There are seven recognized neutral countries in the world today, five of which are in Europe, and Sweden is one of them. But now the outbreak of a Russo-Ukrainian war has made the country, which has been neutral for more than 200 years, intend to abandon its principle of neutrality and join NATO in search of security. What led to this was a tougher security warning from the Russians.
So will joining NATO really make Sweden safer?
To discuss why Sweden wants to join NATO, we must first understand why Sweden has remained neutral for more than 200 years.
And what we are saying is that this is not because the Swedes love peace, but purely out of helplessness.
Historically, Sweden was one of the "big players" in European geopolitics. By the 17th century, Gustav II, Sweden's greatest king, had established the "Swedish Empire" that shook the European continent.
But by 1700, the Great Northern War between Sweden and Russia, which was at that time, was during the reign of Peter I, and the Russians, who could be called "protagonist possession", completely defeated Sweden in 21 years.
With this achievement, Peter I eventually became the greatest monarch in Russian history under the name of "Peter the Great", and Russia also changed the name of the country to "Russian Empire", replacing Sweden to dominate the Baltic Sea and becoming a Pole of Europe.
To the greatest displeasure to the Swedes, at the Vienna Conference in 1815 to divide the fruits of the anti-Napoleonic victory, the wrong Sweden was forced to cede Finland to Russia. After hundreds of years of going around, Sweden has once again returned to its original point before hegemony.
Faced with an outcome that it could not afford to lose, Sweden after the Vienna Conference publicly declared its permanent neutrality and would no longer participate in any political situation in Europe.
As a result, the Swedes will not regret this decision, and the two world wars that followed undoubtedly strengthened the Swedish determination to be neutral.
But in terms of political demands, the Swedes, who are completely "neutralized", must be unconvinced by Russia, the "enemy of a lifetime".
Especially after the October Revolution, Tsarist Russia was transformed into a Soviet union, not to mention geopolitical interests, and even ideology was opposed to Sweden.
Therefore, although it claims to be neutral and will never participate in nato's anti-Russian military alliance, throughout the Cold War era, Sweden is NATO's best off-field teammate, and if any country can disgust Russia, Sweden will help it openly and secretly.
Since even the two world wars were able to maintain a neutral position, and now in the face of the Russo-Ukrainian war, which can only be regarded as a local conflict, why did the Swedish government react so fiercely and make the decision to join NATO and completely abandon neutrality in less than two months?
This change is certainly not happening now, and the relevant shift in political attitudes has been paving the way for more than 30 years.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, but Sweden, which was almost "lying on the win", did not feel much joy because of it. This is because the collapse of the Soviet Union did not mean that the concept of "Russia" would henceforth disappear into the dust of history, but that the concept of "Russia" would return to its original form in the name of the Russian Federation.
And, as mentioned earlier, sweden's feud with the Russians began long before the birth of the Soviet Union, and the collapse of the Soviet Union was nothing more than a nightmare for Sweden.
What's more, Putin, who has come to power since 2000, has vigorously promoted Russian nationalism in an attempt to replace communism as a new ideological stabilizer for Russia.
Nationalism, on the other hand, is destined to require an external enemy as a target. So while Sweden itself has not been too involved in the post-Cold War Era's "siege" of Russia by the Western world, Putin has not regarded Sweden as the main target of this nationalism.
But such a country that almost changed its name back to the "Russian Empire" and the entire Western world stared at Sweden angrily... Unless the Swedes are really nervous, they will inevitably feel the cold from Moscow again.
Of course, throughout the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century, when the hegemony of the United States in the world was in full swing, the Russian Federation, which had just broken away from the Soviet Union, was seriously injured, and even at the doorstep of Europe, it was unable to compete with NATO.
In this case, the urgency of Sweden's accession to NATO is clearly non-existent. Coupled with the fact that joining NATO also means giving concessions to the United States in many places, Sweden naturally has no incentive to submit an application for membership.
But in 2014, Russia, which has always been in the ascendant, suddenly "rose up", while sending troops to occupy the Crimean Peninsula, while semi-openly instigating the division of the two states of Eastern Ukraine, personally opening the prelude to the tragedy of today's war.
For its own troops, of course, Russia claims to have been forced by NATO to "counterattack in self-defense", but the Swedes, who have already reacted to the stress of the Russians, obviously only have their own security problems in their eyes at this time: If one day in the future the Russians also "counterattacked in self-defense" against themselves, what would be the whole thing?
But the problem with Sweden is that the people's thinking is obviously very inertia, and they will not shed tears until they actually see the coffin.
Of course, the major political parties that rely on the support of public opinion will not rebel against public opinion on this issue, especially when this party is still the ruling party, and the anxiety of individual politicians about Russia will obviously not become the "mainstream opinion".
But on February 24, 2022, the "coffin" apparently hit the Swedish people directly.
Just one day after the outbreak of the war, Swedish support for JOINING NATO increased from 37 percent to 41 percent.
By the beginning of April, this support rate climbed further to 45%.
At this time, even the most obtuse politicians should know that they must adjust their attitude toward joining NATO.
Prime Minister Anderson of Sweden
Finally, there is another practical consideration, and that is the attitude of Finland.
Finland has historically been close to Sweden and has a common anti-Russian political appeal.
But Finland, geographically located further to the right of Sweden, is a country that directly borders Russia on land and is under much greater pressure from Russia than Sweden.
In the past, Finland, like Sweden, pinned its hopes on neutrality. But after this war, Finland, which completely broke through its defenses, was actually the country with the strongest desire to join NATO.
But if Finland joins NATO and Sweden does not, then Sweden will be in a very dangerous position. Because after Finland joins NATO, the risk of conflict with Russia will inevitably increase, but russia at this time will obviously not take into account the interests of Sweden behind Finland.
After all, the so-called neutrality is actually a complete look at the faces of the war participants, and only a big country that is comfortable with war will give a neutral country such a face.
In other words, even Ukraine can fight with Russia now, so once the conflict with NATO breaks out, it must be a life-and-death battle for Russia.
In the face of the end of the country that is about to be destroyed if there is a slight difference, will the Russians who are desperate for their lives give up the military strategic value of seizing Sweden's strategic resources and detouring from the north to the Western European continent because Sweden declares that it is neutral?
Once war broke out, Sweden was destined to be killed by pond fish.
Therefore, instead of lying in a fish pond and being burned to death, it is better to join NATO with Finland and lay down your life for your survival.
Swedish Prime Minister Anderson (left) and Finnish Prime Minister Marin (right)
Just on April 13, at a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Anderson announced that the Swedish government would propose a response to Russia's "special military operation" in late May, implying a formal decision on whether to promote NATO membership.
But will joining NATO really make Sweden safer?
Do the Swedes really think that the United States will still have the strength to save Sweden now?
Wouldn't the Swedes have thought that after joining NATO, they are destined to make Sweden's territory the main battlefield of the conflict?
What we can see now is that joining NATO is indeed in line with the current Swedish people's demand for their own security interests, but as to whether this demand can really be met, whether the Swedes will regret it in the future, it is probably only God knows. (Text/Dr. Jingjing)