Nato conundrum

SWEDEN and Finland are soon to request Nato membership – good news for their citizens and Nato.

Despite Vladimir Putin’s threat of retaliation, both countries see their ‘sheltering’ under Nato’s nuclear umbrella an essential part of their future defence against a russian state hell-bent on expansionism.

the Ukrainian situation and the induction of two neutral states into Nato creates another conundrum for Nicola Sturgeon.

She presents Scandinavian countries as models for an independent Scotland. SNP policy sees an independent Scotland remain in Nato but without housing the UK’s nuclear submarine base and seeing no need for a nuclear deterrent.

How would these policies fit if her Scandinavian mentors decide to allow nuclear weapons on their territory? Fortunately for those who don’t want independence, the green Party is opposed to Nato membership. could these opposite poles prove an impasse for the SNP’s drive for Indyref 2, or will the greens abandon another of their basic principles to maintain their ministerial posts?

Does the SNP believe being in Nato but not housing nuclear weapons will somehow mean avoiding annihilation if Putin remains leader long enough to press the big red button?

clearly Sweden and Finland are governed by realists whilst Scotland is under the thumb of fantasists and deniers of reality. When will Scots waken up to smell the coffee and rid the country of these failing fanatics?

GRAHAM WYLLIE, Airdrie, Lanarkshire.