It suits US interests to get both Finland and Sweden in the NATO fold as it would further push Russia into isolation.
Black Elk’s famous words were: “There can never be peace between nations until there is first known that true peace which is within the souls of men.”
The United States, in its pursuit of creating a unipolar world and the immense profit its arms industry gains whenever any clash or conflict takes place in any corner of the world, has still not learnt the importance of world peace even as the Russia-Ukraine war enters its seventh week.
Adding to the already unstable Europe and tensions worldwide as death and destruction flow in Ukraine amid the military attempt by Russia to stop Ukraine from joining the NATO, comes the news of Finland and Sweden planning to join NATO.
Finland located in northern Europe shares a 1,300-kilometre border with Russia and has an area of 338,455 square kilometres and a population of 55 lakh (5.5 million). Its capital is Helsinki. It has a small standing armed force of 21,500 personnel which make up its army, air force and navy.
Sweden with an area of 450,295 square kilometres and a population of 1.04 crore (10.4 million), has its capital in Stockholm. The strength of the Swedish armed forces is 24,000 personnel and has all the three wings, army, air force and navy.
Sweden is the largest of the Nordic countries which comprise Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland and the autonomous regions of Faroe Islands and Aland.
Historically, both Finland and Sweden have remained neutral and have shared good relations with both the US and Russia. But the Russia-Ukraine war has resulted in a paradigm shift of their ideology as a result of which the countries announced their intentions to join NATO on 13 April 2022 after a meeting of the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and the Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson in Stockholm.
However, this move by both Finland and Sweden was long expected as after the end of the Cold War on 26 December 1989 both the countries started tilting towards NATO, more so, after both the countries became signatories to the NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) programme in 1994 and became members of the European Union in 1995.
The Russia-Ukraine War has given them a legitimate excuse to join NATO.
The membership of both the countries to NATO is expected to be formalised by June 2022 when NATO will have its summit in Madrid, Spain. This move would result in Russia being fully surrounded by NATO countries in the Baltic area and an important part in the Arctic area.
Thus the strangulation of Russia by NATO would get deeper and this is giving Russia its headache.
Though the Baltic region has not much significance for the US, but in the wake of the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 and now the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, it suits US interests to get both Finland and Sweden in the NATO fold as it would further push Russia into isolation and the threat of US weapons and armed forces personnel on its doorstep may make Russia take desperate measures like it did in Ukraine.
Keeping Russia embroiled in conflicts and clashes suits US interests as the Russia-Ukraine war is costing Russia US$20 billion per day, while at the same time the arms sales of the US are on an upward trajectory.
Since 24 February 2022 when the Russia-Ukraine war began, the US has sent US$2.4 billion worth of military aid to Ukraine. A few weeks ago, Germany announced the purchase of 35 fighter jets from the US. Almost all NATO countries have announced a hike in their defence budgets.
With 6 out of the 10 world’s largest arms manufacturers located in the US, clearly that country is laughing its way to the bank even as death and destruction rain down on Ukraine.
On 14 April 2022, Russia announced the deployment of its nuclear weapons in the Baltic area if Finland and Sweden were granted NATO memberships.
The tensions and turmoil in Europe aren’t going away too soon.
The next headache for Russia has begun with the announcement of Finland and Sweden joining NATO and the US’ covert and overt support in expanding NATO despite the historical assurance by the then US Secretary of State, James Baker in his meeting with Mikhail Gorbachev, the President of the erstwhile USSR on 9 February 1990 that NATO would not move an inch eastward.
Harman Brar rightly prophesised “Maturity is when you stop troubling others”.
Lt Col J.S. Sodhi (Retd), who retired from the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army, is an alumnus of NDA, Khadakwasla and IIT Kanpur. He is an MTech in Structures and has also done MBA and LLB and is a prolific writer and a public speaker. He tweets and koos at @JassiSodhi24. The views expressed are personal.