Written by Michael Thervil
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When it comes to Sweden not only joining NATO and now conducting maneuvers by the border of Russia, these four wise words should come to the minds of every citizen in Sweden: “Don’t be nobody’s fool.” But instead of heeding these four words, this is exactly what the country of Sweden is doing by allowing the Collective West in the form of NATO to influence not only their decisions but their actions when it comes to meddling around the board of Russia. At this point in history, NATO can be likened to a younger sibling who thinks and dares their older sibling to touch them. Doing things such as conducting maneuvers close to the border of Russia is akin to a younger sibling pointing their finger in the older sibling’s face and taunting them by singing: “I'm not touching you”. However, like any older sibling, there is only so much taunting that they can and will take. And when the older sibling “strikes back”, then it’s the younger sibling who was the instigator initially that goes back to tell their parents to get their older sibling in trouble.
That's exactly what's going on between NATO/Sweden and Russia. Going back to the example between two siblings mentioned above, what happens when the older sibling “snaps”? As you well know everyone has a breaking point, and Russia as a country is no different. However, just as much as people around the world would like to see Russia give NATO and specifically Sweden a black eye for their current actions, there’s just as many people saying to Russia hold back on any forms of retaliation just yet. For many people the obvious course of action is clear – Russia should aggressively stop NATO/Sweden from doing what it's doing on its borders. And they're right on the surface. However, if you take the time to examine what going at the Russian border and why, then you can and will be able to see and understand how not responding to the NATO/Sweden provocation could inadvertently provide Russia with the tactical advantage to counter the actions of not only Sweden but NATO as a whole.
Some would say for Russia not to act in defense regarding this situation, it would make Russia appear weak in both the eyes of NATO and its citizens. The key words here being “appear weak”. Depending on one's perspective this could be the tactical advantage that Russia needs contrary to the popular opinion of pushing Russia to face this issue head on. To use the term “weak” when referring to this situation, doesn't equate to Russia looking timid when it comes to taking on whatever challenges NATO may place in front of them. It has been recommended that Russian President Vladimir Putin should simply downplay the actions of Sweden and NATO. Why? Because Sweden and NATO are simply attempting to garnish a violent response from Russia in order to say for instance “See, Russia just shot down one of our planes'' or some other accusation because Sweden and the Collective West has put themselves in a position to be on the receiving end of a negative response from Russia because of their actions.
In Russia ignoring the actions of Sweden and NATO, this doesn't mean that they should naively fail to pay attention to their transgressions or military posturing. To close a blind eye to the actions of Sweden and NATO is tantamount to stupidity. In short, Russia should not react, but they should instead wait, observe, & exploit the possibility to obtain a key tactical advantage if the opportunity arises. The Swedes are conducting surveillance on Russia near the Russia border, so they say. Maybe it's time that Russia does the same - just in a different way; maybe from space.
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