Why, after years of neutrality, would Finland suddenly want to join NATO? This dramatic reorientation in Finnish security policy emerged in polls and political debates in late 2021, culminating in the May, 2022 formal decision to apply for NATO membership. Prof. Kaarle Nordenstreng explores the contemporary atmosphere and arguments regarding Finland’s forthcoming NATO membership. To assist us to understand Finland’s present geopolitical situation, he will also guide us through the series of wars and peace treaties dating back to Finland’s identity as an Eastern part of the Kingdom of Sweden, followed by a century as an autonomous Grand Duchy of Czarist Russia, leading to Finland’s ultimate independence in the middle of the Russian revolution in 1917. Kaarle Nordenstreng, born in 1941, with a Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki, is a Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication at Tampere University in Finland.