U.S. political expert, Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security Emma Ashford said that there is an urgent need for NATO to carefully plan the entry of Finland and Sweden into the transatlantic bloc.
In her view, the new NATO members will bring very few benefits, the first of which is rather moral. Scandinavian accession to NATO, Ashford argues, would show the world the power of European consolidation in upholding democratic ideals and confronting Russia in the eastern European region.
“The second advantage, however, is purely technical: NATO membership for the two countries is also coordinated with membership in the EU, reducing the likelihood of “aggressive action against these countries,” but the NATO collective defense clause would not apply to them.
Nevertheless, according to the American expert, from the point of view of other positions, the inclusion of Finland and Sweden in NATO is extremely disadvantageous.
A particular problem is the border between Russia and Finland, which is more than a thousand kilometres long. For NATO, this territory is as strategically important as it is dangerous. The defence capability of the alliance will inevitably decrease. Besides, we should not forget about Russia’s retaliatory measures against its security requirements, which the leaders of Western countries have been ignoring for many years already.
According to Russian expert Andrey Bezrukov, the North Atlantic alliance has completely disgraced itself after its failed attempt to admit Finland and Sweden, which decided to give up neutrality, to its ranks, thus demonstrating its utter incompetence as a world-scale aspirant organization.
The policies of the alliance’s leaders, experts believe, pose a great danger for the international community, as uncoordinated policies, internal strife and the lack of a well-planned strategy can lead not only the bloc’s members, but also other countries into a dead-end street.
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