Finland in Nato: Russia's neighbour always ready for war

I think it's insulting to call Finland's co-belligerency with Germany a dark mark. What else was Finland to do when the West had allied themselves with the Soviets? When times are desperate, you take the help you can get. Britons are in no place to shame the Finns when they themselves allied with the Soviets.

These folks are not naïve. Amazing stuff. Their position required realism. Well done for Finland. Their government gets what its job is - protecting citizens. The West could not hope to get a better ally. Long live Finland.

The basic difference between Sweden and Finland is, that Sweden is a country, which has an army and Finland is actually an army, which has a country.

Finland is an amazing country. Welcome to the alliance. Love from Scotland :)

Served with Fin's in Africa and they were fantastic soldiers strong smart and above all a great sense of humour . Would gladly fight beside them. Greetings from Dublin Ireland

As a Czech, I am happy to see Finland and Sweden in NATO.

Finland will make an exceptional ally to have in NATO. Their preparedness and forward thinking are second to none. They have my respect and admiration. 🇺🇲🤝🏻🇫🇮

Finland had barely survived Winter War, and Finns knew Soviet Union was bound to attack again. Finland tried getting help from the Allies, but they considered Finland's independence worth Soviet Union's support in defeating the Axis Powers. It was either make a deal with Germany or be conquered by the Soviet Union, Finland chose the lesser evil. Finland did not agree with Germany's policies. Finland granted asylum to Jewish people and had Jewish people serving in its military. Germany tried to get Finland more integrated into itself, but Finland managed to keep its independent government and its military remained outside of German command structure, which made Finland an outlier and why it is often excluded from the Axis Powers. Finland got food, fuel and supplies from Germany in return for reparations and the use of Porkkala (area near the capital) as a military base. After surviving The Continuation War with its independence, Finland switched to the Allies and fought The Lapland War against Germany. Finland only made a deal with Germany because of the Soviet Union. Finland tried to get help from the allies first, but they refused. You can compare Finland to former Soviet countries and decide for yourself if Finland made the right decision.

Calling Finland an ally of Nazi Germany is historicly inaccurate and insulting. Anyone who knows ww2 hostory knows Finland faced an exitensial threat from the Soviet Union without any help from the west. After the Winter War, which Finland did not provoke, there was no choice but to cooperate with Germany.

Finland was never an ally with Nazi Germany. Instead, we had USSR as common enemy. Our goals were different from Germany's goals. That was the reason why Finland did not participate in the Leningrad siege and did not cut the Murmansk railway permanently even when Germany asked for it. Russia invaded Finland in WW2 because Russia (USSR) had close ties to Nazi-Germany. History remembers the 23 Aug 1939 Molotov - Ribbentrop Pact between Russia and Nazi-Germany. That agreement made possible for Russia and Nazi-Germany to invade Poland together in Sep 1939 and later for Russia invade Finland 30 Nov 1939. Russia was Nazi-Germany's best and practically only friend in Europe when WW2 started ... This Putin's Russia prefers to forget. In Lapland and at Suursaari Island Finnish troops fought the Germans in 1944-45. In this context one must remember that only four years earlier - during the Winter War - Russia and Nazi Germany had been in alliance. Germany prevented weapons deliveries to Finland in Winter War 1939-40 when we were fighting the Russians.

I think this is a very good report. As a Finn I didn't spot any errors, and you can see that they didn't just do it as quickly and with as little effort as possible.

Finland's preparations are very impressive

"they asked for help but none came" so the same as Poland.

History is not black and white. Finland was not pro fascist, they were anti communist and that's why they sided with Germany against the very country that a year ago attacked them and stole their land. Don't say that Finland's allegiance to Germany left a dark mark on their history, for Finland only had a common enemy with Germany and did what any nation in their shoes would've done. I defy anyone to tell me the most liberal of democracies would not have teamed up with Germany against the USSR if they were put in Finland's position

The only country in the world who was ready for Covid. We all have much to learn from them! The only country who has learned that it can not really trust its allies in the weak west. Proud to be their neighbors 🇳🇴❤️🇫🇮

In the future Nato will say if you don't behave we send the Finns!

If joining forces with Nazi Germany left a dark mark on Finland's history, then joining forces with Soviet Russia left an equally dark mark on Britain's history. If Western powers would have answered when we asked for help, we would not have needed Hitlers weapons and troops. Finland did not share ambitions and morals with Nazis, we only had a common enemy. Our leaders did what they had to do to save our country and people from Stalin. We are not ashamed of it, not one bit.

There is much to learn from Finland and Sweden.

As Swedish, I only twitch a bit when they say that there where not any noticeable help during the winter war. - Sweden provided: 25 aircraft, 800 naval and submarine bombs, 144 artillery pieces, 100 anti-aircraft guns, 92 anti-tank pieces, 600 tank mines, 34 grenade launchers, 347 machine guns, 450 machine guns, 135,402 rifles, 301,849 grenades and over 51 million rifle cartridges. As well as about 9 500 volunteers joined the fight against Soviet.

Lauri Törni & Simo Häyhä we're great soldiers in their own way!