What NATO history means for Finland’s and Sweden’s additions | Opinion
“What about the rest of the north?” asked McGeorge Bundychairman of the Ford Foundation, as early as the 1970s.
Following the policy, he and the other officers considered another large grant to help the troubled Indians in Alaska. Officers rarely vetoed a staff recommendation, but Bundy regularly asked insightful questions.
Bundy’s question is about the discussion that Finland and Sweden would become members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). This alliance began in 1949, early in the Cold War, to oppose the aggressive expansionist Soviet Union.
Moscow responded by forming Warsaw Pact. The satellite states of Eastern Europe, already occupied by the Red Army, experienced this new formally enforced treaty, the latest attempt to legitimize the boots on their necks.
As the 1980s drew to a close, so did the Cold War, which began with the demolition of the Berlin Wall. The ugly guarded wall, built in 1961 by Nikita Khrushchev, prevented East Germans from escaping to West Germany. By that year, the stream of East Germans fleeing through the open door had become a tidal wave that depopulated East Germany.
President George HW Bush and his associates proved extremely wise, tough, and effective when the Soviet empire collapsed. There was no audience bragging about the victory. Bush and Secretary of State James Baker emphasized traditional diplomacy, which is reflected in disciplined and detailed negotiations.
Germany was reunited and remained in NATO. The Russians were assured of no nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe, and it has held.
Starting with the Clinton administration’s successor, NATO expanded eastward starting in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland in 1999. President Vladimir Putin blames NATO expansion for its aggression, not just in Ukraine.
This is obviously absurd, but sheds light on historically rooted Russian fears of invasion from the West. Operation Barbarossa, the gigantic military surprise attack launched by Nazi Germany in June 1941, began four years of total war to the death. Russian anxiety is understandable.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a temporary ally of Putin, has questioned the admission of Finland and Sweden. His concerns include the presence in Scandinavia of Kurdish independence organizations, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the Syrian Kurdish people’s protection units. The Turkish government opposes such separatist groups.
Which brings us back to that Ford Foundation officer meeting a long time ago. The first erroneous thought of the young staff who had to investigate Bundy’s question about “North” was that the boss made some strange references to the Civil War.
Bundy meant the Arctic, where nations share environmental, ethnic and security challenges. As usual, he was right. Today, melting polar icebergs present scientific, commercial, and military challenges – and opportunities.
The Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-40 ended through negotiations, which showed Finland’s military prowess against a much larger enemy. Cold War Sweden practiced variants of insulting anti-American neutrality. Both nations in NATO strengthen the deterrence against Russia in the north.
In the north, Russia has today taken the lead in trade, exploration and military bases. Moscow is also in serious disputes with other Arctic nations. An example is Canada and Denmark control of the Lomonosov spine.
In 2021, Russia Iceland succeeded in chairing the Arctic Council, which also includes Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Finland and Sweden in NATO will effectively isolate Russia as the only non-member of the alliance.
Unity among allies will encourage the relatively isolated Russia to cooperate. Finland and Sweden in NATO will contribute to this, to the benefit of the Arctic and beyond.
Arthur I. Cyr is a Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War. ” Contact [email protected]
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