Stockpile diapers, medication, baby food: NATO members Sweden and Finland advise citizens on how to survive war

[AkFemDem]

Scary times become scarier, as threat of war looms over Europe. Between Putin bringing in NK forces and now US long range missiles being used by Ukraine, things are quickly spinning into a global war vs. a regional conflict. The threat of nukes becoming involved also grows as Putin lowers threshold for their use. This is no win for democracy or the US or the autocrats or even the oligarchs... it's just a downward spiral to the war we never wanted to see happen if there isn't a timely and diplomatic intervention. The only happy people today are Big D (defense) contractors in their war economy.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/18/europe/nato-sweden-finland-wartime-guidance-intl/index.html

[woodsprite]

1. How do you stockpile medication?

I'm covered by a drug plan and even when I was going to FL for 3 wks, they didn't want to refill my script until I only had 1 wk of meds left. They finally filled it for me after I called my Dr and had her put in a special request (but just 3 wks worth). As soon as I got home, I had to go pick up the rest of the meds. We're talking common but important stuff for diabetes and HBP like metformin, lisinopril, and amlodipine.

[AkFemDem]

3. Florida isn't in Finland and Sweden... presumably their laws differ.

[FirstLight]

8. same here...and I take some really narly biologic for my autoimmune disease

I dont even know if I could get it from Mexico or canada... but I have thought about it. I take one shot a month, I could theoretically stretch it out to two months maybe and try to save that way...

But they are also refrigerated, and I have an inkling they are not very long term stable...

If something happens to my healthcare, I'd probably just take myself out. Because I do not want to live in this body when this disease is unchecked

[JustAnotherGen]

34. I take Simponi for A.S.

It has significantly slowed the damage. I get it.

[Dan]

31. Personal prescription medication is somewhat different...

I suspect that they are advising their people to start stockpiling common things that won’t be common.

First aid kits;
Dental pain meds;
Baby food;
Common pain meds;


Things that are quite common now that will cease to be common or down right expensive.

The Oligarchs have purchased a nation (U.S.), soon Putin will be on the move and not sure what side the U.S. will fight on.

[republianmushroom]

2. Don't expect any assistance from the USA

for the next 4 years beginning Jan. 20, 2025.

[AkFemDem]

5. We don't have until Jan 20....

If this isn't de-escalated by then, the USA is going to be a little busy. We're way to complacent about our geographic isolation in previous WWs... Trump isn't going to be our biggest problem at all if this doesn't get resolved asap and WWIII breaks out.

[Irish_Dem]

26. Putin just won the war he is waging against the US.

He installed his pupped into the WH again and that puppet is intent on destroy our country and democracy.
Putin is free to invade the rest of Europe if he chooses to do so.

[DSandra]

30. Honestly, we are already in WWIII

Putin conquered America without firing a shot. Trying to control and put in a Manchurian candidate and overthrow a country's foundational aspects is pretty much an act of war.

[Greybnk48]

4. I'm stockpiling coffee.

If i get nuked, and I've been threatened with it since I was a little kid in grade school under my desk, so not a shocky thing for us oldsters), I will have enjoyed at least one of my favorite things to the end.

[AkFemDem]

6. Yikes! You live in Finland or Sweden?

[jfz9580m]

7. Man I hope this fizzles out

Wtf? I think I am retiring to the Lounge permanently .

I have a lot of work to do and the news is too fucking scary..

[Emrys]

9. Putin rattles his nukes at every supposed "provocation"

Hell, he and his media cronies rattle them daily even without any. It's pretty much all they've got.

It's a shame to see CNN, and now apparently DU, join in.

In the former case, it's not a complete surprise.

"It's WWIII!!!1!" is a MAGAite and Putinite chorus. Check out Twitter, and it's blatant.

[AkFemDem]

10. Thats called wistful thinking

There's been a dramatic escalation in the past few weeks- there are nearly 12K North Koreans now on the ground and up to 100K more being "promised" by the tiny man. Wake up. Now we have American long range missiles being used to fire into Russia. Wake up. Things have *changed*. We now have South Korea rattling their saber. We have NATO countries in direct danger. Just yesterday Germany and Finland reported undersea cables have been cut.

Now you can opt for the optimistic POV, but don't you dare try to suggest these are not serious developments worthy of discussion on both maintstream media and DU. Because it makes you uncomfortable- doesn't mean it's a "magaite and putinaite" issue, it fucking ought to be a global citizen issue because the outcome here is going to impact us all.

[AkFemDem]

11. btw I call this optimistic POV "The American Bubble Boy Syndrome"

Americans always feel just so removed and safe from the wars we contribute to (unless you're one of the families who has actually raised sons and daughters who wear a uniform and serve in those wars) it's easy to dismiss the threats. That geographic bubble shrinks constantly though in our modern world.

[Elessar Zappa]

12. I believe 100% that Putin won't start a nuclear war.

It certainly is “sabre rattling”.

[Emrys]

13. Rubbish. It's called realism, not optimism.

I'm not in the USA.

I'm in Scotland, a few miles from the UK's only nuclear submarine base. That's as close to a front line if Putin decides to go for broke as it gets.

I was very active in the peace and anti-nuclear movement in the 1980s. None of this is new to me, though we'd hoped we'd be further on by now than we are, but it is what it is. The sword of damocles hanging over your head gets a bit tired after a while.

Don't you dare to try to lecture me presumptiously about "optimism" from your seat thousands of miles away in relative safety in your isolationist "bubble".

Meanwhile, carry on joining the MAGAite and Putinite chorus. It won't help anything. Or you "fucking" wake up, your choice.

[AkFemDem]

14. Denial, wistful thinking, navet....

Typical Trumper response to any topic that feels inconvenient or worrisome. As someone who has served outside of your little bubble I say confidently, you can piss right off before I’ll let you push an agenda that includes forbidding discussion of a major global crisis that looms right now.

[Emrys]

15. You've behaved as arrogantly as any person I've encountered on DU

Denial, wistful thinking, navet....

Typical Trumper response to any topic that feels inconvenient or worrisome. As someone who has served outside of your little bubble I say confidently, you can piss right off before I’ll let you push an agenda that includes forbidding discussion of a major global crisis that looms right now.

Quoted for posterity.

I am not a "Trumper". I am a European, and we see the world differently here from your glib formulation from your place of relative safety because we have much more skin in the game than you do. We see very clearly what's "worrisome", and you're currently part of it.

We can do our best to stand strong and see off Putin at this point, or be beholden to him and Trump for the foreseeable future, and live with the mess that ensues in our countries.

You have no coherent argument except a kneejerk reaction that is precisely what Putin is banking on. I'm not buying it.

Find somebody else to attempt to insult, because I'm not buying that either, and I don't respect it.

As for "piss right off", welcome to your true colours, which you've chosen to reveal. Wear them. If it's with pride, well ...

I've given you "discussion", which you claim I want to forbid. If it's "inconvenient" to you, tough.

You thought I was American in your delusional "bubble". I've disabused you of that illusion. I don't think I'm alone. We'll see.

[AkFemDem]

19. Okay

Tell the governments of our NATO allies to stop worrying and warning their populations about escalating danger.

I’m gonna keep on paying attention; thanks.

[Emrys]

21. The governments will behave responsibly. Neither I nor you have to tell them a thing.

These countries have been arming themselves against sub-nuclear threats for quite a while, partly because, unlike you Americans, they've been invaded and occupied and repelled the USSR/Russians in the past and aren't complacent. Finland has a vast system of underground bunkers under Helsinki built since the 1960s, so I don't think you have much to teach them about the dangers. Apart from that, there is no serious defence against real nuclear threats (unless you think you have impenetrable anti-missile countermeasures, and even then, you may face fallout), only mitigation and preparation.

Partly, I believe it's a counter to Putin, and not just for home consumption: "You wanna get real, huh? OK, we're scared but prepared, and pissed off. We whipped you and drove you out in the past, we'll do our damnedest to do it again, and we're better prepared now and have more powerful allies, and you're much weakened. And by the way, we'll survive you."

You could call it deterrence. The hope is it'll never be necessary.

[Crunchy Frog]

17. I've been "uncomfortable" ever since the day russia launched its full scale invasion

of a sovereign European country. It was really uncomfy to watch the entire large city of Mariupol get turned to rubble, and the clear evidence of mass killings, rapes and other atrocities in the briefly occupied towns and cities such as Bucha. It's been really uncomfy seeing russia launch missiles and drones at civilian targets on an almost daily basis with little response from the West, and I'm not even one of the ones getting hit with these attacks.

Do people really believe that letting violent aggressors do whatever they want when they use nuclear blackmail is going to save us from larger scale conflict, or make the world safer and more stable?

[Emrys]

18. Without wishing to seem patronizing, thank you. You very much get it.

Ukraine is close to my heart, not least because of my very active involvement years ago in the peace/anti-nuclear/disarmament movement.

When Ukraine chose to give up its nuclear weapons (albeit it didn't have the infrastructure capacity to maintain them, let alone a reason at the time to contemplate needing to threaten to use them), we applauded it because we hoped it would be a model for wider disarmament and de-escalation.

The reneging on the defence treaty agreements of the time - blatantly by the Russians, less so by the USA but no less disappointingly, and a little more defensibly by the UK as another party - leaves me in the uncomfortable position that I would be hard put to encourage other countries to follow suit nowadays, and couldn't blame the Ukrainians if they decided to develop their own nuclear armaments.

We are, unfortunately, where we are now. I'm pacifist by nature, a kind of Joan Baez pacifist (see "What would you do if?" ) who if faced with the inter-state dilemmas we've allowed to develop, can't say much except these were probably avoidable if we'd have behaved differently in years past. But we didn't, and now we can't flinch when we reap what we've sown, and we have to react as we see best in the hope it may work out better than if we don't.

[Crunchy Frog]

20. Ukraine is really close to my heart too. I got really fascinated with the whole region

back in the mid 80s as a college student, and watched obsessively as all the events of the late 80s to the collapse of the Soviet Union unfolded. I was somewhat naively optimistic about russia's future at that time, but I've obviously gotten over that. I've only gotten more admiring of the Ukrainian people and nation as I've watched them resist this horror for nearly 3 years now.

Joan Baez actually visited Kyiv last year I think. One of the Ukrainians I follow posted about it.

[Emrys]

22. I think many of us at the end of the Cold War had big hopes for a Russia that was modelled more on Gorbachev than Putin,

and a new world order, glasnost, perestroika, a peace dividend, and all sorts of things that didn't pan out. Our fault for being naive, or does the blame lie elsewhere?

The West's role in shoring up Yeltsin and overseeing the feast of the oligarchs that followed is something we've paid the price for ever since. It built a mafia state, or cemented one on top of existing foundations, that's not unique to Russia, but that's the major example we face at the moment. There are other threats, but in Europe, this is the most immediate. Most of the rest aren't unrelated.

[Crunchy Frog]

23. wistful adjective

1: full of yearning or desire tinged with melancholy
also : inspiring such yearning
a wistful memoir

2: musingly sad : pensive
a wistful glance

From Merriam Webster. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wistful

[Crunchy Frog]

16. If I want WW3 hysteria I'll go over to Xitter.

russia and NK aren't going to be invading Scandinavia. They're stretched kind of thin as it is, in case you haven't noticed, and both countries are very well prepared to defend themselves, far more so than Ukraine ever was.

Ukraine has been striking military targets deep inside russia for a long time already. If russia didn't want this, then they shouldn't have invaded a neighboring country. Permission on the ATACMs, as well as Storm Shadows and other medium range missiles should have been given a long time ago.

Putin waves his nuclear pee pee around all the time. People should be used to it by now.

[Initech]

24. The sooner Putin and his goons rid the world of their evil existence the better.

Don't care how, it needs to happen.

[AkFemDem]

25. "The Kremlin has revised its nuclear policy. Does that make the use of atomic weapons more likely?"

Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia and Eurasia Center noted that Peskov’s comment marked the first time the Kremlin explicitly acknowledged “the potential use of nuclear weapons as a response to strikes on Russian territory using long-range missiles.”

“Put simply, Peskov openly admits that the Kremlin is currently considering the possibility of a nuclear strike,” she said.

While the doctrine envisions a possible nuclear response by Russia, it is formulated broadly to avoid a firm commitment to use nuclear weapons and keep Putin’s options open.

Stanovaya said “the current situation offers Putin a significant temptation to escalate” and marks “an extraordinarily dangerous juncture.”


https://apnews.com/article/russia-nuclear-doctrine-putin-ukraine-war-b5ee115aa2099fa247f630e16da861d8

[DinahMoeHum]

27. I forsee a military catastrophe. . .

Something happens in the Persian Gulf / the Mediterranean / the Far East Pacific ie. South China Sea, where an entire carrier task force/battle group gets wiped out and we lose over 7000 servicemen/women in one fell swoop.

All because Trump fucked up.

The seeds for this prediction were sown back on January 29, 2017, when Trump gave the green light for a raid in Yemen, which was a fiasco, ending in the deaths of civilians and a Navy SEAL. (Google the name William Ryan Owens)

[milestogo]

28. What if you don't have a baby

and aren't expecting to need diapers for a while?

[Crunchy Frog]

33. Well there are a few people posting on this thread who could use the diapers...

[JeffinUT]

29. I dont understand

I really don't understand the idea on the US approving the use and escalating things when we know come Jan it's done. I get Russia is the bad guys and invaded Ukraine but I don't get why at this point we would escalate our liability in the region. Ukraine's resistance is finite without our support. Why risk becoming a global conflict for a lost cause, even if the cause is morally right it's not practical to think it's winnable.

[DSandra]

32. Someone figure out how to notify Kamala Harris of the likelihood that the election was stolen...

, especially Steven Spoonamore's evidence, as she is the only one that can ask for the recounts. The balance of the world and soooo many of us Americans hinges on it!

[mucholderthandirt]

35. And pay cash for it. That way the government can't come after you for hoarding.

Don't use store cards for any discount, either. Those records will be turned over without a whimper.

Stock up on shelf stable meds, and ask your doctor if there's any way to store some things you take long-term. Meds last longer than most think.

Have spare clothes, shoes, cleaning supplies, disinfectant's. Female products. Stuff to wash with if water supplies aren't dependable. Have a safe way for heat and lighting, if the grid goes down. If you have to drive a lot, reduce as much as possible. Keep gas treated with Stabl or other products (it won't last forever, but may make life bearable or help in an emergency). I live out in the boonies, the closest gas station is about five miles away. Oops. Should have anticipated Trump. My bad.

Have non-electronic ways to stay occupied, books, games, coloring books, puzzles, crossword books and so on. See if you can get a solar charger for cell phones, laptops, tablets.

Learn to do without. Learn to adapt. Learn to keep your head down. There are "prepper" sites that will show how to do a lot of things, but you have to ignore the idiot religious stuff and anti-librul nonsense.

[Kaleva]

36. You can buy bon reloadable cards that can't be tracked

But if electricity is out, cards and even cash won't work .

"Have non-electronic ways to stay occupied, books, games, coloring books, puzzles, crossword books and so on."

I very much agree with the above. I have decks of cards, books and various board games.

"See if you can get a solar charger for cell phones, laptops, tablets."

Cell service and the internet will probably be out as they both require the same electricity as do cell phones, laptops and tablets.