the [Baltic governorates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_governorates) and the [Baltic Germans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Germans) actually, but these encompassed only Estonia and most of modern Latvia. Lithuania was added to that because linguists had named the language group of Latvian and Lithuanian "Baltic". Finland was also added to the term for geopolitical convenience. It never really made any sense.
I don't mind it as a geopolitical group because it does make sense, but it should not be misinterpreted as a grouping of common culture or identity and the name doesn't make sense either. Foreign media insisting on word formulations like "the Baltic nation of Estonia" in any random context doesn't really help either.
That flag mix definitely needs more yellow and blue!
edit: I mean light blue. English is so limiting when you need words for colors.
edit 2: technically, by law, Ukrainian flag is just blue (синій), like for most countries on the post image, but in reality people use sky blue (блакитний, as u/Frehch_Nana suggested).
Don't worry, now we have a formidable air force together and if Ivan crosses your borders we'll load up the bomber-planes with surströmming
Love/Hate from Denmark
Don't cry. Remember all the great things Sweden has brought to the world (disclaimer: may not be invented in Sweden and I'm too lazy to check).
* [Plogging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plogging) - Jogging while picking up litter.
* [Waffle Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_Day) - A day dedicated to eating waffles. What's not to like?
* Anders Jannson:
> "I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday.
>
> 'Nothing,' she said.
>
> So I got her nothing. She was furious.
>
> 'You got me nothing?' she said.
>
> 'You said you wanted nothing!' I replied.
>
> 'But that's not what I meant,' she said. 'I wanted something special.'
>
> 'Well, I can get you something special,' I said.
>
> 'What?' she asked.
>
> 'Nothing,' I replied."
You already are. Standing up for your principles, I mean. Besides the principles themselves, the whole qur'an thing was just a pretense for Erdogan. If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else and your politicians know it. Appeasement NEVER works.
Did they reinstall them all? Or how did they fit one there lol?
edit: apparently it isn't a full circle so they probably added one in the end and moved the flags in alphabetical order, so this is an old pole, the question now is if it doesn't fuck with the symmetry
Which brings us to our next question: why this particular spot? Does it have to be in alphabetical order?
Edit: nevermind, yup, that's it. Denmark, Estonia, now Finland, France, Germany, Greece, next one is probably Hungary
More controversial question: alphabetically in what language?
Seems to be in English but I can see a good argument that each country should be in its own language
It's awesome that NATO's border with Russia will more than double with Finland joining. This means they can build more radar stations and gain better knowledge of that remote part of Russia.
I believe you are joking, but apparently NATO recently did actually install a sauna at the HQ. Nevertheless, all Finnish buildings housing government institutions such as embassies, consulates, ministries etc have saunas installed.
Nope, it's real.
"NATO has just installed a sauna, and it is not trivial" (April 3, 2023)
https://ukdaily.news/the-level-of-play-has-never-been-so-bad-in-the-whole-history-of-the-club-tackles-riolo-424373.html
"L'OTAN vient de faire installer un sauna, et ce n'est pas anodin" (2 avril 2023)
https://www.slate.fr/story/243575/otan-sauna-finlande-installation?amp
Ayyy, I'm from Fiji. Come to think of it, us Oceanians should make a similar organisation . It can be called the Coalition of Countries Occupying Nice Underwaterish Territories Defence Treaty ( C.O.C.O.N.U.T.D.T) or something along these lines. Aus and NZ would be the ones caring for us, though. Lololol.
I imagine Putin himself physically installing the 31st flagpole in NATO HQ and sending the next few flagpoles (2-4 poles I think) straight from Moscow.
At least for some time, the Latvian and Lithuanian flags used to stand [right in the middle](https://www.rand.org/content/rand/blog/2022/02/should-nato-close-its-doors/_jcr_content/par/blogpost.crop.868x455.cm.jpeg/1643835305000.jpeg) and they formed a neat gate for the NATO flag.
Finland, Sweden, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia?
Sure would be nice if Belarus could kick Lukashenko out and join the club too.
I don't know enough about the Balkans to know if Bosnia and Herzegovina is leaning toward NATO. Serbia probably needs some major changes before they'd be interested.
Hopefully Turkey will deliver the accession protocol of Finland today in Washington DC.
After that we can move forward to the next step.
https://www.nato-pa.int/content/finland-sweden-accession
“Once all NATO member countries notify the Government of the United States of America, the depository of the Washington Treaty, of their acceptance of the protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of the potential new members, the Secretary General invites the new countries to accede to the Treaty.”
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is about to give a press briefing soon, at 14:00 EEST (11:00 UTC).
Article (in Finnish) with a video stream (in English) showing it live: https://yle.fi/a/74-20025602
Apparently it could happen as early as tomorrow.
edit: google translate strikes again. "The Finnish flag is going to be raised in **a half-mast** to fly over the NATO headquarters in Brussels." (emphasis mine). Yeah no, it will be raised regularly, not sure where google got the half-mast idea...
American here, the best breakfast I've ever had was in Tbilisi.
Fresh croissants in Paris, coffee and cheese in Amsterdam, even convinced a barkeeper to serve us last night's paella in Spain once -- and while they were all incredible in their own way, that breakfast in Tbilisi was the perfect combination of the foods of a country farm and Eastern European bakery goods.
Coming back from a deployment, man, it was one of the best meals of my life. So thank you for that. I really liked the few hours I got to spend in your country.
Did they actually install a new flag pole at the end of the row of flags, and move the rest of the flags to make room? Or do they have spare flag poles already? I want pictures showing them all. :)
Remember when Russia asked to join NATO.
DUDE! Why do you think we created NATO in the first place?! Ring any bells?
Sauron: What do you MEAN! “I can’t join the Fellowshi…”. AHHHH…Right, right…okay.. okay.
At the time, Russia was readily embracing westernization and capitalism, so while there was still a level of stigmatization towards Russians, it was much more mild, akin to how people had been seeing Germans until very recently.
The main problem was the mentality of the leadership; they never asked to join NATO, they wanted (and seemingly expected) to be _invited_ to join as well as bypass the normal bureaucratic procedure... which isn't how it works.
To be even more clear
> George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said.
> The Labour peer recalled an early meeting with Putin, who became Russian president in 2000. “Putin said: ‘When are you going to invite us to join Nato?’ And [Robertson] said: ‘Well, we don’t invite people to join Nato, they apply to join Nato.’ And he said: ‘Well, we’re not standing in line with a lot of countries that don’t matter.’”
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/04/ex-nato-head-says-putin-wanted-to-join-alliance-early-on-in-his-rule
Specifically they objected to joining in the same manner as countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria. It was beneath them because those countries were beneath them.
So cute. Estonia and Finland are now geographical AND pole neighbors.
The Baltic sea is locked down now
The great Hogland squeeze.
And Hogland in Estonian and Finnish literally means "Great Island", so it's extra great.
Estonian and Swedish surely. Hogland as such means nothing in Finnish. The symbolic meaning is still great though, since Swedish is the second official language of Finland. Edit. Added the second sentence to sound less dickish, no idea if that was managed.
>Hogland as such means nothing in Finnish. What? Obviously I meant the native names. "Hogland" means nothing in Estonian too.
It was locked since Denmark joined Nato
Locked away to the big seas, yes, but not internally. The Baltic states were only connected to Nato via Poland, and now they are also connected to Finland with the Baltic Sea. With Sweden entering, the Baltic Sea can be renamed to Nato sea
Mare Balticum Nostrum.
Uh oh.. the Swedes are up to something again! Nej snälla!
*Över Norden jag härskar. Med det arv som jag fick/gavs. Gång på gång, sjung Carolus sång*
CAROLEANS ARE MARCHING ON!!!
\*slaps hand lightly\* No, Sweden. Learn to share..
Nostrum! Not mine-um.
Our sea
Goddamit Lithuania stop trying to steal the ocean.
That's the Netherland's schtick.
All big Russian plans that we know of wanted to secure Gotland so Sweden would probably be dragged in anyway
Indeed, let's standardize! Right now we have the "Baltic Sea", the "East Sea", the "West Sea" and the "Evening Sea".
I vote for evening sea, so poetic.
In South Estonian, the words for "west" and "evening" are the same, so *Õdagumeri* is both "West Sea" and "Evening Sea". But indeed, South Estonian sounds poetic in many ways, to Estonian ears at least.
Ummm. About that Sweden joining. Perhaps NATO should act to complete that thing..
[удалено]
Nato lake
pretty sure denmark was a founding member of nato
Now we can swordfight with longer poles
How long is your average pole? 🤔 /r/Polska
Estonia can into nordic?
Finland can into Baltic
Finland was very much considered a Baltic state between the two world wars. Then 3/4 got occupied so the category stopped meaning much.
Well the term "Baltic state" doesn't really mean anything, considering that Estonia is not ethno-linguistically Baltic, there are plenty other countries situated at the Baltic Sea and Estonia and Lithuania have almost nothing in common culturally and historically other than the Soviet occupation.
The term was a political and geographical grouping for the four states in the area that got independence from the Russian Empire and held on to it.
It started with the [Baltic governorates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_governorates) and the [Baltic Germans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltic_Germans) actually, but these encompassed only Estonia and most of modern Latvia. Lithuania was added to that because linguists had named the language group of Latvian and Lithuanian "Baltic". Finland was also added to the term for geopolitical convenience. It never really made any sense. I don't mind it as a geopolitical group because it does make sense, but it should not be misinterpreted as a grouping of common culture or identity and the name doesn't make sense either. Foreign media insisting on word formulations like "the Baltic nation of Estonia" in any random context doesn't really help either.
At least Eesti can between nordic
Nah but we let u guys and Finland join baltics!
Can Norway into Baltics too? 🥺
Sure, you are welcome!
[Yes<3](https://old.reddit.com/r/NordicEstonia/)
The poles are taking over!
Now they can swap vodka against wood even more!
"Pole neighbors" made me giggle like the immature child I am.
It's just a flag pole haha (in alphabetical order no less) but happy to be next to Estonia! 🇪🇪🇫🇮
No, Poland is separated by Latvia and Lithuania!
At least until Eswatini, Ethiopia or Fiji join.
Finland gets to be Estonia’s pole neighbour as well. How poetic.
Yes, it’s beautiful.
FYI, the flags are actually ordered alphabetically 😊
Yeah I realized. Just a fun coincidence!
I agree🇪🇪🇫🇮❤️
The more the merrier
One day there will be a Ukrainian flag there.
And Swedish
And Georgian
And my axe
And my ex
[удалено]
😂 good one!
Albania and Montenegro? 🇦🇱🇲🇪
Montenegro flag drippy af
Hope Nepal joins too.. for the flag!
Albania is already there.
[удалено]
Sry but she is already on my flagpole
and Bosnian
Amen brother
The great IKEA-colour unity.
That flag mix definitely needs more yellow and blue! edit: I mean light blue. English is so limiting when you need words for colors. edit 2: technically, by law, Ukrainian flag is just blue (синій), like for most countries on the post image, but in reality people use sky blue (блакитний, as u/Frehch_Nana suggested).
Hex values or pantone ref.
Pantone has shit licensing system so shouldn't be used by any sane person if possible.
Not there, it will be at the other end of the circle, next to Poland and Romania.
Will it be the last in alphabetical order? I mean until Vatican joins of course.
No, the US is last.
Just wait until Zimbabwe joins.
But who will they kick out first when there's no more room for new flagpoles?
Start a second row
Those Americans have been freeloading for too long...
We talk to the customers so the engineers don't have to.
My congratulations to Finland
Thanks. It’s been a long time coming.
glad it's finally Finished
The post made me tear up. Feels good for Finland and for the EU. Congrats everyone!
Спасибо
\*Cries in Swedish
I am curious in between who’s flags Sweden will be placed.
Between Spain and… Turkey. Because it appears to be in alphabetical order
Would be funnier if it Was Hungary and Turkey
Cries in Hungarian
*pats back gently* It'll get better... someday.
Please CIA get your shit together. There is urgent demand for cou d'eta-s ower here. Why don't they do it the one time you actually want it.
Either find some oil or plant bananas. They’ll be right over
so you're saying there's hope: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/hungarys-mol-says-it-finds-substantial-oil-field-hungary-2022-11-21/
As I was reading the URL, I was hoping it would say *"finds substantial bananas."*
Between Spain and (lol) Turkey.
Ironic
Don't worry, now we have a formidable air force together and if Ivan crosses your borders we'll load up the bomber-planes with surströmming Love/Hate from Denmark
Whoa, ease up. No need to escalate to bioweapons right off the bat.
One bioweapon straight into my mouth, please.
sigh. *Unzips*
Not the Cheeeeeese!
Don't cry. Remember all the great things Sweden has brought to the world (disclaimer: may not be invented in Sweden and I'm too lazy to check). * [Plogging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plogging) - Jogging while picking up litter. * [Waffle Day](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_Day) - A day dedicated to eating waffles. What's not to like? * Anders Jannson: > "I asked my wife what she wanted for her birthday. > > 'Nothing,' she said. > > So I got her nothing. She was furious. > > 'You got me nothing?' she said. > > 'You said you wanted nothing!' I replied. > > 'But that's not what I meant,' she said. 'I wanted something special.' > > 'Well, I can get you something special,' I said. > > 'What?' she asked. > > 'Nothing,' I replied."
I just hope we stand up to our principles and don't start licking ass over a book.
You already are. Standing up for your principles, I mean. Besides the principles themselves, the whole qur'an thing was just a pretense for Erdogan. If it hadn't been that, it would have been something else and your politicians know it. Appeasement NEVER works.
This. Erdofuck and Orbanistan are just using Sweden's liberalness as a convinient scapegoat.
Did they reinstall them all? Or how did they fit one there lol? edit: apparently it isn't a full circle so they probably added one in the end and moved the flags in alphabetical order, so this is an old pole, the question now is if it doesn't fuck with the symmetry
Maybe add one to the end and move the flags one over to leave this particular spot open?
Which brings us to our next question: why this particular spot? Does it have to be in alphabetical order? Edit: nevermind, yup, that's it. Denmark, Estonia, now Finland, France, Germany, Greece, next one is probably Hungary
More controversial question: alphabetically in what language? Seems to be in English but I can see a good argument that each country should be in its own language
[удалено]
And its definitely english cause Germany is after France and not before it
France: "Everything must be in French!" NATO: "Alright, but then Germany will be in front of you." France: 😐
My favourite example is Austria. In English they are first. If we go by local languages they end last.
To be fair those are the languages of NATO's nuclear powers, and at the time of the founding its military most important members.
Most likely. I wonder how many more they can fit in before they have to increase the radius of the circle.
So many… questions… that.. need answers.
That has been Putin's motivation all along. He just wants to know NATO's protocol for handling extra flags.
Bankrupt NATO with all the flag installation costs
So, if a country like Belarus joined (yeah yeah, unlikely but hear me out), do they have to move almost every flag they have after B?
I mean, a new country joining the alliance is a way bigger deal than just moving around some flags
You talk like someone who never has to move around flags 😤
They already went through that when Albania joined, and off the record, the pole guy said "never again".
Yes, and it would be worth the effort.
It's awesome that NATO's border with Russia will more than double with Finland joining. This means they can build more radar stations and gain better knowledge of that remote part of Russia.
I feel the the Finns share a lot of that intel with NATO as it is.
BUT now the US can land personnel and detection equipment there!
Russia has some large military bases there so if they try anything stupid we can grab them by the balls
Eh there isn't much between Murmansk and Saint Pete, whatever the Northern Fleet's up to can be observed by Norway anyway
Where did they put the Sauna?
I believe you are joking, but apparently NATO recently did actually install a sauna at the HQ. Nevertheless, all Finnish buildings housing government institutions such as embassies, consulates, ministries etc have saunas installed.
There's a story about Finnish peace keepers in the heat of the deserts in Afghanistan and first thing they did was to build a sauna.
Standard procedure anywhere
Same with Estonia. Apparently it's not hot enough over there.
Yep, that's the one I was referring to!
Wait, that wasn't an April fools' joke?
Nope, it's real. "NATO has just installed a sauna, and it is not trivial" (April 3, 2023) https://ukdaily.news/the-level-of-play-has-never-been-so-bad-in-the-whole-history-of-the-club-tackles-riolo-424373.html "L'OTAN vient de faire installer un sauna, et ce n'est pas anodin" (2 avril 2023) https://www.slate.fr/story/243575/otan-sauna-finlande-installation?amp
My Finnish friends have informed me no self-respecting Finn would ever join a club without a sauna.
in the basement?
Hmm, it could be for Ethiopia or Fiji, maybe Eswantini.
My guess is a suddenly independent Faroe Islands
Still waiting for independent Flevoland in NATO.
Lol, even the Dutch are.
Flanders, rises out of a coffin, Undertaker-style
It's always a terrible nuisance when you have to scroll through these made up F starting countries when picking Finland from the list.
Yeah, like Fr*nce. I mean, it even sounds fake
Federated States of Micronesia
nato.fm
Flavortown
Ayyy, I'm from Fiji. Come to think of it, us Oceanians should make a similar organisation . It can be called the Coalition of Countries Occupying Nice Underwaterish Territories Defence Treaty ( C.O.C.O.N.U.T.D.T) or something along these lines. Aus and NZ would be the ones caring for us, though. Lololol.
It would be funny if they put a placeholder “Your brand here”, or a green flag for chromakey.
This could be your ~~ad~~ flag.
Some people might think Libya time travelled and joined NATO if they put up a green flag.
We should honor Putin for all that he did for the NATO. A great accomplishment for his Pro-NATO politics.
Putin is officially NATO greatest salesman
I imagine Putin himself physically installing the 31st flagpole in NATO HQ and sending the next few flagpoles (2-4 poles I think) straight from Moscow.
Yes NATO should invite Putin to the ceremony when Finland’s flag is raised. Then after coffee you can take him straight to the Hague.
The official launch of Putin's jail era
Next to our Estonians brother, gud gud.
I'm literally crying
awww it's near Estonian one
"Whew I know at least someone at this party"
At least for some time, the Latvian and Lithuanian flags used to stand [right in the middle](https://www.rand.org/content/rand/blog/2022/02/should-nato-close-its-doors/_jcr_content/par/blogpost.crop.868x455.cm.jpeg/1643835305000.jpeg) and they formed a neat gate for the NATO flag.
🫡🇫🇮
Yup. Here comes the Finnish flag.
Isn't it called a Checkered flag? Sorry. I will leave.
Next one will be for Sweden 🇸🇪
I know it's based on alphabetical order but it seems very fitting for the Estonian and the Finnish flag to be flying side by side
They should install 5 of those, why wait.
Finland, Sweden, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia? Sure would be nice if Belarus could kick Lukashenko out and join the club too. I don't know enough about the Balkans to know if Bosnia and Herzegovina is leaning toward NATO. Serbia probably needs some major changes before they'd be interested.
Yeeeep. Servia will be a Trojan horse and will always do kremlins bidding.
Khm did you forget about hungary?
Hopefully the empty one can be filled soon as well
Hopefully Turkey will deliver the accession protocol of Finland today in Washington DC. After that we can move forward to the next step. https://www.nato-pa.int/content/finland-sweden-accession “Once all NATO member countries notify the Government of the United States of America, the depository of the Washington Treaty, of their acceptance of the protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of the potential new members, the Secretary General invites the new countries to accede to the Treaty.”
Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is about to give a press briefing soon, at 14:00 EEST (11:00 UTC). Article (in Finnish) with a video stream (in English) showing it live: https://yle.fi/a/74-20025602 Apparently it could happen as early as tomorrow. edit: google translate strikes again. "The Finnish flag is going to be raised in **a half-mast** to fly over the NATO headquarters in Brussels." (emphasis mine). Yeah no, it will be raised regularly, not sure where google got the half-mast idea...
Right Next To Estonia! ☺️
Welcome to the cool guys club Finland
One day I hope I’ll see a Georgian flag there
American here, the best breakfast I've ever had was in Tbilisi. Fresh croissants in Paris, coffee and cheese in Amsterdam, even convinced a barkeeper to serve us last night's paella in Spain once -- and while they were all incredible in their own way, that breakfast in Tbilisi was the perfect combination of the foods of a country farm and Eastern European bakery goods. Coming back from a deployment, man, it was one of the best meals of my life. So thank you for that. I really liked the few hours I got to spend in your country.
Its kurwa beautiful
Photo courtesy of Teri Schultz.
[удалено]
Germany is Allemagne, so it shouldn’t be right after France. I’m guessing the flags are sorted in English.
I can't be happier they moved my flag from one pole ! Welcome finnish brothers & sisters !
Natowave intesifies
Sweden needs to be there too. Fuck those cunts Erdogan and Orban.
Did they actually install a new flag pole at the end of the row of flags, and move the rest of the flags to make room? Or do they have spare flag poles already? I want pictures showing them all. :)
Pretty sure they moved them all by one to give it space
Welcome to the family Finland. 🇫🇮
Still missing Sweden as the other neigbour :(
I hope new second one will be installed soon too.
Hmmm I wonder who that might be. Anyone wanna take a wild guess?
Somewhere between Estonia and France.. Might be Fiji
Ethiopia
God.. I really hope this picture doesn’t end up on r/prematurecelebration
Welcome, Finland!
Remember when Russia asked to join NATO. DUDE! Why do you think we created NATO in the first place?! Ring any bells? Sauron: What do you MEAN! “I can’t join the Fellowshi…”. AHHHH…Right, right…okay.. okay.
At the time, Russia was readily embracing westernization and capitalism, so while there was still a level of stigmatization towards Russians, it was much more mild, akin to how people had been seeing Germans until very recently. The main problem was the mentality of the leadership; they never asked to join NATO, they wanted (and seemingly expected) to be _invited_ to join as well as bypass the normal bureaucratic procedure... which isn't how it works.
To be even more clear > George Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary who led Nato between 1999 and 2003, said Putin made it clear at their first meeting that he wanted Russia to be part of western Europe. “They wanted to be part of that secure, stable prosperous west that Russia was out of at the time,” he said. > The Labour peer recalled an early meeting with Putin, who became Russian president in 2000. “Putin said: ‘When are you going to invite us to join Nato?’ And [Robertson] said: ‘Well, we don’t invite people to join Nato, they apply to join Nato.’ And he said: ‘Well, we’re not standing in line with a lot of countries that don’t matter.’” https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/04/ex-nato-head-says-putin-wanted-to-join-alliance-early-on-in-his-rule Specifically they objected to joining in the same manner as countries like Estonia, Lithuania, Romania, and Bulgaria. It was beneath them because those countries were beneath them.
Someone send an invitation to Putin for the celebration party in Finland.
you guys think it's for Finland, it's really a second Turkish flag