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Williams Talks to CBC News About Finland and Sweden Joining NATO

May 16, 2022

CBC News

Michael John Williams

Michael J. Williams


Finland and Sweden are set to end decades of neutrality by joining NATO, a move sparked by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A NATO senior official says the membership process will be expedited to a degree but in the end, it could take up to the end of the year because each of NATO's 30 members must ratify the inclusion of countries in their parliaments.

It is that interim period before Finland and Sweden are fully covered by NATO's one-for-all, all-for-one security guarantee that worries many experts. Michael Williams, associate professor of public administration and international affairs, calls the interim period "the moral hazard" for the alliance. "The challenge is that if they say they're joining the alliance, there's going to be a gap," says Williams. "The ability for the Russians to attack between when they apply and when they join is worrisome."


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