One of Putin's miscalculations was that his immediate one time non aligned neighbors, Sweden and Finland, would stay out of NATO, but his invasion of Ukraine spooked them so badly, they applied. So far, NATO member Muslim Turkey has attempted to block Swedish membership on the pretense that Sweden sanctioned a Quran-burning anti-Islam episode. The Times of London has possibly blown this scheme wide open, reporting the Quran burning was cooked up with the help of a pro-Putin journalist. . https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pro-putin-journalist-paid-for-quran-burning-stunt-in-sweden-cv0schbpg
Update: 3/3/23: Not so fast, though. Sweden's plight may not be resolved until early this summer, after Turkey's presidential election. Turkey appears today, per an MSNBC interview with the Finnish foreign minister, to give the go-ahead to Finland to join NATO. Finland has an 800-mile frontier with Russia and a long history of Russian attempted invasion of Finland as recent as at the beginning of World War II. It has attempted to feign neutrality in recent years but now sees its best defense is joining NATO which offers mutual defense treaties as the better protection. Russia's invasion of Ukraine was very instructive and motivating to both Sweden and Finland. Finland on Cusp of Joining NATO, but Maybe Not With Sweden - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
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