BBC reports - Sweden is in!

I wonder what had deal had to be made for him to say this. Also grain of salt till ink is dry.

I've seen speculation that Turkey will get F-16s in return.
Looking forward to seeing Orban cornered.
- They've had F-16s for years, producing most of them domestically (under license). Maybe some upgrades?
  Turkey's been developing their own "5th gen" fighter, and they do have a pretty decent domestic military industrial base, but they got barred from purchasing the F-35 in 2019 when they bought an S-400 system from Russia - I wonder if he wants those. It'd need some US congressional cooperation to make happen, though.

As a swede I am on the fence on wether Sweden should join NATO in the first place, but at least we're not out for the stupidest fucking reason anymore.

What are your counter points? Other than not wanting to be a staging ground for a potential NATO/Russian war?
- I think most people who have switched sides, who were originally for/split, would today argue that it's unlikely that Russia would stage another war in the coming years. Looking at how poorly they are performing in Ukraine.
  So getting into NATO with the possibility that Erdogan's demands will have an actual effect on the Swedish laws has not been deemed worth it right now.
  I also doubt anybody reasonable would consider some of his demands to be achievable, Turkey in EU today?
- Do they think not being in NATO will save them if they're between Russia and a NATO member?

Per the NYT, here’s what Sweden and NATO would do in return:

In return, Sweden and Turkey would continue to work bilaterally against terrorism, Sweden would help reinvigorate Turkey’s application to enter the European Union, and NATO would establish a new “special coordinator for counterterrorism,” he said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/10/world/europe/erdogan-turkey-sweden-nato.html

Interesting, the idea of Turkey entering the EU was considered pie in the sky around the time of the Brexit referendum, now Sweden are helping them apply.
- Sweden will help them apply, but they've got to do all the prerequisite economic work themselves.
- That won't change anything though, that ship sailed a long time ago.
How is Sweden supposed to help them join the EU, exactly?

Turkey had previously spent months blocking Sweden's application, accusing it of hosting Kurdish militants.

Man, fuck Turkey

And fuck Sweden for being cucked by erdogan

Horribel. Sweden do not need NATO for peace , NATO needs Sweden for war.

With all the requirements stipulated through this agreement it feels more like blackmail than anything. Glad they're finally in, or in the process of getting in, but the whole thing just seems unreal and unfair.

Stop making international organisations you can't kick members out of!
Geez, get your stuff together Western governments.
- This is an interesting topic you're talking about here. What If NATO had such a section in their treaties that allowed a country to be kicked. How would that effect the alliance?
  One of the key features of an alliance is trust, if you are at risk of getting kicked out, then you might not want to join, or you take it less serious?
  There is a pretty interesting video from William Spaniel about this topic here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p_a9QiL-hA

It sounds like Erdogan is saying this is conditional on the EU reopening talks about Turkiye joining. Is that even happening?

No, that's what he said earlier today. Seems like he was just posturing and seeking attention.
- Oh, I see! I misread the article. Good news!
Talks weren't suspended because the EU hates Turkey (national politics and sentiment nonwithstanding Berlaymont just doesn't care about those things) but because the accession procedure went nowhere, and in some areas backslided.
As such reopening is contingent on nothing but Turkey actually taking its prospect of joining seriously. I wonder if Erdogan understands that "Sweden reinvigorating Turkey's application" pretty much means Sweden giving Turkey private lessons in how to be less of a shithole... in any case it doesn't surprise me that Sweden agreed to such language.
I saw this from today, mentioning paving the way for Turkey to join the EU, as well as the US selling their F-16's to Turkey.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/10/nato-sweden-pm-to-meet-with-turkeys-erdogan-in-last-ditch-bid-to-seal-membership
I think the US congress would veto Biden's approval (or already has), if I'm reading correctly? But I can't find any follow-up as to what actually made the deal go through.
I also wonder if the EU is going to reopen talks about Turkey joining. But seems like Sweden has also done a lot of legwork already to jibe with Turkish security concerns, so maybe that was enough? I'm curious too
- EU will never seriously want turkey to be member. They will only pretend if necessary.
  EU doesnt want another Orban and Polish right wing governments blocking every single decision

Fucking finally

I want to see Putins stupid face now, it must be glorious to watch

"sweden joining NATO does not concern us." - putin replies
- Translation: "Sweden joining NATO greatly concerns us."

I really want to see the price NATO ended up paying …

This isn't happening it's just grandstanding before the summit. Sweden said they'll put in a good word for Turkey to join the EU, Erdogan said he'll put in a good word to Turkish parliament. After the conference someone will do something trivial and they'll fake outrage and go back to Sweden not joining.

I guess they just had to sweeden the deal

Initially exciting, and if it happens, this is HUGE.

It is exciting to watch the hands of the dooms day clock inch closer to midnight.
- Huh? I'm not sure what your response is about.

I'm surprised. Erdogan is not known for non-confronational decisions, especially if they benefit others. Did he suffer a sudden bout of dementia?

Nah. He is also known for instant turns, when he thinks he has bargained enough or when it happens to suit the image he wants to present.
For example say he decided "Vilnius is the moment I stop bargaining, but only at last minute. Lets see what concessions I can get out of them until then" or so on.
It is exactly on brand for Erdogan to suddenly turn his position and go "what problem, there is no problem. What I said last week there was a problem... no no no, I Erdogan The First have solved problem quickly in only few days. Yes we made a deal, I negotiated amazing deal, deal solves the problem. There is No problem anumore. It's solved."
What happened to solve the problem? Nothing, Erdogan just stopped insisting there was a problem in first place and well some flowery language on top to make it look like it was deal to end the problem and not a climb down to end the problem.
- Yeah, this sums it up pretty nicely.
  You do also have to remember that a lot of this was around the elections and stoking the flames of a boogeyman (the PKK), so now that they're done and over with it was just a matter of time.

I don't care what someone thinks or feels about the Russo-Ukraine war - NATO expanding is absolutely not a good thing.

Why not?
I'm not saying Ukraine should/shouldn't be in NATO, but if Ukraine was in NATO would Russia have invaded?
Don't larger military alliance disincentivize violent conflict?
I understand if a conflict were to break out it would be much larger, but we can't know the extent of the smaller conflicts that have not happened due to the existence of NATO.
- Don’t larger military alliance disincentivize violent conflict?
  Not necessarily - and NATO sure doesn't seem to mind when their own members wage genocidal wars on the third world (like Turkey is doing with it's ISIS-staffed proxy-militias in northern Syria).
  NATO has shown that it will happily play midwife to US neocolonialism - remember that time the US invaded Afghanistan using an even flimsier pretext than the ones Putin uses? At this point, we should be thankful that the US didn't allow Russia itself to join NATO (something Putin is still pretty sore about)... but the US sure didn't do it out of the goodness of their hearts.