Sweden Is a NATO Member • Hacker News Board

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#181

Post by bryanlarsen » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:53 PM UTC

unmole wrote: post #137

bryanlarsen wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> will pull their weight How much do they weigh in comparison to the 800lb gorilla that is the United States?

The non-US members of NATO combined are larger economically, demographically and geographically than the US is. If they all pulled their weight NATO would have (slightly) more contribution from non-US countries than from the US.

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#182

Post by fngjdflmdflg » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

KingOfCoders wrote: post #173

fngjdflmdflg wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

US has given money to Ukraine which is in Europe for many years, even before the current war, and has troops stationed in Poland and Germany and trains with a lot of European militaries (for example Finland even before it joined NATO). It is certainly possible that the US has given up on defending Europe just as anything is possible but I don't see any evidence for that. No NATO country has ever been attacked AFAIK s…

There is a huge difference between money and (dead) bodies.

That is very true. If by "defending Western Europe" you really meant "defending Eastern Europe with US troops" then this would be a relevant data point.

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#183

Post by onlyrealcuzzo » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

pavlov wrote: post #7

Just 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.

Putin isn't even going to take Ukraine.

So how's he going to reign free over all of Eastern Europe?

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#184

Post by solardev » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

charles_f wrote: post #164

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does NATO benefit?

Guaranteed access to Ikea furniture in times of war.

And delicious meatballs for the troops

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#185

Post by dragonwriter » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:54 PM UTC

hnthrowaway0328 wrote: post #141

It would be nice if EU seek independency from US eventually.

The EU is independent of the US. There's a difference between alliance and dependency (and EU isn't coextensive with European NATO, but they are pretty close.)

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#186

Post by ProjectArcturis » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

richrichie wrote: post #117

bilekas wrote: post #4

This 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]

Didn't realize it was NATO troops committing genocide in the Balkans and invading Georgia and Ukraine.

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#187

Post by MaxPengwing » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

ttymck wrote: post #29

RecycledEle wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I understand what you say is true in theory, but does this mean the US will deploy fewer troops in NATO theaters, in practice?

No, it has already increased, but not due to Sweden and Finland joining. the increase was a direct response to Russia invading Ukraine.

https://www.uso.org/stories/3518-one-year-later-how-the-uso-...

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_136388.htm

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-...

But in same time European allies has also increased their NATO soldiers.

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#188

Post by miroljub » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:55 PM UTC

empath-nirvana wrote: post #134

sschueller wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

> Why isn't there a NATO base in the US where German military etc. "hang out"? The reason there is a large US presence in Germany is that Germany lost WWII. You can make all kinds of other justifications for it like "Germany invited the US", but it all comes back to the Allies created the current German government, and all of them had troops continuously stationed in Germany from WWII until well after the cold war en…

> ...wants them to stay.

This may be true now, by a small margin, but until two years ago, the big majority of Germans wanted US troops to go away.

I can't even count how many times I saw or heard "Ami go home!"

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#189

Post by kzrdude » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:56 PM UTC

Hamuko wrote: post #118

yawnxyz wrote: post #62

Yes, 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.

In Afghanistan yes. Sweden has also been in Mali with France, presumably for strategic "partnership and networking" reasons (because it was pre-NATO).

Re: Sweden Is a NATO Member

#190

Post by rnk » Thu, Mar 07, 2024, 5:56 PM UTC

pphysch wrote: post #93

NicoJuicy wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sweden and Finland are in NATO. Leverage from turkey and Hungary is decreasing, if you haven't seen it. Democracy may be slow, but it's still the best system. Additionally, now support for Ukraine can increase and it should go faster. God, I really hope it goes a lot faster...

[flagged]

Can you explain what project is unwinding? It looks to me like Europe is still coming together to resist the danger of Russian invasion. For Nuland, it looks like she had a long career, she had many good roles, she championed protecting Ukraine and there was only one other position for to be promoted to and they promoted someone else. So that seems like a perfect time to leave after a successful career.