Stronger NATO, more decisive EU: What Putin’s war hath wrought
When a pro-NATO group in Finland began circulating a petition last week demanding a referendum on whether the traditionally non-aligned country should join the U.S.-led transatlantic defense alliance, the response was overwhelming.
The 50,000 signatures required to prompt a referendum debate in parliament were obtained in a matter of hours in a country of only 5.5 million.
The referendum fervor was reflected in a poll released Monday by Finland’s state broadcaster Yle. For the first time in decades of asking Finns the same question, a majority of those polled – 53% – said they favored joining NATO. Just a month ago the Helsingen Sanomat newspaper put that number at less than 30%.
What caused what former Finnish Prime Minister Alex Stubb called a “historic shift”?
In a
