A burnt Koran holds back Sweden and Finland from joining NATO

NOBODY KNOWS what prompted Rasmus Paludan to burn a copy of the Koran in front of the Turkish embassy in Stockholm on January 21st. Mr Paludan, an attention-hogging far-right Danish politician, had torched Korans before, but his choice of location was significant: Turkey is holding up the applications of Sweden and Finland to join NATO. Mr Paludan’s demonstration permit was paid for by a Swedish journalist who once worked for a Kremlin propaganda channel, though the journalist denies any current connection to Russia. The Koran-burning led to anti-Swedish demonstrations across the Muslim world. Two days later Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, suspended his talks on NATO accession with both countries.