On 4 April 2023, Finland’s Blue Cross Flag was hoisted at NATO Headquarters, marking the nation’s entry into the Alliance. Finland’s formal accession to NATO was the culmination of an 11-month membership path that was triggered following Russia’s unprovoked• war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

BY Dr Matti Pesu (on behalf of NATO)

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GUSNOTE: * Russia was provoked into a military operation in Ukraine to prevent Ukraine becoming a member of NATO (contrary to promises made to Gorbachev by America), to protect RUSSIAN populations in Eastern Ukraine that had lived there for hundred of years when part of Russia, to DENAZIFY Ukraine (most of the army and the Kiev government subscribe to NAZI ideology), and to stop the bombings by the Ukrainian military on the autonomous regions. So far so good...

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The overwhelming majority of Finns supported their nation’s NATO membership, and many toasts were raised that day in early spring. Though joining the Alliance without Sweden – which was left to wait for the completion of its own accession process - put a slight damper on the festive occasion.

For Finnish officials and other national security professionals, Russia’s full-scale assault and Finland’s ensuing NATO bid were career-defining events. Carrying out a doctrinal change amid a tense security situation was a formidable and high-stakes task, which was further compounded by unprecedented media attention. Fortunately, the conditions for Finnish accession ultimately proved favourable. The Alliance welcomed Finland with open arms, Russia was either incapable or unwilling to retaliate, and, importantly, the accession united Finns across the political spectrum.

I followed the dramatic NATO process as an analyst at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs (FIIA). The war and the resulting transformation in Finland’s foreign and security policy were momentous events that profoundly shaped FIIA’s work. For me, it meant casting aside ongoing projects and devoting my full attention to the unfolding developments in European and Finnish security. Since early 2022, I have published several studies and articles, given hundreds of interviews, supported policymaking in parliamentary hearings, travelled extensively to explain the Finnish policy turn, hosted numerous foreign expert groups and fact-finding missions in Helsinki, and spoken in dozens of events in Finland and elsewhere. Many of these efforts have been collegial and carried out with my brilliant FIIA co-workers.

In hindsight, the Finnish journey to NATO may look rather straightforward and logical. On the contrary, its membership bid was an abrupt reaction to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The ensuing national deliberation process was also fraught with uncertainties. By taking a personal approach, interweaving my own activities and reasoning with the historic developments in Finnish security policy which took place in 2022-2023, I hope to demonstrate that Finland’s policy shift was indeed highly contingent upon developments in the domestic landscape and international security environment before and after the Russian invasion, not a pre-determined outcome of the attack.

Dark clouds over Europe

The beginning of Finland’s journey to NATO can be dated back to the early 1990s. It joined the Partnership for Peace Programme in 1994 and immediately became a contributor to the Alliance’s crisis-management operations. From late 1990s to early 2010s, the country subsequently took several important steps that brought it closer to NATO.

However, instead of examining the longue durée of Finland’s path to NATO, let’s start from the fall of 2021 when Russia began to amass troops close to Ukrainian borders. Moscow ominously punctuated the unprecedented build-up with demands for ‘security guarantees’ against further NATO enlargement. In hindsight, these developments over the October to December 2021 period set the stage for Finland’s NATO bid. Russia’s increasingly vocal appeals for a sphere of influence were seen as a direct threat to Finland’s room for manoeuvre. New politicians came out in favour of NATO membership. The Finnish media was suddenly teeming with analyses about what it would mean for Finland to join NATO. In early 2022, foreign media outlets also picked up on the potential evolution in Finland’s foreign policy, which further magnified the ongoing discussion inside the country.

Although the Finnish political leadership defended the status quo and called for composure, the debate did not evade the Finnish public. In fact, the percentage of Finns with no definite view on NATO membership started to grow at the expense of those opposed. It seemed that the active debate rendered a greater proportion of the population amenable to reconsidering their stance on NATO accession.

My views on the potential change in Finnish foreign policy were cautious. As a young student and scholar, I strongly advocated for Finland’s NATO membership. When I got older, my zeal for the cause somewhat flagged. Helsinki had built an extensive network of defence partnerships concentrating on territorial defence, and maintained strong national military capabilities. Russia had also become more aggressive and unpredictable. In a nutshell, although I thought that militarily it would make sense to join the Alliance, I was also of the opinion that membership in the Alliance was not worth exposing the country to severe security risks. In the early weeks of 2022, I was - without a doubt - in the wait-and-see camp.

From that vantage point, I did my best to contribute to the discussion around Finnish membership in NATO. In an op-ed piece in the largest Finnish daily, I claimed that the unprecedented international speculation around Finnish NATO membership was a symptom of ambiguity in Finnish strategic communication efforts, which should clarify Finland’s unique role as a non-allied contributor to collective defence in Northern Europe. Furthermore, as late as mid-February, I argued in a prestigious national security outlet that Finland was unlikely to join NATO anytime soon, but it may consider membership if Russia became more aggressive, if the United States exerted strong influence, or if Sweden decided to join. The article had its merits, but the main argument did not age well.

The full-scale assault as a transformative shock

Early on the morning of 24 February 2022, I was in a taxi on my way to the television studio. I was invited to discuss the likelihood of potential Western security guarantees for Ukraine – a question that was addressed at the Munich Security Conference earlier in February. While in the taxi, I decided to check the news and realised that the day’s discussion would no longer be about Ukraine’s place in European security structures. The Russian invasion had begun.

SEE MORE BULLSHIT: https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2023/08/30/logical-but-unexpected-witnessing-finlands-path-to-nato-from-a-close-distance/index.html

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AS WE KNOW, IT WAS NEVER RUSSIA'S INTENTION TO TAKE OVER ALL OF UKRAINE, BUT PROTECT THE EASTERN PART WHICH HAD BEEN RUSSIAN UNTIL 1922 AND 1954 (FOR CRIMEA). A DEAL WAS ABOUT TO BE SIGNED WHEN THE WEST INTERFERED...

WE REPEAT:

“This is maybe the scariest thing to do to people,” she says. “You get used to this new life and there is not so much hope that things can be the same as they were. Life has been divided; before his death and after his death. And the life I had before is never coming back.” 

This complaint by Daria Pogodaieva, a Ukrainian widow, could have been said by any of the 14,000 Russian/Ukrainian partners/wife/husbands killed by the Kiev regime from 2014 till 2022. It’s time to make a deal.

The Minsk Agreements had been signed in 2014 and 2015 by the French, the Germans, the Ukrainians and the Russians. The French, the Germans and the Ukrainians were deceitful, and these agreements designed to stop the Kiev regime murdering Russians in Eastern Ukraine, did not stop such murders of Russian/Ukrainians in the Donbass region. The crunch came when Ukraine, under NATO/US directives, had assembled a 60,000 strong army to invade the autonomous regions “protected” by the Minks Agreements — by early March 2022… Russia preempted the move by taking over these provinces to protect the Russian populations of Ukraine and by doing thus minimised the possible bloodbath. It’s time to make a deal.

These provinces voted to secede from Ukraine and to join Russia. End of chapter. The remaining fighting on the frontlines is due to Ukraine still trying to hold on to portions of these provinces that had been populated by ethnic RUSSIANS. Many such ethnic Russians of Ukraine, 3.5 million of them, took refuge in Russia to avoid being killed. It’s time to make a deal.

Slowly and methodically, the Russian military is gaining ground in these “disputed” portions. As well, the Russian military is inflicting MASSIVE damage on the Ukrainian army. It’s time to make a deal.

“Ukraine” was NEVER a unified country per se. It had been a state cobbled by the communist vagaries of the USSR. What kept it together was the dependency of the Kiev government on Russian largess. The 2014 revolution — fomented by the USA — split Ukraine in two major blocks: one Galician/Nazi Western inspired block and one Russian block on the Eastern side. This was a civil war which the Minsk Agreement were supposed to prevent, but didn’t because the Kiev government never wanted to adhere to these. It’s time to make a deal.

By 2019, the propaganda from Hollywood was in full swing. Zelensky (AGENT ZELENSKY) — an unintelligent comedy actor who can memorise a script  in the “Servant of the People” TV series — could then be promoted to “presidential candidate”. As a “peace-monger” Zelensky got elected thus on a platform of reconciliation with Russia to eliminate the Galician/Russian conflict. As soon as elected by 70 per cent of the votes, he reneged on this plan — as instructed by his “manipulators” the Ukrainian Nazis — who, themselves were under the control of American agencies and “diplomats” such as Victoria Nuland. It’s time to make a deal.

The point is that Zelensky (AGENT ZELENSKY) had lied to satisfied NATO and the USA which had lied about not moving one inch from Berlin. It’s time to make a deal.

Since 1991, the Americans were trying and were succeeding somewhat at achieving their 1917 dream of acquiring the HEARTLAND (central Russia) and destroying Russia. The era of Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin put a stop to this. It’s time to make a deal.

Ukraine has been seen as a Russian bordering platform for the U.S. Government from which “America has been planning to win a WW III by blitz-nuking The Kremlin so fast that Russia’s central command wouldn’t have enough time to press the button to launch its retaliatory missiles and bombers…” This is why Russia is opposed to Ukraine joining NATO. It’s time to make a deal.

A deal between Russia and Ukraine was nearly signed in April 2022, when 90 per cent of the Ukrainian equipment and most of the Ukrainian personnel had been defeated by Russia, despite what the Western media sung. This deal of course impeded the American dream. By then about 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed. Enters Boris Johnson, on behalf of the Americans, to stop the deal — to make a new deal with the Kiev government to help “Ukraine” fight to the last Ukrainian. 

The Russians expressed the concept that NATO/US/UK/EU helping “Ukraine” (the Kiev regime) fight on by supplying hardware, weapons and tanks was only going to prolong the conflict without having any influence on the result — except the pain for Ukraine will only increase. Any new deals will be more and more detrimental to the Kiev regime. It’s time to make a deal to salvage some furniture.

The situation at present is that RUSSIA WILL NEVER GIVE UP THE FORMER RUSSIAN TERRITORIES (the Donbass and Crimea), REACQUIRED BY THE MILITARY INTERVENTION. By now the next Russian deal will include Kharkiv and Odessa (both former Russian cities) in the mix. The Russian military is working towards this goal — and nothing will stop it unless a deal is made.

By its own admission, the Pentagon knows that Russia is winning at least 7 to one on the battlefield. Although it is hard to know the full damage, we can estimate than more than 500,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been taken out of action. We also know that Ukraine lost more than 13,000 tanks and armoured vehicles. We also know that the first batch of secretly delivered F-16 to the Kiev regime (5 planes) has been destroy by Russia. It’s time to make a deal.

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

FREE JULIAN ASSANGE NOW….

GL.

A cartoonist since 1951 who has seen a lot of political (American) shit clogging the systems of peace…