Sweden officially joined NATO on Thursday, becoming the 32nd member of the Cold War-era alliance, which had 16 members when the Soviet Union dissolved.
By joining NATO, Sweden has officially abandoned its centuries-old policy of neutrality that kept the country out of two World Wars, sparing it the destruction most European nations faced.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Secretary of State Antony Blinken made Stockholm’s membership official in Washington. Kristersson was also due to visit the White House and will attend President Biden’s State of the Union address on Thursday night as a guest of honor.
“This is a historic moment for Sweden. It’s historic for the alliance. It’s historic for the transatlantic relationship,” Blinken said, according to The Associated Press. “Our NATO alliance is now stronger, larger than it’s ever been.”
Washington and Stockholm have already signed a new Defense Cooperation Agreement that will grant the US military access to multiple bases in Sweden. The US signed a similar deal with Finland, which became NATO 31st member last year, and shares an over 800-mile border with Russia.
Russia has said it responded to the NATO expansion in the Nordic region by beefing up its military assets in western Russia.
“Against the background of a build-up of NATO’s military potential near the Russian borders, the expansion of the alliance through the accession of Finland and, in the future, Sweden, we have taken steps to strengthen the groupings of troops in the north-western and western strategic directions,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Wednesday.
At the end of the Cold War, the US and its allies told the Russians that NATO would not be expanded east of Germany. But the commitment was never part of a treaty, and the US decided to make an enemy out of post-Soviet Russia. The promise to eventually bring Ukraine into the alliance and NATO involvement in Ukraine since the 2014 coup in Kyiv was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main motives for launching the invasion.
“The US decided to make an enemy out of post-Soviet Russia.” LOL. What nonsense.
Yeah burns the capitalists loved socialism!!
Duh!!! The monied class hated Russia for it’s nationalizations of property… And of course everyone wants to be top dog in most things, finance & military especially. It all could have been avoided but was not.
Yeah, i agree it could have been avoided.
But Dumbass Putin decided to invade and annex Ukraine in a Nazi style.
It’s Dave D.
The main antiwar site writer.
Giving antiwar a new meaning.
Yea, he takes an article and than adds a Anti American spin to the article. Or Anti Israel spin or and Anti Taiwan spin. Never a positive spin. Some people are just always unhappy.
Bullseye
“The US decided to make an enemy out of post-Soviet Russia.”
The US did no such thing, Dave. The US decided to honor its commitment in the Budapest Memorandum and help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion. It was Russia who decided to make enemies, after agreeing in the Budapest Memorandum to not only respect Ukraine’s borders, but to defend them.
“The promise to eventually bring Ukraine into the alliance and NATO involvement in Ukraine since the 2014 coup in Kyiv was one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s main motives for launching the invasion.”
There was no coup in Ukraine, Dave. There was only Volodymyr Parasyuk’s speech on the Maidan after Yanukovych had his Russian snipers massacre 100 Ukranians who were protesting his cancellation of a trade agreement with the EU.
It scared Yanukovych so much he packed his helicopter with loot and fled to Moscow.
Ukraine is a sovereign country. It has a right to join NATO if it wants. The only motive for Putin launching the invasion was his insane quest to rule the world. Putin: “Russia has no borders.”
Great breakdown. Thanks for sharing.
Putin invaded Ukraine because among the many BS excuses, one was that NATO was encroaching Russia. Well, NATO is now really doing so. Congratulations, Putin. You did it.
Great job Sweden.
Putin will no longer blackmail you and will never play annexing games with you.
Glory to Ukraine.
maybe Russia will do a super
Nuke test there. I hope not, but it is far likelier now than when they were neutral
No worries, that test-will be reciprocated.
All those small non-nuclear bomb states A.re just baggage and not really players. Perhaps hostages is a better word. In any case if there is an end to this WWI trench warfare and the gloves come off it will be very much nuclear with missiles at the contact points, not troops!!! How many nukes in the sky & not boots on the ground. The targets will be their cities & military..!!
Just tell your Midget President Putin to stay off the nukes and everything will be ok.
He will start WW3. Nobody else will.
From “neutrality” to impotency. At best.
If NATO means impotency, why is Putin so scared of it?
You’re assuming he’s “scared”. He has reacted just like any other “leader” would.
Yeah. Scared.
Have you come up with that nonsense all by yourself or somebody illiterate told you that.
And I’m wrong how?
Sweden is now NATO. In your face.
Go b!tch at Putin. It’s his fault.
NATO is sinking ship (Sweden morons do not know that)…if Trump wins in 2024 the NATO era is finish.
Sad to see Sweden put its neck on the nuclear chopping block after being safe for so long. Not only that, but who do they pick to turn against, the possessor of the largest arsenal of super nukes with 4000 times the explosive force off the ones NATO & the U.S. have deployed.
They should be real careful that they don’t end up gunny pig for WHY neutral was better by being first to experience one of Russia’s super nukes…..!!!!!!!!!!!!! And the Trumpers thumbing their noses at them.
The problem with Sweden is they want their country to be made an example. It would be an example, but the sad part is I’m going to be dead before I can see what happens to them. I used to complain that they might be the most deranged people because they live almost in the Arctic and they’re extremely worried about a 1 degree “Glob@l W@rming” in 100 years. I wish I can go back to complaining about that now.
Worried about 1 degree? (WTF is with the weird spelling of “Glob@l W@rming”? Do you think if you spell out the actual letters you’ll increase it? Or Beetlejuice will appear?)
This is for you and all the other f**kwad deniers:
https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
GOOD! If there is anything else I can do to pi$$ you off even more, don’t hesitate to ask. You want more pubic hair growing in the back of your throat from “Glob@l W@rming?” You got it! Enjoy!
“You want more pubic hair growing in the back of your throat…”
What?
Yeah, any country not friendly to Russia must be in the nuclear chopping block.
It’s the reason why they all want to join NATO.
Russia uses its nukes as blackmail.
Well, they are not the only ones with nukes.
You and and the Kremlin are mad they joined NATO.
In your face.
You dimwit, NATO is scared of little North Korea.
“super nukes with 4000 times the explosive force off the ones NATO” You care to prove you point. The USA B83 has a yield of 1.2 Mega tones. So 4000 times that would be 4800 Mega tones. Show me a creditable source that claims Russia has built such a bomb and how much does it weigh?
With the current state of Russian’s arsenal.
Most likely their nukes will detonate at launch or return to its point of origin like a boomerang 🤣
McCuy has no idea what he is talking about. The weight of 4800 megaton warhead would be very large. There is not a bomber in anyone’s fleet that could carried a warhead of this size. Like so many pro-Russian commentors on this site, they just make up stuff or they are incapable of analysis. Like 4000 times big bomb or Iranian hypersonic missile that can that can wipe out the US fleet and Israel in the same day.
You are way behind…tell us something about the progress of supersonic missiles…Russians got it and Pentagon development is in diapers. That is a deciding advantage for Russia. Before vast Siberian nuclear silos are detected, the major US cities would burn. Sadly, there is no real winner of nuclear conflict.
Sweden aka Ship of Fools!
😂 or tools.
Or cool.
Hate on Sweden now .
I’ll see you looking for a job there in the future like all you hypocrites do.
They got tired of no war all these decades… itching to have one soon…!
Yes, but it’s now better with nuclear bombs on their heads
And now Russia will have them too.
In your face!!!
No, they are better off now. And they know it. It’s the reason they did it.
Putin wont be playing invading annexing games with them.
In your face, fascist
Sweden supported the Nazis during WWII. The other recent NATO joiner, Finland, fought with the Nazis against Russia/USSR.
And Russia made deals with the Nazis.
See, everyone worked with the Nazis.
Hypocrite.
That was like 80 years ago.
Awesome news.
Thank you Putin.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-3724-macron-raises-rhetoric
SITREP 3/7/24: Macron Raises Rhetoric Temp, First HIMARS Kill, Black Sea Fleet Setbacks & More
https://libertarianinstitute.org/news/uk-to-send-ukraine-10000-drones/
UK To Send Ukraine 10,000 Drones.
As long as both sides are into weapons experimentation, the detonation of a nuclear torpedo near the UK’s west coast shouldn’t initiate a mutually assured destruction (MAD) event.
Is there a reason to continue Russia-UK diplomatic and trade relations?
I don’t see any. But I’ve been telling you guys to thank God that I’m not Putin. So sick of all this BS, my fingers and toes would be so itchy to push that shiny red button on the top of my desk–it’s not even funny.
Do you realize that by pushing that “shinny red button” one would not see another sunrise.
Sweden’s leadership is weak and foolish.
Another dumb ass country who just placed their county in the harms way for no reason. Europe has gone full retard.
Usually people leave the sinking ship, but Sweden decided on the opposite. The morons would now be ask to join the battlefield in far, godforsaken lands to fight for the Washington players losing escapades – pathetic.
The social democrats, through their government monopoly on TV, radio, schools and universities, for generations during the Cold War and onward declared neutrality to be “a cornerstone of Swedish democracy.”
It was an axiom. Sweden was too small to do anything in NATO anyway, it was said. Neutrality was said to keep Swedish politics free from other countries’ politics, so therefore joining a military alliance would be undemocratic. But secretly of course it was always about catering to the Soviet lovers within the social democrat and communist parties.
When Moscow is conservative and the Marxists are instead in the White House, and there’s a war for regime change to get rid of “fascist” Putin, then they abandon neutrality easily, with no national discussion. And of course the Fake Right dutifully follows along like in everything else.