Richardcyoung.com

The Online Home of Author and Investor, Dick Young

  • Home
  • How We Are Different
  • About Us
    • Foundation Principles
    • Contributors
  • Investing
    • You’ve Read The Last Issue of Intelligence Report, Now What?
  • Your Survival Guy
  • The Great Reset
  • COVID-19
  • My Rifles
  • Dividends and Compounding
  • Your Security
  • The Swiss Way
  • Dick Young
  • Debbie Young
  • Key West
  • Paris
  • Dick’s R&B Top 100
  • Liberty & Freedom Map
  • Your Health
  • Ron Paul
  • Bank Credit & Money
  • Dick Young’s Safe America
  • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
  • Critical Race Theory
  • NNT & Cholesterol
  • Work to Make Money/Invest to Save Money

Finland Joining NATO is Putin’s Nightmare Scenario

April 14, 2022 By The Editors

The Commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, General Christopher G. Cavoli visited Finland 10- 12 January. During his visit, General Cavoli familiarised himself with Army Arctic training in the Jaeger Brigade in Sodankylä and observed a live-fire exercise at the Rovajärvi training area. December 1, 2021. Photo courtesy of the Finnish Army.

In Foreign Policy, Michael Hirsh explains how the accession of Finland to NATO, possibly along with Sweden, would be Vladimir Putin’s “nightmare scenario,” as described by James Dobbins, a former senior U.S. diplomat now at the Rand Corporation. Hirsh writes:

It could take up to a year for Finland and Sweden to achieve formal accession to NATO, since the move requires all 30 alliance members to approve it. But a decision to apply by both countries, which traditionally seek to coordinate defense moves, could abruptly alter the overall strategic situation. Nearly two months into Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Western strategists are increasingly skeptical that he can be stopped. Following the Russian retreat from Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital, Putin began signaling he was about to launch a new—and likely very aggressive—offensive in the eastern Ukrainian region of the Donbas this week. Putin also declared peace talks to be at a “dead end.” Meanwhile senior officials from Washington to Berlin remain bogged down in debates over whether they can afford the political risk of tougher sanctions and more offensive arms transfers to Ukraine.

Now, the very Western alliance of democracies that Putin has turned into his rhetorical enemy will likely be expanding both its territory and muscle. With Turkey buttressing NATO’s south and the Baltic states taking up the middle of the eastern lines of the alliance, Finland and Sweden’s NATO presence in the north would signal precisely the sort of grand alliance Putin and other nationalists have been fearing. “Their membership would fundamentally change the Northern European security landscape for sure,” said Sean Monaghan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

For Russia—which, for most of the past century, has pressured Finland into taking a nonthreatening posture—no outcome could be more devastating, except perhaps the very defeat in Ukraine Putin is now trying to avoid, experts said. Helsinki sits less than 200 miles from Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg, and Finland’s NATO membership would deliver “poetic justice” to him if this whole conflict “allegedly was about preventing Ukraine from joining NATO and shutting NATO’s open-door policy,” Monaghan said.

“It pushes him further into a corner,” said James Dobbins, a former senior U.S. diplomat now at the Rand Corporation. “If he wins in Ukraine but loses Finland, he comes out of this without having gained much. If he loses both, which is more likely, then he’s compounded his problem and the sort of nightmare scenario of an overriding NATO right on Russia’s border.” Finland’s 830-mile border with Russia would double NATO’s border against Moscow, amounting to the longest potential front between the European Union and Russia. “It’s a new problem not just in a military sense but in a cultural and economic sense,” Dobbins said.

If you’re willing to fight for Main Street America, click here to sign up for the Richardcyoung.com free weekly email.

Related Posts

  • Post-Putin Russia a Key For NATO Countries
  • NATO Terminal?
  • Turkey and NATO Article 8
  • NATO Gets an Earful of Pure Trump
  • Author
  • Recent Posts
The Editors
Latest posts by The Editors (see all)
  • More Returnees than Refugees at Ukrainian Border - May 17, 2022
  • Will the War in Ukraine End Before 2023? - May 16, 2022
  • No More Big Macs in Moscow? Ever? - May 16, 2022

Dick Young’s Must Reads

  • Boom—Your Life Changes
  • DEATH SPIRAL: Crime Soars in Democrats’ #DEFUNDTHEPOLICE Cities
  • Why Some Kids Won’t Go Back to School, Ever
  • Globalism Has Made America Dependent on Foreign Countries
  • Your Odds with Statins: 500 to 1?
  • The Butterfly Effect and Chaotic Markets
  • Escape From the City: You’re Going to Like What You See
  • The Armed American Family: Part I
  • The Simple, Elegant Power of the Retirement Compounders
  • “The Great Object Is that Every Man Be Armed”

Our Most Popular Posts

  • Tucker Carlson Interviews My Favorite Florida Farmer
  • MARKET CHAOS: This May Take Time, Here’s How to Prepare
  • What’s Ahead for America During Biden’s Last Years
  • “We Cannot Save Ukraine by Dooming the US Economy.”
  • Baby Formula Gone Missing?
  • PRICES SOAR: Diesel Shortage Could Cripple America's Economy
  • BE VIGILANT: The Rats Are Scurrying in These Rough Markets
  • WATCHING YOU: Italy Deploys Stealth Social Credit System
  • Biden: A National Disgrace
  • Is Your Financial Advisor Hiding the Truth About ESG?

Disclosure

RSS Youngresearch.com

  • All-Powerful Money Managers Voting YOUR Money Targeted by Senate GOP
  • HORDING CASH: Funds Hold the Highest Level of Cash Since 9/11
  • COMMODITY CRUNCH: Will Tesla Buy a Cobalt Mine?
  • Young Americans Fall in Love with Farming, Again
  • Your Survival Guy: “Sell in May, Buy After Labor Day?”
  • China’s Economy Taking Hit from Zero-COVID Strategy
  • Is Your Financial Advisor Hiding the Truth About ESG?
  • The Clock is TikTok-ing on Legacy Social Media Platforms
  • PRICES SOAR: Diesel Shortage Could Cripple America’s Economy
  • CRYPTO: Has the Fire Gone Out?

Consequences of Biden Killing the Keystone Pipeline

Are You Suffering from One of These Nutrient Deficiencies?

PRIMARIES: Trump Endorsed Candidates’ HUGE Night

“We Cannot Save Ukraine by Dooming the US Economy.”

What’s Ahead for America During Biden’s Last Years

BE VIGILANT: The Rats Are Scurrying in These Rough Markets

Copyright © 2022 | Terms & Conditions | About Us | Dick Young | Archives