Hopes that Sweden and Finland could quickly join NATO have gotten stuck due to the demands of Turkish leader Erdogan, The New York Times reported.
The Turkish leader is massively complicating a major step in the showdown with Russia, looking to extract concessions from NATO and the U.S.
When President Biden hosted the leaders of Finland and Sweden at the White House this year, he spoke in triumphal terms about their decision to join NATO after decades of neutrality, in the latest blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to undermine the alliance. It
Biden called it “a momentous day.” That was more than six months ago.
The two Nordic countries are still waiting for admission to the 30-member alliance.
Their membership has already been approved by 28 members. Hungary plans to vote yes early next year.
Which leaves just Turkey as the stop gate.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey is the only holdout. He has raised objections to the plan and it is feared he may be willing to delay it for several more months.
The worst-case scenario would be that Erdogan completely and single-handedly blocks the expansion entirely.
All member countries of the defense alliance bloc must approve of new additions, unanimously.
Analysts and officials said that behind the veneer of smooth diplomatic talk is a grubbier effort to placate Erdogan, who has seized on a moment of leverage created by the fact that NATO governs by unanimous consensus.
Member states are critical of the Turkish strongman for cynically complicating a major step in the showdown with Russia, looking to extract concessions before the Turkish elections next spring.
Meeting with his Swedish and Finnish counterparts in Washington on Thursday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was confident that the two nations would be admitted.
If the two countries are added, it will vastly expand NATO’s border with Russia.
And as Biden put it, the expansion will do to Putin “exactly what he did not want” in his confrontation with the West over the war in Ukraine.
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