China and Russia, America’s two adversaries, suffered significant blows on the foreign policy front last week.
In Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined other allies to welcome Finland as the latest North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member. Finland applied for NATO membership a year ago, prompted by security concerns after Russia invaded Ukraine. According to The Wall Street Journal, Finland adds tremendous value to NATO.
Unlike Germany, Finland already follows NATO’s guidelines by allocating 2 percent of its gross domestic product to military spending, and the nation boasts one of the best-prepared defense forces in Europe. Since Finland shares an 800-mile-long border with Russia, adding Finland allows NATO to double its frontier with Russia, and to get closer to “one of Russia’s most sensitive military outposts, the Kola Peninsula, home to Russia’s Northern Fleet and the majority of its nuclear-powered submarines,” the Journal reports.
Thus, Finland’s NATO membership has substantially affected Russian President Vladimir Putin’s geopolitical ambitions. One of Putin’s top priorities has always been stopping NATO from further expansion. After Russia invaded Ukraine last year, one of the justifications Putin offered was to keep Ukraine outside of NATO. Yet, Putin’s gamble has backfired. He has failed to conquer Ukraine as quickly as he had envisioned, and he is now stuck in a prolonged war. The war has also exposed that Russia’s military is not as mighty as portrayed.
To Putin’s dismay, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine accelerated NATO’s expansion — Finland and Sweden abandoned their neutrality status and applied for NATO membership
