Cutie gun bird

Closing the Black Sea to russia would be the best sanction possible. And we must do it to survive. If someone doesn’t like it — go to Putin and demand that he end the war and free Ukrainian land. That is the only way. End/

Striking russian tankers is justified, and such strikes must continue — regardless of the vessels’ ownership, and regardless of the interests of our partners. 7/

India’s GDP might slow down because of a shortage of Russian oil? Well, maybe that will finally make them think about how to end the war — instead of cozying up to Putin and making money off our suffering. 6/

You don’t call the maintenance service when you have electricity, water, and functioning elevators. So why expect others to react if everything is working perfectly in their lives? 5/

I believe it was a major mistake to allow the world to put on soft slippers, grab a beer, sit comfortably on the couch, and watch us being killed on TV. Because when you now ask why the world has suddenly stopped caring about our problems — well, why should it care if everything is fine for them? 4/

Indian taxi drivers need russian fuel?
Of course — send your tankers into the Black Sea and keep financing the war against Ukraine! We get it: nothing personal, just business. You need money, and we’ll endure it — we’re already used to it. 3/

Africa has nothing to eat, and African children supposedly need stolen Ukrainian grain from the occupied territories?
Sure — go ahead, take it, enjoy! It doesn’t matter that Ukrainian children are dying under shelling; the important thing is that African children don’t starve! 2/

My main source for this thread was an excellent 2011 article by Tero Pasanen, accessible (only in Finnish, sadly) here:

www.pelitutkimus.fi/vuosikirja20...

THAT is why most Finns who know more what #finlandization was in practice are so much against it.

Yes, Finland survived. But not without paying a price. And then only barely, more due to luck than anything else.

Had the #ColdWar continued, Finnish #democracy might well have died out.

It is CERTAIN that similar dynamics would arise in other cases of #finlandization.

Opportunists and those genuinely concerned would compete with each other to prove their loyalty and sabotage their rivals.

At the cost of increasing double-speak and loss of democratic freedoms.

And being able to promote oneself as a proponent of "friendly relations" meant opportunities.

The semi-authoritarian president Urho Kekkonen remained in power for *25 years*, well beyond senility, because he promoted himself as the only reliable "guarantor of friendly relations."

It did not take long after the Second World War for opportunistic Finns to realize that the "Eastern Card" could be a very powerful blunt instrument in internal political struggles.

Tarring an opponent as a menace to "friendly foreign relations" (ie., risking #Finland) could and did end careers.