Posted by IDQWE001 > 2023-03-31 10:30 | Report Abuse

The Russian invasion changed everything. All of a sudden, it was clear the best-case scenario was no longer possible—and after years of keeping the NATO option in its back pocket, Finland was ready to whip it out. Practically overnight, public opinion swung massively in favor of joining NATO, and top Finnish politicians from nearly all the country’s political parties got on board: A poll conducted by Finnish broadcaster Yle last May found that three-quarters of Finns wanted their country to join NATO, up from less than one-third in previous years.“Finland would not have joined NATO if it were not for [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Putin’s attack,” said Alexander Stubb, the former Finnish prime minister and finance minister. “This turned the opinion polls around not overnight, but over three nights, and the reason for that was obviously to a certain extent fear, but also realism: That if Putin can slaughter innocent Ukrainians like that, there’s nothing that will stop him from doing the same in Finland.”