EDITORIAL — Another blow against Russia

The situation Russia has been trying to avoid is now a reality; it is now surrounded by even more member-nations of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the same group it sought to weaken by invading Ukraine.

This after Hungary, the last obstacle to Sweden’s application to become a member of the NATO, stood down to allow the Nordic state to become the 32nd member of the powerhouse bloc.

"Today is a historic day... Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security," Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said. Sweden has made no secret that it was Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that spurred it to apply for NATO membership.

Sweden becomes the latest European country to apply for NATO membership after Finland entered the group April of last year. And while Sweden doesn’t actually share a border with Russia like Finland does, it is no small addition to NATO either.

Aside from a huge fleet of domestically-produced Gripen fighter jets it also has cutting-edge submarines in the Baltic Sea, which goes all the way to St. Petersburg.

Of course, we don’t see this development causing Russia pause when it comes to its war against Ukraine, which saw its second year just a few days ago. The Russian offensive will likely continue considering that Russia is now sourcing armaments from North Korea as well as Iran in its bid to erase their neighboring nation from the map.

The possibility of a Trump presidency is also pushing them forward, or at least to fight hard enough to force a stalemate until the US elections; in all likelihood Trump, who has little understanding of world geopolitics beyond his pronouncements praising dictators, will likely withdraw US support from Ukraine if he ever gets to sit as president again.

However, the fact remains that Russia will be facing open war with the combined military power of 32 nations it if stretches its legs anywhere else in Europe.

Unless, of course, it plans to invade nations that are supposedly its friends -- which it has done in the past.