Northern Europe

Hindrén in Breaking Defense: What Finland will bring to NATO – and how it might change the alliance

By Rasmus Hindrén

Rasmus Hindrén writes that while the public has been focused on whether Finland will join NATO. there are five key areas to watch if it does

Event Recap: “Cooperation in the Arctic: Ways forward in a Changed Security Environment”

On April 28th, 2022, the Atlantic Council’s Northern Europe office, in cooperation with the US Embassy Stockholm, held the conference “Cooperation in the Arctic: Ways forward in a Changed Security Environment.” Convening as Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine entered its third month, the future of Arctic governance was in question. Joint research projects on climate change […]

Wieslander quoted in Washington Post on Swedish and Finnish NATO applications

“This is an extraordinary development given where we were in February,” said Anna Wieslander, director for Northern Europe at the Atlantic Council think tank. “Russia wanted to turn back time, to go back to the Cold War, to fragment and weaken the West,” she continued. “Now, in May, we are here.”

Wieslander quoted by Reuters on Turkish objections to Swedish and Finnish NATO membership

“They know that Sweden and Finland inside the alliance is good for the alliance as a whole and I do not foresee they will block this in the end,” Anna Wieslander, of the Atlantic Council security policy think tank, said. “But they will negotiate along the way.”

Binnendijk and Vershbow in Defense News: A prolonged ceasefire may be the likely endgame in Ukraine

By Hans Binnendijk, Alexander Vershbow

Hans Binnendijk and Alexander Vershbow write that the West must provide Ukraine with the ability to thrive in a post-war environment.

Wieslander interviewed by Radio Sweden on NATO accession process

“It will be a tailor-made process for Sweden and Finland to make possible a very quick accession process compared to other countries,” Anna Wieslander told Radio Sweden.

Wieslander quoted in Bloomberg on Turkish objections to NATO expansion

“I don’t foresee that they will in the end make it impossible for Sweden and Finland to join NATO,” Anna Wieslander said. Their accession “will increase security not only in northern Europe but for the alliance as a whole and Turkey knows that.”