NATO’s newest member, Finland, has announced it will sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement next week with the United States.

The deal will allow Washington to station troops and store weapons inside the Nordic country, which shares a sprawling border with Russia.

Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told a news conference in Helsinki on Thursday that Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen will sign the so-called Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday.

  • @shalafi
    link
    English
    411 months ago

    Remind lemmy next time someone is bitching about US defense spending.

    Yes, we could do shitloads better, but the most expensive thing on planet Earth is a 2nd rate military.

    • @afraid_of_zombies
      link
      English
      211 months ago

      Quite literally 189 countries manage fine with being second best or less.

      • @shalafi
        link
        English
        111 months ago

        The most expensive thing on the planet is a second-rate military. Think on that.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          English
          111 months ago

          Until a person is forced to grapple with violence aimed at them, they will shy away from recognizing deterrence as a reliable method. Until they’re forced to, they won’t choose to face the existence of those they can’t reason with.

          I can’t think of any way around that.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        011 months ago

        They benefit from the nuclear standoff. Just like unarmed people in a room with a few armed guys. Nobody’s beating anyone else up in that room.

        • @afraid_of_zombies
          link
          English
          111 months ago

          Uh huh. Middle East must be so peaceful in that case. Since everyone has guns everywhere. Glad to know that literally nothing violent is happening in the territories and Israel now. Same with school shootings in America. When I was a kid they were common, but when all the good guys with a gun got guns, school shootings vanished.