Posted on 02/26/2025 2:40:54 PM PST by dennisw
In April 2023, Finland became the 31st member of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, aligning itself with the United States, ending generations of Finnish military neutrality between the West and Russia.
The Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 provoked the move. The Finnish capital of Helsinki is just 200 miles from St. Petersburg. With under six million people, Finland would have little chance of stopping Russian aggression alone.
The threat isn’t idle. Russia has invaded Finland before, in November 1939. That attack can’t be excused as part of Russia’s defense against Nazi Germany. At the time, the Nazis and Stalin were allies dividing Eastern Europe.
The Finns know the Russians. And whatever you think about Ukraine’s corruption and oligarchs, Finland is a modern, free democracy. It hopes to stay that way.
So when this email about Donald Trump’s embrace of Vladimir Putin arrived unsolicited from a Finnish reader1, I thought it was worth sharing, in full and unedited. A lot of good people are very worried. ............................................
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Hi Alex,
Domestically, President Trump may be doing exactly what he was voted to accomplish. I have no take on it, naturally, not being an American. But internationally, is he singlehandedly rewriting the US foreign policy?
I used to consider the US our (and Europe's, and NATO’s and Canada's) friend, and Russia our common foe. Now it seems both are our foes. The narrative seems to tell that Trump and Putin have already divided the world into spheres of interest, and well, Eastern if not all of Europe is soon under another Warsaw Pact...
Having enjoyed your writing and political backdrop views over many years, both inside book covers and in other media, what is your take on all this? And do you and the American people believe Russia is as of this month no longer your enemy?
Has Trump simply decided Putin will offer him a better deal than Ukraine and to hell with the rest? Or is he simply being deceived? Does he buy Putin's lines (read: lies) because he admires the man so much? Or does Putin have Trump so deeply in his pocket that he does whatever he is told to do?
Or is it the exact opposite, and Trump is double- and triple-crossing Putin to ultimately push the Russians to step over a line and then be put firmly back in their place? Or have the two simply come to align on an anti-China stand, for Trump to have an ace up his sleeve against Xi and Putin trying to crawl out from underling position vs Xi?
I am not trying to offend any fans of Trump's politics, I am simply trying to make sense of the tectonic shift in who is an ally to whom and who considers whom a threat?
BR
Heikki
PS. My view: never even think of trusting a Russian politician. Full stop.
It’s a new golden era. Pumping GDP into war is a recipe for economic strain and war mongering. A strong defense to preserve peace is different than poking the bear. America has better things to do like MAGA.
To alleviate the stress of argument here, this was a joke I heard in “junior high school” as we used to call it.
On the way to the rest room you’re Russian.
While there, European.
And finally Finnish.
You really missed the Soviet Union. The 80s called and they want their foreign policy back.
There is a long history of tacit and overt threats and harassment from Russia vs Finland.
The last was where Russia was pulling a Belorussia-Poland vs Finland, sending third world migrants to the Finnish border.
Tell that to the rape gangs in Britain
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotherham_child_sexual_exploitation_scandal
You are the one forgetting much of what is going on. Stop trying to deny their is a massive Islam problem that culturally is doing exactly what I just posted about. Europe is indeed less safe than Russia for a law abiding citizen. Try posting a meme against the government in Europe
There is a reason JD told Europe they have a censorship problem
That is a British mess specifically. All caused by truly messed up British politics. In a way Brexit was a plus on both sides. British cultural politics is a joke on the continent.
Finland is opening their arms to migrants, repeating the Swedish concept.
Finland arrested a 61 year old woman political figure because she tweeted a Bible Verse.
Wanna talk about the WWII era? There was a Finnish SS unit. They allied with Nazi Germany. It’s amazing how Finland has no problem with an alliance with Germany today without looking back, scowling, to the 1930s and 40s.
But please, do tell us more about the Soviet menace you encountered 85 years ago. All of this actually means one thing. Finland wants NATO money and more EU and American money.... nothing else.
I do not want to hear about how we have “shared values” with Finland:
https://www.strawberryhotels.com/blog/heart-this/lgbtq-friendly-cities-helsinki/
They sided with Satan—their call, not ours.
Britain actually declared war on Finland during WWII.
He knows Europe is a joke.
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Yes. That’s why he’s OK with EU peacekeeping forces in Ukie Land after the war is over.
So we have the Brits doing it, Germans doing it and Romania twice cancelling elections because a judge felt the people are not voting correctly. I can find more articles about more European countries, I suggest you get caught up on your own news.
I do not see France or Spain speaking out, so it stands, Europe is becoming an oppressive state on par and in some ways worse than Russia.
Russia has a far worse Muslim problem than Europe.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocus_City_Hall_attack
And this is hardly an isolated case.
As for sex trafficking in Russia, this seems to still be widespread and ongoing.
How sad.
Finns are a strange people with a strange socialist culture, and they have no relevance to America. They have little to teach us beyond making very pure pine tar, saunas, sauteed reindeer, cool ways to build a campfire, reengineering and building the ultimate in Mosin Nagant rifles, etc.
Their language is bizarre, like Hungarian or something.
But then their speeding tickets are assessed based on your income.
Strange people, no need for them to be an enemy .... and America should enjoy them... at a distance.
Russia, Russia, Russia.
The Russians pooped in the hallway while you were gone.
It’s a propaganda obsession
Long ago I read Howard Zinn’s “A Peoples History of the United States”. It was quite a bestseller in its time and became required reading in many high school and college programs. What’s it like? Imagine a fellow describing a forest by counting and locating all instances of bear s**t he encounters in the woods. And that’s it. And you lot are doing exactly that. It does not lead to understanding.
To my understanding the average Finn doesn’t like the US or Americans.
This guy is smart enough not to trust Putin. Trump can be trusted to carry out his words, not so Putin, not at all.
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