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Finland Frets as Russia Launches Military Drills on Its Doorstep
NBC News ^ | March 31, 2014 | BY ALEXANDER SMITH, ALASTAIR JAMIESON AND ALBINA KOVALYOVA

Posted on 03/31/2014 10:48:17 AM PDT by Jim Robinson

Russian military drills near neighboring Finland have provoked concern that northern Europe may be the next focus of Moscow's seemingly renewed appetite for redrawing its borders.

Troops and jet fighters from all four military regions of Russia were deployed Sunday about 150 miles east of the Finnish border, according to the English-language newspaper Finnbay. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that the exercises were pre-planned and that more than 50 fighter pilots took part.

Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russia’s withdrawal from World War I in 1917. The Karelia region, where the war games are taking place, straddles the Finnish border and has historically been a heavily militarized zone for Moscow.

But experts say that while Moscow appears to have seized another opportunity to flex its muscles, the threat of an armed invasion is very low.

"The people of Helsinki are nervous. What Putin is doing is sending shock waves through Europe"

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: finland; obama; putin; russia
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1 posted on 03/31/2014 10:48:18 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
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To: All

“Obama has no Russia Policy”

Well, guess he’d better damn well develop one in a hurry.


2 posted on 03/31/2014 10:50:37 AM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: Jim Robinson
Moscow appears to have seized another opportunity to flex its muscles

There's something to be said for strength: it gets people to notice and respect you.

3 posted on 03/31/2014 10:51:22 AM PDT by Starboard
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To: Jim Robinson

The last time Russia went into Finland, the Finns gave them a very rough time. I’m hoping this is just another Putin gesture, meant to encourage the EU to come to a reasonable settlement with him over Crimea.

I’m hoping he’s not dumb enough to actually move on Finland.


4 posted on 03/31/2014 10:53:15 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
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To: Jim Robinson
Finland was part of the Russian empire for 108 years, from 1809 until Russia’s withdrawal from World War I in 1917.

The Fins, like the Poles, won their freedom from Russia by defeating Bolshevik armies in the field.

5 posted on 03/31/2014 10:54:44 AM PDT by SampleMan (Feral Humans are the refuse of socialism.)
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To: Jim Robinson

A new Hitler on the loose. And we have a pussycat in Washington.


6 posted on 03/31/2014 10:57:53 AM PDT by ZULU (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Starboard

It also makes neighbors develop counter moves.


7 posted on 03/31/2014 10:58:42 AM PDT by Vince Ferrer
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To: Jim Robinson

“Recently there has been discussion in Finland about joining NATO, but opinion remains in favor of a defense partnership with Sweden,” said McInnis,

??????????????????


8 posted on 03/31/2014 11:00:08 AM PDT by ZULU (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: Cicero

Once you get past Israel, Finland would be near the top of my list of small countries I would not want to scrooooo with.


9 posted on 03/31/2014 11:02:45 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Jim Robinson

Russians might not want to screw around with the Finns. It didn’t work out so well for them last time.


10 posted on 03/31/2014 11:03:38 AM PDT by Dick Vomer (democrats are like flies, whatever they don't eat they sh#t on.)
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To: Jim Robinson

OH OH Finland going be tick off


11 posted on 03/31/2014 11:03:43 AM PDT by SevenofNine (We are Freepers, all your media bases belong to us ,resistance is futile)
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To: Jim Robinson

Finland should just beam some of those Cancer-causing mobile phone EM waves in the general direction of Russia.


12 posted on 03/31/2014 11:09:38 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: nuconvert; txhurl; GeronL; KC_Lion; 1rudeboy

Ping.


13 posted on 03/31/2014 11:11:30 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Jim Robinson

Paper tiger people nothing more. The big noise will not hurt you if you don’t fall down running away.


14 posted on 03/31/2014 11:16:01 AM PDT by lostboy61 (Lock and Load and stand your ground!)
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To: SampleMan

My mother’s Swedish grandparents immigrated through Finland to the US. Her grandfather was forced to serve in the White Russian Army before leaving.

Now, Fins are a tough people. Wonder if there are grandchildren of Simo Häyhä still alive?

Simo Häyhä “The White Death”

http://www.mosinnagant.net/finland/simohayha.asp

Both the Russian and the Germans hated him. They did their best to kill him personally.

Russians taking Finland would not be bloodless.


15 posted on 03/31/2014 11:16:45 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!)
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To: Dick Vomer
It didn’t work out so well for them last time.

The idea that Finland defeated the Soviets an amazingly persistent myth. The fact is that the Finns did bloody the Russians' noses in the early phases of the war, but in the end the sheer weight of numbers (and some command reforms of the purge-ravaged Red Army)could not be withstood. The Finns sued for peace and in the Treaty of Moscow, ceded 11% of their national territory, representing about 30% of their economic resources, to the USSR. They had to give 75 locomotives and 2000 rail cars. They had to give ships and trucks. They had to give something like a third of their hydroelectric generating capacity and one of their largest industrial complexes. The war worked out very well for the Russians, except for the bunch of people killed. And when did the Russians ever care about that?

16 posted on 03/31/2014 11:23:11 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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To: Texas Fossil
No, it would not be bloodless.

But as we have seen in Ukraine, first Putin sends in a bunch of irregulars (aka GRU) to start destabilization propaganda, they the Finns of Russian descent clamor for Mama Russia to save them from the deplorable Finns.

Same tactics that we saw in Ukraine, Crimea, Venezuela and Commie parties everywhere.

Even our own college campuses.

17 posted on 03/31/2014 11:23:58 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: texas booster

Finland is not the Ukraine. Although both countries have strong memories of abuses of Russian rule.

I thinks the Finns might surprise the Russian invaders in their fierce nature.

Like the difference in Texas and NYC. Quite a contrast.


18 posted on 03/31/2014 11:28:15 AM PDT by Texas Fossil (Texas is not where you were born, but a Free State of Heart, Mind & Attitude!)
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To: texas booster

Bye bye Finland, being invaded is a test of US and EU resolve

You are so toast


19 posted on 03/31/2014 11:29:24 AM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans!)
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To: Texas Fossil
Both the Russian and the Germans hated him. They did their best to kill him personally.

Why would the Germans try to kill him? The Finns and the Germans were allies during WW2. Besides which, Hayha was shot in the face toward the end of the Winter War and spent the next few years recovering.

20 posted on 03/31/2014 11:30:13 AM PDT by Bubba Ho-Tep ("More weight!"--Giles Corey)
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