Finland’s membership in NATO consolidates the US’ successfully reasserted unipolar hegemony over Europe, which thus makes it the primary takeaway. There aren’t yet any serious military implications and might ultimately never be any unlike what the Mainstream Media fantasized about, though the Alt-Media Community was also far off the mark in claiming that this development is inconsequential. As is nowadays the case, folks can’t take either of those two media’s narratives about anything at face value anymore.
Finland’s membership in NATO is being trumped by the Mainstream Media (MSM) as a major blow to Russia’s security after it resulted in doubling those two’s line of contact, not to mention the spin that’s being put on this development to claim that President Putin failed to defend his country’s interests. In reality, however, that Nordic nation has been a shadow member of this bloc for decades. Formalizing its security relationship with this US-led alliance is, therefore, more symbolically important than militarily.
The timing with which this happened helps shape the weaponized narrative that Russia’s special operation failed in its objective of stopping NATO’s expansion, but this perception is predicated on a false understanding of why that campaign was commenced. It was purely aimed at restoring the integrity of that country’s national security red lines in Ukraine after this bloc clandestinely them there, not in thwarting its expansion elsewhere, let alone rolling back its prior growth to Russia’s borders.
There’s a qualitative difference between Ukraine’s membership in NATO and Finland’s, and even between those two’s shadow memberships in this bloc. The first’s geography facilitates large-scale armored offensives while the latter’s naturally impedes this. Furthermore, Ukraine is culturally connected to Russia and is thus capable of functioning as an exporter of information warfare-driven divide-and-rule hybrid threats, while Finland has no such Hybrid War potential.
It’s with these reasons in mind that the Kremlin is taking a wait-and-see approach to Finland’s membership whereby it’ll recalibrate its regional military policy in response to whatever NATO deploys to this Nordic nation. RT also published two insightful pieces about this development that are worth reading: “Embracing the empire: What does NATO accession mean for the once famously neutral Finland?” and “Fyodor Lukyanov: Finland may come to regret joining NATO when everyone sobers up”.
The abovementioned articles reinforce the fact-based perception that Finland joining NATO is much more symbolic than substantive, especially regarding what it reveals about the US’ successful reassertion of its previously declining unipolar hegemony over Europe. About that trend, intrepid readers would benefit by reading the entirety of Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC) Director-General Andrey Kortunov’s piece from late last year about “A New Western Cohesion and World Order”.
He compellingly argues that the success of American policy towards Europe in the aftermath of his country’s special operation can no longer be denied, which discredits the wishful thinking narrative commonly pushed by the Alt-Media Community (AMC) alleging that the US is on the brink of collapse. Nothing could be further from the truth according to Kortunov, though that also doesn’t mean that its victory in the New Cold War can be taken for granted like the MSM has a tendency to imply.
Rather, Finland’s membership in NATO simply proves that the US has successfully consolidated its “sphere of influence” over the West, thus turning it into a unified pole amidst the impending trifurcation of International Relations. This rapidly unfolding process will result in the US-led West’s Golden Billion, the Sino-Russo Entente, and the informally Indian–led Global South becoming the world’s three most important players, whose complex interplay will determine the contours of the emerging world order.
Returning to the event that inspired this analysis, Finland’s membership in NATO accelerates the aforementioned process, which thus makes it the primary takeaway. There aren’t yet any serious military implications and might ultimately never be any unlike what the MSM fantasized about, though the AMC was also far off the mark in claiming that this development is inconsequential. As is nowadays the case, folks can’t take either of those two media’s narratives about anything at face value anymore.
