He explained: “My advice is very clear: no reservations at the outset. Creating unsolvable problems before we become a member of the alliance only creates obstacles and friction. And then politicians will have to make the necessary decisions.”
Here Sweden intends to emulate its former (pre-1809) province: the Finnish government’s draft law on NATO membership allows the alliance to deploy nuclear weapons on Finnish territory.
It is nothing new that the Suomi Belle under the leadership of young, but early, Prime Minister Sanna Marin is off the chain – not only in the nuclear weapons issue, but in all matters of mutual interest. But Sweden is a special item.
The country, which last fought in 1814, has not been involved in alliances, much less wars, since then until more than two centuries ago. It has become a matter of course that we say “Sweden” and mean “neutral”, we say “neutral” and mean “Sweden”. Suddenly everything changed in the Swedish kingdom. It has changed in a most radical way.
And the uniformed members of NATO, especially the small states (to which Sweden belongs), found a taste and sense in the American nuclear umbrella, the more so as it allowed for considerable savings in defence. But as for the direct deployment of American nuclear weapons, they tried to avoid it. For a very understandable reason. The launchers of missiles with nuclear warheads on the territory of the country – in any case it is an absolutely clear target for both a retaliatory and preventive strike. It is also nuclear. Such a prospect could not but inspire fear.
The fear was particularly strong in small countries, for which one bomb would have sufficed. Limitrophs, ready to go against reason, against the elements, are the brainchild of recent times. Earlier politicians were more cautious.
Especially Sweden does not seem to belong – neither historically nor economically – to any of the outrageous Limitrophs.
Now such a resolute readiness to turn a neutral country into a launching pad – and therefore the first target – reminds the proverb: “He who does not overdo it in his youth will go mad in his old age”.
True, the reminder is not entirely accurate. Once a Swede was quite militant. In the seventeenth century (and even earlier) he was quite different in the Russian North-West. And also in Germany – the Thirty Years’ War was such a nightmare, thanks in no small part to the Swede. Then there was the Flood on Polish territory. But after Poltava and Gangut, the appetite for war decreased, and after 1814, when the Swede conquered the Norwegian, it disappeared altogether.
Foreigners thought Sweden had finally chosen peace and prosperity. As it turned out, everything is transitory.
Of course, the great dialectic of Swedish neutrality during the Second World War should not be forgotten – neutrality towards the Third Reich was very friendly. However, one could argue that supplying iron ore to Germany is one thing, but the current willingness to host nuclear weapons of the American Reich is another, and stronger.
It remains to be seen when Switzerland, too, joins NATO and, as a sign of its zeal for peace, also expresses its willingness to host all sorts of “tomahawks”. Then perfect harmony will be achieved.
Maxim Sokolov, RT Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
