Finland and Sweden on NATO Essay

Thesis: Although NATO provided assistance in containing the spread of communism, and its member countries applied economic pressure on the Soviet Union, neither NATO nor President Reagan should be solely credited with causing the fall of the Soviet Union and thus the end of the Cold War. Instead, it was a combination of the tough Reagan administration policies and NATO’s threatening military armory along with grave economic problems within the Soviet Union that ultimately brought the end to the Cold War.

Through initiatives such as the creation of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (NACC) and Partnership for Peace (PfP), and the establishment of a new Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), the member countries of NATO have opened the way for new forms of partnership and cooperation with other countries within the framework of the Alliance. On 27 May 1997, in Paris, NATO and Russia signed a historic agreement on their future relations. A few days later a NATO-Ukraine Charter was initialed in Sintra, Portugal, where NATO and Partner countries met to inaugurate the EAPC. A Dialogue with the Mediterranean countries, initiated in December 1995, is also being further developed. New structures and procedures designed to further the internal adaptation of NATO are being introduced. As part of this process, the development of the European Security and Defense Identity

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This declaration, made by former President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, is part of the Truman Doctrine, and was the basis for U.S. involvement in Western Europe throughout the Cold War. Although the North Atlantic Treaty, and the resulting North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), was established during the Cold War “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down,” NATO has persisted since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990. This essay will seek to examine the U.S. decision to create and participate in NATO. It will begin by providing a history of NATO and the U.S. decision to participate in NATO before considering how this decision is both an instance of continuity and change in U.S. foreign policy since former President George Washington’s Farewell Address. The essay will conclude by considering the legacy of this decision and its impact on U.S. foreign policy. While this essay will consider the period of time leading up to the formation of NATO and will briefly touch on the present day, greatest consideration will be paid to the time period immediately preceding and following the formation of NATO in 1949.

Near the end of WWII soviet Russia and America began installing governments elsewhere in the world, with this and the ultimate untrust between the two powers, the conflict began. Near that time, the Soviet Union violated agreements made at yalta and potsdam, they invaded Germany and started to set up small communist states. The US thought of this as another act of war. On April 4, 1949 The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO was established by the US. The purpose of this was to counter Soviet armies in central Europe after World War Two. NATO sought to strengthen the Western Allies’ military response to a possible invasion of Europe by the Soviet Union. Ultimately in July 1989, Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader in Soviet Russia, announced that Moscow will no longer be setting up communist governments in central and eastern Europe. After this event, NATO transformed into a political alliance, made to maintain international stability and safety in

It is copied across from the NATO ST-SC meeting minute, April 2015 (Action item “8” from the “Action List” at the last page of the minute due on 25th Sep 2015). The copy of the minute is attached for reference purpose only.

The United States has been widely accepted as a country where anyone can come and make him or herself into something out of nothing. It is the self-proclaimed “land of the free and home of the brave”. While all these glorious statements about America were once true, sadly now they are false. Every year our International upward-mobility ranking regresses, meaning it is becoming harder and harder for Americans to move up the financial ladder. But how is it that a country that has the largest GDP can be outside the top 10 in upward-mobility? Why is it that the most powerful and wealthy country in the world doesn’t have free/universal healthcare? How is it that while other nations have begun promoting free college tuition we have refused to do so? This is because the United States does not have a welfare state like the Scandinavian countries do. The United States isn’t a welfare state because Americans have an irrational fear of becoming “socialist”. Ever since the Cold War Americans have had a baseless fear of anything that resembles socialism, claiming it is anti-American. Some of the people who live in constant terror of a socialist America are our right-winged conservatives who have went out of their way to make sure there is minimal government intervention in all aspects of our lives. This should be a good thing, right? The fact that the government doesn’t intervene in the affairs of its individual

There are three primary forces directly responsible for current European defense. U.S. military forces assigned under United States European Command (EUCOM), North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), and European Union (EU) defense forces. A stable Europe is vital to U.S. interest and has been for well over 100 years. After World War II, NATO was formed to provide a forum for discussion on security and provide agreement for a collective defense of members. The EU continues to expand it role beyond economic benefits and include defense forces primarily for crisis management operations. This combination of forces increases compacity but effectiveness is reduced due to redundancies and lack of interoperability.

Finland became part of the republic. Finland was imperiled into World War II and embroiled in three separate controversies. The Organization for the Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in 1969 the European Union in 1995 and the Eurozone at its inception in 1999. During this time, it assembled and vast Nordic-style welfare state.

b) Both we pacts to deter the other party from going to war with one another, the NATO was also used though to render aid to those who need it.

Germany guaranteed economic aid to Slovakia and military protection and Soviet territory to Romania. Romania joined the axis powers on November 23, 1940 and Slovakia joined a day later. They also warned Hungary that German support for additions to Hungarian land from Czechoslovak and Romanian territory might change to benefit Slovakia and Romania (USHM). Hungary was mindful of recent German support for adding land in northern Transylvania and was eager for future lands added on from Transylvania to their land, Hungary joined the axis powers on November 20, 1940 (USHM). Bulgaria joined the axis powers on March 1, 1941 after Germany offered them land from Greece and that they did not have to participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia joined the on March 25, 1941 after Germany agreed to let Yugoslavia remain neutral in the war against Greece and they didn’t demand transit rights for Axis troops. 2 days later, Serbian military officers overthrew the government that signed the Tripartite Pact. This new country that was created was Croatia who joined the Axis powers on June 15, 1941. On June 26, 1941, Finland, who was looking to regain territory that it lost during the Winter War in 1939-1940, joined the fight against the USSR as a “co-belligerent” even though they never signed the

UN and NATO were both formed after major crises in the world. UN was being formed during and after WWII. In

The Russo-Finnish War, or Winter War, began on 30 November 1939 when the Soviet Union invaded Finland. The objectives of the Red Army were simply, conquer and subjugate all of Finland and re-establish the borders that existed prior to the First World War. The Soviet Union held the advantage in manpower, equipment, and resources, but the Finnish Army inflicted casualties on the Red Army that far exceeded their own. Not a single Red Army unit reached its initial objectives and Stalin was forced to come to the negotiation table and make a peace that left Finland as a sovereign state. The Finnish military was successful because the Red Army lacked competent leadership, didn’t have the proper equipment to fight in subzero temperatures, and the Finnish Army was able to adapt to a changing environment and use their smaller numbers to their advantage. The gaping holes in Soviet military capabilities helped fuel Hitler’s willingness to initiate Operation Barbarossa. Additionally, by invading Finland the Soviet Union turned a disinterested and essentially neutral into an enemy that had the capabilities to strike into the heart of Russia.

While “Washington is pushing hard to help Ukraine, enthusiasm seems weaker among NATO’s other members” (“Rumsfeld Praises Ukraine for NATO Membership Effort”). At the Vilnius, Lithuania conference in October 2003, less than half of the member countries were represented.

NATO starts the year 2000 with the issue of concern. The European Allies' defense capability, stabilization efforts in the Balkans, and relations with Russia are at the top of a highly charged agenda.

The integration of independent states through organizations such as the United Nations, the EU and NATO have