cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/84776 > "We have decided to start the protocol of Finland's accession to NATO in our parliament," Erdogan said following a meeting with his Finnish counterpart. > > Concerning Sweden, Erdogan commented that his country submitted a list of 120 "terrorists" to Stockholm, but complained that not a single one of them has been extradited. > > Sweden's membership bid is expected to continue to stall, after deteriorating relations with Turkey in the wake of the Quran-burning incident by a far-right activist. Turkey has also demanded Swedish authorities crackdown on Kurdish political groups and operatives while alleging that Stockholm has hosted "terrorists" on its soil. > > Finland is at the same time building a 200km fence along its border with Russia to boost security, also after reporting that Russian men fled into Sweden by the droves in order to escape conscription. The fence will reportedly be 10 feet high and topped with barbed wire.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/80013 > Researcher Juho Rahkonen says that if the NATO support rate was any higher he would assume that we live in North Korea. This poll says something about the unity in nordic countries and the high trust we have in the institutions and the state.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/79854 > According to Kaltiala, even “social transitions” — such as allowing children to identify as a different gender, use different pronouns, and use restrooms and facilities not in line with their actual sex — perpetuate child gender confusion and introduce strong social and psychological interference in a child’s development. > > During adolescence, the construction of identity is not complete and the end result remains unknown. Four out of five children who deal with gender confusion at a young age will grow out of it and return to identifying with their actual gender, according to Kaltiala, who says intervention on the issue can be harmful.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/75002 > However, the deal is unlikely to receive approval by Congress as long as Turkiye continues to block Sweden and Finland from joining NATO.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/66813 > Following its signing on to the 2019 EU ban in the wake of the Turkish military's incursion into Syria against Kurdish militias. > > Finland's Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said his government is willing to move toward granting arms export permits Turkey on a case-by-case basis, and in return Turkey should speedily ratify Finland's NATO membership.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/65662 > Channeling Donald John Trump, Marin said European nations rely too much on the United States for their defense against Russia. > > > Via BBC, Marin said, "I must be brutally honest with you, Europe isn't strong enough right now. We would be in trouble without the United States." > Shades of President Trump who frequently warned NATO allies of the very same thing.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/65259 > It has become fashionable among the mainstream western commentariat to claim that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had nothing to do with NATO expansion. > > That’s a completely false narrative that requires snipping past comments made by Putin out of the context in which they were made. Many western experts warned for years in advance that NATO expansion would lead to a conflict like the one we’re seeing today, and they were of course correct. > > The recent push to expand NATO in Ukraine along with nations like Finland and Sweden as justified by “Russian aggression” is a good example of what professor Richard Sakwa has called the “fateful geographical paradox: that NATO exists to manage the risks created by its existence. > > Moscow sees NATO as an “American sphere of influence,” and the expansion of NATO and NATO influence as expansion of that sphere. It reacts to this with hostility just as the US would react to China or Russia building up aggressive military alliances on its borders, and arguably with vastly more restraint than the US would.

Finland intends to use the weapons for its fighter aircraft fleet and improve its air-to-air and air-to-surface weapons capabilities, according to the release.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/61516 > The fence will be over three meters tall with barbed wire at the top, with particularly sensitive areas being equipped with night vision cameras, lights, and loudspeakers, project manager Ismo Kurki explained during a press conference." > > Finland shares the longest stretch of border with Russia among any EU member.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/58224 > The State Department has approved the potential sale of $535 million worth of guided multiple launch rocket systems (GMLRS) and related equipment to Helsinki. Among other things, the GMLRS transfer will contribute to land and air defense capabilities for Europe's northernmost allied outpost near Russia.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/57703 > Finland and Sweden’s disagreements with Turkey mainly stem from Ankara’s repression of its Kurdish minority population, and Helsinki and Stockholm’s support for Kurdish groups. One plank in the trilateral agreement required the two NATO hopefuls to lift an arms embargo against Turkey. Helsinki and Stockholm have both taken that step. > > Still, Ankara is demanding they live up to the full agreement, which requires the extradition of several Kurds to Turkey. Cavusoglu said most of the delays have been caused by Sweden, but Helsinki’s NATO application is tied to Stockholm’s bid. Turkey says it won’t give approval until both states are living up to the agreement.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/56822 > Be careful what you ask for. > > You might just get it.

cross-posted from: https://exploding-heads.com/post/56458 > The recovered weapons featured in the weekend national police statement include assault rifles which were meant for Ukrainian forces. Further neighboring countries have recorded instances of West-provided arms proliferating from the Ukrainian battlefield and into the hands of criminals in neighboring Sweden and Denmark as well.