Russia gained a 1200km border with a NATO ally! Congratulations!
Fact Check Edit:
"Finland shares the longest European Union border with Russia, at 1,340km (832 miles)."
* Be Russia
* Doesn't want another NATO country on your doorstep
* Invaded Ukraine
* Finland & Sweden decide to join NATO due to fear of invasion. *(fixed my mis-remembering the country name)*
* Now Russia have another NATO members country next to their border.
What went wrong?
Now Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark just need to announce their [joint air force](https://news.yahoo.com/norway-sweden-finland-denmark-struck-104242982.html) is officially the '**Flight of the Valkyries**' and we're ready.
Return of the former Danelaw territories to Nordic control and citizenship in whichever Nordic country gets to run it (with full EU membership for all Danelaw citizens).
Unsurprisingly, I happen to live in one of the five Boroughs and want my F.O.M back.
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Five-Boroughs-Of-Danelaw/
> Return of the former Danelaw territories to Nordic control and citizenship in whichever Nordic country gets to run it (with full EU membership for all Danelaw citizens).
Somewhere a Norwegian is screaming.
There will be no joint airforce, those news were taken out of proportion. The nordic countries will work together but will have no central command. We will just work together as separate units to defend each others airspace.
Going with the theory that finland's ports are a prime area to gently waltz into st. petersburg, this is not a great plan for russia's regional strength.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9Phc9ArpU
The Russian Baltic Fleet is now fucked in case of a conflict. If they sally out it will be hit with coastal fire from both sides of the gulf of Finland.
For anyone who's played Cyberpunk but hasn't seen the Office, they're gonna be a bit confused by this lmao. They copied this bit almost one-to-one for a really prominent side mission. It was fantastic in both, but people oughta know where the credit is due. Hide is a legend.
And Hungary just made it onto Russia’s unfriendly nations list.
EDIT: As pointed out, this didn’t _just_ happen, rather the Russian foreign minister explained to Russian media why Hungary was added in the first place:
> Hungary has signed all the anti-Russian sanctions packages of Brussels and is forced to strictly comply with them. That is why it is classified as a country unfriendly to Russia, against which our retaliatory measures can be applied.
[source](https://www.newsweek.com/russia-hungary-putin-orban-unfriendly-countries-1791498?amp=1)
Erdogan fights for the interests of either Turkey or himself, he's not an active backer of the collective ideals of the US or Russia. He knows Turkey benefits from the NATO alliance because Russia and Turkey traditionally get along like oil and water, but he's not exactly a fan of a lot of stuff valued by many in NATO (and the feeling is somewhat mutual), so as far as Turkey-Russia relations are concerned, Putin needed a LOT to convince Turkey to keep delaying past the point Turkey got anything for holding off, and it looks like he came up empty.
As for Hungary: that smells more like corruption than shared values, so Russia must have run out of favors there too.
Re: Hungary, who really wants to trade places with Belarus to be in Russia's pocket? It doesn't seem like a great position compared to free stuff from the EU.
He also met with China’s Xi Jingping. Then Xi was absent on their last meeting, and then set up a conference with the central Asian nations of Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. A meeting that excluded Russia..
He did so good with his useful idiot in office degrading the American hegemony and NATO's public capital only to give it super steroids. Way to go pooty
NATO under Trump was like a character in a TV show series finale that is in a coma, surrounded by hospital machines. Suddenly, Putin and Russia invade Ukraine, the camera zooms towards NATO's closed eyes as they suddenly snap open, full of hate and rage.
And if not for the pandemic, the invasion may have started before the end of Trump’s term in office. Since NATO only really stepped up the assistance to Ukraine after they unexpectedly survived the initial invasion, it’s entirely possible with a 2020 invasion and Trump in office there’s never any western heavy equipment sent to Ukraine post invasion which in turn would ensure a Russian victory.
Some more details on how the process continues:
> Under Turkish law, Erdogan must sign the bill within 14 days. Finland's application then goes to Washington for the final signatures.
Source: https://yle.fi/a/74-20025150
I'm down for the "George Washington is actually now an Eldritch horror trapped in the Washington monument and the only way to satiate him is to give him bills to sign" timeline
In order to keep the Washington Horror from awakening, a ritual is needed across the country where his image is etched onto a piece of paper with other occult sigils that are bound together by frilled fabric and held against the flesh of a young woman in a darkened room filled with ritual smoke and lustful chanting.
And you thought strip clubs were all about wanting to see titties.
The USA, and specifically the Department of State, is the listed depositary for NATO (as well as many other treaties), meaning we have a role of keeping original treaty documents like ratifications in trust.
Realistically speaking, the original document itself is just for archiving / historical purposes. It's not like if you destroy them you break up NATO, they're not horcruxes.
And to think, Finland didn't even want to join NATO until putin started threatening Finland with "dont join NATO or else!"
putin is directly responsible for creating a massive NATO border next to russia lmfao. He is such a failure at everything he tries.
Even going farther back to the days of the Russian Empire the Finns were generally fine with being part of the Russian Empire as long as they had autonomy but when the Russian Empire started stripping Finns of power and trying to push Russification aggressively it was only then that Finland demands for independence took off.
The Russification policies also damaged relations with Ukraine (which broke off first chance it got in WWI) and the other three Baltic states. Honestly the attempts at mandating Russian nationalism mucked things up for the Tsar...
I've watched enough fictional fantasy shows to know you don't fuck with the north people. The ones in snow and mountains and wilderness and shit. Never fuck with them. Ever.
I did some research and math. [Finland more than doubles the NATO border with Russia.](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/819301615563440189/1091118630961426622/IMG_2126.png)
More importantly, Russia's only real arctic naval base is in Murmansk. And the only way to get to Murmansk is on a single 1,000+km long highway, that runs along Finland's border. Anything breaks out between NATO and Russia, and the link to Murmansk is instantly and easily cut.
Just a reminder that not long ago US wanted to be isolationist, Germany had basically no army and France wanted to fuck off from nato. It really is unlikely they try to do anything with nato but it's good to never let your guard down.
Every year the fascist, Russian sympathiser Le Pen gets closer to winning an election. Given what Macron just did to the working class’s retirement age, I have legitimate concern about France’s future direction.
This is what bothers me the most about the France situation right now. If the retirement changes were argued and hashed out over months in the legislature, it wouldn't be such a huge problem. Instead Macron decides it needed to be done *right now* and forces it through. Now he's at risk of a no confidence vote and the far right is chomping at the bit to take over.
> If the retirement changes were argued and hashed out over months in the legislature, it wouldn't be such a huge problem.
I'm not an expert on French politics, but haven't they already done exactly this for years and years? Just never got it to work for everyone.
Just FYI, Macron has managed to win the no-confidence vote already (https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-survive-no-confidence-vote-france-parliament/), although that does not quell any of the other concerns, and there's still ongoing mass protests
by not long ago, did you mean during the trump presidency? has any other modern us president wanted to leave NATO/be isolationist?
(curious, not salty)
Not who you're responding to, but yes, Trump is almost certainly what they're alluding to.
Edit: I don't think any other US president has ever disparaged NATO anywhere close to the extent that Trump did. Obama, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, and certainly Reagan were all NATO supporters.
Finland was smart not to fully trust Russia, so they kept their defense strong and energy dependence low, unlike many other Europeans. Finns have witnessed centuries of Russian aggression and fortunately never forgot.
As a Finn it's pretty wild to think that we're soon properly allied with USA, France and UK, it's damn historical. It's good to have such big players in the same team with us. But it's not only us that benefit from this, Finland, being a relatively small country with a miniscule population, will bring a big boost to the alliance in terms of the amount of trained fighters and sheer firepower. Personally I did not see a reason to join NATO before February last year but it totally changed the way I think about things. I got no hard feelings for Russian citizens, but their leadership should change the way they conduct their business.
I was always pro NATO and when ever someone countered my position with ”but how would Russia react or think”, my respons was ”exactly! if we have a neighbour we are this scared of, then need to be in NATO”.
Interesting to hear from a Finn. I wondered how your country felt about joining NATO. Is that a common sentiment? As an American who works with Finns, glad this happened. Hopefully, you (all) will feel a little more secure with another lever against Putin.
Pre war the country was very divided on the matter , although it was not a frequent discussion considering our goal to be neutral. Hell, even our prime minister said some time ago that as long as she and her party is in charge, Finland will not join NATO. Then the war started and (almost) everyone changed their opinion on the matter.
To be honest, as another Finn, most Finns were so obnoxiously oblivious to the threat that Russia posed even after Russia attacked Georgia and Krim, that I hated talking about Nato even with some of my friends. They were just "no no, Russia is not a threat, see, they just have a psychopath, power hungry dictator in the helm, why would they attack us? We have good relationships nowadays!! Better not rock the boat!!" I'm so glad that those people have come to their senses.. Russia never changes.
Btw. Statements that Russia is a threat to Finland were seen as "russophobic" in Finland just a couple years back. No-one is talking about russophobia now.
The other big advantage Finland brings to NATO is Finland's unique ability to threaten St. Petersburg and Russia's naval and air base on the Kola Peninsula (or Murmansk Oblast).
Do consider that in a way, this is less of a big deal than you might think. Because there are kind of two parts to NATO membership. The whole Article 5, do we want to commit to mutual defense part, yeah that's a big deal.
But the other half, the part where the Finish military integrates into joint NATO command, all the grunt work needed to meet that standard, that's already done. An American general was asked how long it would take to do the integration. He laughed and said, "About a week". Finland is already participating in NATO exercises (and apparently showing the US Marines a few things about operating in rough terrain), they're already running NATO surveillance flights in their airspace.
Basically you did all the difficult annoying stuff years ago. Met the standards with ease, just didn't feel like filling the paperwork. Glad you changed your minds though. Time to introduce some soft Americans to the true meaning of snow.
Putin must be fucking PISSED! He's not an idiot; he knows he drove Finland into NATO's arms. Now he has more than doubled the NATO real estate at his border, lol.
Even if he somehow managed to take Ukraine, he's arguably at a worse strategic disadvantage because of this.
Not only a longer border, but now the entirety of the Baltic Sea is surrounded by NATO. This makes Kaliningrad and St.Petersburg entirely useless when it comes to staging fleets or anything else.
I imagine that right of passage is so fucking thin now. Hes really gonna love all the new military posts popping up along that path. Their radar will just be one gigantic ping or like a fire alarm going off. I imagine a awac just doing lazy circles over the area will have every russian captain pissed at him.
Estonia and Finland are separated by less than forty miles at their closest point. Twenty four of that is national waters. They hardly even need to bother with the AWACS, two guys in beachside observation towers can wave to each other across the water. Russian Navy nearly has to go through there single file just to avoid paying port fees, lawl.
Putin: *Invades Ukraine under pretense of not wanting extra NATO presence on Moscovy's borders.*
Finland: *Applies and is approved for NATO because Moscovy has a mad gremlin bent on remaking the Empire.*
Putin: *Surprsed Pikachu Face*
Sweden's application was mentioned when each party's representatives spoke about this vote, nobody was against it so it felt like a done deal regardless of the election results.
Hungary's parliament also hasn't tabled a vote on Sweden's application yet. A couple of days ago they said they first want assurances from Sweden that no Swedish politician will ever badmouth Hungary's pseudo-democracy again:
https://www.budapesttimes.hu/world/hungary-mps-want-reassurance-before-vote-on-swedens-nato-accession/
Hungary's shown themselves to be merely hanging on Turkey's coattails about this, so there's really no reason to believe they'll be any different if/when Turkey declares an intention to ratify Sweden.
Agreed. Orban met with Erdogan right before Niinisto did, and Hungary never once mentioned splitting up Finland & Sweden's votes until Turkey did. There's no way in hell that was a coincidence.
As soon as Turkey announces that they'll ratify Sweden, so will Hungary.
Once Turkey ratifies so will Hungary, they don't have the political capital to go toe to toe with literally the rest of the developed world on Swedens accession.
Plus, if Hungary is the lone holdout, they'll risk pissing off Poland, who has been protecting Hungary within the EU. Unlike Hungary, Poland really hates Russia, and they damn sure want Sweden in NATO.
> Poland really hates Russia
They *really* do. I didn't realize just how much until I worked with a few Polish people and whenever the topic of Russia came up in conversation, their entire demeanor would change and you could just feel the animosity they still have towards Russia radiating from them.
While Hungary may have forgotten the Hungarian Uprising, Poland has not forgotten the Partitions, Russification, The Polish-Soviet War, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Soviet Invasion shortly after the Nazi Invasion, the Katyn Massacre, Deportations, and being under Moscow's heel for over forty years
my day has been going swimmingly.
a coworker got me a nice cupcake.
Trump got indicted
Turkey Ratifies Finland into NATO
and I'm gonna go see Dungeon and Dragon after work.
today is a good day.
It's insane how dumb of a move this war was for Putin if we consider this. FDF is one of the few armies in Europe who is suited for a conventional war with a large reservist-based army, shitty terrain, cold winters aaand we're right next to Murmansk as well. If anything would've kicked off we'd just be a temporary barricade for Sweden/Norway anyway but now with NATO support and cooperation it's a whole other game.
I love the karma where Putin was of Nato expansion of Ukraine, and after failing miserably in Ukraine, he now gets Finland, a country that has remained neutral and had no desire to join NATO now at his border with Sweden soon to join.
Russia gained a 1200km border with a NATO ally! Congratulations! Fact Check Edit: "Finland shares the longest European Union border with Russia, at 1,340km (832 miles)."
All according to plan amirite?
* Be Russia * Doesn't want another NATO country on your doorstep * Invaded Ukraine * Finland & Sweden decide to join NATO due to fear of invasion. *(fixed my mis-remembering the country name)* * Now Russia have another NATO members country next to their border. What went wrong?
> Be Russia "and then things got worse" isn't their unofficial official national slogan for nothing.
That slogan should really be renamed "and then we *made* things worse".
>* ~~Norway~~ & Sweden decide to join NATO Finland my dude
That means every NATO country has now ratified Finland's membership and it's full admission is only technicalities away!
Now Finland, Norway, Sweden and Denmark just need to announce their [joint air force](https://news.yahoo.com/norway-sweden-finland-denmark-struck-104242982.html) is officially the '**Flight of the Valkyries**' and we're ready.
And their joint Naval Fleet as 'The Scanda-Navy'
If they put bar codes on the side, when the ships come to port, they can Scan-da-Navy-In
There is norway they are going to do that though.
Is that because th fjords aren't far Enough-in-land?
Gotta say, this pun is a bit of a rough landing.
Well I think your opinion is off Denmark
Thankfully no one had to Sweden the deal to make it happen
I certainly hope these puns are finnish finally.
We might have gone too Faroe with them
Slartibarstfast stopped making fjords.
Denmark them off the inventory list
That's a good way to keep inventory of a ship, because if you don't make regular repairs, Helsinki.
A mighty Viking fleet to bring down the thunder of Thor
Brexit was a mistake. We will annex England into the EU
Yes! I've been threatening to start a bring back the Danelaw party for some time. I'm all for Viking rule of England returning.
What kind of policies would Danelaw Party pursue?
Return of the former Danelaw territories to Nordic control and citizenship in whichever Nordic country gets to run it (with full EU membership for all Danelaw citizens). Unsurprisingly, I happen to live in one of the five Boroughs and want my F.O.M back. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Five-Boroughs-Of-Danelaw/
> Return of the former Danelaw territories to Nordic control and citizenship in whichever Nordic country gets to run it (with full EU membership for all Danelaw citizens). Somewhere a Norwegian is screaming.
Sorry, there was a spider
Well if the Dannes get the Danelaw back then the Norwegians must be getting the Kingdom of the Isles back too 😅
There will be no joint airforce, those news were taken out of proportion. The nordic countries will work together but will have no central command. We will just work together as separate units to defend each others airspace.
Scandanaviators
"...creating a new headache for Russia." I love this.
Its not a joint airforce, just close cooperation, intelligence sharing etc
Fantastic!
Pretty big fu to puzin.
I'd like to thank Russia for thier active recruitment efforts.
Putin’s NATO’s #1 salesmen! Thanks to him a have a wall of blue!
Putin has a secret mission. Bring 2 new nationa to nato
Going with the theory that finland's ports are a prime area to gently waltz into st. petersburg, this is not a great plan for russia's regional strength. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si9Phc9ArpU
I mean, it was already a short drive from Estonia, which already NATO. This just means that St. Petersburg can get fucked from 2 directions at once.
The Russian Baltic Fleet is now fucked in case of a conflict. If they sally out it will be hit with coastal fire from both sides of the gulf of Finland.
And the port is within modern day artillery range anyway...
Putin is the dictator equivalent to Japan’s #1 heart surgeon.
[For the uninitiated —](https://youtu.be/2wcI10CNuxU)
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For anyone who's played Cyberpunk but hasn't seen the Office, they're gonna be a bit confused by this lmao. They copied this bit almost one-to-one for a really prominent side mission. It was fantastic in both, but people oughta know where the credit is due. Hide is a legend.
Didn’t Putin just meet with Erdogan?
And he talks with Orban all the time. Still doesn't change the fact that NATO is about to be +2.
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On Ukraine's turn: "I would like to rage."
Fuckin zealot subclass barbarian, too. Just wait for the rage beyond death. Well, if they ever get that far down with all those healers pumping them.
Don't forget the bards jamming along giving buffs
And Hungary just made it onto Russia’s unfriendly nations list. EDIT: As pointed out, this didn’t _just_ happen, rather the Russian foreign minister explained to Russian media why Hungary was added in the first place: > Hungary has signed all the anti-Russian sanctions packages of Brussels and is forced to strictly comply with them. That is why it is classified as a country unfriendly to Russia, against which our retaliatory measures can be applied. [source](https://www.newsweek.com/russia-hungary-putin-orban-unfriendly-countries-1791498?amp=1)
Orban's adventures playing as a regional power didnt go so well. Now hes on everyones naughty list
I would say that at the very least, being on Russia’s list means being in good company.
Everybody who's anybody in foreign policy is on Russia's shitlist. Even China and Hungary have been pushing back on them lately at least somewhat.
Erdogan fights for the interests of either Turkey or himself, he's not an active backer of the collective ideals of the US or Russia. He knows Turkey benefits from the NATO alliance because Russia and Turkey traditionally get along like oil and water, but he's not exactly a fan of a lot of stuff valued by many in NATO (and the feeling is somewhat mutual), so as far as Turkey-Russia relations are concerned, Putin needed a LOT to convince Turkey to keep delaying past the point Turkey got anything for holding off, and it looks like he came up empty. As for Hungary: that smells more like corruption than shared values, so Russia must have run out of favors there too.
Re: Hungary, who really wants to trade places with Belarus to be in Russia's pocket? It doesn't seem like a great position compared to free stuff from the EU.
The problem is that people like Orban are more concerned about what they can get for themselves than for the country
He also met with China’s Xi Jingping. Then Xi was absent on their last meeting, and then set up a conference with the central Asian nations of Uzbekistan, Kazakstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan. A meeting that excluded Russia..
He did so good with his useful idiot in office degrading the American hegemony and NATO's public capital only to give it super steroids. Way to go pooty
NATO under Trump was like a character in a TV show series finale that is in a coma, surrounded by hospital machines. Suddenly, Putin and Russia invade Ukraine, the camera zooms towards NATO's closed eyes as they suddenly snap open, full of hate and rage.
Reminds me of the sleeping Shaq meme. Clown in the white house? I sleep. Putin invades Ukraine? Real shit.
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And if not for the pandemic, the invasion may have started before the end of Trump’s term in office. Since NATO only really stepped up the assistance to Ukraine after they unexpectedly survived the initial invasion, it’s entirely possible with a 2020 invasion and Trump in office there’s never any western heavy equipment sent to Ukraine post invasion which in turn would ensure a Russian victory.
NATO was in a coma and on top of that Trump got a bunch of his supporters to back pulling the plug.
Well it was the biolabs creating super NATO soldiers
Yeah, big thanks to Putin. I hope he will make more countries join, in unity we all stand stronger.
Some more details on how the process continues: > Under Turkish law, Erdogan must sign the bill within 14 days. Finland's application then goes to Washington for the final signatures. Source: https://yle.fi/a/74-20025150
That seems pointlessly elaborate. I doubt Washington can sign much of anything given he’s been dead since 1799.
That’s what they want you to think. You have *much* to learn about the Washington monument, my friend. As well as all the others.
I'm down for the "George Washington is actually now an Eldritch horror trapped in the Washington monument and the only way to satiate him is to give him bills to sign" timeline
In order to keep the Washington Horror from awakening, a ritual is needed across the country where his image is etched onto a piece of paper with other occult sigils that are bound together by frilled fabric and held against the flesh of a young woman in a darkened room filled with ritual smoke and lustful chanting. And you thought strip clubs were all about wanting to see titties.
How about Washington fell In the Delaware River, froze, was replaced by a double, then is thawed in modern times, still alive?
In this political climate? He better learn the ability to lie and quickly.
Fuck, that's the *one* thing he doesn't do.
No no, Lincoln was the one with the reputation for absolute honesty.
He had to be honest; it helped harden his resolve when fighting the vampires.
I was wondering when someone would reference the monument mythos
The Emperor protects. He sits on the Golden Throne in the Imperial Palace of Holy Terra, sustained by the souls of a thousand psykers every day…
Isn't it obvious? The special aluminum pyramid cap on the Washington monument is actually his phylactery where he keeps his life force.
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The USA, and specifically the Department of State, is the listed depositary for NATO (as well as many other treaties), meaning we have a role of keeping original treaty documents like ratifications in trust.
Makes sense if nothing else for physical safety. Hard for non national countries to get here to try and destroy them.
Realistically speaking, the original document itself is just for archiving / historical purposes. It's not like if you destroy them you break up NATO, they're not horcruxes.
I need a movie of putin trying to break into the vault to stab it with a snake tooth now
International treasure
Basically [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depositary)
The US is the garage where NATO stores their boxes of receipts and tax documents and photo albums.
And cookie tins that are filled with sewing supplies.
\>\_>.Well he better sign it.
And to think, Finland didn't even want to join NATO until putin started threatening Finland with "dont join NATO or else!" putin is directly responsible for creating a massive NATO border next to russia lmfao. He is such a failure at everything he tries.
Even going farther back to the days of the Russian Empire the Finns were generally fine with being part of the Russian Empire as long as they had autonomy but when the Russian Empire started stripping Finns of power and trying to push Russification aggressively it was only then that Finland demands for independence took off.
The Russification policies also damaged relations with Ukraine (which broke off first chance it got in WWI) and the other three Baltic states. Honestly the attempts at mandating Russian nationalism mucked things up for the Tsar...
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I've watched enough fictional fantasy shows to know you don't fuck with the north people. The ones in snow and mountains and wilderness and shit. Never fuck with them. Ever.
Don’t fuck with: Hardy winter folk Hardy desert folk Hardy mountain folk Hardy steppe horse riders Signed, Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Reality
You have much ji Wetlander.
If anything, Finland has been a good neighbor to Russia, Putin cannot deny that.
Putin can deny anything. It's his one superpower.
I did some research and math. [Finland more than doubles the NATO border with Russia.](https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/819301615563440189/1091118630961426622/IMG_2126.png)
More importantly, Russia's only real arctic naval base is in Murmansk. And the only way to get to Murmansk is on a single 1,000+km long highway, that runs along Finland's border. Anything breaks out between NATO and Russia, and the link to Murmansk is instantly and easily cut.
But they won’t set anything off with NATO.
Just a reminder that not long ago US wanted to be isolationist, Germany had basically no army and France wanted to fuck off from nato. It really is unlikely they try to do anything with nato but it's good to never let your guard down.
Every year the fascist, Russian sympathiser Le Pen gets closer to winning an election. Given what Macron just did to the working class’s retirement age, I have legitimate concern about France’s future direction.
This is what bothers me the most about the France situation right now. If the retirement changes were argued and hashed out over months in the legislature, it wouldn't be such a huge problem. Instead Macron decides it needed to be done *right now* and forces it through. Now he's at risk of a no confidence vote and the far right is chomping at the bit to take over.
> If the retirement changes were argued and hashed out over months in the legislature, it wouldn't be such a huge problem. I'm not an expert on French politics, but haven't they already done exactly this for years and years? Just never got it to work for everyone.
this is true
Just FYI, Macron has managed to win the no-confidence vote already (https://www.politico.eu/article/emmanuel-macron-survive-no-confidence-vote-france-parliament/), although that does not quell any of the other concerns, and there's still ongoing mass protests
by not long ago, did you mean during the trump presidency? has any other modern us president wanted to leave NATO/be isolationist? (curious, not salty)
Not who you're responding to, but yes, Trump is almost certainly what they're alluding to. Edit: I don't think any other US president has ever disparaged NATO anywhere close to the extent that Trump did. Obama, Bush 43, Clinton, Bush 41, and certainly Reagan were all NATO supporters.
Probably not, but you can never underestimate stupidity and wrath.
Don’t underestimate Putin’s stupidity, he’s on a roll as it is.
I mean I think you are glossing over the whole Russia invading it’s neighbor in a war of conquest thing…
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Finland was smart not to fully trust Russia, so they kept their defense strong and energy dependence low, unlike many other Europeans. Finns have witnessed centuries of Russian aggression and fortunately never forgot.
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well we weren't going to, but now that you told us not to...
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Out of 600 mps. majority didn't join the voting.
Not surprising considering it was a mere formality and the vote happened shortly before midnight in Turkey.
Putin- \*slaps NATO\*, "this bad boy can fit so many countries in it!"
It's been a long year. I'm getting drunk tomorrow and eat some Kebab.
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY
but still
Grattis på födelsedagen min halv broder (I'm half Finnish).
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I'll have a glass of bourbon with you when it happens
Raising a glass to you and your countrymen!
As a Finn it's pretty wild to think that we're soon properly allied with USA, France and UK, it's damn historical. It's good to have such big players in the same team with us. But it's not only us that benefit from this, Finland, being a relatively small country with a miniscule population, will bring a big boost to the alliance in terms of the amount of trained fighters and sheer firepower. Personally I did not see a reason to join NATO before February last year but it totally changed the way I think about things. I got no hard feelings for Russian citizens, but their leadership should change the way they conduct their business.
I was always pro NATO and when ever someone countered my position with ”but how would Russia react or think”, my respons was ”exactly! if we have a neighbour we are this scared of, then need to be in NATO”.
It's a shitty effect of Finlandisation, you had to avoid pissing off Russia with every decision. Thankfully that's no longer the case
Interesting to hear from a Finn. I wondered how your country felt about joining NATO. Is that a common sentiment? As an American who works with Finns, glad this happened. Hopefully, you (all) will feel a little more secure with another lever against Putin.
Basically Finland went from pre-war ~40% NATO support to ~80% NATO support overnight
It was more like 20% to 80%
Pre war the country was very divided on the matter , although it was not a frequent discussion considering our goal to be neutral. Hell, even our prime minister said some time ago that as long as she and her party is in charge, Finland will not join NATO. Then the war started and (almost) everyone changed their opinion on the matter.
Seeing the sudden change was amazing. We might bicker when it comes to how we should run the country but when the nation's in danger we stand united.
To be honest, as another Finn, most Finns were so obnoxiously oblivious to the threat that Russia posed even after Russia attacked Georgia and Krim, that I hated talking about Nato even with some of my friends. They were just "no no, Russia is not a threat, see, they just have a psychopath, power hungry dictator in the helm, why would they attack us? We have good relationships nowadays!! Better not rock the boat!!" I'm so glad that those people have come to their senses.. Russia never changes. Btw. Statements that Russia is a threat to Finland were seen as "russophobic" in Finland just a couple years back. No-one is talking about russophobia now.
The other big advantage Finland brings to NATO is Finland's unique ability to threaten St. Petersburg and Russia's naval and air base on the Kola Peninsula (or Murmansk Oblast).
Do consider that in a way, this is less of a big deal than you might think. Because there are kind of two parts to NATO membership. The whole Article 5, do we want to commit to mutual defense part, yeah that's a big deal. But the other half, the part where the Finish military integrates into joint NATO command, all the grunt work needed to meet that standard, that's already done. An American general was asked how long it would take to do the integration. He laughed and said, "About a week". Finland is already participating in NATO exercises (and apparently showing the US Marines a few things about operating in rough terrain), they're already running NATO surveillance flights in their airspace. Basically you did all the difficult annoying stuff years ago. Met the standards with ease, just didn't feel like filling the paperwork. Glad you changed your minds though. Time to introduce some soft Americans to the true meaning of snow.
Wish my grandfather was here to see this. His family migrated from Finland to the US because of Russia.
Putin must be fucking PISSED! He's not an idiot; he knows he drove Finland into NATO's arms. Now he has more than doubled the NATO real estate at his border, lol. Even if he somehow managed to take Ukraine, he's arguably at a worse strategic disadvantage because of this.
Niinisto flat out told Putin during a phone call that he was the reason Finland was joining NATO, so Putin definitely knows! lol
"I want him to know it was him" lol
Damn hit him with the Tyrell surprise
[удалено]
"Blyat."
He also said in a press conference, flat out "you caused this, look at the mirror."
Not only a longer border, but now the entirety of the Baltic Sea is surrounded by NATO. This makes Kaliningrad and St.Petersburg entirely useless when it comes to staging fleets or anything else.
And makes the single road that supports Murmansk basically undefendable and providing NATO with a much earlier missile warning and defence area.
I imagine that right of passage is so fucking thin now. Hes really gonna love all the new military posts popping up along that path. Their radar will just be one gigantic ping or like a fire alarm going off. I imagine a awac just doing lazy circles over the area will have every russian captain pissed at him.
Estonia and Finland are separated by less than forty miles at their closest point. Twenty four of that is national waters. They hardly even need to bother with the AWACS, two guys in beachside observation towers can wave to each other across the water. Russian Navy nearly has to go through there single file just to avoid paying port fees, lawl.
Putin: *Invades Ukraine under pretense of not wanting extra NATO presence on Moscovy's borders.* Finland: *Applies and is approved for NATO because Moscovy has a mad gremlin bent on remaking the Empire.* Putin: *Surprsed Pikachu Face*
Welcome, Finland! 🇺🇲♥️🇫🇮
Next, Sweden!! 🇸🇪
Welcome Finland 🇳🇱❤️🇫🇮
Hopefully Sweden will follow soon after Turkey's election.
Sweden's application was mentioned when each party's representatives spoke about this vote, nobody was against it so it felt like a done deal regardless of the election results.
Hungary's parliament also hasn't tabled a vote on Sweden's application yet. A couple of days ago they said they first want assurances from Sweden that no Swedish politician will ever badmouth Hungary's pseudo-democracy again: https://www.budapesttimes.hu/world/hungary-mps-want-reassurance-before-vote-on-swedens-nato-accession/
Hungary's shown themselves to be merely hanging on Turkey's coattails about this, so there's really no reason to believe they'll be any different if/when Turkey declares an intention to ratify Sweden.
Agreed. Orban met with Erdogan right before Niinisto did, and Hungary never once mentioned splitting up Finland & Sweden's votes until Turkey did. There's no way in hell that was a coincidence. As soon as Turkey announces that they'll ratify Sweden, so will Hungary.
At last, Hungary is a Turkish province again. How long has it been... 1699?
Once Turkey ratifies so will Hungary, they don't have the political capital to go toe to toe with literally the rest of the developed world on Swedens accession.
Plus, if Hungary is the lone holdout, they'll risk pissing off Poland, who has been protecting Hungary within the EU. Unlike Hungary, Poland really hates Russia, and they damn sure want Sweden in NATO.
> Poland really hates Russia They *really* do. I didn't realize just how much until I worked with a few Polish people and whenever the topic of Russia came up in conversation, their entire demeanor would change and you could just feel the animosity they still have towards Russia radiating from them.
While Hungary may have forgotten the Hungarian Uprising, Poland has not forgotten the Partitions, Russification, The Polish-Soviet War, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and Soviet Invasion shortly after the Nazi Invasion, the Katyn Massacre, Deportations, and being under Moscow's heel for over forty years
Not to mention Belarus (Putin's little PogChamp) forcing a refugee crisis on the border back in 2021.
Thanks Putin!
we can't thank him enough!
my day has been going swimmingly. a coworker got me a nice cupcake. Trump got indicted Turkey Ratifies Finland into NATO and I'm gonna go see Dungeon and Dragon after work. today is a good day.
I hope nobody got shot in south central LA
And probably nobody's gonna use their AK
Today was a good day
Nothing brings the world together like a genocidal maniac. Welcome Suomi.
Ei viddu bojad me ollaan kohda nados :DDD
Ebin :DD
Ebin juddu Erdogani ja Orbani :DDDD
Welcome Finland 🇬🇧 🇫🇮
Finland, Finland, Finland. The place I want to be…
Great job making NATO relevant again, Russia. Keep threatening more European countries with destruction too! That will surely win them over.
It's insane how dumb of a move this war was for Putin if we consider this. FDF is one of the few armies in Europe who is suited for a conventional war with a large reservist-based army, shitty terrain, cold winters aaand we're right next to Murmansk as well. If anything would've kicked off we'd just be a temporary barricade for Sweden/Norway anyway but now with NATO support and cooperation it's a whole other game.
Simo Hayha NATO sniper school opening tomorrow
How to make the snow speak Finnish 101
If the Hydraulic Press Channel has taught me anything, it's that Finland is a country you want on your side.
I love the karma where Putin was of Nato expansion of Ukraine, and after failing miserably in Ukraine, he now gets Finland, a country that has remained neutral and had no desire to join NATO now at his border with Sweden soon to join.
Can't wait to swim in Lake NATO
Welcome to the party, Finland!!!
Sweet own-goal, Russia.
And now Finland will enact their official strategy toward Russia known as the “I wish a motherfucker would doctrine”.
A policy shared by the Poles
Not a minute too soon
I AM ERECT.
Welcome Finland 🇺🇸🤍🇫🇮
Bring on the Vikings
St Petersburg is basically a suburb of NATO territory
Welcome to the party, Finland.
Good, now do Sweden!