2024-07-27 05:56:26
◇You have to see it on a map/Written by Emily Aubrey et al./Translated by Lee Su-jin/274 pages/29,800 won/Sai
Why did Sweden, which maintained neutrality between the Soviet Union and the West throughout the Cold War, join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) along with Finland two years ago? Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is only a partial answer. Sweden’s deep concerns about Russia throughout history can be sufficiently explained with a single map.
This book, co-authored by a French journalist and an international political scientist, analyzes the situations of 28 countries experiencing geopolitical conflicts through various maps. First, let’s look at the map of the Baltic Sea, the “Mediterranean Sea of Northern Europe,” where Russia’s ice-free port is located. If I had to pick one point that stands out the most in the Baltic Sea bordered by nine Northern European countries, it would definitely be the Swedish island of Gotland. This island, which occupies the middle of the Baltic Sea excluding the Gulf of Bothnia, faces Kaliningrad, a Russian extraterritorial territory. It becomes even more interesting when you overlay it with a map of energy resources. The “Nord Stream Gas Pipeline,” which is the core of Western Europe’s energy dependence on Russia, passes in front of this island. At a glance, you can see that it is a strategic point connecting Russia and Northern Europe.
Tensions between Russia and Sweden over this region were in full swing even before the Ukrainian War. Russia, which had consistently opposed NATO’s eastward advance, deployed an Iskander missile battery in Kaliningrad in 2016 that could reach Sweden. The following year, Sweden revived its military service system, which had been abolished for a while, and sent troops back to Gotland. As these geopolitical tensions continued, when the Ukrainian War broke out in 2022, Sweden’s only option was to lean toward NATO, according to the author.
Reporter Kim Sang-woon [email protected]
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2024-07-27 05:56:26