Update: Sweden Has Joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

After a policy of neutrality during the Cold War, dating back even to before the Second World War, Sweden has joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the most successful defensive pact in history, as its membership has been formally accepted by NATO. Although Sweden had long been a strategic partner of NATO because of threats from the Russian Federation, the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine prompted the shift in Swedish policy, just as it did in neighboring Finland, which had also been neutral since the start of the Cold War in the post-Second World War period, as Finland shares a long border with the Soviet Union and its Russian successor. Sweden has a small border with Russia, but also shares the waters of the Baltic Sea. NATO, which has 32 members, is led by the United States. Its strength relies on its provision that obliges support from each of the other members if any one member were attacked. The only time it was invoked was by the U.S. after the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks by the Islamist al-Qaeda terrorists. Through this mutual pledge of defense of allies, the Soviet Union and Russia have thus been deterred from invading NATO members since its founding in 1949, which has kept the peace in Europe, enhanced American security by deterring aggression and thus keeping Russian conventional and nuclear forces from getting any closer, and encouraged transatlantic trade that has fostered prosperity.