As Sweden joins NATO, it bids farewell to more than two centuries of neutrality (illegal, Marines)
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You guys know why biathlon is still an Olympic event, right? It's so the Russians will remember how they did against the Finns in the full-contact version.
Originally it was "Military Patrol" in the 1924 winter olympics (first). Teams of 4 skied 25km and shot balloons at 150m. 6 teams started, Poland and Italy DNF. The 4 people were an officer that didn't shoot and 3 guys (a NCO and 2 privates) with rifles.
Military Patrol still exists, CISM (International Military Sports Council) runs it - as opposed to biathlon which is run by IBU (International Biathlon Union) - and mens teams ski 20km, women still 15km. They used to shoot with something else, but now they use the same IBU legal 22LR rifles. Gotta be active duty to participate in CISM too.
Biathlon came to the Olympics in 60. Does everything from a 4x6km relay to 20km race. 4 rounds of 5 shots at a 4.5cm or 11.5cm target at 50m, peep sights. Until 78, it was a verity of distances in centerfire ammo. Since 78: 50m, 22LR.
Hitting a 11.5cm target, while standing, after skiing 15km as fast as possible, is really hard!
The Finns have only won 6 medals.
Norwegians have won 55! Germany 54 (plus East's 11 and west's 5 is a total of 69 medals). France 32.
USSR+Russia+Unified(92)+ROC(22) have won 42.
Swedes are really good as biathlon too, 18 medals.
If Sweden never joined NATO, and Russia suddenly attacked Sweden, does anyone really think NATO would sit idly by and go "well, Sweden was never part of NATO"?
If Russia attacked a NATO country, I would also expect Sweden to join in, regardless if its in NATO or not. But anyways, the bulk of NATO will always be the USA, so adding Sweden into the picture changes very little.
So we're spending a lot of time arguing something that effectively changes nothing.
Most likely NATO would have stayed neutral if Russia attacked a neutral Sweden. We can see evidence of this when Russia attacked neutral European countries 3 times in the last 15 years and all three times NATO stayed neutral.
This is why Finland and Sweden finally decided to join NATO, being neutral was not protecting them from a possible Russian attack. From their point of view, Russia has gone rogue and cannot be trusted.
Originally it was "Military Patrol" in the 1924 winter olympics (first). Teams of 4 skied 25km and shot balloons at 150m. 6 teams started, Poland and Italy DNF. The 4 people were an officer that didn't shoot and 3 guys (a NCO and 2 privates) with rifles.
Military Patrol still exists, CISM (International Military Sports Council) runs it - as opposed to biathlon which is run by IBU (International Biathlon Union) - and mens teams ski 20km, women still 15km. They used to shoot with something else, but now they use the same IBU legal 22LR rifles. Gotta be active duty to participate in CISM too.
Biathlon came to the Olympics in 60. Does everything from a 4x6km relay to 20km race. 4 rounds of 5 shots at a 4.5cm or 11.5cm target at 50m, peep sights. Until 78, it was a verity of distances in centerfire ammo. Since 78: 50m, 22LR.
Hitting a 11.5cm target, while standing, after skiing 15km as fast as possible, is really hard!
The Finns have only won 6 medals.
Norwegians have won 55! Germany 54 (plus East's 11 and west's 5 is a total of 69 medals). France 32.
USSR+Russia+Unified(92)+ROC(22) have won 42.
Swedes are really good as biathlon too, 18 medals.
It's a cool sport - I really enjoy those events where you have to hone several skills. There's an enjoyable all-year offspring called orienteering biathlon - land navigation (map & compass) combined with rifle shooting. Orienteering is already an energy management sport, constantly weighing advantage of distance saved vs. difficulty of passing certain terrain. Quite cerebral. Adding an element of reserving energy (breath) for shooting is a nice touch. I'm surprised it's not a popular sport in the US.
Last edited by Dane_in_LA; 03-05-2024 at 11:57 AM..
"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.
We can glean from the Ukraine war and guess how well Russia would do if they invade Sweden. With all the advantages Russia has on Ukraine in term of quantity and quality of men and equipment, Russia has only achieved modest success at a great cost of lives and materials.
The flat terrain in Ukraine is ideal for the Russian meatwave tactic they have been using against Ukraine. This strategy would fail in the clustered, forested islands in Sweden. Sweden air defense is magnitude better than what Ukraine had. The Russian air force would not be able to achieve what they did in Ukraine. Sweden's air defense would destroy most incoming Russian aircraft. Additionally, Sweden's Gripen fighter jets would neutralize both ground and air threats from Russia.
While Ukraine had no navy, Sweden has a navy that is the envy of its neighbors. If Ukraine, without a navy, can render the Russian Black Sea fleet irrelevant, imagine what Sweden's navy can do to the Russians.
While Russia's superior number of men somewhat works in Ukraine, it won't work against modern, ready, and capable Sweden.
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