Thursday, May 19, 2022

President Biden Backs Sweden, Finland Joining NATO

 

ABC News: Biden backs Sweden, Finland joining NATO as Turkey threatens to block the historic bids  

Finland and Sweden submitted their historic applications on Wednesday. 

President Joe Biden welcomed Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and Finnish President Sauli Niinistö to the White House on Thursday to discuss their historic bids to join NATO. 

All three leaders called for swift acceptance of the applications amid resistance from Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who announced Thursday that his country will oppose Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.  

Read more ....  

Update #1: Biden cheers Finland, Sweden NATO plans as Turkey balks (Reuters)  

Update #2: Biden pushes Finland and Sweden to join NATO as future of European security questioned (Yahoo News)  

WNU Editor: The US Senate will approve Sweden's and Finland's NATO application .... Senate on track to approve NATO bids of Finland and Sweden (Politico). Turkish President Erdogan is another story .... Erdoğan doubles down on threat to reject Finland and Sweden's NATO bids (Axios).

Update #3: Hmmmm .... I am now hearing growing opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO from opposition leaders in Italy and Bulgaria. Is this the reason why Biden had to go publicly today to show his support to Finland and Sweden to join NATO? After-all. If this was a done deal, why make this White House statement by the US President. 

As for Turkey's opposition. I am now hearing that Erdogan was not consulted on Finland and Sweden's NATO bids. And he is not alone. I am hearing other countries were also not consulted. If true, this is showing a lot of amateurism from the White House who first pushed and green-lighted this NATO bid by Finland and Sweden.

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