Putin’s plan to weaken NATO has backfired. Far from discouraging NATO expansion, now Nordic countries who had steadfastly remained neutral are clamoring to join NATO out of fears that Russia could invade them next.
Finland and Sweden formally submitted their membership applications in Brussels on Wednesday morning.
“I think it’s a total political and geostrategic game-changer, for northern Europe at least,” said Kate Hansen Bundt, secretary-general of the Norwegian Atlantic Committee, a think tank based in Oslo.
“Putin’s getting the opposite of what he demanded in December. He wanted to close NATO’s open door, and now he has opened it wide for two new members.”
In this clip, former CIA Director General David Petraeus discusses how Putin had made NATO great again, as well as President Biden’s visit to Asia, and his praise for Ukrainian forces.