HELSINKI, Finland — Finland joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization just over three years ago, expecting to walk into an efficient and well-funded defensive alliance capable of warding off their belligerent Russian neighbors.Finnish government leaders are not afraid to admit that they found NATO to be much more disorganized and underfunded than they hoped, echoing recent complaints from President Donald Trump.But as Trump threatens to walk away from an alliance that has “done absolutely nothing to help” with the Iran war, Finland is pleading for the United States not to blow up the defense network just as its fellow European members are beginning to pull their weight.
“We have exactly the same position as President Trump in the sense that we think that NATO is not at its full potential yet because most of the European countries have not invested enough in the past years in defense and deterrence,” Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in a private meeting with American journalists, including the Washington Examiner, in Helsinki on Tuesday.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen speaks to American reporters at the nation’s parliament in Helsinki. (Timothy Nerozzi/Washington Examiner)
