Finland’s president: Europe can defend itself without America | The Economist

I don't like language that. talks about European weakness. or incapacity to defend themselves. Our whole defence composure. is based on defending ourselves. without anyone else. There's a reason why we have trained, through obligatory military service, 1m men and women. for Arctic conditions. There's a reason why. we have 62 F-18s, why we just bought 64 F-35s. There's a reason why. we have long-range missiles, air, land and sea. And there's a reason. why we have. the biggest artillery in Europe.

and that reason is not Stockholm. So, what I'm saying is. we've got this. Don't worry about it. And I think it's. such a hypothetical question. I didn't meet the CEO. of Lockheed [Lockheed Martin]. to say can you please. keep the F-18s going? Of course, they will be going. But it's not just a hypothetical, right? I have been in European capitals. not very far from yours, Helsinki, where people are talking about. watching the Americans. forbid the Ukrainians. from using some of their. long-range missiles. or watching Elon Musk. turning off the Starlink... Which he has turned off on Russia.

And so people are. realising that, for now, we still have... It’s not a literal kill switch. but Finland's defence... Are you still in some ways. dependent on American goodwill? If a future American president says. don't fight the Russians. come to a peace deal with them. They may have just. invaded the Baltics, but you need to talk not fight. Can they do that to you? No, and it's not going to happen. And remember that it's. also tit-for-tat. There's a reason why. the bilateral defence cooperation.

between the United States. and Finland is deeper than ever. There's a reason. why we have 25,000 soldiers. training in northern Norway. and Finland next week, 5,000 of which are American. There's a reason. why America wanted to buy. 11 icebreakers. which they can use for their. naval forces. There's a reason why we did. the defence cooperation agreement. And the reason is that. Finland has one of the. most powerful militaries. bordering Russia, close to. the major nuclear weapons.

that Russia has. So, it's interest driven. The Americans of course. there's values. but there are interests as well. And it's in the interests. of the United States. to have close defence. cooperation with the Nordics.