Page 18 - Winter War News Today

After decades of peaceful coexistence on Russias borders, the Finns relinquished neutrality and sought shelter within the military alliance.

With Putin’s Moscow showing unremitting hostility to the West, there is an enduring attraction to NATO’s Article Five self-defense clause — the "one for all, all for one" policy.

Sauli Niinisto, president of Finland, is against closing the Russian Consulate in the Finnish city of Mariehamn on the Aland Islands. Yet however he warns that Finnish government will respond if the mission will do something not compatible with diplomatic status.

The Finnish conscription model breeds determination, preparedness, and comprehensive security, ingraining key lessons for national defense—and for life—within those who serve.

Since the demise of the Soviet Union, Moscow has viewed Kaliningrad as an important Russian outpost in the West—first under Boris Yeltsin as a bridge to Europe and then as an advanced post for projecting Russian power. More recently, in response to Finland’s decision to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the Kremlin has expressed the hope that it …

And it could see American boots on the ground in eastern Ukraine.

Finland joined NATO on April 4, 2023, which was the 74th anniversary of the formation of organization. Russia had time to prepare because the accession had been temporarily blocked by Turkey, but it was obvious that this delay would end and Helsinki would join leaving Russia to cope with the outcome. NATO logo superimposed on Finnish flag (Source: Vedomosti.ru) Russian papers

Same day, six hundred Soviet prisoners of war and 300 Jews are “euthanized” at Auschwitz.(jewishvirtuallibrary.org/holocaust-chronology-of-1941)

Millie Walton visits Finland’s most important art museum, which is rethinking its mission, just as the country is thinking hard about its national identity

Today's pre-London Book Fair Rights Roundup features work from the States, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Turkey, Spain, and Australia.