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Sweden has been de facto part of NATO, this just ends the pretending. It’s basically the West’s way of finding a positive talking point out of this debacle. “We might have pushed Ukraine into its own destruction but hey, Sweden is now part of NATO that will really **** Putin off!”
Sweden is participating in the Steadfast Defender 24 exercise, so joint military exercises have begun. (Actually it's been ongoing since 2022 -- when Russia invaded Ukraine.) It's the largest NATO exercise since the cold war.
Yeah, I'm sure Russia is losing sleep with Sweden and Finland in NATO. Both are as worthless in war just like in WW 2. It has rained a lot from the Vikings glory days. They won't be selling a lot of Volvos in Russia.
I wonder why Putin has been making numerous threats against Finland and Sweden?
Sweden was neutral during WW2. Finland fought the Soviet Union courageously for over three months in the Winter War.
From Wikipedia:
"The Winter War was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland. It began with a Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, three months after the outbreak of World War II, and ended three and a half months later with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Despite superior military strength, especially in tanks and aircraft, the Soviet Union suffered severe losses and initially made little headway. The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union."
Yeah, I'm sure Russia is losing sleep with Sweden and Finland in NATO. Both are as worthless in war just like in WW 2. It has rained a lot from the Vikings glory days. They won't be selling a lot of Volvos in Russia.
The expansion of NATO is the one thing Putin doesn't want to see happen.
Putin needs to lookup "unintended consequences" in the dictionary, because he is 100% to blame for Sweden and Finland joining NATO.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cmptrwlt
I wonder why Putin has been making numerous threats against Finland and Sweden?
Quote:
Originally Posted by mattja
The expansion of NATO is the one thing Putin doesn't want to see happen.
Putin embraces the old Tsarist foreign policy of having friendly or neutral buffer states between Russia and the West. He has that with Belarus and intends to force Ukraine into the same subservient role. The war with Ukraine is waged on a pretense of siding with poor mistreated Russians nationalists living in eastern Ukraine and Russia wanting to annex that area. In fact, Russia wants to neutralize Ukraine and control it as a puppet state (if not annex it all together). Ukrainians are having none of it and Putin is driving it toward the West. Russia has a population less than Nigeria and Putin is damaging a generation of Russians by following his dream of revived Soviet power. He is fearful of a united Europe, but he is the driving force behind it.
Due to Sweden's geography and strong military, I would say Sweden does not need NATO in a defensive war with Russia. In any case, Sweden brings a lot to the alliance.
I'm not sold on the strength of their military
"The Swedish Armed Forces is made up of 24,400 active personnel, 11,400 military reserves,"
Russia has over a million men.
Finland is another story because of their mandatory service for all males. Then can draw up to 870,000 men from the reserves.
Due to Sweden's geography and strong military, I would say Sweden does not need NATO in a defensive war with Russia. In any case, Sweden brings a lot to the alliance.
Ha!! There is no way Sweden could every win a defensive war against Russia and even Sweden knows this. Btw, you do not win wars by solely being on the defense… You are only buying time until others can join… Which is why Sweden is now joining NATO and that is why all their weapons meet NATO specs. Without any question, Sweden would make you pay a high price, in blood, for invading her, but the Russians couldn’t care less about the cost of Russian blood, they never have.
Yes, Sweden brings a lot to the table, but now Sweden isn’t alone and everybody now knows this, to include the Swedish people. Honestly, it was about time that Sweden finally and clearly picked a side to be on.
Sweden joining NATO means a Russia invasion is now extremely unlikely. And Finland needs to follow suit immediately.
Basically, look at how much it's taking Russia in it's war on the Ukraine, and the Ukraine only has us helping.
The NATO pack is that any aggression on one member is equal to aggression on all members. One for all and all for one.
Russia would have to be willing to start a world war. This isn't the 1940's any more. It would end up as a nuclear war or Russia would just get embarrassed.
But either result would wreck Russia. Russia won't start a battle with a NATO nation.
Yeah, I'm sure Russia is losing sleep with Sweden and Finland in NATO. Both are as worthless in war just like in WW 2. It has rained a lot from the Vikings glory days. They won't be selling a lot of Volvos in Russia.
Sweden did not take part in it, but Finland was invaded by USSR and was able to fight them off. The commies lost 390K men in 4 months during the Winter War, and then they lost another 700K in the coming 4 year war.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SickofJersey
Sweden joining NATO means a Russia invasion is now extremely unlikely. And Finland needs to follow suit immediately.
Ukrainians are having none of it and Putin is driving it toward the West.
Putin allowed millions of Ukrainians to eventually cross the borders into the West and experience everything themselves.
They didn't like Norway and Sweden:
Frigid weather with 6-month polar nights.
There are no good jobs without perfect knowledge of the local languages. Doctors are offered to clean dishes in restaurants.
Simple jobs are taken by immigrants, so salaries are low.
Most food is imported. It's super expensive and tasteless.
Income taxes are high.
Schools are bad. A schoolchild can spit at a teacher, and she is not allowed to say anything.
It seems that Ukrainians prefer to stay in Germany with its wonderful welfare payments, free apartments, healthcare, etc. You know they will act against locals when they will vote.
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