March 23, 2022
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has pushed long-neutral Finland into openly embracing NATO, which would not go down well in Moscow.
Still, former PM Alexander Stubb tells Ian Bremmer that "we Finns are pretty calm, cool and collected" and that the response to Vladimir Putin should be that we understand your issues, but "we are a sovereign, independent nation-state and take our own security [and] political decisions."
He believes Putin will ultimately fail at the three things he's trying to accomplish: annex Ukraine; push back NATO's borders to where during the Cold War; and prevent Finland and Sweden from joining the alliance.
What's more, Stubb points out that with his actions Putin has probably caused a permanent change in public opinion among Finns and Swedes.
"The train has left the station. Finland is moving toward full NATO membership," he says. "It's not gonna happen today, it's not gonna happen next week, but it will eventually happen."
Watch the episode of GZERO World: Putin past the point of no return
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