Quote Originally Posted by jmm99 View Post
NATO and other alliances have been pushed by more than one leading politician - mutta, the leading political parties have not adopted that as a formal plarform item + about 2/3 of Finns are adverse.

Or, have I missed something since Mar 2008 - which is quite possible.

Georgia may change that - mutta, which way will that cut is another question. We shall see.

Finland has helped Estonia - good to help cousins.

Choke off Gulf of Finland sounds good in theory. Last time we were able to do that was before Charlie the Great screwed everything up in the Great Northern War - and we still remember the consequent Great Wrath.

Sorry to be a little gloomy here.

Kiitos paljon.
JMM, Pole tänu väärt !
I'll just say that more than a year following the Bronze Dude in Estonia, Finland got a good taste of Russian diplomacy along with her Baltic neighbors. Transit traffic came to an abrupt halt across all of Russia's western border. Finland may not depend on revenues from transit traffic as much as the Baltic States, but tractor trailers stacked up on the border for nearly 20 kilometers certainly sent a message.

Finland's decision (and the timing of that decision ahead of Sweden) to contribute to the NATO Response Force is, in and of itself a strong signal. The Finns that I deal with (military and law enforcement) are openly very pro-NATO, and view(ed) Estonia's membership as a wise decision. Check out the smooth-tongued FM Lavrov's recent comments in Helsingin Sanomat regarding Finland and NATO. Not worried, Aye ? Heh

I think Georgia will open the eyes of the Finnish public, and has served only to increase Finnish ties with the Baltic States.

BTW, wasn't it Estonia's "Finnish Boys" who came to the aid of Finland

Terv, Stan