It will, by all accounts, be revealed at the press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at 1pm this afternoon, according to what news learns. Thus, there will be a flag-raising for Finland during the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting that starts tomorrow. The historic moment will be marked with a ceremony with speeches from Secretary General Stoltenberg and Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö. Great excitement There has been excitement right up to the end. Barely three weeks ago, Finland’s President Niinistö was received with pomp and splendor in Turkey by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The atmosphere was good and both handshakes and broad smiles between them emphasized that Turkey would finally be allowed to become a member of NATO. All 30 countries had to say yes, and Turkey was the country that held back. Time was short before the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting tomorrow. First, Turkey had to hand in its yes to the US Department of Justice, which handles such cases in NATO. It took some time, and it was only until recently that American lawyers got the papers so that they could deal with it urgently. Finally, the Finnish president must hand over a letter to the NATO chief in which he accepts NATO’s conditions for membership. What does this mean for Finland? Finland has been an official partner in NATO since 1994, and participated in several exercises with the alliance since the end of the Cold War. Finland shares a 1,340 km long border with Russia and has been at war with its neighbors to the east several times. Finland has been neutral. But Putin’s war of invasion in Ukraine led to a desire to join NATO. Finland and Sweden applied for membership in Nato on 18 May last year. Photo: JOHANNA GERON / AP When it became clear that NATO cannot immediately deploy nuclear weapons on Finnish soil, or had any plans for permanent military bases in Sweden, a large majority of Finnish politicians approved NATO’s statutes. NATO has previously given Finland security guarantees and since they became an applicant country they have sat around the table in NATO as observers. NATO membership for Finland means that they are now covered by Article Five of NATO’s statutes. This means that an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all. Going from an observer state to gaining decision-making authority in Nato Be covered by Article 5, which means that an attack on a country is an attack on the entire defense alliance. Finland commits to spending 2 percent of its GDP on defense. They accept that they are part of an alliance that has nuclear weapons, even if there is no question of deploying nuclear weapons in Finland or establishing permanent NATO bases in Finland. For NATO, this means that the alliance will double its border with Russia. The alliance is also significantly strengthened militarily. Finland is known for having a good air force and has both F-18 and F-35 fighter jets. Finand also has a large army. Intense diplomacy The tension has been linked to Turkey’s stance. In March this year, the country agreed to Finnish NATO membership, but it is still uncertain for Sweden. Sweden and Finland initially wanted to join NATO at the same time, but when it turned out that Sweden’s application would be a bigger nut to crack and that Finland could join alone, Finnish membership was unproblematic for Turkey. NATO’s Norwegian Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has always wanted Sweden and Finland to join NATO at the same time. But it didn’t work out that way. – Sweden has opened its arms to terrorists, Erdogan said a short time ago. Turkey sees Sweden as a free haven for Kurdish terrorist groups, and has asked the Swedes to extradite 120 people who reside in Sweden. That mess was not improved by the Danish extremist Rasmus Paludan burning a Koran outside the Turkish embassy in Stockholm. It led to violent protests in Turkey and elsewhere in the Middle East. Intense diplomacy from Sweden and NATO allies has led to Turkey now being in a dialogue, but Sweden’s membership still seems to be uncertain.
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Raising the Finnish flag in NATO tomorrow – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
