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The author should visit Finland. They're spending more than enough to have one of the most formidable armies in the world and the most prepared population, only Izrael is a competitor. Calling them a freerider screams "armchair economist".

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They do well on their own so why would they join NATO? Probably so they can let the US handle things for them. I think long term this will only make things worse but I'm certainly not an expert.

They don't have nuclear weapons and they signed the non-proliferation treaty. Their neighbor is making nuclear threats, it only makes sense to get under a nuclear umbrella while they can.

If you want states to play for themselves only, the treaty will have to go. I think that's much worse than anything else.

In a good way, this will also improve things for russia. The next napoleonski who might think about invading these neighbors will have to think of something else. That's a lot of russian kids too who will get to live their lives, pay taxes, have their kids, progress the country.

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