Quote Originally Posted by cocco
One's interest is to be a bully, the other's interest is to stop bullies.
I disagree, I think this is naivety. But maybe it's just me being cynical. They are both bullies who go about their bullying differently. You have to understand that when I talk about NATO, I talk about what I consider to be the USA plus its satellite states. USA is a global bully. Ergo, NATO is a bully.

All great powers are bullies. That's how they become great powers in the first place.

Hasn't stopped them before, isn't stopping them now.
Sorry, what did I miss? When did Russia attack a NATO country? NATO is definitely stopping Russia from invading Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. That's not stopping them attacking Finland, but there are other geopolitical issues at play here, not least Russia's desire to not see Finland (and by extension Sweden) join NATO. If Russia attack Finland, then that will certainly result in Finland joining NATO.

Finland have significant leverage against Russia. St Petersburg is a Russian port that is right next to Helsinki, and indeed Tallinn, a NATO member capital. Between Finland and Estonia (NATO), Russia's access to the Baltic Sea can easily be severely limited if not stopped altogether. Throw in Turkey being able to blockade Russia's access to the Med and from there the Atlantic, and we have enough to deter Russia from seriously provoking NATO. Attacking Finland should be seen as a red line that NATO cannot ignore.

I am certain that Russia won't attack NATO, and very confident they won't attack Finland. It would be suicide.