Adding another western European country that's under no threat from anyone to NATO isn't going to do anything. We should be adding backwards countries that share borders with or are targets of major enemies, like Georgia and Taiwan. You can't control the world if all you're doing is protecting yourself and your buddies from yourself and your buddies. We need to get Israel in NATO so that the next time Hezbollah fires a missile into an Israeli town we can finally invade Iran. We need to antagonize the other major powers by putting military bases in small countries all around their borders.
Sweden Is a NATO Member
111–120 of 738 posts
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#112[flagged]
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#113Just in time for Trump to do the rug pull he agreed with Putin back in 2018, when they met in Helsinki and Trump took care to even destroy translator’s notes. If he wins the election, NATO is toast and Putin has carte blanche over East Europe.
When, not if, and that's a good thing. I don't share your alarmist view. I think the other members of NATO will just start doing their fair share, as they should.
So you'd prefer countless of people getting raped and murdered... To make the point that other countries aren't also spending ludicrous amounts of money on the military?
The lack of morals is stunning.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#114This is great news and NATO benefits hugely from this. I have to hand it to putin for bringing further solidarity across Europe and NATO.
Don't forget he also raised awareness for Europe's dependency on Russian fossil fuels and accelerated there move to green energy across the world. What a guy!
[deleted]
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#115Looking at the flag colours I cannot but think that Sweden is paving the way for Ukraine's membership.
I know Ukraine will not and cannot do this, but writing off it's East and Crimea would enable NATO membership and EU ascension.
Even if they did, NATO can't accept new members that are in active conflict. Putin doesn't believe Ukraine is a real country, real ethnic group, or real culture. Ukraine could give up those entire regions and Russia would not be satisfied, only pushing the war front farther up closer to the West. The war could be smaller at that point, but it would still be active, and Putin/Russia would make sure that they conflict were hot enough to not allow membership.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
How does NATO benefit?
A bigger alliance is harder to defeat in war. Also, a bigger alliance requires each member to contribute fewer troops to manage a common defense. Sweden is a fairly wealthy country that can contribute the required amount to NATO. Sweden's ports are beneficial in a potential Arctic conflict. Finally, Sweden does not bring any new potential conflicts/enemies with it.
Things are looking up for NATO!
Except the part where Trump said he'd pull the US out of NATO if elected.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#117This is great news and NATO benefits hugely from this. I have to hand it to putin for bringing further solidarity across Europe and NATO.
[flagged]
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#118Yes, this is a great way to fight against Putin, but... As a Swedish citizen, I think this means in the future Sweden's forces will be dragged into another Iraq-like war down the line. Sooner or later the US or NATO will be the Putin of today, and I don't look forward to that.
Didn't Sweden already have boots on the ground in Afghanistan as a NATO partner country? They've been in PfP since 1994.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
> the view of the US public on NATO can be seen in any US TV series or Hollywood film - it does not exist. I wouldn't say it doesn't exist. To me, it's always more of that "we'll let you guys muck about until it's totally obvious you're not going to fix it, then we'll ride in to save the day" attitude. Not saying that's accurate, but that's how it's portrayed by Hollywood
> Not saying that's accurate It's fairly accurate
Less accurate for a NATO that contains Sweden & Finland, though. There's no doubt those 2 have and will pull their weight.
Speaking as a Canadian, whose country doesn't.
Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member
#120Just in time for Trump to do the rug pull he agreed with Putin back in 2018, when they met in Helsinki and Trump took care to even destroy translator’s notes. If he wins the election, NATO is toast and Putin has carte blanche over East Europe.
Swedes would then be stupid to join nato knowing that Trump is more likely to win, and swedes are not stupid. The US foreign policy seems to have a continuity regardless of president or rhetoric-du-jour. Just look at china