FINLAND and Sweden may not have given much thought to this, but by applying to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), they are signing on to be Nordic instruments of an ugly American foreign policy. Here is why.
Firstly, it was the then American president Harry S. Truman who signed Nato into being. This significance mustn't be lost on Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.
They must not forget what French president Charles de Gaulle said — though it was so very long ago — "Nato is a fake". He had a good reason for saying this.
Through Nato, Washington had managed to put Europe under the dependence of the United States.
Nato's expansion eastwards, in more sense than one, is an extension of the US near the borders of Russia. It is for this reason the US is willing to put its money where its mouth is.
Here again there is what meets the eye and what doesn't. According to American budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, the US's Nato burden-sharing budget for this year is a minuscule US$640 million.
But even the watchdog admits this figure isn't the whole story. The Guardian, in one of its long reads, divides this hidden number into money that went to Ukraine, pre- and post-Russian invasion.
During the former, the US is said to have contributed US$3 billion to Ukraine. We believe this doesn't include the money spent on Ukrainian troops to help fight America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since Feb 24, the day Russian boots were on Ukraine territory, Kyiv is said to have already received US$14 billion. More, at least US$33 billion, is said to be on the way.
Secondly, Russia's invasion of Ukraine isn't why the US is in Europe. It's just a pretext. The real reason is to make Europe another America.
A letter from Bill Clinton dated Feb 24, 1997, quoted by the Brookings website, in an article titled "Enlarging Nato: A questionable idea whose time has come" by Richard N. Haas makes this clear.
There, Clinton argued, by extending the underpinnings of security beyond the Cold War, the raison d'etre for the treaty organisation, "Nato can strengthen democratic and free market reform for all of Europe, just as it has done for western Europe in the three decades since 1949". Clinton, like every president since Truman, was after the widening of "the circle of like-minded nations sharing common values". Call it the dollarisation of Europe (and all the values that come with it), first the west and now the east. But scarily, Americanisation isn't a project for Europe alone.
Washington, through Nato, has now trained its evil eyes on Asia, the next big continent. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, between member countries Australia, India, Japan and the US is "Natopolitanism" on overdrive.
As this Leader goes to press, US President Joe Biden is on a recruitment campaign in Asia. He may have hawked the idea at the recently concluded Asean summit in Washington.
How many of the 10 members have been sold on it is hard to tell, but many are watching with concern where all this is heading.
If in Europe, Biden's message is anti-Russia, in Asia it is very much anti-China. But one thing is for sure. "Natopolitanism" is as bad for Europe as it is for Asia.