do you feel free to check out our websites, r t dot com? follow the latest news and updates in the meantime. thanks very much for watching the. ah, i the, the the hello, i'm manila chan you are tuned into modus operandi. so finland has joined nato, expanding the military blocks some 800 miles along russia, borders fighting article 10 of the groups founding treaty of an open door policy. this marks the 11th time since the fall of the soviet union back in 1992. that the block created to contain it has grown. so who is the real agitator here?

we'll discuss it with a geopolitical expert. next. all right, let's get into the m l. the me. it's twitter official. nato has announced the accession of finland into the so called defensive alliance, leaving behind their friend sweden, who initially was set to join in a 2 for one special. for nearly 75 years, finland had an image of neutrality following the f. c. m a treaty of 1948. that would be of course, friendship, cooperation and mutual assistance. treaty signed between them and then the soviet union that was extended 3 times. the thins and russians signed a new cooperation agreement after the 1992 followed the soviet union. so for the better part of the 20th century,

the russo finish relationship was peaceful. this despite the fin back tracking on a deal made during the so called winter war of 939 to 40 after finland. in fact help the nazis from 1941 to 1900. 44 by allowing hitler's troops to transit through finland and of some friends also took up arms against the soviets side by side with the nazis by 9944. the soviets beat back the finish supported nazis, and armistice were struck between the neighbors. so since 948, the f c m a treaty, there has been no political or physical fighting between the 2. fast forward now to 2023, despite know, hospitality. for nearly a century. russia's northern neighbor suddenly felt threatened and joy nato. so here we are. joining us to discuss and perhaps explain all of this is professor of

political science at the university of oslo in norway geo political analyst and author. his latest book is called, russo phobia, propaganda and international politics. professor glen decent is with us professor. thank you so much for joining us. my pleasure. thanks for inviting me. so finland has just made a successful bid to join nato, their accession to the block completed april 4th. first. can you tell us why finland seemingly out of the blue wish to join nato? i mean, were they facing some sort of imminent threat by anyone, specifically russia with whom they share this very porous border? well, i think that obviously a lot of things that changed was rush us in nation of ukraine, which spoke many and again, the media of course, was also consumed by this. so there was a huge and foss pushed towards joining nato. and because traditionally,

finland has not had the political support for joining nato among the public. but again, because of the war and the sentiment changed quickly, and, and i would argue the key problem was that the, instead of sparking a reason a reasonable debate, given that, you know, the neighboring country went to war. i think it was more emotional taking over because i haven't seen any sensible debate. they're about to what extent joining nato would actually help their security. and again, it's not just the, the sometimes insecurity less is more, in other words, if you bring in the american weapon systems, for example, or, or become part of this huge military lines. now, 31 states, an anti russian military life, is gonna cause our reaction from russia and will this then undermine your security enough so. so there wasn't really any debate to just as we've fail,

greater threatened from russia, less to nato, and very little discussion around the pros and cons in terms of their own security . and again, i think what's been missing is sir oldest focused. now that's in this war in europe with russia and, but no one really has thought much about peace. in other words, how can we figure out how we're all going to live on the same continent instead, is just less ourselves. but send weapons. let's join nato, and last would also say it is also had to, i think there was a deliberate effort of going into the say quickly, again, the one in finland are suggesting that cross myself talk them about because of the, the huge security concerns. now in europe and, and the sentiments have changed to us. i think there was an interest in the government to move while the public was on their side. and it's no secret that often the political leaders and military leaders would like to be in nato. and,

you know, but still didn't get the public with them. so i think that's an interesting to get inside nato before the war is over. so they don't risk loosing the publics. so just so we're clear, there was no imminent threat to them by russia. and i should note, normally the nato accession process, historically it takes years. so why did this one happen so quickly? well, of, well, they're considered to be a lot of the sessions. previously had was with countries which used to be part of their worth of packed, or actually the soviet republic former republics of the soviet union. so they have been seen as needing more work. however, in boston, linda sweden, i've been cooperating with nato for so long that a lot of the interoperability has been already aligned so it was easier,

but also it was a huge interest to this country join even, you know, for long, for a long time now. so, and, but of course, you know, there was an opportunist going on this war and now it's a good chance to expand the military lines during conflicts in human nature, people seek internal and solidarity in order to face often external threats. so it is a nice time to, you know, co for expanding the military, expanding military alliances. so it's just not in the rush to get this done quickly before and alone before the war might come down or piece might emerge so. so this may be a chicken or egg question, but i'm going to ask it anyway. is it russian aggression or posturing of some sort on the global stage that causes these nations to want to join nato?

or is it the expansion of nato some nearly 20 times now? 11, just since the fall of the soviet union, technically collapsing in 1991. that is provocative, thus creating, you know, this self fulfilling prophecy if you, well, well, i guess as many reasons why states who want to join nato. i, one of them is that tonight estates pay sign club security guarantee a week at this time. so it was crimes, and he actually warned we will campaign you so oh yes. so so fulfilling prophecy? i think this is as we say in the states professor. damned if you do and damned if you don't are coming up next. nukes nord stream, the you, when we'll talk proliferation and investigations when we return with professor glen deason, sit tight m oh we'll be right back. ah

ah ah, during the 2nd world war and nazi occupied poland valencia was a farming region. today is part of ukraine between 19431945 members of the ukrainian insurgent army led by stepan bandera. nasa could thousands of poles in virginia in a diabolical ethnic cleansing process. the murders were particularly horrific and brutal villages were burned and property looted. the valinda massa is without doubt one of the bloodiest episodes in polish ukrainian history. why are ukrainian politicians still reluctant to talk about these events? how to modern day ukraine and poland view this tragedy of the past. and why does the memory of valeria stewart divide people

i am rick sanchez and i'm here to play with you. whatever you do, do not watch my new show. certainly why watch something that so 5th, my little opinions that you won't get anywhere else work of it please. if you have the state department, the c, i a weapons breakers, multi $1000000000.00 corporations. choose your fax for you. go ahead. i change and whatever your group don't watch my show, stay main street, because i'm probably gonna make you uncomfortable. my show is called threats impact . but again, you probably don't want to watch it because it might just change. and dwayne think ah, welcome back to the m o i'm manila chant. so with finland, expanding the nato footprint around russia, and no doubt, nato weapons while proliferate, another 800 miles. meanwhile,

russia is making moves of its own, with tactical nukes, moving into belarus. professor glen diesel author of the book rousseau, phobia propaganda, and international politics is back with us. so professor, recently vladimir putin made a deal with neighboring bella roost to build a storage facility for rushes, tactical nukes, and exchange for modernizing bella versus warplanes. expected completion for this site will be this summer. actually, this will be near the bellow russian western border. the exact location is classified latvia, lithuania and poland are very upset by this. they are all nato countries. but could this latest push to bring in finland and maybe someday sweden into the block. be the impetus as to why russian tactical nukes are moving into bella roof. well, it could be, i mean, there was an interview with the former secretary general,

nato doesn't listen. and he was arguing in the future for conflict, the rest conflict, nato with russia on the benefit of having sweden and finland into matters who could put a full blockade on on saint petersburg and denied them complete access into the baltic sea. so obviously, this is the problem we imagine if it was the other way around this, china rasa was mounting their military in mexico or canada. united states would, would react them at the end of the day. it wouldn't benefits in one security. and this is the case here as well. so obviously i think that the sim lynn could have something to do with this. obviously the war in ukraine has something to do with it . and but overall, i think that's for the russian to stay. and then decided that the, all the so called rules space international order where this one set the rules for the united states and another set of rules for russia, that it would be no longer acceptable. let's keep in mind that the non per

proliferation treaty, the main treaty to address the proliferation of nuclear weapons, is very specific. the 2 articles make it clear. a nuclear weapon states are not allowed to place nuclear weapons into non nuclear weapons states. but us, we know in europe do not a states us place this nuclear weapons in belgium, germany netherlands is only a turkey. so, so we're nato, we're in violation of this most united states and it's 5 europe and countries for, for hosting the missile, so slow. so, so this is problematic, rush, us descent is minute time, so we're like, you know, maybe should abide by the street is all non proliferation. and now we see russia effectively placing its, its own nuclear weapon system in mellows and why again, it can be many aspect anything from the war to finland,

to the nato. so reluctant to live by the end nonproliferation treaty. i could also be the reason why i'm a little bit more open to this now is because this will entail some surrender of solvent at some level, at least. it's because the details of fairness, nathan could have some aggression against villainous, especially poland, could attack. this is the fear because no one would attack russia directly. this would be lead to nuclear war. but the packing bellicose might be a natural middle pilot step from the escalation letter. so this could be it. but again, i'm speculating. the one in moscow telling me what the main motivation is, of course. now let's not forget under us president donald trump, he withdrew the u. s. from the i n f treaty as well. so that causes quite a danger for the rest of the world. switching gears here, professor, let's talk

a little bit about the recent un vote on nord stream. the russian delegation spirit had a vote at the united nations to conduct a joint investigation into who was responsible for destroying this multi 1000000000, multi, multi $1000000000.00, multi national project. only 3 votes in favor, russia, china, and brazil. all the other 12 security council members abstained, rushes un ambassador by ceiling. a ben via said this ahead of the of the vote. he said, quote, without an objective and transparent international investigation, the truth will not be uncovered as to what happened. so the draft resolution seemed necessary, i would say, given that russia was borrowed from conducting their own investigation into the blast and their own pipeline. how do you read this vote and what happened there at the u. n. s. c?

well, it's not many ways to read it. really. it's the west does not want an independent investigation into the taco nordstrom. it's am i know that anthony blink and came out and said, well, the only reason why russia is doing this is because it's because they want to try to coordinate to the united states to make it look guilty about that. you don't have an evidence, but again, this is the whole point. you have to have the investigation to have evidence. and i think it's quite extraordinary that the not just us, but all it's the are the partners as well. i do not really want to know how many independent instigation into this think about the refer to stuck on the syndrome, but it is, it is quite strange. again, i don't think because this is so politicized. someone attacked the main as some of the key european energy infrastructure, causing economic devastation to europe,

but also an environmental disaster. and. and again, even the united states now said that the, it stop, the russians are behind this, they will try to throw the ukrainians on the bus. but anyways, if someone has done this, is shirley, this is important enough to, to investigate and the, and the, well, i would agree, i don't think any names, any investigation now, either by the natal side or by the russian side would be credible. you need to have in dependence investigation and keep in mind that the early on sweden did an investigation in the new building, they want to share the results than with denmark and germany, which are their name. so allison, this site, the national security. so something obviously has happened here because someone attacked this pipelines and it's a good chance that this is natal country, packing and other nato countries. and so you would think an investigation would be of interest. but i think that to control now is important. we have to keep natal

solidarity, which means we come up know who would, who did this? and just a quarter of an article by washington post only a few days ago. it said that it said the well, something like a leaders role to see no benefits from digging too deeply and finding an uncomfortable answer. so this is, this is the sentiment now in nato. we think we know who did this, but we do not want to have it confirmed because then this will be very uncomfortable. it would so divisions within the military lines and we contact divisions. now we have to all, you know, march in the same tune, stand together against russia. according to sy hersh is article about how north stream was destroyed. this would have required approval, or at least acceptance or understanding by denmark. given that the blast site was

just off the coast of for and home island, which is danish territory, not to mention, according to her, she is reporting the bombs were planted during the nato exercises called ball docs . denmark is a nato member. up until this point, what was denmark's relationship with russia, and now that denmark has rejected russia's request to conduct their own investigation. where does that put their future relations? well, the trust is completely gone, obviously. now that goes both ways. obviously, the denmark, us lost a lot of trust in russia, but also russia has lost all trust now in, in denmark, because again, some on the attack, the energy infrastructure built by the russians. and the, as you said before, i think around those who stunned it now, and that they are now seeing to effectively obstruct an investigation in this kind of thing. so usually make you sound like

a conspiracy if there is. but there are no other explanations at this point anymore . so so i think here, this is just going to continue to damage the relationship between the mark and rush, obviously. but also, i think over over a long term, i think this will also cause some divisions within, within the ranks of nato. because as i mentioned before at the moment, and we don't want to find out who actually attacked us because we're afraid that this could create divisions by this only because we need to have sol barrett. and now, because we're in the fact the war against, with russia now, once this war comes to an end, there's more chance that we're going to start looking around at the, you know, who, who attacked us. because for, for germany, this is quite the devastating they are the leading economy in europe. they're the locomotive driving your forward. and a lot of their industries are quite energy intensive and all of these industries

and faltering and again it's industries can't be competitive anymore. and that's what expensive energy has to buy from the united states. so, so the main driving force of the airplane economy has now gone off the rails and, and the is taking rest of europe with it. so once, once everything starts going wrong with the economy and when the war is over, i think we're going to start to look among each other for him to blame. so at least that's my prediction. russia, china, brazil, the yes votes at the u. n. s. c, all members of bricks. is there any coincidence their nose? no, not really. they are well, they are aligning their economies more and more, and also having more security or military cooperation. and at the same time, we see that the bricks country are harmonizing their, their, their, their policy is political statements to a greater degree. so again,

their biggest countries, they're also members of the shanghai corporation organizations, not brazil, of course. and and, but it shouldn't be a surprise, but i'm more, i'm more surprised to be honest about the, the, the sol doroty who, who with, with, with in the west at mon. because i think for countries on the outside it's not just a big country. i think the rest of the world's looking at this and thinking, well, what other explanation could there be? keep in mind that the united states, they used to sanction the european allies for participated in building the nor stream project. and you had their reports from rand corporation, which is a us thing. thank you. ordered in 2019 by the us army. and one of the steps to weakening russia was the 1st step was to stop the north stream to you had the leading us politicians from mike from pale from cotton and cruise. all of them saying, even jake's helen and all saying we have to stop now nor stream to and this was before us and then we had joe biden said,

we're going to bring it to an end. victoria newland before before. and after the attack saying, this was a good thing that this was blown up in. so it's just been over and over again. when we see that, that will do not stay from the threatening to destroy it. and then of course, after they destroy this, we have people like me, blink in, no uncertain term, arguing that the destruction, nor stream of a tremendous opportunity. so, and in europe, we're not even allowed to say that the u. s. will benefit from its destruction even as the, you know, the hint they're celebrating a washing we, we can't even say because this will be this information. instead, we're claiming, you know, this is the russian playbook. and, and this is, this is a situation where, so i think when the rest of the world looks at this, what, what other conclusion can they reach? and again i, i think,

i think in the unity now within, within the risks countries it's quite, it's quite the natural not only because they're aligning the policies, but also if you're standing on the outside looking in, i'm not sure how else you could, you could interpret this indeed, i would just add one last thing to some extent the united states have already admitted to some extent that has been lying because after seem, or herse published his story, in which he claim the united states with a support of norway attack the pipeline. in the united states responded by, well, 1st of all, thing that there was probably a crane in group behind it, which doesn't make any sense at all. but also washington said that his intelligence community knew that it was russia, but they wanted to protect the ukrainians. so this is quite fascinating because now washington, admitting that he was lying, when he was saying there was probably russia pointing towards russia and even risking war with russia. so this is like this public and the wider world. so i'm

not, i'm not surprised by the fact that the bricks countries are coming together because, and that simply isn't the handheld explanation anymore than the united states attacks to your team. and there's infrastructure. so i see this alignment being quite natural. professor glen deason at the university of oslo in norway. thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us. that is going to do it for this episode of modus operandi the show that dig deep into foreign policy and current affairs. i'm your host manila chan. thank you so much for tuning in. we'll see you again next time to figure out the ammo. ah

right now a bundle in my bedroom number. oh oh. for those of those did you do not actually show switch him? you please go to finish solution. you go to just use the where you are dealing with so you started the military operation in ukraine. we were told the west is in lock step unity. in this case, unity means following orders without question from washington. well,

that unity has begun to unravel. new europe and old europe are clearly not marching in sync with india is determined to buy russian crude oil net all over the price cop imposed by g $7.00 states, remaining one of moscow's t impulses. around to 100 dead. 100 is more wounded in saddam as flashes between the national army and the rockets. the 4 forces are military group. and so the 3rd day we heard from an eye witness. we were sitting downstairs when suddenly a big explosion occurred right in front of us was so building collapse and got very scared. after that, the only thing was, so what the debrief. we didn't see the rocket itself today. this colossal ship is answering the defense ministry call to snap naval drills,

intended to test the far east fleets combat ready.