The West’s defense against a Russian attack on Europe has just bolstered now that Finland has joined NATO.
Sarcastically, one can thank Vladimir Putin for attacking Ukraine.
Invasion, on the highest his invasion of Georgia and other aggressions left absolutely little doubt about Russia’s imperial dreams.
This prompted the long-neutral Finland to hunt protection: under the terms of the NATO pact, an attack on one NATO country is an attack on all.
Turkey and Hungary held off Finland’s entry for months, but relented last week, and officials unfurled a Finnish flag outside the bloc’s headquarters in Brussels on Tuesday.
Sweden’s entry also seems only a matter of time.
Now that Finland is involved, NATO’s border with Russia doubles to over 1,600 miles, complicating future Russian aggression – and ruling out yet one more border state.
Finland’s contribution can even strengthen the alliance’s funds and military resources. Helsinki can provide a force of as much as 280,000, counting its citizen troops, in addition to a big variety of advanced tanks and artillery.
“President Putin went to war with Ukraine with the clear goal of shrinking NATO,” notes NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.
“He gets exactly the other.”
That is the one rational answer to Putin’s ghastly war.