NATO marked Sweden’s entry into the alliance on Monday with a flag-raising ceremony on a cold and rainy morning in Brussels. “Sweden has taken its rightful place at NATO’s table,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at alliance headquarters, speaking alongside Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. Sweden’s accession expands the Western defence alliance to 32 members, and the country is now protected by NATO’s powerful collective defence pact, article 5, after breaking from a 200-year tradition of non-alignment. Finland and Sweden both asked to join the alliance in May 2022, following Rus…