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How Does Sweden Make NATO Stronger?
I sometimes wonder… How did Putin think Europe would respond when he invaded Ukraine?
“Surely”, he must have reasoned, “there was no response after I annexed Crimea and the Donbas in 2014, except for some minor sanctions. Why would this time be any different?”
In what will likely go down in history as the greatest miscalculation in the 21st Century, Russia’s war in Ukraine is a war of self-inflicted injury.
And whether he realizes it or not, Putin has done more damage to the Russian Federation than any Russian leader since Tsar Nicholas II.
NATO is significantly stronger today than it was even a year ago thanks to Russian aggression.
When Russia’s incompetent military began to rack up a gruesome tally of war crimes — and when Putin’s troops showed routine brutality that hasn’t been seen on the continent on a large scale in four generations — Europe was shocked into action.
In light of Russia’s naked aggression, formerly neutral countries, like the Nordic states Sweden and Finland, began to consider full membership in NATO.
Finland joined first in April, bringing the number of member states to 31.
Since then, Swedish public support picked up steam. By June of 2023, fully 65% of Swedes supported joining the…
