Putin warns Finland and Sweden not to join NATO

[VMA131Marine]

Yeah! Good luck with that, Vlad!

Link to tweet

?s=21

[MarineCombatEngineer]

1. Every time Putin opens his piehole threatening a country,

it backfires on him badly.

[TheBlackAdder]

44. It's a shame they can't join in a covert manner so no ones knows they've joined until it's too late.

[Irish_Dem]

2. Putin wants to weaken NATO.

He is getting some pushback.
Very good.

[OnDoutside]

6. He's done more to unite NATO than anyone has in years.

[eShirl]

12. he's undoing so many of tfg's undoings

[OnDoutside]

15. Yes, it is going way beyond in the opposite direction, the damage tfg did.

[Irish_Dem]

23. Yep. This is not going exactly the way Putin had hoped.

It is costing him.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

55. Yes, there's the rub for Putin. The backlash on the ground is as mighty as everywhere else.

The evil man must be in shock how badly things are going, and going to get worse.

Pull the plug Putin, you lost as soon as your first paratroopers set foot in URK.

Not a war of choice so much as a war of desperation, the Russian people must be very very restless with h their Overlords.

Speaking of which, the Russian Orthodox Church give blessing to this evil?. What say u holy men?

[Mr.Bill]

58. The clergy

need only say they are praying for the safety of all or some bullshit like that.

Great gig to have during a war.

[Bev54]

3. I think Ukraine should join right now

[OnDoutside]

8. While I like the sentiments, that could make things a lot more

precarious

[deRien]

40. Ukraine

has some issues like corruption, etc. that need to be resolved before they can join NATO. I don't think that would be an issue with Finland and Sweden. Also, I think that there has to be a vote by the public to agree to join NATO.

[Bev54]

59. When you say public, do you mean the citizens of the country?

I understand the corruption issue but at the same time I think it would slap Putin hard should they join. I know that they wanted to see if Zelensky could get a handle on the corruption before inviting them in and I hope he and his government survives to be able to join. At this point I think they would make a serious effort especially now seeing what Russia was willing to do to them.

[deRien]

60. yes

I think there has to be a vote by the people of any country to agree to join NATO. There are also a lot of requirements to join NATO. I don't think a country can say I want to join NATO and they are in.

[Freethinker65]

4. WTF did Putin think would happen.

NATO will be stronger than ever. Putin helping to install Trump to attempt to weaken NATO was too damn obvious.
Now that Russia has devoted so much manpower and resources to expanding Westward, it would be a fine opportunity to educate Russians left in Russia on how much of their country Putin and his oligarch friends have stolen from them.

[Joinfortmill]

5. Ok. He's insane. Oligarchs are going to off him.

[SergeStorms]

51. If only.

They're all scared Putin will "have tea" with them, or simply leave them behind. They only exist because Putin allows it.

[Cha]

7. Wouldn't you just love to be Warned by

taht Evil MF Not to do something.

Link to tweet

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2877276

Rt TY

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. "If you don't join NATO I'll only beat you up a little bit, like we done Urkaine." . . . nt

[Texaswitchy]

10. He is crazy.

Things are not going his way.

First he lost Trump, now Ukraine.

Temper tantrum.

[PA_jen]

11. This is Where NATO should talk to Sweden and Finland and suggest

To unite against Putin Nato will give them honor membership for the purpose of fending off Putin.

[Celerity]

14. we already cooperate with NATO to a large degree

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_NATO#Sweden

In 1949 Sweden chose not to join NATO and declared a security policy aiming for non-alignment in peace and neutrality in war. A modified version now qualifies non-alignment in peace for possible neutrality in war. As such, the Swedish government decided not to participate in the membership of NATO because they wanted to remain neutral in a potential war. This position was maintained without much discussion during the Cold War.

Since the 1990s however there has been an active debate in Sweden on the question of NATO membership in the post–Cold War world. Sweden joined Partnership for Peace in 1994. These ideological divides were visible again in November 2006 when Sweden could either buy two new transport planes or join NATO's plane pool, and in December 2006, when Sweden was invited to join the NATO Response Force. While the governing parties in Sweden have opposed membership, they have participated in NATO-led missions in Bosnia (IFOR and SFOR), Kosovo (KFOR), Afghanistan (ISAF) and Libya (Operation Unified Protector).

The Swedish left wing, including the Social Democratic party, the Green party and the Left party have remained in favour of non-alignment, along with the nationalist Sweden Democrats. The right wing, including the Moderate Party, the Centre party, the conservative Christian Democrats, the Liberal party make up the Swedish parties with representation in the parliament today that are in favour of NATO membership. Former prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt stated on 18 September 2007 that Swedish membership in NATO would require a "very wide" majority in Parliament, including the social democrats, and coordination with Finland.

Sweden signed in 2014, and ratified in 2016, a host country agreement with NATO allowing for NATO forces to conduct joint training exercises on Swedish soil and for NATO member states' forces to be deployed in Sweden in response to threats to Sweden's national security. In October 2014, an opinion poll found for the first time more Swedes in favour of NATO membership (37%) than opposed (36%).

snip


Sweden to join NATO Response Force and exercise Steadfast Jazz

https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/news_104086.htm

[PA_jen]

19. Thank you for the information. No offense was meant I just think the collective worlds

needs to unite and metaphorically slapped Putin's hand and told we will not allow your thirst for world domination.

[lostnfound]

26. Hi! Great country! Really enjoyed working with suppliers there

Doing business with the Swedes was a real pleasure. Smart, generally straightforward, high quality. Nice culture, lovely countryside. I think the contract I arranged there was worth about $200 M or so.

[Celerity]

53. we love living here (Stockholm). We do miss London (where we grew up) but it's a short trip back

Hopefully Covid finally recedes enough to make easy global travel commonplace again.

[CentralMass]

22. Absolutely.

[Caliman73]

24. Sweden and Finland have cooperated with NATO for a long time.

They have also made it clear that they have their own defense arrangements that preclude them joining NATO.

I say we continue to work cooperatively with them and neither dissuade nor pressure them to join. This is how democracy and a "free world" work. You have Russia on one side threatening them, and the rest of the world telling them, "Hey, we are here if you'd like, but are under no obligation to join".

That will make any choice they make a legitimate one.

[Best_man23]

25. We Train Routinely with Finnish Soldiers

In the winter, in the deep snow. Groups of Army soldiers and Marines travel to Finland every year to train alongside the Finnish troops, whose units have some of the finest Ski Troops of any standing army in the world.

Marines with Black Sea Rotational Force 14 travelled to Finland to participate in a basic cold-weather skills and Military Operations in Urban Terrain Instructor’s course Jan. 6-24, alongside the Jaeger Brigade and Guard Jaeger Regiment, the Finnish Defence Forces’ premiere winter-training units.

The final exercise, a 17-kilometer movement that incorporated lessons from the entire course, tested the Marines’ during extreme physical and mental fatigue from lack of food and sleep. Marines, integrated in the course with Finnish soldiers, had to cross-country ski with a full pack, completing specified tasks as part of a survival scenario along the way. Tasks included a live-fire range, evading the enemy, and submersing themselves in freezing water.

https://www.marforeur.marines.mil/News/News-Article-Display/Article/521041/marines-and-finnish-forces-train-in-sub-zero-conditions/#:~:text=Marines%2C%20integrated%20in%20the%20course,submersing%20themselves%20in%20freezing%20water.

[Celerity]

13. Swedish government firm on not joining Nato despite Russian aggression

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100216391509

We have not been in a military alliance nor a war since 1814, more than 200 years ago.

[PA_jen]

21. ok.

[radius777]

27. Foolish decision, IMO, as NATO is the only thing

that Putin is afraid of. If Ukraine was in, he would not be attacking them.

Finland afaik is considering joining NATO.

[Celerity]

41. I fully support our government's decision nt

[Dan]

45. Well, I think that Ukraine should have kept their nukes.

I seriously doubt that Putin would have attacked them if they still had them.

[OMGWTF]

49. THIS! THIS! THIS!

[Celerity]

62. No, Ukraine Should Not Have Kept Nuclear Weapons

https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100216399246#post61

[Celerity]

61. No, Ukraine Should Not Have Kept Nuclear Weapons

A bad idea comes around again.

https://newsletters.theatlantic.com/peacefield/61f9e4619d9e380022bdd931/no-ukraine-should-not-have-kept-nuclear-weapons/



The Russians are on the verge of dramatically expanding their previous invasion of Ukraine, this time with enough forces that they could roll through the streets of Kyiv. I will admit that when the Soviet Union collapsed 30 years ago, I did not expect that the new Russian Federation—poor, militarily weak, but finally free—could be, or would want to be, a threat to its neighbors. This was a failure of imagination on my part. But about one thing I was certain, and remain so: It’s a good thing that Ukraine never became a nuclear-weapons state. Now that the Russians are poised to invade, this bad idea is coming around again.

There are sensible people I respect who disagree about this, and so I think it’s worth a little time to consider that no matter how bad things might get, they would only be worse if Ukrainian nuclear weapons were involved. A series of historical and political circumstances have brought us to this point, going all the way back to how the USSR was created in the first place. (There are reasons, for example, that the Ukrainian state exists in its current borders and for why Crimea ended up a bone of contention, but that’s a subject I’ll explain in an additional newsletter later this week.) Today, let’s just ask a basic question: Would nuclear weapons have protected Ukraine now?

American “realists” like Professor John Mearsheimer, among others, think so. This is a simplistic answer, as realist answers so often are. It is a view of the world as something like a big game of Risk, in which all the countries are basically alike except for how many pretty colored chips they control. This approach leads foreign-policy analysts to say things that sound deep and logical, but make no sense when real countries, with real histories, governed by real people, get involved.

It also assumes that nuclear weapons are magical talismans that protect anyone who holds them. They’re talismans, alright. Like a Monkey’s Paw. Mearsheimer, for those unfamiliar with him, is the University of Chicago scholar who said back in 1990 that European stability might improve if Germany became an independent nuclear power. This is no slam on the Germans, but nobody—including the Germans—wanted that. He then said it about Ukraine in 1993 and 2014.

snip

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. VPGFY

[Scrivener7]

17. That wasn't a warning. That was a threat.

[C_U_L8R]

18. Does Pootie have NATO FOMO?

Go fuck yourself, Vlad. No one wants you in their circle of friends.

[monkeyman1]

36. forgot to add TDFG to that statement ?

[BlueIdaho]

20. Whatever you do don't think about a purple elephant.

Smooth comrade, smooth.

[Fla Dem]

28. Putin has completely come off the rails.

I wouldn't be surprised if a group of high ranking Russian officials and/or military officers don't band together and throw him out or throw him into the gulag.

[Beastly Boy]

29. Putin warns of political and military consequences for his neighbors joining NATO right after

demonstrating to the whole world the political and military consequences of his neighbors NOT joining NATO.

...Is he trying to be funny?

[thesquanderer]

46. Right. "Don't join NATO to protect yourself from us...

...because then we won't be able to invade you." That's what it comes down to, and what kind of threat is that?

[radius777]

30. The Putin regime is an enemy regime that we can no longer appease.

I think the West is coming to the conclusion that this is a zero sum game. Putin will not accept the existence of the West, which he views as a threat to authoritarian regimes like his own. Thus, going forward the West IMO will work to cripple Russia with sanctions as well as expand and beef up NATO - all of which will steadily bankrupt the Putin regime and force it to implode. Ukraine and Georgia should've been admitted to NATO a long time ago, which would have prevented Russian aggression against them. Appeasing Putin was a terrible mistake.

[Pinback]

31. I watched some of that series.

It didn't go so well for Russia's victims.

[Ohioboy]

32. Putin is going out of his way to prove NATO's necessity

[Crowman2009]

33. Last time I checked, Russia got their asses handed to them by Finland.

Never underestimate cross-country skiing sharpshooters.

[Evolve Dammit]

34. Rise up everyone, loud condemnation from all angles and maybe the Russians will overthrow the SOB.

That is the best outcome. He is not prepared for a large internal fight. He is also certifiably nuts at this point, not the "genius" the Orange Anus purports. The Orange Anus and all Putin supporters need to be indicted for treason once we declare formally Russia is an "enemy." Not sure what we are waiting for at this point...

[wryter2000]

35. I kind of doubt

He's in any position to invade any more countries right now.

[Aviation Pro]

37. Fuck off, Slav....

...go take your couple of thousand bucks and go buy a condo in Sunny Isles so you can spend the rest of your days with your fellow scumbags.

[Skittles]

38. OH BRING IT ON

WHO THE FUCK DOES HE THINK HE IS, HE NEEDS TO BE SMACKED THE FUCK DOWN

[monkeyman1]

39. might be getting fitted for somthing as we speak ?

[Lancero]

42. Guess we know who his next two targets to invade are.

I'll admit, I was expecting Moldova to be next on his list of nations to conquer.

[VMA131Marine]

50. Moldova, the Baltic states, Poland ...

Then the rest of the former Eastern Bloc countries. Putin really thinks he can reassemble the Soviet Union.

[paulkienitz]

43. the irony is that Finland would never have considerd joining before this week

[Mr. Evil]

47. One man.

One delusional, psychopathic man is causing all this clusterfuck. He won't stop at Ukraine. He'll keep going until he personally is stopped. This megalomaniac needs to be assassinated. You must kill the snake by chopping off its head. Vladamir Putin must be taken out by any means available. Or this will get much worse.

[3catwoman3]

52. You have said what have been...

...thinking.

[Martin68]

48. Putin is delusional if he thinks he can prevent Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.

[3825-87867]

54. Wonder how the talking sphincters

at fox will spin this?

[Diraven]

56. But Sweden?

I can see why he would want to threaten Finland since they share a border, and Finland even used to part of the Russian Empire for a while. But Russia hasn't had a conflict with Sweden for over 200 years and they hundreds of miles on the other side of Finland.

[Aussie105]

57. NATO, Finland and Sweden all have the same goal.

To protect countries surrounding Russia from Russian incursions.

There is no threat to Russia from them invading Russia.

Vlad simply wants to weaken their standing so he can sneak in.

With the current Ukrainian situation using up troops and resources, does Vlad really think he can take over that country, and then move on to others?