Comments by "Paul Aiello" (@paul1979uk2000) on "Finland u0026 Sweden: Why Aren't They in NATO? - TLDR News" video.

The irony is that Russia over the last 5 or so days might have done more for EU military integration then what the EU could do in decades. These kinds of events really put things into perspective and focus minds on what is really important. So yeah, I suspect the events unfolding now could very likely push more EU integration but also even push western countries closer together, what Russia is doing here is a massive wake-up call for us all and especially for Europeans.
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It's one thing to attack a poor country like Ukraine, it's a very different story to attack a rich country like Sweden or Finland which are both EU members, that would compel the EU to get involved in a more forceful way which could escalate the problem and could even lead to a world war and unlike NATO which is just a bunch of countries together that say they'll come to the aid of each other, EU members likely will have to do so because of how integrated they are, in other words, an attack on any EU member would have negative ripple effects on other members, that would likely force the other EU members to come to the aid of the one being attacked and do so in a more forceful way whereas NATO is just an alliance that says they'll come to the aid of said country, so I think the EU is far more valuable for them then NATO is, but with that said, I think they should also join NATO as well. Now unless Putin has really lost the plot, it's just an idle threat that he can't carry out, after all, no modern country has been invaded since the second world war and it's always been rich countries attacking poor countries or poor countries against poor countries. Still, the Russian people need to wake up and depose Putin before things do get out of hand because Putin is dragging all the Russian people down with him and sadly, this is going to impact a lot of innocent Russian people that didn't want any of this mess in the first place and they are likely the best chance of pushing Putin and his cronies out of power. I also think the EU and US needs to get tougher on Putin than they have done, you can't give mercy to these kinds of leaders because they always see it as weakness and clearly Putin needs to go whatever way the outcome of this mess goes.
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@haidouk872 Putin has clearly miscalculated here, the EU is more united than I've seen it in a long time, that will likely make it easier for more integration in foreign policy matters as well as on the military, he's also helped to heal the rift between the EU and US and even the UK to a less degree, he's scaring eastern European countries to want to join the EU and NATO and he underestimated the response from the people of Ukraine, it couldn't have gone any more wrong for Putin if he tried.
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@Sir_Gerald_Nosehairs. The problem is for the UK, being out of the UK weakens it's position a lot in these matters and that's likely going to be more the case going forward, we are very likely going to see more EU countries working closer together on military matters, maybe even integration, the UK can't even come close to competing on that and it's a given that project on building new military equipment will go to an EU country, pushing the UK out. That doesn't mean the UK doesn't have it's uses, it will just likely get used by the EU just like the US uses the UK. As for the UK, they could never isolate themselves, like it or not, they are European and will get dragged into matters that happen on the European continent as we are seeing now but it's clear to see that the UK is taking a back seat role here, the EU and US are leading on this and I have to admit, I am surprised how tough and how quick the EU is responding on this. Also lets not forget, there's a fair chance that many EU countries will spend more on the military now, Germany has already shown it's willing to spend big, the UK isn't likely going to be able to keep up thanks to the cost of Brexit and especially if the likes of Germany, France, Italy and Spain start working much closer together on military matters which they have shown interest in wanting to do so.
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@TransoceanicOutreach Thats true but for a lot of people from outside of Europe, they see the EU as Europe, I know it's not but that is how it's seen and it's easy to see why, the EU is the real power in Europe, something Putin doesn't like.
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