3 ms·
This time it was Finland that pushing them both to NATO. Finland had friendly pack with Sweden that if either of them decide to pursue NATO membership they woul
by enra 4y ago
This time it was Finland that pushing them both to NATO. Finland had friendly pack with Sweden that if either of them decide to pursue NATO membership they would let the other one know.
Last year by the time Finnish leadership and people were pretty much decided on NATO, Sweden was just starting their discourse so they had to catch up not be left behind. Now somewhat ironically because of Sweden, Turkey has been delaying and objecting the membership.
Finland has also kept with updating equipment and keeping the conscription military service these past 100 years, Sweden ended their conscription and mostly been downsizing their military.
- progre 4y agoConscription is starting up again.
- georgeecollins 4y agoThat is probably true, but it is worth noting that when people war gamed out a swift capture of any Baltic state (kind of like what happened in Crimea) one of the frequent moves of the Russian player was to capture Gotland, which made NATO reinforcement very difficult. Also, it showed that while Sweden has a capable air force and good naval assets in the baltic, it still might have trouble defending Gotland in the future. I don't think anyone thinks an attack on Gotland was ever likely, and it certainly isn't now, but if Russia's goal was to bring back all the former states of the Soviet Union, the Baltic states are on that list. And that gets pretty difficult for those two countries to stay neutral. Finland was once part of Russia too and they have a contentious history.