Finland & Sweden have formally applied to join NATO this morning.

I am pretty relaxed about it tbh.

Putin simply hasn’t the resources to extend his war. His army is poorly prepared, trained and resourced, and I suspect that there are a lot of serious questions being asked in Russia.

If he is terminally ill as is being suggested, then I have no doubt that the Kremlin officials are as busy on manoeuvres inside the Kremlin as they are in Ukraine.

Frankly Putin only has himself to blame over the sudden expansion of NATO, and it was poor strategy on his part that brought this about.

He doesn’t necessarily need military resources. Cyber attacks have been threatened.

Iam64

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and his threats to countries that consider joining NATO make Finland feel joining is essential.

Placating him and suggesting Finland and Sweden shouldn’t join because it will be seen asa threat to Russia reminds me of the advice to victims of domestic abuse or rape. They’re often told, Don’t wind him up, don’t wear provocative clothing,keep quiet, comply with his demands otherwise he might lose his temper

I agree - I am just suggesting that their actions in applying to join will be seen by Putin as justification for his invasion of Ukraine, and that will feed more propaganda in Russia and sympathetic countries.

I have no idea what the answer is, but it is terrifying to see the world being held to ransom by one power crazy nutter.

I ran an arts/music festival at the weekend and my choir sang the Ukranian national anthem - a splendid tune, by the way. A young Ukranian refugee woman who is with a host family locally was in the audience and she was very moved by it and so grateful for this affirmation that they are not forgotten.

Germanshepherdsmum

He doesn’t necessarily need military resources. Cyber attacks have been threatened.

I think the West has resources to counter that.

I wish I had your confidence Maizie.

Finland's and Sweden's decision to join Nato is hardly surprising. The countries have discussed the matter for many years. They have also prepared for crisis.

When I visited my family in Sweden in 2018 a pamphlet was delivered to all households: ”Om krisen eller kriget kommer” (=If crisis or war comes). Between 1943 and 1991 a pamphlet ”Om kriget kommer” (=If war comes) was delivered on a regular basis. It contained information about how to act if war was declared. During the years of strong economic growth (1950s-1970s) Sweden invested in civil defense and a plan to prepare the population for an eventual invasion. In 1991 the distribution of the pamplet stopped. However, in 2018 it was renewed.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are all in NATO.

Sweden doesn't even have a border with Russia.

It does nothing to reduce tension although I understand why they are doing it, I’m sure it surprised Putin. Because Ukraine is a much tougher opponent than expected it will not attack Finland, which of course is quite close to St Petersburg. What Putin’s reaction will be is uncertain, NATO is sending more heavier weapons to Ukraine increasing Russian casualties, will they hit back in kind. Dangerous times!.

NATO takes a year to join in normal circumstances, wether a “fast track “ membership process is used we will see, it would be good.

MaizieD
You ask who is supplying Russia
some say it’s North Korea.

Whitewavemark2

I am pretty relaxed about it tbh.

Putin simply hasn’t the resources to extend his war. His army is poorly prepared, trained and resourced, and I suspect that there are a lot of serious questions being asked in Russia.

If he is terminally ill as is being suggested, then I have no doubt that the Kremlin officials are as busy on manoeuvres inside the Kremlin as they are in Ukraine.

Frankly Putin only has himself to blame over the sudden expansion of NATO, and it was poor strategy on his part that brought this about.

Except he still has nuclear weapons. And I agree 'who would be so crazy?' But we were saying the same thing right up until the minute he invaded Ukraine.

Also the term 'tactical' or 'battlefield' nuclear weapons is bandied around by the media to make it sound like 'cuddly nuclear weapons'.

These can be many times more destructive than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Germanshepherdsmum

He doesn’t necessarily need military resources. Cyber attacks have been threatened.

Putin is a past master at cyber attacks.

Why else would the UK have voted leave in the fraudulent referendum of 2016?

Why else would the most guillible Americans have voted for Trump in 2916?

Why would Boris Johnson ever become UK PM ?

2016 not 2916

We have no idea of what might happen in 2916 or even whether planet earth might in 2916 be populated by our descendants or even populated at all?

The threat of cyber attacks has never materialized, the tension over Ukraine has been high and I would have expected some disruption, so I presume they have been countered, if indeed they ever existed.

Cyber threats, or manipulation of social media have been used by Russia, to destabilise the west.
Trump had links with Russia. I don’t find it hard to believe the KGB did have Bad Stuff they used to manipulate Trump, or they bailed him out financially - or both. Trump abs honesty, dignity, reliability never appeared in the same room
How did London become londongrad. How did the Conservative party get so much funding from Russia?
I’m with GSM in concluding there’s more than military might at play here

Cyber threats and social media manipulation are different things.

Cyber attacks usually mean denial of service, or something like that. So they bring networks down for instance, or block access to important sites like bank sites. There are definitely ways to intercept that so I should think the UK authorities are thinking about how to protect us against that.

The point is that for many years Russia has quite successfully operated both cyber attacks and social media manipulation.