Finland’s Nordic neighbour Sweden, on the brink of joining NATO, signed a similar deal last week.

NATO’s newest member, Finland, has announced it will sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement next week with the United States.

The deal will allow Washington to station troops and store weapons inside the Nordic country, which shares a sprawling border with Russia.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told a news conference in Helsinki on Thursday that Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen will sign the so-called Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday.

  • @intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
    6•7 months ago

    The best way to prevent war is to have extremely deadly force on display, with the implicit promise of punishment to anyone who attacks.

    • @shalafi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4•7 months ago

      Remind lemmy next time someone is bitching about US defense spending.

      Yes, we could do shitloads better, but the most expensive thing on planet Earth is a 2nd rate military.

          • @intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
            1•6 months ago

            Until a person is forced to grapple with violence aimed at them, they will shy away from recognizing deterrence as a reliable method. Until they’re forced to, they won’t choose to face the existence of those they can’t reason with.

            I can’t think of any way around that.

        • @intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
          0•6 months ago

          They benefit from the nuclear standoff. Just like unarmed people in a room with a few armed guys. Nobody’s beating anyone else up in that room.

          • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
            1•6 months ago

            Uh huh. Middle East must be so peaceful in that case. Since everyone has guns everywhere. Glad to know that literally nothing violent is happening in the territories and Israel now. Same with school shootings in America. When I was a kid they were common, but when all the good guys with a gun got guns, school shootings vanished.

    • @afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2•7 months ago

      We should give a whole bunch of nukes to them also Ukraine also Poland. Just like so many and with ways to deliver them. Then Biden should take selfies with the nukes in storage there and have them emailed to Putin while Biden eats an ice cream cone.

      • @intensely_human@lemm.eeEnglish
        2•6 months ago

        Poland yes and Ukraine as soon as there’s peace there. I don’t know how I feel deploying nukes into an already-active warzone.

        Nukes make more sense to me when it’s quiet. Of course if you put a nuke in Ukraine, it’s sort of like defining the wall in Go. All the play has to now avoid that line. So maybe immediate nuclear deployment in Ukraine could work. I just don’t know. Haven’t thought it through.