Jump to content

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 529
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Top Posters In This Topic

Posted Images

Posted
1 hour ago, BansheeOne said:

Turkey reportedly agrees to NATO accession of Finland and Sweden. That went quickly; I expected about a year of pissing and moaning.

Yeah, after all the posturing Erdogan folded like a tent. I am sure he will present it as a 'victory' for the home front, but it is almost comical how quickly he gave in for essentially no gain.

Posted

We don’t know what he was given or threatened with yet. But he’s hardly in a safe domestic position and the US/EU/NATO would be incentivized to make it weaker for next year’s election if he held the process back.

Posted
5 hours ago, Josh said:

Waiting for confirmation but it wouldn’t surprise me. NATO in general and the US in particular have a lot of leverage.

Pallets of cash kind of leverage?

Posted
3 hours ago, Mikel2 said:

Pallets of cash kind of leverage?

FUs! Several countries have given the two bilateral security guarantees publicly for example. 

Posted

Well, Turkey (or is it Türkeyu or something now) got something in return:

 

https://yle.fi/news/3-12514497

 

"As a result of that meeting, our foreign ministers signed a trilateral memorandum which confirms that Türkiye will at the Madrid Summit this week support the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of Nato," the statement said, adding that the steps to accession will be agreed by the 30 current member countries of the alliance over the next two days.

....

According to Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat, Finnish, Swedish and Turkish leaders formulated a tripartite document that addresses Turkey's concerns, following recent diplomatic discussions.

Basically it was about Kurds and arms. Amusingly there was no real chance to current situation, only " more close co-operation in terrorism matters", which would have happened anyways with NATO membership. Most see this as Erdogan's posturing for upcoming Turkish elections.

Posted
12 hours ago, Mikel2 said:

Pallets of cash kind of leverage?

That’s definitely one, yes.

Posted

Hoho, I guess Erdogan read my comments about how he was screwed over by this 'deal': he has now already started to threaten to stall the process again. Mea culpa! :lol:

Posted

I think he gets no new F-16s or mod packages if he does. Biden just expressed that he was confident these would be supplied.

Posted

So from the paperwork and news snippets, The two prospective new members have agreed that they can talk about terrorism with Turkey, and that they might be open to a bit of technology cooperation as well.

i.e. nothing more than talk. I suppose that's something that could be called a win.

Posted
Quote

Finland, Sweden sign protocol to join NATO, still need ratification

Issued on: 05/07/2022 - 11:02

NATO's 30 allies signed an accession protocol for Finland and Sweden on Tuesday to allow them to join the nuclear-armed alliance once allied parliaments ratify the decision, the most significant expansion of the alliance since the mid-1990s. 

"This is truly an historic moment," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said alongside the foreign ministers of the two countries. "With 32 nations around the table, we will be even stronger."

The protocol means Helsinki and Stockholm can participate in NATO meetings and have greater access to intelligence but will not be protected by the NATO defence clause that an attack on one ally is an attack against all until ratification. That is likely to take up to a year.

[...]

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220705-nato-launches-ratification-process-for-sweden-finland-membership

Posted

With America's Federal Reserve printing money like there's no tomorrow, no big deal running an overtime shift and sending the output to Erdogan.

In unrelated news, is this going to move the pipeline forward?

 

Posted

Some related news articles:

https://yle.fi/news/3-12519144

No changes to Finnish legislation from deal with Turkey, Foreign Minister Haavisto says

https://yle.fi/news/3-12523695

Satellite images obtained by Yle have revealed that much of the military equipment at Russia's Alakurtti military base near the Finnish border has been removed.

...............

Due to its close proximity to the Finnish border and its troops specialized in fighting in arctic conditions, the Alakurtti Brigade is the most significant Russian unit north of the Arctic Circle for Finland.

Based on satellite images and publicly available information in the spring, Alakurtti was the only military base in the vicinity of Finland that had not yet sent an entire combat unit to the war in Ukraine.

 

About all units near border of Finland have sent at least 1/3 of their troops and lot of their equipment to Ukraine, it seems. Alakurtti was last base that was previously untouched. 

 

Posted

Now that Finland is part of NATO, it's no longer a threat.

😉

Posted
2 hours ago, Ssnake said:

Now that Finland is part of NATO, it's no longer a threat.

😉

I would think the Russians were more concerned with Swedish aggression. ;)

 

Posted (edited)
16 hours ago, Ssnake said:

Now that Finland is part of NATO, it's no longer a threat.

😉

If Helsinki thought that having zero nuclear missiles pointed at them was making Finland less secure than having dozens of them earmarked for Finland, then success!

 

Edited by glenn239
Posted

Russia was already making threats towards Finland BEFORE they had the desire to join NATO. What makes you think they were not already on the target list? Russia was already doing mock nuclear attack drills on Sweden for heavens sake. Being neutral doesnt mean you are under threat. Ask Ireland and they way they regularly dick around with their airspace and maritime borders.

Posted
38 minutes ago, glenn239 said:

If Helsinki thought that having zero nuclear missiles pointed at them was making Finland less secure than having dozens of them earmarked for Finland, then success!

 

Quite naïve to think Soviet Union/Russia hadn't pointed nuclear missiles at Finland since invent of nuclear missiles.

This time difference is that NATO doesn't have to point them at Finland (as they did during Cold War). 

Posted

Erdogan may drag his heels, but some others are all but falling over themselves to ratify the accession protocols. Canada actually authorized ratification in advance, followed by Denmark, Iceland and Norway (all of them required only a cabinet decision); Estonia was first to do it by parliamentary vote on the day after signature. Both houses of German parliament followed suit yesterday. That's a fifth of the members within three days. 😶

  • 4 weeks later...
Posted
Quote

US Senate backs Finland and Sweden NATO membership bids

7h ago

The US became the latest NATO member to support Helsinki and Stockholm joining the alliance. President Joe Biden hailed the 95-1 bipartisan vote as "historic."

The United States Senate on Wednesday approved Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO. 

The Nordic countries, which had long maintained neutrality, launched a bid to join the 30-member alliance in light of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The vote on Wednesday easily surpassed the two-thirds majority needed to back the ratification of the accession documents, with 95 senators voting in support. 

Only one Republican senator, Josh Hawley, voted against the the candidacy of the two European nations.

[...]

Several countries, including Germany, Canada and Italy, have already approved the ratification. 

Earlier on Wednesday, France's National Assembly voted in favor of Finland and Sweden's NATO memberships. The French Senate had also approved it two weeks ago. 

However, Turkey has threatened to block Stockholm and Helsinki's bids. 

[...]

https://m.dw.com/en/us-senate-backs-finland-and-sweden-nato-membership-bids/a-62701739

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...