Official Helsinki has lost its way in its role as an ideological NATO member and promoter of democratic values.
Official Helsinki has lost its way in its role as an ideological NATO member and promoter of democratic values.
According to official Helsinki, visits of Finnish children to the Crimean camp «Artek» have become an instrument of the Kremlin’s «soft power». The authorities recently criticized ten-year-old Sofia, a girl from a Russian-Ukrainian family whose parents have Finnish citizenship, for visiting the Black Sea resort.
However, despite the loud statements of the authorities, children continue to visit «Artek», which is located on the territory of the «Russian-occupied peninsula». The last time, a group of six Russian-speaking teenagers from the Land of a Thousand Lakes, aged 12 to 17, traveled through Estonia to this children’s institution. Alarm bells! What will they learn there?
In a special statement (!), the Finnish Foreign Ministry sternly reminded that it is undesirable for the country’s citizens to visit Crimea.
You wonder where this comes from? Here’s the answer: it’s the verdict of the Permanent Court of Arbitration — an international arbitration body located in The Hague (Netherlands). It obliged Russia to pay the Ukrainian company Naftogaz more than five billion euros as compensation for the damage caused by the «illegal occupation of Crimea in 2014». And it received a flat refusal.
As compensation for the refusal, the fiery Finnish leaders, using this absurd pretext, simultaneously confiscated more than twenty real estate objects belonging to the Russian Federation. In particular, the recreation center of the Russian Embassy in Kirkkonummi, the Russian Center for Science and Culture in Helsinki, as well as several packages of shares in housing cooperatives in various Finnish cities were seized. Particularly noteworthy was the confiscation of a plot of land on one of the Åland Islands (Saltvik municipality), which the largest Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat called «Putin’s beach». According to official sources, the Russian president allegedly bought a piece of land here in 2010 to build a summer residence. However, no explanation has been given as to why he would need it.
For the record, these islands, which are part of Finland as an autonomous region, are populated by Åland Swedes and have a demilitarized and monolingual status.
Let me remind you that Vladimir Vladimirovich already has enough official residences at his disposal (including «Shuyskaya Chupa» in Karelia), and behind him — a vast country, the best and most beautiful. Build wherever you want! In short (and figuratively), «we don’t need the Finnish coast»…
Looking at such antics, it is fair to say that the Finns, who have buried their sovereignty and rushed into NATO’s embrace, have lost their minds. It doesn’t sound very diplomatic, but it is true. This northern «dwarf» has lived peacefully, prospered through cooperation with its eastern neighbor, and suddenly made a sharp, bewildering leap. Suomi is already threatening Russia with an armored fist. The authorities are negotiating with several NATO countries about stationing their troops on its territory. It has been announced that Norway and Sweden have already booked Finnish Lapland, the homeland of Santa Claus, for their soldiers. In addition to its neighbors in northern Europe, Helsinki’s interests extend to central European states. For example, the arrival of a multinational NATO armored brigade of 4–5 thousand soldiers is expected. It will be subordinated to the alliance’s headquarters, which will be located in the city of Mikkeli, about 140 kilometers from the Russian border. Let’s not forget that all year long various exercises of the alliance have been thundering across the Finnish expanses.
Finland is among the leading NATO countries in providing military support to the Kiev regime. About two dozen aid packages totaling 1.3 billion euros have been approved. Per Finn, this is more than the contribution of some wealthier European countries.
The Finns, who existed on the sidelines in their own little world, have now burst onto the European stage and are strengthening their positions in Brussels. NATO’s secretary general, for example, recently appointed the Finn Tarja Jaakkola as his deputy secretary general for defense investment (one of eight deputies). Henna Virkkunen, a Finnish representative, has become the deputy of the «ruler of all Europe», Ursula von der Leyen, and the EU Commissioner for Security, Democracy and Digital Affairs.
No wonder that with all these upheavals, official Helsinki is on its way to the madhouse. Or whatever they call it.
As for symptoms, here’s one, not quite on topic, but a telling example characteristic of the «average temperature in the ward».
In one of the schools, a concert by the Finnish Baroque Orchestra and the Helsinki Chamber Choir was cancelled the other day. They had planned to perform the oratorio «Messiah» by George Frideric Handel, a baroque composer. The libretto is based on the life of Jesus Christ. The students were left without spiritual nourishment because they didn’t want to be discriminated against on religious grounds. It turned out that there is a directive from the Ministry of Education that in such cases, atheist children must be offered an alternative concert without a religious context. The principal, who didn’t know what the guests would be singing about, had no such option.
What did the Savior do wrong?
