Finland will seek NATO membership immediately
Usual caveats that I&#x27;m not a diplomat, don&#x27;t have all the facts, etc etc., but this doesn&#x27;t seem like a rational move for Finland or NATO. The UK just yesterday agreed to protect Finland in the event of an attack, and the UK&#x27;s involvement would likely bring in many other NATO powers anyway, so arguably they&#x27;re getting protection they&#x27;d otherwise have to pay for for free. And actually, officially joining NATO will have consequences, as Putin has lined out. We can&#x27;t just go on ignoring that Putin exists and has demonstrated he is willing to follow through with his threats, especially when it comes to NATO expansion. I&#x27;m no fan of him nor his regime, but thinking he&#x27;ll back down if we just escalate the situation a little more is fantasy.<p>It&#x27;s a fact that Russia feels threatened by having NATO on their border. It&#x27;s a fact that Ukraine and Finland also share borders with Russia. It&#x27;s a fact that Putin is not going to allow himself to be removed from power by the West without a fight (at this point it&#x27;s a case of stay in power or get killed). Can the West not have a bit more nuance in its collective foreign policy, recognising these facts and that we&#x27;re far from living in a perfect world with flowers and rainbows? The former USSR states in Eastern Europe have until now (or until the early 2000s NATO expansion at least) served as a half-decent buffer zone between the West and Russia, and it&#x27;s served as a relatively stable diplomatic saddle point in keeping the peace.<p>EDIT: sigh, are we really just reddit these days, using downvotes to express disagreement? I&#x27;m not going to change my mind based on downvotes. Comment to tell me how I&#x27;m wrong.