Finland and Sweden do not have a fast track to join NATO. If they apply for membership, they must be able to show they can meet NATO’s political, military, legal, resource and security preconditions, or at least have a plan to address any obvious shortfalls.
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Due to its proximity to the Baltic states, its relevance to China and its recent publication of a strategy document on that country, Sweden’s policy towards Beijing should be of great interest to the Baltic countries.
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Occasionally, suggestions are aired about the potential participation of partner nations in NATO activities that are directly related to the Alliance’s core task of collective defence.
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On 24 August, the Swedish Armed Forces issued a press release stating that they were stepping up military readiness because of Russian and Western military activity in the Baltic Sea region of an intensity not seen since the Cold War. The press release raised the interest of the media and was reported by various outlets, including the Financial Times and the Washington Post.
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The Swedish general election of 9 September 2018 generated very unclear results, at least by that country’s standards.
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In some ways, the 2018 Swedish general parliamentary elections defied expectations. Despite intensive polling, few pollsters made even roughly correct predictions about the outcome. At the time of writing, though, the actual results are not quite all in.
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On 20 June 2018, seven Finnish and seven Swedish former ambassadors, journalists and military officers published a debate article advocating NATO membership for their two countries. The article was published in Svenska Dagbladet in Sweden and in several newspapers belonging to Lännen Mediat in Finland.
The article is printed below in an English translation.
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A subdued but still dramatic sign of the fundamentally changed security situation in the Baltic Sea region is about to be delivered to some five million Swedish households this week, that is to the entire population of the kingdom of Sweden.
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On 8 May 2018, the Finnish and Swedish Ministers of Defense, Jussi Niinistö and Peter Hultqvist, met with U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis at the Pentagon.
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In Sweden, it is Sälen time again. In January each year, Swedes interested in national and international security issues convene in the enchanting Dalarna town of Sälen to debate Swedish defence and security policy.
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