Do Finland and Sweden really need to join NATO?
NATO expansion risks fanning the fames of war and widening the conflict
The big news last week was that Finland has requested membership in the NATO alliance, and this week, Sweden is also taking the same step.
Military commentator Scott Taylor asks if these two countries really need NATO’s shield, arguing that Ukraine’s fighting forces, armed with Western weapons and training (including from Canada), have crippled Russia’s war-fighting capacity.
“These troops have been receiving top-notch training from NATO instructors — including Canadian soldiers — since 2014.
“During that eight-year period, Ukrainian combat units also had the opportunity to rotate in and out of the front lines in the contested breakaway eastern districts of Donesk and Luhansk.
“This provided Ukraine’s military the opportunity to gain experience with NATO-provided weaponry and to test their training under battle conditions in a low-intensity conflict. Bullets are still bullets.
“Thus, Putin’s invaders soon found themselves outmatched by the Ukrainian defenders in terms of tactical skills, logistics, weaponry, discipline and morale."
The prospect of these two long-neutral states formally joining NATO fans the flames of conflict in Europe, and maybe risks World War III unnecessarily.
Taylor argues that it's obvious that Ukraine has benefitted from Western support without being a member of NATO. “Finland and Sweden should take note,” he writes.
(Cover: Tampere, Finland - December 6 2021: Finnish Soldiers on Independence Day at Kalevankangas Cemetery. Via Shutterstock)