Issue 707: Finland in NATO – Why It Matters | the topic

Like Scandinavian Sweden, the country has abandoned decades of neutrality to seek to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a US-led military alliance. In a conversation with Renata Le Bret, professor of international relations Oliver Stoenkel explained that the movement reveals a change in the cost-benefit arithmetic: the fear of aggression began to overcome the desire to avoid litigation with neighboring Russia. “Until recently, neutrality was not only part of the foreign policy of these two countries, but also an element of their political identity,” he says. For Stoenkel, the powers of the West are “setting up”, preparing for a permanent tension between Europe and Russia. “And something similar could happen later with regard to China,” the analyst adds. He will retract: “The most likely scenario remains a stalemate that could last for years.”

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Podcasts by: Mônica Mariotti, Isabel Seta, Tiago Aguiar, Gabriel de Campos, Luiz Felipe Silva, Thiago Kaczuroski, Gustavo Honório and Eto Osclighter. Presentation: Renata Le Pretty.