![]() After World War II, Finland and Sweden opted for (or felt obliged to opt for) a neutral stance in the Cold War, staying out of NATO and hoping that, in exchange, Moscow would respect their independence. They want to see Russian power broken.įour Nordic countries-Finland, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway-all have their own well-established reasons for unease about Russia. These countries’ leaders instinctively understand the threat of Russian imperialism, and take Moscow’s rhetoric about national expansion and greatness as the menace that it is. Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia were ruled as Soviet vassals during the Cold War. During the 20th century, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were incorporated into the Soviet Union against their will. The longer the war has gone on, and the more grotesque the crimes and destruction that the Russian government has been willing to commit against its neighbor and ostensible “little brother,” Ukraine, the more these states have become convinced that Russia must not only be denied a victory but be defeated outright. That message has sounded more and more discordant to states to Germany’s north and east. Washington and Berlin have kept sending the same mixed signals: Russia cannot win the war, and Ukraine cannot be allowed to lose, but in the end, the defenders might have to make some significant concessions to the invaders to secure a peace deal. have tried to give Ukraine enough military aid to perform well on the battlefield, but not so much that the Ukrainians can drive Russian forces out of all of occupied Ukraine-including areas that Russia occupied in 2014. Since the start of the war, Germany and the U.S. Tom Nichols: To defend civilization, defeat Russia or Germany does, because they don’t have the option of complacency. In this case, some of NATO’s smaller members and partners understand the Russian threat far more clearly than the U.S. or Germany, to amplify their own influence by drawing on the forces of smaller nations. The episode is a reminder that a security alliance isn’t just a means for major powers, such as the U.S. In an impressive show of diplomatic muscle, they forced NATO’s two greatest powers to take a step that Biden and especially Scholz have clearly been afraid of taking. Finally, the smaller countries had had enough. For months, President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, fearing an escalation of conflict between the West and Russia, had stubbornly put off Ukrainian requests for the powerful, highly maneuverable vehicles, and the European states most directly vulnerable to Russian aggression-in Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and Central and Eastern Europe-had grown more and more frustrated with Washington and Berlin. governments finally agreed this week to supply some of their most formidable battle tanks to Ukraine, the balance of power within Europe perceptibly shifted.
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