Rand Paul: “today, the Senate will vote to expand the NATO alliance to include Sweden and Finland. A crucial question that should be…”

“today, the Senate will vote to expand the NATO alliance to include Sweden and Finland. A crucial question that should be answered is whether Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO is in America's best interests and whether their joining will cause more or less war. Well, for every action, there is a reaction. What do our adversaries say? Putin's immediate response to it was that Russia ``does not have a problem'' with Sweden or Finland applying for NATO but that ``the expansion of military infrastructure into this territory will of course give rise to reaction and response.'' So from Russia's perspective, they likely will tolerate Sweden and Finland in NATO but likely will not tolerate certain weapons systems in Finland or Sweden. Advocates of NATO expansion said we can't be held hostage to Russia's threats. Perhaps. But if a country announces they will do X if you do Y, shouldn't someone at least contemplate the potential scenarios? The Russians have already announced that placing certain weapons systems in Finland is a redline. Whether the redline is justified is not the issue. The issue is, knowing your adversary's position, is it worth the risk of pushing missiles into Finland? The world has changed since Putin invaded Ukraine. Arguments that admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO could provoke Russia are less potent now since Putin's war shows he can be provoked by actions short of Ukraine's actual admission to NATO.…”