1Finland receives: Security against Russian invasion – an insurance that is never expected to be needed
The main benefit of the North Atlantic Treaty is this: NATO countries commit themselves to defending Finland if foreign powers come across the Finnish border.
By agreement (you switch to another service) an armed attack in Europe or North America – that is, in NATO member states – is interpreted as an attack on every member state. Therefore, other countries must help the attacked country immediately.
The United States is NATO’s strongest military power and a key pillar in providing aid.
Can the article rely on vitos, that is, would Americans come to the rescue with help?
U.S. interest in helping other countries has been suspected since the country’s previous president Donald Trump questioned the meaningfulness of NATO and even spoke out of it.
There is no such option Jarmo Lindbergin according to not that the United States would not come to the rescue.
– It will definitely come, because on the day when it doesn’t come, the deterrent effect would collapse.
Just as important a basis for NATO’s existence is the deterrent effect. The ability of the United States, Britain, France and 27 other countries to repel an attack is so credible that security guarantees have never had to be used against an attack by any state.
2Finland offers: Robust military forces and weapons that help others as well
Finland clearly fills the third article in NATO. It is a condition for a member state to be able to defend its country. In fact, Finland’s defense capabilities and will are so high that Finland’s military and armed forces can also help NATO neighbors, such as Estonia or Latvia, if necessary, and why not the other Nordic countries if the state leadership so decides.
Jarmo Lindberg lists: The strength of Finland’s wartime is greater than that of the other Nordic countries combined: about 280,000, and about 900,000 who have received military training.
– It allows for the defense of a large area and a long-term struggle.
And that’s not all. In addition to Poland, Finland has the largest field artillery in Europe. Long-range precision weapons can be found in all branches of defense, ie land, naval and air forces. In December, a purchase decision was made for 64 new F-35 fighters.
All in all, the money spent by Finland on defense will clearly meet NATO’s limit of two per cent of GDP in the near future.
3Do other countries receive even more from a talented Finland than Finland receives in return?
Lindberg emphasizes that it is impossible to predict which country will ultimately benefit more, less from NATO membership.
– It is a matter of going ahead and highly speculative now to guess whether some countries will benefit.
No one knows where a possible next military attack will be.
The country hit by the crisis will benefit from the help of other NATO countries, but of course no country wants to be in a situation where such help is needed.
– An armed attack is a negative lottery win for a country where a positive lottery win is that NATO comes to the rescue, Lindberg puts it.
4Finland accesses NATO’s confidential intelligence “It is the basis of all activities”
The secret folders of NATO intelligence will be opened if Finland and Sweden become members of the alliance.
At the same time, the two new members mean that NATO’s defense and crisis plans for the Nordic region need to be updated. Then Finland will actually be able to see what kind of operational plans different countries have made to defend the neighboring area and how tasks have been divided by different regions.
An information exchange agreement between Finland and NATO is already in force.
According to Lindberg, the amount of surveillance information, intelligence and operational information will deepen decisively through NATO membership.
“Intelligence is the basis of all operations,” says Lindberg.
The value of the intelligence is illustrated by how Ukraine has managed to avoid Russian missile strikes, for example, by regrouping troops based on intelligence.
– Its importance cannot be overemphasized, Lindberg continues.
As a member of NATO, the Finnish control system will become part of NATO. NATO surveillance aircraft and aircraft would fly in the airspace of Finland and Sweden, even collecting information from the area on a daily basis.
From the routes of flight routes, such as Flight Radar, the movements of NATO surveillance aircraft can already be tracked. After membership, they would also be visible in Finnish airspace.
– NATO’s picture of Finland is improving, and Finland is getting a better picture of our environment in the return mail.
5Benefits: Stability in the Baltic Sea region may increase, but the importance of Finland’s 1,340-kilometer border has been dramatized
By the government this spring security report (you switch to another service)According to Finland, Sweden’s membership of NATO would bring stability to the Baltic Sea region “in the long run”, ie in the coming decades, as NATO membership would raise Russia’s threshold for using military force towards it.
According to Jarmo Lindberg, there is no absolute truth about the report’s policy. He emphasizes that this is exactly the case at best: Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO membership will bring stability to the Baltic Sea region.
– But that’s only the other half of the coin. The other side of the coin is if someone else on the other side doesn’t like the idea.
– I would say that we hope that the effect will be stabilizing, but the end result is not in our hands alone. This is the most honest description of it.
As societies, Finland and Sweden are stable liberal democracies. Membership of all five Nordic countries is also expected to affect NATO’s structures and decision-making. This has been assessed by, among others, the Minister of Finance, the Center Annika Saarikko and the Minister of Justice, the NCB Anna-Maja Henriksson.
On the whole, a stabilizing scenario is entirely possible, Lindberg says.
On the other hand, he does not fully sign the threat pictures that have been painted, especially in the foreign media, when 1340 kilometers of the common eastern border between Finland and Russia come from Finland.
According to Lindberg, the importance of the forest border has been dramatized. Taiga and swamps, for example in the case of Kainuu or North Karelia on the west side of the border, are not Russia’s main area of interest, even if the NATO border runs through the desert.
The Russian military forces close to Finland are in the vicinity of St. Petersburg on the one hand and on the Kola Peninsula in the north on the other. Their main destination is behind other seas.
– One should not just stare at the length of the border. There is an empty taiga between Peter and Kola. There are talents in Kola that are not primarily targeted at the surrounding areas or the Nordic countries, but are part of a global strategic deterrent.