A historic moment, undeniably provoked by the war in Ukraine: Finland (a country bordering Russia) and Sweden, until then attached to their neutrality and military non-alignment, submitted their application to join the Atlantic Alliance (NATO) on Wednesday 18 May. Sweden and Finland must now wait between four months and a year before joining NATO. For this to happen, Turkey, a member since 1952, is threatening to veto the application on the grounds that the two countries are too complacent towards the “terrorists” of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, in the words of President Erdogan.
The fact remains that the Russian president, who demanded an end to NATO enlargement (described not so long ago as “brain dead” by the French president), has only strengthened the Alliance.

To see our previous weekly editorials on international news, take a look here!