Sweden joining NATO would crush Russian power

• Both Finland and Sweden are set to join the NATO alliance this year.
• The two countries, previously neutral, changed their minds after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
• Finland and Sweden will both have to rejigger their armed forces away from territorial defense and toward helping defend an entire continent.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created an unwanted situation for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and one of the most unexpected effects of his actions is the flipping of former neutral states Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Instead of intimidating his Scandinavian neighbors into accommodating his demands, Putin’s invasion has pushed them into the waiting arms of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, where they will join 30 other countries in the collective defense of Europe.