Turkey splinters Nato unity with veto against Finland and Sweden

Event

Turkey has broken Nato unity on Finland and Sweden’s push to join the alliance, blocking an initial vote on accession after President Erdogan demanded that the two countries hand over dozens of Turkish exiles he accused of “terrorism”. The veto came hours after Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary-general, hailed a historic moment for western security following the submission of Sweden and Finland’s formal applications.

“This is a good day at a critical moment for our security. We all agree that we must stand together, and we all agree that this is an historic moment which we must seize. Every nation has the right to choose its own path.”

Nato ambassadors had met with the aim of swiftly processing the applications and to head off any Russian plans to undermine the security of the Nordic countries. The Turkish government’s opposition put a stop to the initial vote, according to reports from Nato headquarters in Brussels.

Comment

This week Finland and Sweden both formerly applied to join Nato – the military alliance that is designed to protect all nations in it from hostile states ie Russia.
Russia has reacted swiftly to this. Russia’s gas giant Gazprom confirmed it had completely halted all gas exports to Finland at 04:00 GMT on Saturday. This is the latest escalation of an energy payments row with the West. Turkey has said it will veto Finland and Sweden being able to join Nato. Most analysts don’t believe Turkey will be able to do this indefinitely though. Whatever the outcome we know that Turkey is allied to Russia when Putin finally decides to invade Israel.

Togarmah – figure in the “table of nations” in Genesis 10, the list of descendants of Noah that represents the peoples known to the ancient Hebrews. – Thargamos and his sons. The order of the figures from left to right is: Movakan, Bardos, Kartlos, Hayk, Lekos, Thargamos, Caucas, Egros. An opening folio of the Georgian Chronicles (Vakhtangiseuli redaction), 1700s.

Ezekiel speaks of Togarmah which covers much of modern day Turkey as one of the nations allied to Russia. We see Turkey on the fringe of the Nato alliance. It could end up leaving. The pieces are falling into place.

Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah [Turkey] of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.  Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them. (Ezekiel 38:6-7)

Andy Walton

Find the Weekly World Watch: 15-21 May 2022

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Preceding

PM warns Vladimir Putin against ‘tragic mistake’ as tensions rise with Ukraine

Moscow lists demands for defusing Ukraine tensions

Putin lays out his demands in Turkish phone call

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Additional reading

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4. Ukraine and Estonia taking further steps to intensify bilateral cooperation
5. Ukraine war is veering fast towards a big power conflict
6. Pledges to send more military assistance to Ukraine and Russian warnings
7. Selection from The Week: 2022 3rd week of March
8. The Independent’s look at the third week of March 2022
9. The Guardian’s view on Ukraine for the first half of April 2022
10. The Telegraph’s Weekly view 2022 May 7-13
11. The Guardian’s view on the world 3rd week of May 2022
12. The Telegraph’s Weekly view 2022 May 14-20