While Finland Struggles to Join NATO, PM Marin Denies Using Drugs at Party
While Finland Struggles to Join NATO, PM Marin Denies Using Drugs at Party
Gerald Celente has said most of the world leaders suffer from mental health issues
Video emerged on social media Thursday showing Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin partying with a group of friends in a way that has some calling for the 36-year-old to take an immediate blood test for drugs — all while Finland’s effort to join NATO is far from certain.
Marin said at a press conference that she did not use drugs. She said she consumed alcohol, “danced, sung and partied and done perfectly legal things.”
Mikko Kärnä, a member of Finnish Parliament, tweeted that Marin should take a voluntary drug test and release the results.
Marin told reporters that she had “not used drugs” and had “no problem taking tests,” the BBC reported.
"I have a family life, I have a work life and I have free time to spend with my friends. Pretty much the same as many people my age," she said.
In the meantime, Finland and Sweden have faced challenges in their efforts to join NATO due to Turkey.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said Ankara would block the approval process until the countries give up what Turkey has called members of Kurdish militant groups.
Sweden and Finland have so far not granted Turkey's extradition requests, reports from Turkey said. Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said NATO membership process of these countries will be stalled in case of default.
"Turkey's positive decision does not mean that the process of Sweden and Finland joining NATO is over. It is the will to initiate the process. If the promises made to Turkey in the agreement are kept, Turkey will keep its word. What is our word? If you do what you promised, we will say yes to membership. Otherwise, the process will be slowed down. So far, the governments of Sweden and Finland have not satisfied the requests for extradition in accordance with Turkey's expectations...The person extradited by them has nothing to do with terrorist crimes."
Background: When Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion into Ukraine on 24 February, he said that his country’s “special operation” was a preemptive move to terminate NATO’s “endless” expansion toward Russia.
Now that expansion has grown as Finland and Sweden announced that they will begin the process of seeking NATO membership due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a palpable shift in public opinion in the two Nordic nations about joining the alliance.
Both countries have been neutral for decades and the announcement prompted the Kremlin to call the move a “grave mistake.”
“This will be another gross mistake with far-reaching consequences,” Sergey Ryabkov, the Kremlin’s deputy foreign minister, told reporters. “The fact that the security of Sweden, like that of Finland for that matter, will not be strengthened as a result of this decision is completely obvious to us.”
He continued, “It is a pity that common sense is being sacrificed to some phantom ideas about what should be done in the current situation,” and Moscow has issued a warning that it will take retaliatory steps of “military-technical and other characteristics.”
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, announced in May that his country will apply for NATO membership and will end its historic position of military neutrality stating, “A protected Finland is being born as part of a stable, strong and responsible Nordic region.”
Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in a joint statement that they believe NATO membership would “strengthen” security and also strengthen the alliance. Niinisto said he hopes Finland joins NATO “without delay.”
Turkey Says No
Turkey, a member of NATO, came out strongly against membership for these countries, which could prevent membership since the alliance requires an unanimous vote.
Erdogan said in May that Helsinki and Stockholm should not send envoys to discuss the matter because it would be a waste of time.
Erdogan has been critical of the two countries for their relationship with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, and followers of Fethullah Gulen, the scholar who lives in the U.S. who Ankara accused of being behind a coup attempt in 2016.
"Neither of these countries have a clear, open attitude towards terrorist organization," Erdogan said, according to Reuters. "How can we trust them?"
TREND FORECAST: We pointed out in an earlier issue that there are concerns that Sweden and Finland could further provoke Russia into war.
Samuel Ramani, a professor of international relations at the University of Oxford, tweeted in April that Russian Senator Andrei Klimov called NATO a "suicide club" and warned that “Sweden and Finland could meet the fate of the Azovstal steel fighters in Mariupol if they join NATO.”
NATO officials have said they will speed up the process for Finland if it applies for membership, which is a stark reminder that Ukraine was denied full membership prior to the war against Russia.
Olga Stefanishyna, the Ukrainian deputy prime minister, told ABC News' "This Week" that NATO may have learned from how it handled Ukraine's 2008 membership application.
"NATO has learned from the mistakes" it made in 2008 with Ukraine's request to join "by making promises without delivering on decisions in terms of membership which has basically led to three wars, two of which are now happening on Ukrainian territory," she said.
Dmitry Polyansky, Russia's deputy UN representative, told Ria, the Russian news agency, that both countries would be possible targets for Russia if they join the alliance. And last month, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and chairman of Russia’s Security Council, warned Finland and Sweden against joining NATO and said Moscow would have to beef up its military presence in the region if they joined the alliance.
“In this case, it will no longer be possible to talk about any non-nuclear status of the Baltic—the balance must be restored. Until now, Russia has not taken such measures and was not going to take them,” Medvedev said.