Putin and his advisors had made another what will become a
major political miscalculation when he invaded the Ukraine. For decades (Since 1949) Finland has been "
straddling the fence" with its relationship with the West and Russia.
They've pretty much maintained a position of neutrality with the exception of having become part of the Nordic Defense Cooperation (
NORDEFCO) formed in
NOV. 2009 the member nations being
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. There were earlier attempts for such an organization, but they failed.
But I'm sure some of you realize that three of the above countries are in NATO already,
Denmark, Iceland and Norway leaving
Sweden as a
neutral country and as noted above
Finland being
nominally neutral.
So, Russia invades the Ukraine, and no one is feeling safe in Europe any longer. For many the
memory of WWII is not forgotten we see it in the interviews of the grandmothers of the Ukraine.
But in particular for Finland that has fought the Russians twice in the last century, have to wonder how safe they really are sharing over an
800-mile-long border with Russia.
This has been building for a while now but more so since the invasion along with the various threats from Putin of "
don't think about it and don't do it" well Putin has galvanized
Europe and NATO like no one has before for many decades along with the strong support of the U.S. It would seem having
ARTICLE V in your back pocket is "
worth its weight in gold".
So earlier today the decision has been made after many weeks of negotiations,
Sweden and Finland have both applied together to formally join
NATO, it is expected this process will be
fast tracked and approved by the other NATO members
by mid-May
First for context:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...6683b90ba5ee4f.
Decision to join:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...638c01b1d8bcc7
https://www.business-standard.com/ar...91c0dd05a91ed4
https://www.commondreams.org/news/20...2d0bdccb9c58c1
Germany working behind the scenes to recently allow some Baltic nations to supply artillery to the Ukraine. But there has been reluctance on the part of the German government to
directly themselves to supply those same heavy weapons themselves.
We have recently in the last week seen Germany offer up heavy artillery the issue is what about armor. I've already reported on
KMW offering the
GEPHARD and
Rheinmetall the
MARDER and
LEOPARD A1 tank. Specifically, the
MARDER 1A3 and
LEOPARD 1A5 (As I predicted.) can be CONFIRMED.
So now after
both domestic and foreign pressure to do more a decision is forthcoming.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...ba432bc40a4daa
https://www.armyrecognition.com/defe...o_ukraine.html
Ukraine needs "Russian" ammo well, we got that covered too.
https://www.armyrecognition.com/defe...nian_army.html
Regards,
Pat
