– Joe Biden’s the administration doesn’t really have any other security policy achievements, so Finland’s NATO membership is a bright spot, says the researcher Elisabeth Braw.
Many other things have gone wrong for the White House: according to Braw, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was chaos, and US relations with China are freezing.
When Russia launched a major attack on Ukraine, good news is scarce.
That’s why Finland’s NATO membership is a valuable achievement for US President Joe Biden – an exceptional foreign policy victory that should be celebrated all the way to Helsinki.
According to Braw, Finland’s NATO membership is a significant achievement also in terms of the US presidential elections to be held next year.
Biden can be opposed by the candidate of the Republican Party Donald Trumpwhich has no corresponding evidence of compacting the ranks of the West.
On the contrary, Trump and the Russian president Vladimir Putin summit in Helsinki five years ago left the impression that Trump trusted Putin more than his own administration.
Although foreign policy is not the number one reason for fishing for votes in the US elections, Biden can present Finland’s NATO membership as a victory. He will get good visual material next week in Helsinki.
– Biden can use pictures from Finland to show that US foreign policy is going well, says Braw.
According to Braw, the defense alliance NATO is not as distant an issue for US voters as is often thought in Europe.
– NATO has a close connection with America’s heartlands. I have to remember who serves in the armed forces. They are not the elite of the coasts, but the soldiers come from the heartland, Braw points out.
According to the US, it has in Europe over 100,000 soldierswhen navy soldiers sent to European waters are also included.
Finland has not yet decided whether troops from other NATO countries could be stationed in Finland.
“There is nothing negative to find in Finland”
Braw points out that it is easy for Americans to identify with Finns.
Finnish ice hockey players and other professional athletes are well known, and ex-prime minister Sanna Marin has received exceptional publicity in the United States.
– Everyone loves Finland as far as they know it. There is nothing negative to be found in Finland, says Braw.
According to Braw, even the commotion of the new government hardly hinders the pace, if the ministers excavation of extreme right-wing connections doesn’t end up in the American media on a daily basis.
– Foreign policy is mostly associated with the president of Finland, and he has been extremely successful in his meetings with Biden. From Niinist exudes the aura of a statesman, Braw estimates.
Next year’s NATO summit is even more important
Before the full-scale attack on Ukraine, Putin wanted less NATO, but with the war he got more NATO, like both Biden and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg have pointed out.
– Biden will surely remind you of this again, says the researcher Anna Wieslander.
Both Wieslander and Braw know Finland’s security policy well, and are able to evaluate it from the US perspective for their work.
According to Wieslander, the expansion of NATO is an excellent achievement for the United States, but in terms of Biden’s presidential election campaign, the climax is yet to come.
Therefore, the coming week is more useful for Biden that next year the NATO summit will be held in the United States and then the union will also turn 75 years old.
– It will be important for Biden’s campaign, says Wieslander.
Since it takes place in the United States, it is also more visible to Americans.
The end of Sweden’s NATO road
Next week, Biden will praise Finland for its well-managed defense, but then the NATO day begins.
According to Wieslander, the United States and NATO expect Finland to participate more in the defense alliance’s joint operations than before.
According to Wieslander, it requires a change in thinking in Finland. Until now, Finland has mainly only experience in crisis management operations and joint military exercises.
– Maybe Finland will also send its soldiers elsewhere, says Wieslander.
The biggest problem for both Finland and the United States is the prolongation of Sweden’s NATO membership. Strengthening the membership would make the Helsinki Summit an even bigger celebration.
However, time is running out.
Sweden, Finland, the United States and NATO are now trying a frantic diplomatic ultimatum to get Turkey to agree to confirm Sweden’s NATO membership.
The keys to the solution may lie with the United States, which could agree to sell Turkey the F-16 fighter jets it has been looking for. Turkey wants something significant in exchange for Sweden’s NATO membership.
The Biden administration would agree to the hardware deals, but persuading the US Senate is more difficult.
– Everyone says that it’s not about cow deals, but at the same time everyone knows that it’s about cow deals, says Braw.
China and US protectionism are straining relations
If there is time to talk about more than defense at the Helsinki summit, rifts in US-European relations may emerge.
The first point of friction can be found in the attitude towards China, which the United States considers a threat.
– Europe has tilted in the direction of continuing trade relations with China, and China is considered more of a partner, says Wieslander.
Another distortion is US protectionism. In the United States last year, a large was approved The legal package known by the abbreviation IRAthe purpose of which is to enhance actions against climate change and curb inflation.
The legal package favors American companies at the expense of, among other things, European companies.
– There is a threat of harm to Finland, and that is why Finland should seriously discuss with the Biden administration, Braw estimates.