Wed Apr 5, 2023 – 4:08 pm EDT
(LifeSiteNews) – In a week which saw former Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s party lose in the national elections, Finland has formally joined NATO.
In a coup for the U.S.-led military alliance, the move sees Finland abandon its neutrality. Its membership, finalized on April 4 in a ceremony in Brussels, sees NATO move eastwards once more.
Since the assurances of the 1990s, when former Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev was told that NATO would not move “one inch eastwards,” the organization absorbed fifteen former Warsaw Pact nations. A process which began with East Germany, and paused with the accession of North Macedonia in 2020, NATO enlargement is once again taking place.
With the addition of Finland, NATO’s land border with Russia now extends to over 1,500 miles. Neighboring country Sweden – also formerly non-aligned – is in talks to join the organization, with the procedure for membership ongoing.
NATO is obviously strengthened by this move. Why would Finland take such a step? On closer inspection, Finland’s national sovereignty has been ended by a political popularity contest.
Political maneuvers
The Finnish Social Democratic Party was initially opposed to NATO
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at LifeSite News
The views expressed in this news alert by the author do not directly represent that of The Christian Journal or its editors