Finland appears to be making its own World War 3 predictions since the Finnish Defense Ministry has begun prepping its Army Reserves for war on the basis of threats from Vladimir Putin’s Russia. The U.S. Air Force is also sending B-52 bombers to Sweden as a show of support. Fortunately, these actions are precautionary, but the Swedish and Finnish governments do believe the threat to their countries is real.
In a related report by the Inquisitr , Russian experts are recommending that Vladimir Putin use Russia’s nuclear weapons against Yellowstone’s volcano in order to make the supervolcano blow, but is that war strategy even possible?
Renowned investor George Soros is even making his own World War 3 predictions lately, claiming that WW3 between the United States and a China/Russia alliance is “no exaggeration” if China’s economy falters. Many dire remarks have been made by Vladimir Putin ever since the Ukraine crisis began, but the actions and comments made by Russian officials working in Eastern Europe have only heightened fear over time.
For example, Denmark has been threatened with Russia’s nuclear weapons if the Danes join the NATO missile defense shield initiative. The United States government is apparently taking such threats fairly seriously, since the Cheyenne Mountain complex was re-opened , and that bunker is only very useful in the case of a nuclear attack. Even Sweden, which technically is neither an American ally nor a NATO member, will be receiving support from the U.S. in retaliation to Vladimir Putin’s saber rattling.
Swedish general Karl Engelbrektson announced that eight U.S. B-52 nuclear bombers will simulate the defense of the Swedish coast against enemy forces in an exercise code-named Baltops. While the B-52 bombers will not be armed with actual U.S. nuclear weapons, the goal “is to increase the different operative capabilities, but also to send clear security political signals that we do these things together with others… How Russia interprets that, they can decide for themselves.”
Jacob Westberg, a lecturer in security policy and strategy at the Swedish Defense University, believes the real goal is to tell Russia to back off, especially in light of the incursion by a suspected Russian submarine in Swedish waters .
“I am guessing that the signal is aiming to say that Sweden will not give in to the kind of scare tactics that part of Russia’s actions can be interpreted as, such as the violation of our air space,” he said, according to Sverige Radio .
Russian bombers have also been probing Finnish airspace, and now 900,000 people in Finland’s Army Reserves are being warned they be called to war in the future.
“Attached you will find your personal details as well as your role in the event of war,” the letter reads. “You will find your own details and your wartime assignment in the appendix with the letter. In other words, you can see whether you have an assigned wartime task, are in the reserve or have been reserved for other tasks by your employer.”
But Finland may not be making their own World War 3 predictions. Mika Kalliomaa, a spokesman for the Finnish Defense Forces, says the letters were planned two years ago and claims their issuance is not directly connected to the Ukraine crisis or threats from Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
“The reservist letter is associated with our intention to develop communications with our reservists, and not the prevailing security situation,” he explained.
At the same time, the defense ministers of Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland are clearly worried about the potential for World War 3 since they issued a joint statement in April in which they wrote, “Russia’s leaders have shown that they are prepared to make practical and effective use of military means in order to reach their political goals, even when this involves violating principles of international law.”
History and not just the Ukraine crisis is considered important, since Finland clearly remembers the Cold War and how the Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939. Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a senior research fellow at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, believes that even though plans for the letter pre-dated the Ukraine crisis, it’s possible the writing of the letter was triggered by concerns about Russia’s intentions in modern times.
“If Russia had headed down the path towards being a liberal democracy, there would not have been the pressure to do this ,” said Salonius-Pasternak, according to the Telegraph . “In the current reality, it makes sense. The Finnish Defence Forces want to make sure that if they need to blow the whistle, they can rely on 230,000 reserves. That is linked to the increasing instability in the region. Russia has shown that it can transport large numbers of troops across vast distances very quickly. I have never had so many people coming up to me asking if they should be worried about the security situation.”
Like Sweden, Finland is not a NATO member, but the country’s leadership has been strengthening its military ties to both NATO and Nordic countries. Finland’s army is currently limited to 16,000 soldiers, but if the Army Reserves are called in, this number would increase to 285,000 soldiers.
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