RE: Sweden13 Apr 2022 22:53
Longtimeinvestor
The ties and army operations of eu army double up the nato effort and the reason Finland has not joined nato in the past is clear. There is important precedent for a small, determined, patriotic army saving a nation from falling under the sway of Russia. And that precedent is the 105-day Winter War in 1939-40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, the precursor to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.
The courage of the Finns inflicted huge losses on their fearsome adversary, as the Ukrainian army is doing today. Helsinki eventually sacrificed 10% of Finland’s territory to the Soviets, in return for a peace that has endured since the end of World War Two.
To learn the lessons, I travelled to Finland for On Assignment in the days around the anniversary of the end of the Winter War on 13 March. I also wanted to know whether and how this Baltic nation - which shares an 830-mile border with Russia - is adapting to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
What struck me, in all my interviews, is how the Finns - unlike British people - see their national independence as a precious but fragile right, that they do not in any sense take for granted. One manifestation is that 80% of all Finnish men do their military service in the army, and well over a million of them remain part of an army of reservists.
Lti you clearly see black and white! But in real life there is never that easy option... nitzz