Originally Posted by
Prunus Dessicata
It's an unfortunate time for NATO to be rattling the bars on Russia's cage by further expanding the relentless Eastward expansion all the way to the very doorstep of what the Russian people regard as their Rodina.
They know what happens when a hostile armed Power does that and they know the consequences to themselves in terms of blood sacrifice. For us, the German and French invasions seem like ancient history. For the Russian people, not so.
Timing this announcement to coincide with Russia's Victory Day was not mere happenstance. It's a deliberate provocation. NATO is like a gangster prodding a victim in the chest and yelling 'Wanna fight?'
Threatening to subsume Ukraine into NATO was bad enough. It provoked Russia into an insane military adventure. Shoving NATO's border right up to Russia's Eastern flank in Finland cannot possibly have a good outcome. Norway has a tiny border with Russia. Finland's border is huge.
Perhaps it's worth repeating: NATO is a defensive alliance of independent nations not a centralised hegemony. The Scandinavians have been reluctant to join, until recently, when they witnessed Russia march over its border to invade a neighbouring sovereign country. At that point they lost confidence in any Russian guarantees and sought a defensive pact with NATO.