The Finnish line
Yesterday, the Finnish flag was raised outside the NATO headquarters in Brussels as the nation officially became the 31st member of the defensive alliance. Despite adding less than 1% to the total population of NATO member countries, Finland’s admission is monumental as the country shares an 832-mile border with Russia — doubling the length of the border between NATO and its largest adversary.
Following Putin’s invasion last year, Finland’s swift application to join NATO marked a sharp departure from the Finnish public’s historical apathy towards joining, with 76% of Finns supportive of NATO membership by May 2022. That application became the fastest to be approved in the organization's history. Sweden’s application, however — which was submitted at the exact same time — is yet to receive the unanimous approval needed from all member states, as both Hungary and Turkey are blocking it.
Article 5 assurances
NATO was formed in 1949 with 12 founding members, including the US, UK, Canada and France, when leaders were fearful of Soviet expansion. Article 5 of the alliance’s charter — a collective agreement to treat an attack against one ally as an attack against all allies — is the key tenet of NATO.
For the threat of invoking Article 5 to be meaningful, NATO's guideline is that each member should spend at least 2% of their GDP on defense. Although just 7 of the members actually do so, the collective total still accounts for a whopping 56% of total global military expenditure — the US alone accounts for nearly 40%.
