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.
That thought crime arrest by a clairvoyant Finnish cop was really terrible. Here we only had James Comey who saw inside Hillary’s mind that her crimes were not with criminal intent so he let her go.
There’s nothing stopping Finland from beefing up their military. Maybe they can scare up a few modern day Simo Häyhä or two.
L
That's utter nonsense.
Everything happening in Ukraine is result of our meddling in it. We fomented an illegal coup there, setoff civil war, installed a puppet government hostile to both Moscow and the ethnic Russian population in Ukraine and teased NATO membership for Ukraine.
And, that is why we just voted a resolution at the UN blaming Russia for the war in Ukraine.
Did you get that? The Trump administration is acknowledging what any objective person knows is true.
You think repeating lies long enough make them true.
And, what is despicable is that you're defending policies of the Obama and Biden regimes.
Who cares?
Russia and Finland, for more than 30 years after the fall of the Soviet Union had amicable relations with Russia.
It's leaders decided take whatever payoffs they got from globalist elite and agreed to become a NATO colony.
“Who cares?”
You do. You were claiming 80 years of happiness before.
Now its down to 30 I guess. I dont think the Finns were all that cool with the threats environment in Putins time.
“NATO colony”. “payoffs from the globalist elite”.
Bullshit. What the hell is a NATO colony? What sort of payoffs matter to a $300B economy?
Putin made Finland join. Pre 2022 polling was @25% of Finns wanted to join NATO. By the mid-end of 2022 it was @85%.
People have agency.
Maybe you need to have a word with Putin.
How many European nations has Russia NOT invaded or threatened to invade. The ol USSR invaded a few such as Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Connect the dots, clown.
No aspersions were taken, FRiend.
Heh, no..I have never herd of the “Finnish Tango”! (Is it safe to look it up?)
But I know of the custom of Finnish men to carry a Puukko knife on their person (I don’t know if it is still a custom or even allowed today) and I find it difficult not to admire a culture in which such a custom exists.
Yup. Use your favorite browser, and look through the various videos. The Finns have had a fascination with tango music, such that some call theirs a quasi-separate musical feeling. One explanation:
What's the Difference with Finnish Tango? by Heikki Valkonen
I am intrigued...love the Tango!
My 100% all time favorite Tango scene from a movie is from “Scent of A Woman”!!!
Modern day Russia? Ukraine and Georgia with full consent of the people in the parts they entered.
How many countries have we invaded in the past 35 years by comparison? And, the doesn't even include all the nations USAID money was used to foment color revolutions in.
NATO Inc. was desperate to keep its presence on Russia's borders so it paid of Finnish leaders so it could build a military presence there to make up for the loss of its military presence in Ukraine.
NATO, the EU and globalist elite are doing what the Soviets used to do -- practicing expansionism.
The cancelling of elections in Romania and attempted color revolution in Georgia are proof of that.
There was 80 years of peace.
Nothing matters, however, post-Soviet Union.
When are you going to grasp that modern-day Russia isn't the Soviet Union?
« With under six million people, Finland would have little chance of stopping Russian aggression alone. »
Well then, I think Finland should be very careful to pay attention to Russia’s interests. This was not complicated in the period 1945-1989 and it’s not complicated now.
Did Mexico consider joining the Warsaw Pact? Of course not!
Oh I see. Someone paid off Finnish leaders.
With not a hint of proof. Leaving aside Finnish public opinion, which was clear.
Modern day Russia is a variant on the late period corrupt USSR. Just add lots of money due to more effective exploitation of extractive industries.
” I think Finland should be very careful to pay attention to Russia’s interests”
The way Russia speaks when its feeling nice - veiled threats.
Listen to yourselves. If you can.
After Russia’s (Soviet Union) consolidation of the “Bloc” countries, it did not continue to lop off countries or major pieces of countries from Western Europe. (There was West Berlin, but that was a rather different situation.) And while officially neutral, Finland and Sweden cooperated defensively quite a bit with the West (to the point the Soviets shot down a Swedish spy plane and then a rescue plane over international waters, in 1952.)
Many joint exercises and such have been done with NATO countries in the years since. The cooperation had grown so close that when Finland decided to join NATO, operationally it was not really a big deal. Pooty’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine was just the last push convincing the Finnish people they could no longer stay neutral. The move had widespread popular support.
As they are “right there”, and have far more experience with and resistance to Russian agitprop than do easily duped modern Americans, I tend to think the Finns know what they are doing.
So, 13% flat tax rate and billions spent constructing churches equates to the old Soviet Union?
You have Russian Derangement Syndrome and don't give a damn what the truth is.
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