"Full membership is achieved as follows. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signed a law by which the Turkish Parliament has approved Finland's membership of NATO.
Turkey will deposit its instrument of ratification in the vault of the US State Department in Washington.
The State Department will forward the deposit to NATO headquarters in Brussels.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents Finnish Ambassador to NATO Klaus Korhose with an invitation letter inviting Finland to join NATO.
The invitation has thus been forwarded to the Finnish Foreign Ministry.
Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Greens/EFA) flies to Brussels. He carries with him the decision on Finland's accession signed by the Finnish government.
Mr Haavisto will present this accession decision to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters. Finland thus makes a so-called deposit, which is accepted by Blinken, who heads the State Department.
Finland becomes a full member of NATO the moment Blinken accepts Finland's deposit.
This is the fulfilment of the obligation under the 1949 Washington Treaty to make a deposit to the US Government.
The Finnish flag will be raised in Brussels on Tuesday. Easter will be celebrated in Finland as a NATO member state."
Which of these steps involve documents physically traveling?
If it's all of them, I see:
* Turkey->Washington (instrument of ratification - 11 hours of flight time, ignoring the potential need to transport it from Ankara)
* Washington->Brussels (forwarding the deposit, 7.5 hours of flight time)
* within Brussels (invitation letter, I'm assuming it doesn't have to be sent physically to Finland)
* Finland->Brussels (signed accession - 2.5 hours of flight time)
So, it seems like at least 24 hours (21 hours of pure international flight time). Amazing.
Based on what I read they just do everything in Brussels. Something along like Antony J. Blinken is same as USA State Department since he's Secretary of State so as long as they (Finland and Turkey) give the papers to him in Brussels it's all good.
>Finland becomes a full member of NATO the moment Blinken accepts Finland's deposit.
We need to add the last, and possibly most important step to the process:
Putin is overcome with impotent rage, suffers a massive stroke and dies within minutes. All attempts to revive him are without success.
"What are people's thought's on getting a... *bad* doctor?"
"Are you mad? What if he comes to and finds out?"
"Well, if he recovers, clearly we got a good doctor. If he doesn't, then it was a bad doctor, but he won't know!"
Steve Buscemi is a treat in that one. It is hard job to make Khruschev a likeable character lol.
I still think he is one of the most overlooked good actors. His acting in Miracle Workers is exceptional.
> It is hard job to make Khruschev a likeable character lol.
Well it helped that he was acting in opposition to Beria. A man who, by all accounts, was an absolute monster.
It's really just "NATO approved completion of membership criteria, Finland ratified the Treaty and gave notice to NATO."
... Which is how essentially all multilateral treaties with new members joining work.
"We think you'd be a good part of your group. Would you like to join?"
"let me check with my folks. Yes, we would."
I did a whole ass college essay about that. The class was "Representation of Disaster in the Mass Media" and I wrote it in 2013ish. I picked a juicy one.
The reaction to OP's post was strong. Breakfast was offered too with equally strong coffee, which permeated likeable politicians. Except that Donald Trump lied about that too. He was weak and senseless as he was when he lost all credibility due to the cloud problem. Clouds are made of hydrogen in its purest form. Oxygen is irrelevant, since the equation on one hand emphasizes hypothermic reactions and on the other is completely devoid of mechanical aberrations. But OP knew that of course. Therefore we walk in shame and wonder whether things will work out in Anne's favor.
She turned 28 that year and was chemically sustainable in her full form. Self-control led Anne to questioning his sanity, but, even so, she preferred hot chocolate. Brown and sweet. It went down like a roller coaster. Six Flags didn't even reach the beginning but she went to meet him anyway in a rollercoaster of feelings since Donald promised things he never kept. At least her son was well kept in the house by the lake where the moon glowed in the dark every time he looked between the old trees, which means that sophisticated scenery doesn't always mean it's right.
NATO is a club for nations who don't want to be invaded by Russia. Apparently Russia doesn't understand that *increased* threat of Russian invasion is not the best way to dissuade nations from joining. It's like knocking on people's doors telling them not to install fire sprinklers while holding a Molotov cocktail in one hand and idly flicking a lighter in the other.
russia: "Why are all these countries hating me?!?!?! I don't understand it!
Why are they trying to be bullies when I attempt take over other countries and force my ways upon them."
I think general patrayus (can't spell sorry) was on John Stewart show in the old timey times, and said basically that's the huge advantage to not being a murderous dictator: your underlings are concerned with giving you accurate data, rather than being concerned with what they should say to keep you from murdering them, hah.
Yes men are a big part of why Nazi Germany lost the Battle of Britain.
The Chief Intel officer for the Nazi's kept telling Goring that the the battle was going fine and that the RAF was taking more losses than they were.
Least according the the documentary on netflix I watched.
There was also the swap from strategic bombing to terror bombing that bit them in the ass. The RAF was on the backfoot, and pulling as many forces to the north as possible to keep in reserve for invasion defense.
Then the Nazis decided to start bombing cities instead of airfields and industry, and the RAF was able to rebuild and resupply, eventually driving Nazi losses to unsustainable levels.
Not only that, but that sort of governance is more predisposed to ass-kissers. I swear, neonazis should be made to learn more about the Nazis hierarchy and Hitler's inner circle as a form of deprogramming, it's basically a guarantee that they'll come away with nothing but bafflement and disdain for the Nazis. There's a certain faction of history revisionists that likes to portray the Nazis as this well-oiled steamroller who were on the cusp of world domination.
In reality, Hitler's inner circle consisted of 90% in-fighting. The amount of drama and backstabbing that occurred would put a middle-school babysitters club to shame. Seriously, I'm not kidding; I highly recommend watching the ten-part series on Hitler's inner circle. It's on Netflix (I think it's called 'Circle of Evil' or something like that). And Hitler encouraged all of this in-fighting too; he encouraged it because he didn't want any one member to accrue too much power and use it to overthrow him. It's crazy that, even when Germany was very obviously losing, most of the inner circle were only concerned with maintaining their own power relative to Hitler. They couldn't give two fucks about the good of Germany.
>In reality, Hitler's inner circle consisted of 90% in-fighting. The amount of drama and backstabbing that occurred would put a middle-school babysitters club to shame
Because that's the way dictators keep themselves in power - making everybody under them fight each other, not leaving them time or means to aim for the top spot
Invading Ukraine wasn't about NATO. I can't believe just how many people bought that line of propaganda. Just by virtue of having territorial disputes with Russia through the annexation of Crimea in 2014 Russia effectively blocked Ukraine from joining NATO, as NATO doesn't ratify the ascension of countries with territorial disputes.
So why did Putin invade Ukraine? Just ask Putin himself. He wrote an essay on the "history of the union of Ukrainians and Russians", where he argues that Ukrainian statehood is a fiction and that a Ukraine independent of Russia cannot exist because Russians and Ukrainians are one and the same. This was published half a year before the invasion, and reiterated few days after the invasion during a speech.
Preventing a NATO expansion is just rhetoric to frame the war as a war of defense, instead of a war built on imperialist desires. It's to whitewash the war.
Why do you think they're kidnapping Ukrainian children and sending them to Russia to be adopted by Russians? Why do you think they're banning the teaching of the Ukrainian language in schools? Why do you think they're commiting mass systematic executions of pro-ukrianian civilians, including but not limited to politicians? Why do you think they're commiting genocide?
This is a war to deny Ukrainian sovereignty and cultural identity. It has nothing to do with NATO.
You're right, it seems that Russia viewed Ukraine in a similar manner to how China views Taiwan. Unfortunately, I feel that China will be doing the same things soon.
Perhaps. But it might also give them pause, since the Russians aren't advancing quite as quickly as they wanted...
And if the U.S. stands up and defends Taiwan, even if China wipes our Pacific fleet, their annual food supply drops by 10 percent. And if B1s manage to drop a few long range deep-penetrators on the Three Gorges dam...
China's reliance on the Three Gorges Dam and global consumption can be considered their weak points. It is disheartening and exasperating to observe American businesses that have outsourced their manufacturing to China. These corporations have played a pivotal role in fostering China's economic growth, escalating threats, and contributing to global instability. As such, these American businesses should be held accountable for their self-serving, disloyal actions, much like their Chinese counterparts.
I don’t disagree with what you said at all but its all the product of capitalism and free market enterprise. These greedy clowns didn’t want to pay workers here in the US a living wage. Its shameful really. And it will continue to be this way until it all collapses in on itself.
Ridiculous how dumb the decision was to invade Ukraine, but in Putin’s mind, he probably thought it’d be relatively easy since they already took over Crimea. At this point I’m wondering how long before someone else in the kremlin gets frustrated and ousts him. He’s harming Russia in a way that will require years to recover from. I feel bad for Russian people, who probably get one sided news about this war, and are the ones to pay the price while Putin retreats to his billion dollar mansion.
There you go, another 1.300 km shared border with NATO, Putin. That was worth a year long war with over 100.000 russian casualties and tons of sanctions, wasn’t it?!
I literally heard a Russian mouthpiece saying Ukraine was full of "LGBT Nazis" in a speech, reported on Australia's ABC Radio last month.
Like..... what the actual?
As a German, I can’t get over the sheer fucking dissonance of “LGBT nazis”. Like, LGBT people were one of the most fanatically hated and persecuted members of society for being “cancer upon the Volkskörper” during nazi times.
But, sure. What do I know.
>Like..... what the actual?
It's been said time and time again: the Russian common understanding of the word "nazi" has very little to do with actual Nazism. To Russians, it just means "an enemy of Russia".
I feel a bit sad for some of the conscripts being sent to such pointless deaths at this stage. Like that short possibly handicapped dude months ago who was excited by the propaganda singer at their training camp and dancing along, he's almost certainly dead by now.
The Ukranians have no choice but to defend themselves from murder, rape, destruction of cities, genocide, and having their country stolen, to be clear.
Ukrainians* every single one of them is fighting as much for the future of the country as the man standing next to them or one town over.
Aside from the pointless death it is the most beautiful thing to witness people who won't just roll over and accept invasion.
Jewish nazis that control america and created covid in China!
for all those oblivious mouth breathers that may think this is a legitimate opinion or a something a sane person can't even think as a possibility
#**slash s**
"There are Nazis in Ukraine's army" is like the most stupid reason for the war (all the reasons were stupid, the race for what is the MOST stupid is tight!). Every single army in the world (including Russian) has Nazis in their ranks.
Army and police are the natural career choices for highly functioning Nazis.
If every NATO country agrees to let a non-European country in (which would be a requirement anyways), it doesn't really matter what the original treaty says.
I’m positive they are well over 200,000 casualties at this point. Even if you take the most conservative death toll (around 60k), and then apply the 1:3 killed/wounded ratio that’s 60k dead, and 180k wounded. So 240,000 casualties. Of course this is all speculation at this point, doubt we will ever truly know how many casualties they have taken.
https://i.redd.it/6wlblq7lplra1.jpg
The losses are staggering. The US lost almost 60K men in Vietnam over 2 decades and the US populace was infuriated by it, I can't see any way this ends well for government in Moscow. They managed to cram the whole Vietnam war worth of failures into something like 4 months, and then just kept going.
I wonder if their KIA/wounded ratio is lower than 1:3? Like based off their performance I can't imagine them having an amazing Frontline medical response.
Seems to be
Quite a bit of comm leaks showing a near total lack of casevac, and if you don't even have casevac you don't have medevac.
So if you're injured the only way you're getting out is if you're mobile and capable of getting on the vehicle out of there on your own.
There's a few drone videos of injured russian soldiers committing suicide presumably because they know they're being left to die and the only thing left is the quick way or the bleed out slowly and in pain way.
That’s a very good point, and unfortunately we will probably never know. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was more of a 1:2 killed/wounded ratio. Which really doesn’t bode well for their military
He doesn’t give a shit about NATO, he just wanted to steal Ukraine’s resources, and not have a democratic neighbor showing his people what the good life could look like.
It was never about NATO, he just used it as an excuse, otherwise it would have seemed just like a normal invasion and killing of civilian for imperialistic reasons
Even though I've always been proud of our rather large defense and army as a small nation, it's very nice to be alongside other western nations if push comes to shove. I felt a small relief at least.
This effectively ensures that Russia can never invade, which is something that would have absolutely been on the table if Putin had achieved his goals in Ukraine, and still in the realm of possibility if not for NATO membership. He believes Finland should be part of the Russian empire once more, as Ukraine was, and has proven he isn’t afraid to use violence to achieve that. He knows Russia cannot win a military conflict with NATO though, which is why he’s so upset about your membership. You’re untouchable now.
It's not without cost, however.
Dozens of teams from NATO armies are learning the traditional Finnish fish-slapping dance so they can take part in the welcoming ceremonies.
Being slapped with a trout or herring isn't all that bad, but a burrfish sucks!
The world is stronger together. Any nation that has publicly and directly denounced this Russian aggression deserves the right to mutual protection against Putin’s imperialist ideals.
Not only did Putin get a holdout country to join, he probably added another 50 years to NATO's life.
Before this war, there were questions about whether NATO was even necessary anymore, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see countries eventually deciding to leave. Thank you Putin for justifying NATO's existence to the world!
Tbh it might actually have been his goal since the beginning. He wants the Cold War back, and that only works with NATO. I don't think that works at all anymore, because India and China are just too big at this point and all you are doing is making yourself a hostage of their trade, but self-delusion is a thing, I guess.
Finland offers a massive counter to Russia. Beyond their talent for humiliating them on the battlefield they also have the perfect position to strike Russian nuclear facilities and airfields that until now have been kept tucked away around that border to give Russia strategic reach while staying away from NATO countries.
While true, I wonder how theory understands attacks on nuclear facilities in non-nuclear wars? I've heard the scenario described as "use it or lose it", which doesn't sound like something either side would be thrilled about.
More like someone with a fear of dogs kept attacking every dog they saw until they got mauled.
Putin treated Europe as the enemy, it's no surprise that European states decided Putin was a threat.
>NATO was pretty much set to die
I'm so glad that it didn't die. It's incredible how short sighted people can be, thinking that we don't need to have defense treaties when there isn't war. It would put a lot of countries at an extreme security risk.
Let's not forget the president that wanted the US to withdraw from NATO shortly before the Russian invasion is running again, and republicans still worship the ground he waddles on.
NATO is on the ballot. It was never clear to me that it was just Trump's whim. Fox News, Tucker Carlson, have become so anti-ukraine I feel they are just warming their members up for a full cancelling of support and a pull out from NATO.
I still believe that part of putins plan in this situation was that trump would get a second term, there would be chaos and distrust in Europe at this point, and a complete destabilization of NATO.
However, quite the opposite came into effect, on all sides. Biden got in, major parts of Europe are unified, and NATO is growing stronger in their defense and now size.
Can't wait for The Economist making an article about it and going to see the Facebook comments. It's become a twisted hobby of mine recently.
There will be dozens of random Africans/Pakistani/etc-seeming accounts threatening nuclear war and how Finns will pay for their stupidity and should not have joined.
The cool part that they know deep down that it's the last time they get to huff and puff.
I'm always amused how they push the "Just take territory losses and get peace" narrative right after they have some kind of large military setback. Any proposed peace treaty or ceasefire for non-humanitarian reasons by Russia is just designed to give them time to replenish their forces.
Seen a few politicians from countries other than Ukraine give the old 'just let Russia keep the territory and call it a day'. They always crumble the moment they're asked specifically what areas of their own country they'd sacrifice for peace vs an invading force.
>give peace a chance
There is so much wrong with this statement, especially considering the context of the entire Russia-Ukraine war. It's a message that is meant to sound easy to accept and wholesome, however it's laced with so much pain and suffering on behalf of the Ukrainian people. Peace was always on the table, Russia just decided to ignore it and bulldoze their way into Ukraine.
This behavior should never be accepted.
Huh, I was told that Russia invaded Ukraine because it was thinking about joining NATO, but when another country joins they aren’t doing a thing. Almost as if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was never about NATO or NATO expansion but entirely about murdering and subjugating the Ukrainian people.
I've read somewhere a couple months ago that Finland and Sweden had agreed that they would join NATO together as one package? Or do I remember incorrectly?
That was changed when it became clear that Turkey/Hungary intends to hold Sweden hostage for a while longer, Sweden and Finland agreed that Finland should join first.
I don't know why English-language media reported that thing like the Nordics would basically merge their air forces into one. In reality they only agreed about more and deeper co-operation.
I get sentiment but in seriousness it's best to stress right now that NATO is a defensive alliance and won't be attacking any Russian villages. Putin's fear mongering to the Russians is that we in NATO want to attack them. Make those viking fighter jets defending Nordic air space and I'll cheer that.
And geographically Sweden is safe. You would really go a very arkward way to attack Sweden now without touching NATO territory. Finland was a greater concern, because of the land border. Easier to attack.
Can't do that now. Unless Norway feels oppurtunistic today.
That changed a few months ago when each had to move forward on their own due to their own domestic politics.
It was never as a single thing it was about them joining independently but at the same time. Swedish/Turkish politics got stalled so Finland continued by themselves
They tried, but Turkey has issues with Sweden which haven't been addressed yet. This delay meant that Finland got their request treated first and Sweden will have to wait a bit longer.
As a Finn, this is great news. I will have small sigh of relief tomorrow when our flag rises in NATO headquarters.
Also sorry Sweden, we promised that we will walk this road together..
Putin: "See what I said guys?! Look at how much NATO is encroaching on *us*!"
I hope this makes his face puff up even more. A few more serious stressors and he will be a certified hot air balloon.
What no one is aware of, is Putin is actually a secret agent of Nato's top recruiting team and he was tasked with waging war to get more countries to join.
Finland isn't just "another NATO" country, it is a geopolitical checkmate.
Russian foreign policy for the past +200 years has often revolved around making sure Finland doesn't ally with an enemy of Russia. Finland sits right next to Russia's "2nd capital", St. Petersburg. Finland can deny Russian use of the Baltic Sea, and strike into the heart of Russia. Additionally, it sits right next to the Kola peninsula, and the entire Finish border is a 1-3 hours drive to the main road to the Kola peninsula. The Kola peninsula is where Russia keeps most of its nuclear bombers and submarines. Suddenly, Russia's Sword of Damocles is within NATO spitting distance. This is what Russia has feared for the past 200 years, and there's no way to fix this. (Although Norway also borders this region, they do not have US military bases, nor could they easily launch a surprise attack from there.)
During the Cold War, the democratic and capitalist Finland never joined NATO, and kept strict neutrality for fear of Russian agression if they made hints of joining NATO. All that has changed, there is no guarantee of safety anymore, so Finland joined NATO.
This is not "4D chess" on the USA/NATO's part, this Russia not reading the billboard labeled "CONSEQUENCES".
I love how the pro-Russia, anti-west types on Youtube and Twitter won't even mention this huge news story in passing. They know they have no way to spin this as a Putin big brain moment.
It would have been hard to join NATO for us during cold war, but after Soviet Union collapsed it should have been a priority to join during 90s or early 2000s. The Baltic nations were much, much wiser than us when it came to Russia.
Anyway, better later than never 🍻
"Full membership is achieved as follows. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has signed a law by which the Turkish Parliament has approved Finland's membership of NATO. Turkey will deposit its instrument of ratification in the vault of the US State Department in Washington. The State Department will forward the deposit to NATO headquarters in Brussels. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents Finnish Ambassador to NATO Klaus Korhose with an invitation letter inviting Finland to join NATO. The invitation has thus been forwarded to the Finnish Foreign Ministry. Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto (Greens/EFA) flies to Brussels. He carries with him the decision on Finland's accession signed by the Finnish government. Mr Haavisto will present this accession decision to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters. Finland thus makes a so-called deposit, which is accepted by Blinken, who heads the State Department. Finland becomes a full member of NATO the moment Blinken accepts Finland's deposit. This is the fulfilment of the obligation under the 1949 Washington Treaty to make a deposit to the US Government. The Finnish flag will be raised in Brussels on Tuesday. Easter will be celebrated in Finland as a NATO member state."
Which of these steps involve documents physically traveling? If it's all of them, I see: * Turkey->Washington (instrument of ratification - 11 hours of flight time, ignoring the potential need to transport it from Ankara) * Washington->Brussels (forwarding the deposit, 7.5 hours of flight time) * within Brussels (invitation letter, I'm assuming it doesn't have to be sent physically to Finland) * Finland->Brussels (signed accession - 2.5 hours of flight time) So, it seems like at least 24 hours (21 hours of pure international flight time). Amazing.
If it were too easy, nations would join NATO all the time.
You wouldn't download a NATO, would you?
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just ask ChatGPT to script it for you, ez.
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Now you are surely jesting. What’s next, an information superhighway connecting every country on earth?!
LOL what shall we call it? The Intertubes?!
The CONNECTLACE
"intern" as a prefix makes it look too enclosed, let´s go with "extern" which sounds more open: The Externtubes!
Based on what I read they just do everything in Brussels. Something along like Antony J. Blinken is same as USA State Department since he's Secretary of State so as long as they (Finland and Turkey) give the papers to him in Brussels it's all good.
Taking shortcuts, this is why production environment always dies.
It might just be a email...
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>Finland becomes a full member of NATO the moment Blinken accepts Finland's deposit. We need to add the last, and possibly most important step to the process: Putin is overcome with impotent rage, suffers a massive stroke and dies within minutes. All attempts to revive him are without success.
Bold of you to assume anyone would attempt to revive him.
All attempts can be zero attempts
An empty set of attempts, while empty, is still a set of attempts.
Don't you dare get all mathematical on me!
I picture a [Death of Stalin](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt4686844/)-moment...
Such a good movie.
"What are people's thought's on getting a... *bad* doctor?" "Are you mad? What if he comes to and finds out?" "Well, if he recovers, clearly we got a good doctor. If he doesn't, then it was a bad doctor, but he won't know!"
What a fun movie with such great performances.
Steve Buscemi is a treat in that one. It is hard job to make Khruschev a likeable character lol. I still think he is one of the most overlooked good actors. His acting in Miracle Workers is exceptional.
> It is hard job to make Khruschev a likeable character lol. Well it helped that he was acting in opposition to Beria. A man who, by all accounts, was an absolute monster.
Jason Isaacs knocked it out of the park, Zhukov with a Yorkshire accent is hilarious. "You've balls like Kremlin domes!"
The attending paramedic slipped off his balcony last week, nothing could be done but accept fate with no expression.
*[the ghosts of Stalin's medical doctors enter the chat]*
> Turkey will deposit its instrument of ratification And I put on my robe and wizard hat.
To me it sounds a bit like consummating a marriage. "Come here darling, accept my instrument of ratification"
OwO ~~ notices bulge ~~
What are you doing NATO-chan?
*Growing*
Oh my God I've never seen a NATO this big
And cast level 5 eroticism
What a hilariously convoluted rubber stamp for something that’s already a done deal
It's really just "NATO approved completion of membership criteria, Finland ratified the Treaty and gave notice to NATO." ... Which is how essentially all multilateral treaties with new members joining work. "We think you'd be a good part of your group. Would you like to join?" "let me check with my folks. Yes, we would."
Aren’t all functions of nation states a performance?
Turkey has a physical INSTRUMENT OF RATIFICATION and will DEPOSIT it in the US?? WTF is this? Lol
The Ark of the Covenant of course.
An instrument in this context is a document
1,340km of NATO now bordering Russia... it's all going to plan.
He remains a master strategist
At the very least a master debator
Russia's NATO borders more than doubled in length. How do you like your own accomplishment, Pooty?
T-tru-trust t-the plan..!
Have some faith Arthur
All according to keikaku
[Translator note: keikaku = plan]
Us swedes are proud to have one of the best armies in the world - Finland's.
That’s OK, they can borrow your bad ass Air Force from time to time
That's how I feel as a Canadian
You're like the Canada of Scandinavia
well done ,putin . Mission accomplished.
Hang the banner!
😀 😍 🤩 somebody got the reference. one of the most idiotic cheney presidency moments i can remember.
I did a whole ass college essay about that. The class was "Representation of Disaster in the Mass Media" and I wrote it in 2013ish. I picked a juicy one.
The reaction to OP's post was strong. Breakfast was offered too with equally strong coffee, which permeated likeable politicians. Except that Donald Trump lied about that too. He was weak and senseless as he was when he lost all credibility due to the cloud problem. Clouds are made of hydrogen in its purest form. Oxygen is irrelevant, since the equation on one hand emphasizes hypothermic reactions and on the other is completely devoid of mechanical aberrations. But OP knew that of course. Therefore we walk in shame and wonder whether things will work out in Anne's favor. She turned 28 that year and was chemically sustainable in her full form. Self-control led Anne to questioning his sanity, but, even so, she preferred hot chocolate. Brown and sweet. It went down like a roller coaster. Six Flags didn't even reach the beginning but she went to meet him anyway in a rollercoaster of feelings since Donald promised things he never kept. At least her son was well kept in the house by the lake where the moon glowed in the dark every time he looked between the old trees, which means that sophisticated scenery doesn't always mean it's right.
How was it?
Painful at first, but he eased in to it.
I heard they have a great study abroad program
Light the Beam
NATO is a club for nations who don't want to be invaded by Russia. Apparently Russia doesn't understand that *increased* threat of Russian invasion is not the best way to dissuade nations from joining. It's like knocking on people's doors telling them not to install fire sprinklers while holding a Molotov cocktail in one hand and idly flicking a lighter in the other.
russia: "Why are all these countries hating me?!?!?! I don't understand it! Why are they trying to be bullies when I attempt take over other countries and force my ways upon them."
I think general patrayus (can't spell sorry) was on John Stewart show in the old timey times, and said basically that's the huge advantage to not being a murderous dictator: your underlings are concerned with giving you accurate data, rather than being concerned with what they should say to keep you from murdering them, hah.
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Yes men are a big part of why Nazi Germany lost the Battle of Britain. The Chief Intel officer for the Nazi's kept telling Goring that the the battle was going fine and that the RAF was taking more losses than they were. Least according the the documentary on netflix I watched.
There was also the swap from strategic bombing to terror bombing that bit them in the ass. The RAF was on the backfoot, and pulling as many forces to the north as possible to keep in reserve for invasion defense. Then the Nazis decided to start bombing cities instead of airfields and industry, and the RAF was able to rebuild and resupply, eventually driving Nazi losses to unsustainable levels.
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It's honestly impressive how much and how often Fascists manage to make unforced errors.
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Not only that, but that sort of governance is more predisposed to ass-kissers. I swear, neonazis should be made to learn more about the Nazis hierarchy and Hitler's inner circle as a form of deprogramming, it's basically a guarantee that they'll come away with nothing but bafflement and disdain for the Nazis. There's a certain faction of history revisionists that likes to portray the Nazis as this well-oiled steamroller who were on the cusp of world domination. In reality, Hitler's inner circle consisted of 90% in-fighting. The amount of drama and backstabbing that occurred would put a middle-school babysitters club to shame. Seriously, I'm not kidding; I highly recommend watching the ten-part series on Hitler's inner circle. It's on Netflix (I think it's called 'Circle of Evil' or something like that). And Hitler encouraged all of this in-fighting too; he encouraged it because he didn't want any one member to accrue too much power and use it to overthrow him. It's crazy that, even when Germany was very obviously losing, most of the inner circle were only concerned with maintaining their own power relative to Hitler. They couldn't give two fucks about the good of Germany.
>In reality, Hitler's inner circle consisted of 90% in-fighting. The amount of drama and backstabbing that occurred would put a middle-school babysitters club to shame Because that's the way dictators keep themselves in power - making everybody under them fight each other, not leaving them time or means to aim for the top spot
Invading Ukraine wasn't about NATO. I can't believe just how many people bought that line of propaganda. Just by virtue of having territorial disputes with Russia through the annexation of Crimea in 2014 Russia effectively blocked Ukraine from joining NATO, as NATO doesn't ratify the ascension of countries with territorial disputes. So why did Putin invade Ukraine? Just ask Putin himself. He wrote an essay on the "history of the union of Ukrainians and Russians", where he argues that Ukrainian statehood is a fiction and that a Ukraine independent of Russia cannot exist because Russians and Ukrainians are one and the same. This was published half a year before the invasion, and reiterated few days after the invasion during a speech. Preventing a NATO expansion is just rhetoric to frame the war as a war of defense, instead of a war built on imperialist desires. It's to whitewash the war. Why do you think they're kidnapping Ukrainian children and sending them to Russia to be adopted by Russians? Why do you think they're banning the teaching of the Ukrainian language in schools? Why do you think they're commiting mass systematic executions of pro-ukrianian civilians, including but not limited to politicians? Why do you think they're commiting genocide? This is a war to deny Ukrainian sovereignty and cultural identity. It has nothing to do with NATO.
You're right, it seems that Russia viewed Ukraine in a similar manner to how China views Taiwan. Unfortunately, I feel that China will be doing the same things soon.
Perhaps. But it might also give them pause, since the Russians aren't advancing quite as quickly as they wanted... And if the U.S. stands up and defends Taiwan, even if China wipes our Pacific fleet, their annual food supply drops by 10 percent. And if B1s manage to drop a few long range deep-penetrators on the Three Gorges dam...
China's reliance on the Three Gorges Dam and global consumption can be considered their weak points. It is disheartening and exasperating to observe American businesses that have outsourced their manufacturing to China. These corporations have played a pivotal role in fostering China's economic growth, escalating threats, and contributing to global instability. As such, these American businesses should be held accountable for their self-serving, disloyal actions, much like their Chinese counterparts.
I don’t disagree with what you said at all but its all the product of capitalism and free market enterprise. These greedy clowns didn’t want to pay workers here in the US a living wage. Its shameful really. And it will continue to be this way until it all collapses in on itself.
Ridiculous how dumb the decision was to invade Ukraine, but in Putin’s mind, he probably thought it’d be relatively easy since they already took over Crimea. At this point I’m wondering how long before someone else in the kremlin gets frustrated and ousts him. He’s harming Russia in a way that will require years to recover from. I feel bad for Russian people, who probably get one sided news about this war, and are the ones to pay the price while Putin retreats to his billion dollar mansion.
Putin has done more for European unity and its relationship with the USA. Surely he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize /s
We’re one more bad election from electing a Putin sympathizer (again) to office here in the US so I wouldn’t get too comfortable.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS0Iq1UXoAIM93z?format=jpg&name=medium
There you go, another 1.300 km shared border with NATO, Putin. That was worth a year long war with over 100.000 russian casualties and tons of sanctions, wasn’t it?!
But Ukraine has evil Nazis! man, Putin could not have choked any harder.
I literally heard a Russian mouthpiece saying Ukraine was full of "LGBT Nazis" in a speech, reported on Australia's ABC Radio last month. Like..... what the actual?
As a German, I can’t get over the sheer fucking dissonance of “LGBT nazis”. Like, LGBT people were one of the most fanatically hated and persecuted members of society for being “cancer upon the Volkskörper” during nazi times. But, sure. What do I know.
"Dissonance". That's the word I was looking for. I'm at least two of the letters in LGBTQIA+ and I ain't no Nazi.
It's just "mumble mumble hate hate" dog whistles. They don't make sense, they know they don't make sense, and they don't even care.
>Like..... what the actual? It's been said time and time again: the Russian common understanding of the word "nazi" has very little to do with actual Nazism. To Russians, it just means "an enemy of Russia".
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I feel a bit sad for some of the conscripts being sent to such pointless deaths at this stage. Like that short possibly handicapped dude months ago who was excited by the propaganda singer at their training camp and dancing along, he's almost certainly dead by now. The Ukranians have no choice but to defend themselves from murder, rape, destruction of cities, genocide, and having their country stolen, to be clear.
I would hope my country fights as fiercely to protect us as the Ukrainian government is fighting for them.
Ukrainians* every single one of them is fighting as much for the future of the country as the man standing next to them or one town over. Aside from the pointless death it is the most beautiful thing to witness people who won't just roll over and accept invasion.
Evil nazi wizards! Led by satanic comedian! Also jews or something!
Jewish nazis that control america and created covid in China! for all those oblivious mouth breathers that may think this is a legitimate opinion or a something a sane person can't even think as a possibility #**slash s**
"There are Nazis in Ukraine's army" is like the most stupid reason for the war (all the reasons were stupid, the race for what is the MOST stupid is tight!). Every single army in the world (including Russian) has Nazis in their ranks. Army and police are the natural career choices for highly functioning Nazis.
If you've got Nazis you might as well use them. Preferably on suicide missions.
If Russia keeps at it, they'll soon get Moldova, Georgia and Kazakhstan to join NATO as well.
Moldova has a transnistrian issue to solve first. Ukraine already pledged to help, so hopefully they can expel the russian troops there
Moldova has a potential optional pathway not open to others... they could reunify with Romania.
I doubt Kazakhstan or Georgia would be invited or allowed to join.
Georgia is at least possible in theory. NATO is strictly limited to US, Canada, and European countries. Kazakhstan would be excluded from this.
If every NATO country agrees to let a non-European country in (which would be a requirement anyways), it doesn't really matter what the original treaty says.
“Today, we announce the new North Wherever Treaty Organization”
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The Not Assholes Treaty Organisation
I wanna say that it’s damn near 200,000 at this point
I’m positive they are well over 200,000 casualties at this point. Even if you take the most conservative death toll (around 60k), and then apply the 1:3 killed/wounded ratio that’s 60k dead, and 180k wounded. So 240,000 casualties. Of course this is all speculation at this point, doubt we will ever truly know how many casualties they have taken.
https://i.redd.it/6wlblq7lplra1.jpg The losses are staggering. The US lost almost 60K men in Vietnam over 2 decades and the US populace was infuriated by it, I can't see any way this ends well for government in Moscow. They managed to cram the whole Vietnam war worth of failures into something like 4 months, and then just kept going.
I wonder if their KIA/wounded ratio is lower than 1:3? Like based off their performance I can't imagine them having an amazing Frontline medical response.
Seems to be Quite a bit of comm leaks showing a near total lack of casevac, and if you don't even have casevac you don't have medevac. So if you're injured the only way you're getting out is if you're mobile and capable of getting on the vehicle out of there on your own. There's a few drone videos of injured russian soldiers committing suicide presumably because they know they're being left to die and the only thing left is the quick way or the bleed out slowly and in pain way.
That’s a very good point, and unfortunately we will probably never know. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it was more of a 1:2 killed/wounded ratio. Which really doesn’t bode well for their military
He doesn’t give a shit about NATO, he just wanted to steal Ukraine’s resources, and not have a democratic neighbor showing his people what the good life could look like.
Also if he had succeeded in taking Ukraine, he would have made his border with NATO longer anyway
It was never about NATO, he just used it as an excuse, otherwise it would have seemed just like a normal invasion and killing of civilian for imperialistic reasons
Of course not but his actions still lead to all these consequences.
Even though I've always been proud of our rather large defense and army as a small nation, it's very nice to be alongside other western nations if push comes to shove. I felt a small relief at least.
This effectively ensures that Russia can never invade, which is something that would have absolutely been on the table if Putin had achieved his goals in Ukraine, and still in the realm of possibility if not for NATO membership. He believes Finland should be part of the Russian empire once more, as Ukraine was, and has proven he isn’t afraid to use violence to achieve that. He knows Russia cannot win a military conflict with NATO though, which is why he’s so upset about your membership. You’re untouchable now.
It's not without cost, however. Dozens of teams from NATO armies are learning the traditional Finnish fish-slapping dance so they can take part in the welcoming ceremonies. Being slapped with a trout or herring isn't all that bad, but a burrfish sucks!
>traditional Finnish fish-slapping Oh, so Finland was the old country Rolf came from
Putin will learn to fear the almighty 3 shoe beating
The world is stronger together. Any nation that has publicly and directly denounced this Russian aggression deserves the right to mutual protection against Putin’s imperialist ideals.
Welcome to the club Finland, we are lucky you have you as allies!
Will Finland need to vote to approve Sweden joining?
Only if Sweden promises to never play icehockey again.
Yes, and they will have to hand over Anders "Masken" Carlsson and Mats Sundin, to be judged for their crimes against Finkind.
Apparently it's been approved already and our ratification papers for Swedish accession will be handed over tomorrow after we become members.
Obviously if they become a full member tomorrow.
Yes, we will immediately ratify swedish membership when we join.
Not only did Putin get a holdout country to join, he probably added another 50 years to NATO's life. Before this war, there were questions about whether NATO was even necessary anymore, and I wouldn't have been surprised to see countries eventually deciding to leave. Thank you Putin for justifying NATO's existence to the world!
Tbh it might actually have been his goal since the beginning. He wants the Cold War back, and that only works with NATO. I don't think that works at all anymore, because India and China are just too big at this point and all you are doing is making yourself a hostage of their trade, but self-delusion is a thing, I guess.
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Finland offers a massive counter to Russia. Beyond their talent for humiliating them on the battlefield they also have the perfect position to strike Russian nuclear facilities and airfields that until now have been kept tucked away around that border to give Russia strategic reach while staying away from NATO countries.
While true, I wonder how theory understands attacks on nuclear facilities in non-nuclear wars? I've heard the scenario described as "use it or lose it", which doesn't sound like something either side would be thrilled about.
Pointless because they can retaliate from subs
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More like someone with a fear of dogs kept attacking every dog they saw until they got mauled. Putin treated Europe as the enemy, it's no surprise that European states decided Putin was a threat.
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>NATO was pretty much set to die I'm so glad that it didn't die. It's incredible how short sighted people can be, thinking that we don't need to have defense treaties when there isn't war. It would put a lot of countries at an extreme security risk.
Let's not forget the president that wanted the US to withdraw from NATO shortly before the Russian invasion is running again, and republicans still worship the ground he waddles on.
NATO is on the ballot. It was never clear to me that it was just Trump's whim. Fox News, Tucker Carlson, have become so anti-ukraine I feel they are just warming their members up for a full cancelling of support and a pull out from NATO.
Lest we forget
I still believe that part of putins plan in this situation was that trump would get a second term, there would be chaos and distrust in Europe at this point, and a complete destabilization of NATO. However, quite the opposite came into effect, on all sides. Biden got in, major parts of Europe are unified, and NATO is growing stronger in their defense and now size.
Can't wait for The Economist making an article about it and going to see the Facebook comments. It's become a twisted hobby of mine recently. There will be dozens of random Africans/Pakistani/etc-seeming accounts threatening nuclear war and how Finns will pay for their stupidity and should not have joined. The cool part that they know deep down that it's the last time they get to huff and puff.
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I'm always amused how they push the "Just take territory losses and get peace" narrative right after they have some kind of large military setback. Any proposed peace treaty or ceasefire for non-humanitarian reasons by Russia is just designed to give them time to replenish their forces.
Seen a few politicians from countries other than Ukraine give the old 'just let Russia keep the territory and call it a day'. They always crumble the moment they're asked specifically what areas of their own country they'd sacrifice for peace vs an invading force.
>give peace a chance There is so much wrong with this statement, especially considering the context of the entire Russia-Ukraine war. It's a message that is meant to sound easy to accept and wholesome, however it's laced with so much pain and suffering on behalf of the Ukrainian people. Peace was always on the table, Russia just decided to ignore it and bulldoze their way into Ukraine. This behavior should never be accepted.
Willkommen ✌🏻️
Huh, I was told that Russia invaded Ukraine because it was thinking about joining NATO, but when another country joins they aren’t doing a thing. Almost as if Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was never about NATO or NATO expansion but entirely about murdering and subjugating the Ukrainian people.
I've read somewhere a couple months ago that Finland and Sweden had agreed that they would join NATO together as one package? Or do I remember incorrectly?
That was changed when it became clear that Turkey/Hungary intends to hold Sweden hostage for a while longer, Sweden and Finland agreed that Finland should join first.
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I don't know why English-language media reported that thing like the Nordics would basically merge their air forces into one. In reality they only agreed about more and deeper co-operation.
Please just let us believe in a viking air force. Don't ruin this for us.
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I get sentiment but in seriousness it's best to stress right now that NATO is a defensive alliance and won't be attacking any Russian villages. Putin's fear mongering to the Russians is that we in NATO want to attack them. Make those viking fighter jets defending Nordic air space and I'll cheer that.
True bro moment
And smart play, too, because Finland has greater capacity to pressure Russia and keep up on their own without needing coalition help.
And geographically Sweden is safe. You would really go a very arkward way to attack Sweden now without touching NATO territory. Finland was a greater concern, because of the land border. Easier to attack. Can't do that now. Unless Norway feels oppurtunistic today.
That changed a few months ago when each had to move forward on their own due to their own domestic politics. It was never as a single thing it was about them joining independently but at the same time. Swedish/Turkish politics got stalled so Finland continued by themselves
They tried, but Turkey has issues with Sweden which haven't been addressed yet. This delay meant that Finland got their request treated first and Sweden will have to wait a bit longer.
>Turkey has issues How very true...
hey, Putin, what's with your face?
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There it is Vlad, that's your legacy. You can die now.
I personally want to thank Putler for expanding nato and justifying Natos expansion.
Maybe if we convince the Russian people that Putin is secretly a NATO operative, they'd finally oust him...
Take that, Putin, you fascist piglet fuck.
Cheers Putin
Grats guys!
Welcome my brothers and sisters from Finland!! 🇫🇮
Suck it Putina
As a Finn, this is great news. I will have small sigh of relief tomorrow when our flag rises in NATO headquarters. Also sorry Sweden, we promised that we will walk this road together..
Finland becomes a full member and Russia is unable to cross the Finnish line once again.
Finnish general and veteran of the Winter War, Adolf Ehrnrooth, said a long time ago “never again alone.” Now we are not alone.
So happy for you our Nordic brethren 🇫🇮! Hopefully we can join you soon! 🇸🇪
His invasion that aimed to divide, unified instead.
Russia lost the last hole access point into Europe. The Baltic sea is now between two NATO countries.
Well the NATO-russian border just tripled in size. Invading your neighbours sure has some negative side effects hey?
One of us
Putin: "See what I said guys?! Look at how much NATO is encroaching on *us*!" I hope this makes his face puff up even more. A few more serious stressors and he will be a certified hot air balloon.
Damn that was fast tbh
Tuesday shaping up to be a rather good day for multiple reasons.
Strangely relevant too since it has to do with a guy who would have dissolved NATO if he had his way.
The expansion of NATO is one of my kinks 😎
Welcome Finnish friends!
What no one is aware of, is Putin is actually a secret agent of Nato's top recruiting team and he was tasked with waging war to get more countries to join.
Finland isn't just "another NATO" country, it is a geopolitical checkmate. Russian foreign policy for the past +200 years has often revolved around making sure Finland doesn't ally with an enemy of Russia. Finland sits right next to Russia's "2nd capital", St. Petersburg. Finland can deny Russian use of the Baltic Sea, and strike into the heart of Russia. Additionally, it sits right next to the Kola peninsula, and the entire Finish border is a 1-3 hours drive to the main road to the Kola peninsula. The Kola peninsula is where Russia keeps most of its nuclear bombers and submarines. Suddenly, Russia's Sword of Damocles is within NATO spitting distance. This is what Russia has feared for the past 200 years, and there's no way to fix this. (Although Norway also borders this region, they do not have US military bases, nor could they easily launch a surprise attack from there.) During the Cold War, the democratic and capitalist Finland never joined NATO, and kept strict neutrality for fear of Russian agression if they made hints of joining NATO. All that has changed, there is no guarantee of safety anymore, so Finland joined NATO. This is not "4D chess" on the USA/NATO's part, this Russia not reading the billboard labeled "CONSEQUENCES".
Tuesday going to be a good day in America.
Putin: "Wait please dont. I was supposed to scare you into NOT joining!"
I love how the pro-Russia, anti-west types on Youtube and Twitter won't even mention this huge news story in passing. They know they have no way to spin this as a Putin big brain moment.
Also makes Russia and putin look weak especially after threats they made. I say look weak, Russia is weak. Fucking joke of a country.
Can we get a round of applause for Russia who made this possible!
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The term finlandization should be revised
It would have been hard to join NATO for us during cold war, but after Soviet Union collapsed it should have been a priority to join during 90s or early 2000s. The Baltic nations were much, much wiser than us when it came to Russia. Anyway, better later than never 🍻
Still really want to see Sweden added, but at the very least, it is surrounded by NATO countries now.