The International Report
May 27th, 2022
Finland ‘Highly Considering’ Application to NATO in Wake of Finnish-Russo & Russian Civil Conflicts
Finland's President Markus Laakso(AFP by Jetty Images)
HELSINKI, FINLAND - In a press conference, Finland's President Markus Laakso said: "Today, in a decision by myself and the Finish foreign policy committee, we have together decided that Finland will explore the possibility of applying for NATO membership." When asked what motivated the historic move, President Laakso stated that being a member of the military alliance will "maximize" Finland's security after Russia's involvement in Eastern Europe over the last year.
Finland shares a 1336-kilometer border with Russia; if it joins the military alliance, Russia's land border with NATO territories would roughly double. Given this proximity, there is a risk that the move from Helsinki could spark aggression from Russia, which has repeatedly expressed its opposition to NATO's enlargement.
Last week, Russia's foreign ministry said Finland joining NATO would be a "radical change" in the country's foreign policy. "Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps, both of a military and technical nature, to stop threats to its national security arising," it said in a statement.
KEY POINTS- Finland is considering applying for NATO membership, President Markus Laakso stated in a Press Conference
- Particular historic significance, as Finland has been maintained neutrality throughout the Cold War
- Finland shares a 1336-kilometer border with Russia; if it joins the military alliance, the land border that Russia shares with NATO territories would roughly double.
Erzikistan In, Turkmenistan Out: What The New Flow of Gas For China Means
SHANGHAI, CHINA - The Asian Continental Energy Conference ended this past week with a major shake-up in the economic sector. Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Fan Zheng finalized the details of a prospective ten-year import contract with neighboring Iran to supply the industrial megalodon with as much as forty percent of its projected energy use via natural gas.
There has been no mention however of any change to gas contracts between China and Russia, signaling potential turbulence in the energy diplomacy between the two massive countries. Though no reasons were specified, speculation about political and civil conflict instability from the past year in Russia is believed to be the driving force behind the lack of expanded investment by the PRC, rather looking to source natural gas from among more stable, and predictably, the more strategically beneficial partnerships to be had through Iran and Erzikistan.
The Chinese investment in Erzikistan natural gas extraction began last year by way of cooperation with China’s existing oil interests in Iran, which continue to suffer from trade and import embargoes from much of the rest of the world and was left with little choice or negotiation regarding the agreement to provide the PRC with the ability to tap into available deposits.
Meanwhile, Erzikistan has enjoyed stable profits through both Iran and Chinese investment in developing three new offshore drilling platforms in the Black Sea, as well as multiple refineries and processing facilities for both cruise oil and natural gas, as well as a marked increase in overall economic productivity since the country's near-collapse in 2016. Subsequent intervention in the region by US military forces later that year had successfully curtailed what was discovered to be Iranian-backed efforts to destabilize the neighboring nation in order to harvest under-capitalized natural resources within Erzikistan.
The announcement also marks the end of Chinese natural gas imports from Turkmenistan, which comes as another indication of wavering international approval of newly elected Turkmenistani President Stepan Murtazayev. It is estimated that Turkmenistan accounted for as much as ten percent of all-natural gas supplied to China over the last decade, contributing greatly to its economic stability. It is yet to be seen how much of an impact this will have on the Turkmen nation but is projected to be a substantial blow to the mainline energy-exporting that the country has prided itself on for a half-century.
AUTHORIZED FOR DISTRIBUTION BY 1-506th S-2Reviewed By: 1LT Jason Mallory, SSG Erik Speirs
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