Senate Easily Passes NATO Memberships

| August 4, 2022


The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly passed a resolution approving Finland and Sweden’s request to enter into NATO, 95 to 1. This marks a pivotal step toward expanding the 30-member alliance. The bi-partisan support for the additions are the direct result of Russian President Putin’s invasion of the Ukraine.

Twenty-three Member States have already ratified the accessions.

The lone dissenter? Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).

Senate Votes To Add Finland, Sweden to NATO

Twenty-three NATO members have now ratified the accessions. Seven still need to act.

BY JACQUELINE FELDSCHER

The Senate overwhelmingly approved the addition of Sweden and Finland to NATO on Wednesday, taking a step toward extending the alliance’s border with Russia by more than 800 miles.

The 95-1 Senate vote made the United States the 23rd of NATO’s 30 countries to act since the alliance accepted the two nations’ applications in June, ahead of its annual summit in Madrid. It also means senators met their goal of approving the additions ahead of the Senate’s August recess, which begins next week.

“The United States is about to welcome two capable, qualified, and deserving members into NATO,” Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote “Particularly as we face Putin’s dangerous campaign against Ukraine, I remain committed to strengthening global coordination to preserve our rules-based order and ensuring NATO continues to be the strongest it’s ever been.”

Seven nations, including Turkey, Greece, and Spain, still need to act before Finland and Sweden formally join the alliance.

Defense One

Ironically, Putin claimed NATO with border country Ukraine as a member was a threat and required direct action. Now he has all that and more, or will shortly. Well done, Vlad.

Hat tip to our very own Ex for the inspiration.

Category: Dick Stepping, Foreign Policy, Guest Link, NATO

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Hack Stone

This NATO Membership Club is a scam. They give you thirteen weapons system platforms for a penny, then they jack up the price.

26Limabeans

The magazine alone is worth the price….

ChipNASA

Josh Hawley,
Jebus, what a little bitch.
“Oh we can’t expand NATO because we’ll end up footing the bill. Trump made them other NATO countries pay their share…Oh and I”m going to be running in 2024.”
Fuck you jagoff.
MOAR NATO is a good thing.
Turd (Sorry, h/t Green Thumb.)

Roh-Dog

The Senate rejected a second amendment from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., by a 10-87 vote that would make clear that NATO’s Article 5 commitment to defend other members does not supersede the constitutional requirement that Congress must declare war before the United States takes military action. Paul introduced a similar amendment that failed in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last month. 

Paul voted present, as he also did in committee. 

So 2 of 100 recognize the threat of Europe’s reckless behaviors with a further 10 having read and underfkingstood the Constitution?

Remember the Republic as She was.

timactual

“Take up the White man’s burden
And reap his old reward:
The blame of those ye better,
The hate of those ye guard
The cry of hosts ye humour
(Ah, slowly!) toward the light: —
“Why brought ye us from bondage,
“Our loved Egyptian night?” “

Roh-Dog

That’s a point. Yet us helping to build the Fourth Reich by disabusing those countries last bits of liberalism and national sovereignty is inherently undermining the purpose of These States United.

If they’d prefer servitude it should not be us enabling them, as:

-One foreign land in that unholy alliance can bring us to conflict.

-A two-thirds threshold of We the People is required for us to declare it so.

Where’s the reason? A logic?

KoB

Three of the Greatest Military Leaders in History had this to say back yonder…

George Washington…”avoid foreign entanglements…”

Bobby Lee…”will become aggressive abroad and despotic at home…”

George Patton…”We should go ahead and take care of the Russians while we’re already here…”

Ike…”Beware the Military Industrial Complex…”

And here we are. jes’ sayin’.

We have wasted way yonder too much American Lives, Blood, and Treasure on defending/defeating the world from itself. Here’s a novel thought…Let’s put all of that toward defending America.

Roh-Dog

“To summarize: Three steps must be taken to smash the war racket. 1. We must take the profit out of war. 2. We must permit the youth of the land who would bear arms to decide whether or not there should be war. 3. We must limit our military forces to home defense purposes.” —Smedley D. Butler

5JC

Half the youth of our land think socialism is a good idea. So much for the youth of our land….

Roh-Dog

Nature-made or synthetically-derived stupidity?
Answer who benefits from socialism and you’ll find the same hand writing the script of our government education centers.

jeff LPH 3 63-66

Looks like josh wasn’t joshin when he voted nay on the bill.

USAF E-5

Ok, so when does Russia get to join NATO? Pretty clear the standards aren’t very high. You’ve already let Turkey in, looking to let Ukraine in, so it’s pretty clear fascism isn’t a bar to membership. So Russia’s criminal enterprises ought to go pretty well with the Belgium, French, and Italian enterprises. Should drive those opium prices down, help out the street level addicts. Can’t see that coming from 138th street at all. BTW your “NATO countries paying their share?” https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/2021/6/pdf/210611-pr-2021-094-en.pdf yeah, US and Germany were both supposed to supply 16% annually starting 2019. US suppiled 726 Billion$, rest of NATO 323$. So, yeah, eat that up. They’re giving it away for free. How can Europe supply Ukraine arms? Well, they’re not spending it defending themselves. They’ve got Uncle Sugar providing. Sorry, I just worked with them 4 years, I know they’re corrupt. It’s their natural state.

David

“let Turkey in”…they’ve been in longer than you’ve been alive. 1952, to be exact.

26Limabeans

During my military industrial complex career I worked with a lot of Turkish military across three major companies and
four different weapons systems. They’re everywhere.

11B-Mailclerk

Russia joining NATO might defuse a bunch of issues.

And China would fart dust for a month if such occurred.

Side note: Finland was the only Axis-aligned nation not occupied after WW2.

5JC

By 1944 they had switched sides. Finland had to fight three different wars during WWII.

26Limabeans

On skis

5JC

Russia probably is the one you don’t want in. They rival the US with the number of offensive wars they have fought in the last 100 years or so. Just in this Century they are almost even with the US 5 (Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, Syria) vs 4 (Chechnya, Georgia, Ukraine, Central Africa). Too many alphas in the pack will lead to infighting.

Sure you could argue that France is involved in more offensive wars than either but firstly they aren’t even in NATO half the time and secondly they are hopeless at war fighting and just get upset and leave when they get tired and prissy.

timactual

And yet we are supposed to believe that Finland is in imminent danger of being invaded by the evil Rusky.