| Thresher01 | 16 May 2022 1:38 p.m. PST |
Looks like the application for NATO membership is a done deal, much to the chagrin of Putin: link Interestingly, Turkey's Erdogan opposes this, and he seems to be more allied with Russia than NATO. Supposedly, the vote for approval by the existing member nations needs to be 100%, so it will be interesting to see if Turkey acts as a spoiler in this, or if Erdogan is just angling for perks for his favorite positions and hopes to increase his leverage with others to attain those. I wonder what it takes to remove/kick out a member of NATO? Seems to me to be a fair, or better trade, e.g. kicking out Turkey in exchange for Finland and Sweden joining NATO. Putin is threatening a response if Sweden and Finland bolster their military strength under NATO membership: link |
| ChrisBrantley | 16 May 2022 1:59 p.m. PST |
My guess is that Erdogan (and maybe others) want to keep option the option of a negotiated solution to Ukraine and holding back on Swedish and Finnish NATO membership is a potential bargaining chip. Zelenskyy has already indicated Ukraine would settle for a non-NATO military alliance. Imagine if Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Georgia, Romania and Azerbaijan were to form a collective security alliance independent of NATO. |
Uesugi Kenshin  | 16 May 2022 3:33 p.m. PST |
And Putin wins the award for "Nato Salesman of the Year"! |
 McKinstry  | 16 May 2022 4:08 p.m. PST |
Erdogan wants Finland and even more so Sweden to crack down on the PKK and other Kurdish independence groups along with Turkish dissidents. NATO and Turkish diplomatic sources seem pretty confident it will be possible to overcome Erdogan's objections. |
| Thresher01 | 16 May 2022 5:02 p.m. PST |
Interesting, since Turkey says for Finland's and Sweden's diplomats to not even bother to visit to lobby Turkey's Erdogan to change his mind. I suppose time will tell. |
 Editor in Chief Bill  | 16 May 2022 10:37 p.m. PST |
Never thought this would happen. Now, about Switzerland…  |
| Griefbringer | 17 May 2022 11:02 a.m. PST |
Regarding the official schedule, it has now been announced that the representatives of Sweden and Finland will jointly deliver their respective applications to the NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock local time (CET). After that, it is up to the NATO members to approve the application (this can be done relatively quickly), and for the respective national parliaments to ratify this approval (this will take months). |
| Thresher01 | 17 May 2022 3:55 p.m. PST |
"After that, it is up to the NATO members to approve the application (this can be done relatively quickly)….". Only if Erdogan doesn't hold up the process. |
 Legion 4 | 17 May 2022 4:39 p.m. PST |
He may be "the rub" … and the Turks have or had the second largest military in NATO. |
| ROUWetPatchBehindTheSofa | 25 May 2022 7:41 a.m. PST |
A good analysis of the move…
YouTube link Don't think I new that the Swede's had a serious nuclear weapon programme. |
| Legion 4 | 25 May 2022 8:15 a.m. PST |
Sweden & Finland talk Turkey ! In Turkey …
From Military.com:
link
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| dapeters | 25 May 2022 1:24 p.m. PST |
Erdogan is just a Putin wannabe. |
| Legion 4 | 25 May 2022 2:40 p.m. PST |
The Turks being part of NATO … he may want to rethink that ? |
