Sweden’s Contributions to NATO: Bolstering the Alliance’s Defense Industry and Air Capabilities
Wilson CenterFeb 26
Hungary Ratifies Sweden's NATO Accession
The Facts
Following 19 months of delays, Hungary's Parliament voted 188-6 on Monday to approve Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Hungary's approval, which followed another long-awaited approval from Turkey last month, means Sweden will now enter into a military alliance for the first time in 200 years, according to outgoing Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
NATO can now finally add Sweden's military and technological prowess to the international security bloc. Sweden is home to one of the biggest airforces in Europe, one of the leading 5G network manufacturing companies, and a robust public-private tech industry. The West is facing dangerous threats from the East, but some worries over security at least should be mitigated now that Sweden is part of the Atlantic Alliance.
Establishment-critical narrative
The US and its European proxies seem to have no care for world peace. After decades of NATO expansion eastward, Russia was finally forced to stop asking and start fighting. Now that the Western military establishment has gotten the war it's sought for at least 15 years — at the expense of 400K Ukrainian soldiers and 10K civilians — the bloc continues to push eastward and further antagonize Moscow. NATO expansion is a proven cause of war, so why do they keep doing it?
Nerd narrative
There's a 7% chance that there will be a war between Russia and one or more NATO countries, but not the US, by 2035, according to the Metaculus prediction community.