Free Republic

NATO has 30 members. By the end of June, the roster may grow to 32, should Finland and Sweden join. The Nordic duo has fans. On April 29 U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the House Foreign Affairs Committee America will "strongly support" NATO membership for Sweden and Finland. On April 28 Jans Stoltenberg, a Norwegian and NATO's secretary-general since October 2014, told international press that "Finland and Sweden are our closest partners, they are strong, mature democracies, EU members, and we have worked with Finland and Sweden for many, many years." Stoltenberg added: "We know that their armed...

The network connects shopping centers, subway tunnels, parking garages and pathways that accompany power and water lines. Tunnels also lead into passageways used only by the military and connect to an island used exclusively for the military regiment responsible for defending Helsinki. (article truncated due to copyrite restrictions) (Photos and expanded article at new source)

Since January 2017, low levels of radioactive Iodine-131 contamination have been detected over various European countries. Highest levels have been detected in Poland. The radioactive particles were first detected in Finland. Source is anyone's guess, but the initial area of detection and area of highest concentration point to Russia. I disagree with the blog's conclusion that this is likely to be a nuclear test since I-131 has a short half-life of 8 days. More likely, there's an ongoing issue with a Russian nuclear reactor. (Doesn't have to be a power station - could be a sub or other naval reactor.)

Former President Jimmy Carter and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari were hoping to visit the State Department this week to brief officials on their recent trip to North Korea, but nobody at the State Department was available to meet with them. Carter and Ahtisaari, both Nobel Peace Prize laureates, had been eager to give their readout of their meetings in North Korea April 26 and 27 to U.S. officials and press their case for a resumption of food aid to the Hermit Kingdom. The two are members of the Elders, a group of senior figures who have been informally engaging...

Why I Won't Support More Bailouts Insolvency must be purged from Europe's system and it must be done openly and honestly. When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the so-called bailouts of euro-zone member states. These bailouts are patently bad for Europe, bad for Finland and bad for the countries that have been forced to accept them. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. And unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body....

When I had the honor of leading the True Finn Party to electoral victory in April, we made a solemn promise to oppose the so-called bailouts of euro-zone member states. These bailouts are patently bad for Europe, bad for Finland and bad for the countries that have been forced to accept them. Europe is suffering from the economic gangrene of insolvency—both public and private. And unless we amputate that which cannot be saved, we risk poisoning the whole body. The official wisdom is that Greece, Ireland and Portugal have been hit by a liquidity crisis, so they needed a momentary...

FINLAND VOTES tomorrow in a tight general election likely to see large gains for a populist EU- critical party opposed to Portugal’s euro zone bailout. On the back of popular opposition to the Greek and Irish assistance, the nationalist, anti-immigrant True Finns party has doubled its support within a year to challenge decades of consensus rule between Finland’s three main parties. ... True Finns’ framing the vote as a “referendum on Portugal” has forced the two leaders to toughen up their language on euro-zone bailouts. Regardless of their views, most Finns agree that this has been the most interesting election...

HELSINKI (AFP) - Finns began voting in general elections Sunday after a campaign marked by the meteoric rise of the nationalist True Finns party, which is expected to send parliament lurching to the right. ... The populist, nationalist, immigration-averse True Finns, who are adamantly opposed to European Union bailouts, have meanwhile seen their 4.1 percent tally from the last elections in 2007 balloon to nearly 20 percent in recent polls, although the latest survey put it at 15.4 percent, or fourth place.

CAMP SHAHEEN, Afghanistan - Finland's presence in Afghanistan might not make international headlines, but a local unit played host to 10 media members from their home country here to tell their story. Finnish soldiers assigned to the Operational Mentor and Liaison Team at Afghan National Army Camp Shaheen, showcased their efforts during a one-day visit from various homeland media outlets conducting a seven-day media embed with the Finnish Army. Media members were eager to see their soldiers, or peacekeepers as they are known in Finland, and highlight their accomplishments. "I think they are doing a good job here and that's...

Germany wants to bind Russia to EU 01.09.2006 - 09:41 CET | By Honor Mahony Germany is considering a revamp of the bloc's policy towards the east with Berlin looking at how Russia can be "irreversibly" bound to the EU. It wants to push the new policy when it takes over the presidency of the EU in January - the six-month stint at the helm of the bloc allows the country to promote particular themes. "The goal must be to make the political, economic and cultural ties between the EU and Russia – its anchor in a wider Europe –...

Eurovision in Athens on Saturday night The 51st Eurovision song contest will be held at OAKA's Olympic indoor hall in Athens on Saturday night and will be broadcast live at 10 p.m. by state-run NET television station. Thousands of specators saw the rehearsals at the indoor hall and applauded all the participants, especially Greece's Anna Vissi who will sing "Everything". The ten countries which qualified in Thursday night's semi-final were Bosnia-Herzegovina, Russia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Lithuania, Finland, Ukraine, Ireland, Sweden, Turkey and Armenia. Cyprus and Belgium, among others, were knocked out of the competition. The ten best...