Finland’s Position Is One of the Big Surprises of the Ukraine Invasion
Finlandization is officially over.
For decades, my country has had to walk a fine, fine line between USSR/Russia and Europe. How do we become a developed country and a part of Europe, without angering these guys on the eastern border that could just come back and invade us at any moment?
In the Cold War, that delicate dance gave us and the international media a new concept: Finlandization. It described how a nation gave up on a part of its sovereignty to maintain its independence. Kind of keeping it in name, but sacrificing all important decisions to what Khrushchev or the Politburo wanted. If we got a thumbs down, like we did in the Night Frost Crisis of 1958 or the Note Crisis of 1961, we retreated.
Our President Urho Kaleva Kekkonen was the leader in charge of Finlandizing our foreign policy, and he remained in power for 26 years, from 1956 to 1982. In my opinion, no president has fresh ideas to improve his country for a quarter cetruy, but at least he was on good terms with the Kremlin.
We’ve since implemented a two-term limit for the presidency and gotten rid of the electoral college, so I guess we can sort of thank Kekkonen for overstaying his welcome. And the truth is, had Finland not done what the USSR wanted in those…
