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Comment by omega3 | Hacker News Reader

Let's hope that Sweden will also follow suit.

I hope not. To me it seems very unnecessary (please hear me out), first of all, it seems to be the common idea that Russia is losing the war, has a weak military, cannot invade another country successfully, but at the same time, we should be afraid of them? I've heard the argument that it's the nukes that we should be afraid of, but does joining NATO really mean that they will surely not use them? I also assume that if they did use the nukes, they would target NATO countries anyway.

Don't get me wrong I do not support the war started by Russia AT ALL

> we should be afraid of them?

If all the war crimes, targeting of infrastructure, civilians, hospitals, forced deportation, looting, torture, setting up of artificial breakaway states hasn't so far convinced you then I'm afraid nothing ever will.

And it still seems realistic to you they will somehow invade Sweden by land and do these things?

It didn't seem realistic that they'll invade Ukraine yet they did (not in Desert Storm fashion but Mongol invasion way) You join an alliance like NATO to prepare for the possibility of a Russia invasion however likely/unlikely it is at a given point. As for Sweden in particular Gotland is 300km from Russia and it was remilitarized in 2016 - makes you wonder why.

The invasion of Sweden would most likely be limited to taking over Gotland to control the Baltic sea north of it.

(Think Crimea not the full scale invasion of Ukraine)

So you're willing to take your chances because the bully beat up someone else first?

They've shown their true colors and played their hand. They're significantly weaker now and will be for many years to come

> Russia is losing the war, has a weak military, cannot invade another country successfully, but at the same time, we should be afraid of them?

No matter the outcome, it is a very bad result for Ukraine. Look at all the destruction, loss of life, and loss of money.

i agree. the information war is being won by ukraine. i don’t think russia is in as bad of place as the news suggests, mostly because i don’t think i can trust the news. also i’d rather see an EU defense force than using america (nato) as security. ukraine has showed you don’t need eu or nato to get american help

> we should be afraid of them?

Putin behaved irrationally and his people loved him for it.

It was stupid for Russia to invade Ukraine. It did it anyway. It’s stupid for them to keep prosecuting a war they’re losing. He keeps pressing. It would be stupid for Putin to attack remaining non-NATO European countries. He’s threatening Moldova and Finland and Sweden anyway. He would lose a war against Finland. That says nothing about whether he’s try it. The only thing he seems to understand is overwhelming strength, and that’s NATO.

If Russia is currently bogged down in a losing war, now is the ideal time to join NATO since Russia cannot realistically threaten to invade in retaliation. Joining NATO may be unnecessary, but the downside is small and the upside is very large.

News reports claim insiders are saying they will as well: https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/planen-skicka-in-en-ansokan...

They more or less have to, the chances of Sweden becoming the next target for Putins belligerence have just gone up by 50%. It's the only country left that he can attack without immediate repercussions from NATO, though I suspect that even without NATO membership the EU would react very strongly to any attempt to make a mess in Sweden.

> It's the only country left that he can attack without immediate repercussions from NATO

Moldova?

Already done... sadly.

https://kyivindependent.com/national/transnistria-becomes-po...

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