Russia-NATO Cold War Leads Finland to Build Military 100 Years After Independence

[anatta]

The increasingly militarized conflict between Western military alliance NATO and Russia has compelled Finland to boost its own defenses and acquire new weapons, according to the commander of the country’s armed forces.

Finnish Defense Chief General Jarmo Lindberg said Wednesday that the increased military activity in the region prompted Helsinki to rethink prior defense cuts and commit to expanding its forces, including procuring new weapons and equipment. Finland has been one of the few Western European countries that hasn’t sought membership in NATO, but its troubled relationship with neighboring Russia worsened after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, which prompted an escalation in NATO’s mobilization in recent years.



“The overall military activity in the neighborhood of Finland has been growing. NATO has brought on forces to the Baltic states, and in Poland it has forward presence. There is a U.S. Marine Corps unit in Norway. Sweden has brought the forces back to the island of Gotland, and they also ran a huge national exercise—19,000 soldiers—this September,” Lindberg told Defense News.

“So overall military activity all around Finland has been growing for the last four, five years. That means that also we are in a situation where we have been analyzing our military capabilities, our military readiness—and based on our analysis, it is changing. So more reserve, it is better readiness and it is better spearheading of capabilities for all the services,” he added.

Throughout the Cold War, Finland attempted to balance the interests of both Western and Eastern factions, and renewed tensions across Europe have once again put the Nordic nation in the middle of a geopolitical struggle for influence.

While Lindberg said low domestic support for the idea meant Finland wasn’t planning to seek NATO membership “in the imminent future,” he said the country has increased cooperation with regional powers, many of which are part of the U.S.-led coalition, since 2014. That year, he said Finland’s encounters with the Russian military peaked along its borders and in the nearby Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.

Lindberg said that Russian air encounters had since gone down in 2015 and 2016, but this year it seemed they would be on par with last year’s numbers. Still, Finland remains committed to “a high-level political dialogue” with Moscow, he said, and two weeks ago opened a 24/7 hotline with Russia.

Finland has often been ranked the best country in the world when it comes to quality of life, and both NATO and Russia have attempted to convince the Nordic country to join their respective factions.
http://www.newsweek.com/russia-nato-...weapons-740490

[Cancel 2018.1]

Really? Finland has nothing to be concerned about other than themselves.

[TSgt]

Let Finland in!!

#FinlandNATO

[anatta]

Really? Finland has nothing to be concerned about other than themselves.

they are stuck in the middle. supposedly Russian aggression gins up the build up,

[Grajonca]

they are stuck in the middle. supposedly Russian aggression gins up the build up,

Well they did have their right arm chopped off in 1939! As it was,although heavily outnumbered the Finns managed to kill nearly 160,000 Russians, with losses of around 25,000.

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[anatta]

Well they did have their right arm chopped off in 1939! As it was,although heavily outnumbered the Finns managed nearly 160,000 with losses of around 25,000.

sure, but the concern is building up of weaponization now.

Losing Neutrality: What's Behind US Attempts to Incorporate Finland Into NATO
https://sputniknews.com/politics/201...inland-russia/
In an interview with the International Business Times, Finnish Foreign Minister said that the border between Finland and Russia is "one of the most stable and calm in the world" and warned that NATO’s troops at the border are "not a good idea."