Soldiers, orders and routes in the Arctic – Corriere.it

Joe Biden sees it this way: “Putin thought he would end NATO, and instead Finland was born”. The American President joke, one of his favorite jokes, dates back to last summer. The approach process was longer than expected, but it was yesterday Even the Turkish Parliament gave the green light to Helsinki. Then Sweden’s time will come. At this point, the Baltic Sea would become a large expanse controlled by the Atlantic alliance. And This is perhaps the most glaring miscalculation committed by the Kremlin’s number one. So far, the cruisers, the submarine part of the Northern Fleet, based in Kaliningrad, the Russian fortified enclave between Poland and Lithuania, have moved fairly freely, disturbing, even better in fact, harassing traffic between the two neutral countries. Europe. From now on, NATO radars, satellites and spy systems, as well as US warships, will guard the last free zone in Europe.

There will also be consequences for the balance in the far north, In the Arctic, where melting ice opens unprecedented avenues of communication and sparks intense international competition to search for underwater gas fields.. Russia is one of the eight countries bordering the polar cap. The other seven countries are all part of the transatlantic alliance: USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and of course Sweden and Finland. It is easy to imagine who will find the advantage in the battle for military dominance that will inevitably accompany economic and commercial competition.

but The impact will also be profound on Earth. Finland shares a border of 1,340 km with its massive neighbours. For years it was one of the ancient continent’s most porous borders, with intense movement of goods and people, as well as cultural exchanges. And now Social Democratic Prime Minister Sanna Marin wants to build a 260-kilometer wall unprotected by rivers, lakes or birch forests.

Then there is the Lappish Army. This is where accountability becomes disastrous for Putin. Finnish governments have developed a system of “suspicious neutrality”. Several NATO members, including Italy, have abolished compulsory military service. Finland does not. The general command of the coalition in Brussels is now able to mobilize about 40,000 troops in a matter of days. The goal is to quickly reach 300,000. Helsinki could, in an emergency, immediately deploy an army of 280,000 units, made up of highly trained divisions, equipped with the latest technological equipment and, above all, able to integrate with the formations of other NATO countries (The so-called “interoperability”).

Of course, it is no coincidence that the United States enthusiastically welcomed the decision of the Finns. Newcomers will not be a burden. On the contrary, they will make a net contribution in terms of military resources and means. Moreover, Finland is one of the best customers for the American war industry. In December 2021, just to give an example, the San Marin government ordered 64 F-35 fighters from multinational corporation Lockheed Martin.