Finland joins NATO over Russia's objection

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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov separately told reporters that Finland's accession to NATO was forcing Moscow to take countermeasures to ensure its security. On Monday, Russia promised to strengthen military capacity in its western and northwestern regions in response to NATO's expansion.

But some analysts warn that European states become less self-reliant once they enter NATO, and more reliant on the US military capabilities.

Sweden was also supposed to join NATO but has not yet been able to. What impact does that have?
In President Biden's statement on Tuesday, he pointed out that both Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership at the same time, close to a year ago.

"Both countries are strong democracies with highly capable militaries, who share our values and vision for the world," President Biden said. "I look forward to welcoming Sweden as a NATO member as soon as possible, and encourage Turkiye and Hungary to conclude their ratification processes without delay. "

Sweden is still waiting to join. Hungary and Turkey - both NATO members - have resisted; Turkey accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish separatists whom it regards as terrorists.

Emma Ashford of the Stimson Center points out that this is a problem for the military operations of Finland and Sweden, since they have long had integrated defense cooperation.

"It's going to add technical challenges as NATO's defense planners try and bring Finland into all of the alliance's strategic planning," Ashford said. "They have to basically accept that Sweden is outside and Finland is inside for right now. Finnish leaders obviously felt that it was better to be inside the alliance and reduce that sort of risk of this limbo period even if Sweden weren't there. But it's hardly an ideal circumstance."