HOW PUTIN'S WAR IN UKRAINE BACKFIRED AND FUELED NATO'S NORDIC EXPANSION

PATRICK SMITH

In December, the Russian president demanded that Ukraine ditch its bid to join NATO, the Transatlantic military alliance founded after WWII to counter the power of the Soviet Union, and that NATO forces retreat from Russia’s western flank.

Instead, with Putin’s military suffering stumbles and setbacks on the ground in Ukraine, his grander