Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO

[Stevicus]

Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO | AP News

Apparently, the sticky point was due to Sweden's and Finland's stance on Kurdish rebel groups, which Turkey objected to.

MADRID (AP) — Turkey agreed Tuesday to lift its opposition to Sweden and Finland joining NATO, ending an impasse that had clouded a leaders’ summit opening in Madrid amid Europe’s worst security crisis in decades, triggered by the war in Ukraine.

After urgent top-level talks with leaders of the three countries, alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that “we now have an agreement that paves the way for Finland and Sweden to join NATO.” He called it “a historic decision.”

Among its many shattering consequences, President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted Sweden and Finland to abandon their long-held nonaligned status and apply to join NATO as protection against an increasingly aggressive and unpredictable Russia — which shares a long border with Finland. Under NATO treaties, an attack on any member would be considered an attack against all and trigger a military response by the entire alliance.

NATO operates by consensus, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had threatened to block the Nordic pair, insisting they change their stance on Kurdish rebel groups that Turkey considers terrorists.

After weeks of diplomacy and hours of talks on Tuesday, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö said the three leaders had signed a joint agreement to break the logjam.

Of course, they haven't become members yet. It has to be ratified unanimously by all 30 member countries.

Turkey said it had “got what it wanted” including “full cooperation ... in the fight against” the rebel groups.

Stoltenberg said leaders of the 30-nation alliance will issue a formal invitation to the two countries to join on Wednesday. The decision has to be ratified by all individual nations, but he said he was “absolutely confident” Finland and Sweden would become members, something that could happen within months.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said the agreement was “good for Finland and Sweden. And it’s good for NATO.”

She said completing the process of membership should be done “the sooner the better.”

“But there are 30 parliaments that need to approve this and you never know,” Andersson told the Associated Press.

Turkey hailed Tuesday’s agreement as a triumph, saying the Nordic nations had agreed to crack down on groups that Ankara deems national security threats, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, and its Syrian extension. It said they also agreed “not to impose embargo restrictions in the field of defense industry” on Turkey and to take “concrete steps on the extradition of terrorist criminals.”

Turkey has demanded that Finland and Sweden extradite wanted individuals and lift arms restrictions imposed after Turkey’s 2019 military incursion into northeast Syria.

Turkey, in turn, agreed “to support at the 2022 Madrid Summit the invitation of Finland and Sweden to become members of NATO.”

Details of exactly what was agreed were unclear. Amineh Kakabaveh, an independent Swedish lawmaker of Kurdish origin whose support the government depends on for a majority in Parliament, said it was “worrisome that Sweden isn’t revealing what promises it has given Erdogan.”

Andersson dismissed suggestions Sweden and Finland had conceded too much.

Asked if the Swedish public will see the agreement as a concession on issues like extraditions of Kurdish militants regarded by Ankara as terrorists, Andersson said “they will see that this is good for the security of Sweden.”

U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated the three nations on taking a “crucial step.”

Amid speculation about a U.S. role in ending the deadlock, a senior administration official said Washington did not offer any concessions to Turkey to coax it to accept a deal. But the official said the U.S. played a crucial role in helping bring the two parties closer together, and Biden spoke with Erdogan Tuesday morning at the behest of Sweden and Finland to help encourage the talks.

The agreement came at the opening of a crucial summit, dominated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, that will set the course of the alliance for the coming years. The summit was kicking off with a leaders’ dinner hosted by Spain’s King Felipe VI at the 18th-century Royal Palace of Madrid.

Top of the agenda in meetings Wednesday and Thursday is strengthening defenses against Russia, and supporting Ukraine.

Moscow’s invasion on Feb. 24 shook European security and brought shelling of cities and bloody ground battles back to the continent. NATO, which had begun to turn its focus to terrorism and other non-state threats, has had to confront an adversarial Russia once again.

Biden said NATO was “as united and galvanized as I think we have ever been.”

A Russian missile strike Monday on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk was a grim reminder of the war’s horrors. Some saw the timing, as Group of Seven leaders met in Germany and just ahead of the NATO gathering, as a message from Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is due to address NATO leaders by video on Wednesday, called the strike on the mall a “terrorist” act.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko traveled to Madrid to urge the alliance to provide his country with “whatever it takes” to stop the war.

“Wake up, guys. This is happening now. You are going to be next, this is going to be knocking on your door just in the blink of an eye,” Klitschko told reporters at the summit venue.

Stoltenberg said the meeting would chart a blueprint for the alliance “in a more dangerous and unpredictable world” — and that meant “we have to invest more in our defense,” Stoltenberg said. Just nine of NATO’s 30 members meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense. Spain, which is hosting the summit, spends just half that.

Another interesting development is that Pacific Rim allies (Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand) will be joining the NATO summit as guests.

Beneath the surface, there are tensions within NATO over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make to end the fighting.

There are also differences on how hard a line to take on China in NATO’s new Strategic Concept — its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals. The last document, published in 2010, didn’t mention China at all.

The new concept is expected to set out NATO’s approach on issues from cybersecurity to climate change — and the growing economic and military reach of China, and the rising importance and power of the Indo-Pacific region. For the first time, the leaders of Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand are attending the summit as guests.

Some European members are wary of the tough U.S. line on Beijing and don’t want China cast as an opponent.

This has not escaped China's attention: China Rails Against NATO as Asian Rivals Attend Summit for First Time (newsweek.com)

The top Chinese envoy to the United Nations railed against NATO on Tuesday ahead of the alliance's anticipated rebuke of China at its annual summit, which has invited four heads of government from the Asia-Pacific for the first time this year.

At a Security Council briefing on the war in Ukraine, Ambassador Zhang Jun expressed concerns about the "protracted and extended" nature of the conflict, which had produced a "dire" humanitarian crisis with mounting civilian casualties. The senior Chinese diplomat then dedicated one-third of his time to the North Atlantic Alliance.

"The Ukraine crisis has once again sounded the alarm for the world. Blind faith in a position of strength, the expansion of military alliances and the pursuit of one's own security at the expense of the security of other countries will inevitably lead to a security dilemma," said Zhang.

"NATO's five rounds of eastward expansion after the Cold War not only failed to make Europe more secure, it also sowed the seeds of conflict," he added.

Zhang said Beijing was "deeply concerned" by the bloc's "strategic adjustment," under which the alliance seeks to train its sights on the critical issue of dealing with China going forward.

China is concerned that the U.S. might try to form an Asia-Pacific equivalent of NATO.

"We urge NATO to learn its lessons and not to use the Ukraine crisis as an excuse to stoke worldwide bloc confrontation or provoke a new Cold War," Zhang told the Security Council, "and not to look for imaginary enemies in the Asia-Pacific or contrive disputes and divisions."

China opposes the bloc's involvement in the region as well as "using military alliances to piece together an 'Asia-Pacific version of NATO,'" Zhang said. "The turmoil and conflict happening in parts of the world must not be allowed to happen in the Asia-Pacific."

NATO leaders are gathering in Madrid until Thursday when they're expected to lay out the alliance's plans to address what it perceives as a long-term security challenge posed by Beijing. This year's summit is notable for its first-ever invitations extended to the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.

The attendance in Brussels of Prime Minister Kishida Fumio of Japan and President Yoon Suk-yeol of South Korea—the leaders of key U.S. treaty allies in Northeast Asia—will cause particular concern in Beijing as well as Pyongyang, which this week also accused NATO of expanding into its neighborhood.

China's renewed opposition to NATO and its rejection of Western sanctions against Russia have been key features of its foreign policy since the outbreak of war in Ukraine. Beijing sides with Moscow's claim that the bloc's eastward expansion, rather than the Kremlin's geopolitical designs, caused Russia to invade its neighbor. The West also sees China as having provided Russia with significant political cover at the U.N. and elsewhere.

Another story which is somewhat unrelated but interesting was that India will be paying for Russian coal shipments using Chinese Yuan. It makes me wonder what could happen if India, China, and Russia establish an even cozier relationship between themselves.

India could soon overtake China as the world's population leader.

 

[Fool]

Turkey lifts its objections to Sweden, Finland joining NATO | AP News

Apparently, the sticky point was due to Sweden's and Finland's stance on Kurdish rebel groups, which Turkey objected to.





Of course, they haven't become members yet. It has to be ratified unanimously by all 30 member countries.







Another interesting development is that Pacific Rim allies (Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand) will be joining the NATO summit as guests.



This has not escaped China's attention: China Rails Against NATO as Asian Rivals Attend Summit for First Time (newsweek.com)







China is concerned that the U.S. might try to form an Asia-Pacific equivalent of NATO.





Another story which is somewhat unrelated but interesting was that India will be paying for Russian coal shipments using Chinese Yuan. It makes me wonder what could happen if India, China, and Russia establish an even cozier relationship between themselves.

India could soon overtake China as the world's population leader.

india and china are kind of having their own territorial dispute in the Himalayan mountains.

India-China dispute: The border row explained in 400 words

 

[Viker]

Another story which is somewhat unrelated but interesting was that India will be paying for Russian coal shipments using Chinese Yuan. It makes me wonder what could happen if India, China, and Russia establish an even cozier relationship between themselves

Means we should consider scrapping American isolationism......or die alone in the cold bitter.

 

[sun rise]

China is right to be concerned that its warmongering over Taiwan, suppression of freedom in Hong Kong etc is drawing a response. The world is moving back to a bi-polar environment this time with a Russia-China "axis" on one side and many nations on the other side.

 

[Stevicus]

india and china are kind of having their own territorial dispute in the Himalayan mountains.

India-China dispute: The border row explained in 400 words

It's a simmering dispute which could probably be easily set aside if either country's priorities change.

 

[Stevicus]

China is right to be concerned that its warmongering over Taiwan, suppression of freedom in Hong Kong etc is drawing a response. The world is moving back to a bi-polar environment this time with a Russia-China "axis" on one side and many nations on the other side.

It could very well end up a Russia-China-India Axis.

 

[Stevicus]

Means we should consider scrapping American isolationism......or die alone in the cold bitter.

I don't think America has ever really been isolationist. Prior to the World Wars, our stance on foreign policy was probably closer to neutrality than anything else. Since WW2, we've been far more interventionist, which is also why we have more enemies in the world nowadays.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

And the cost?

President Erdogan's office said it "got what it wanted". But the deal was condemned by Kurdish activists.

Amineh Kakabaveh, a Swedish lawmaker of Iranian Kurdish descent, said it was a "black day" for Sweden. She argued that Stockholm was simply sacrificing the Kurds. [source]

 

[Twilight Hue]

india and china are kind of having their own territorial dispute in the Himalayan mountains.

India-China dispute: The border row explained in 400 words

Yea. They have been knocking the snot out of each other at the border.