Joe Bendel over at
Libertas reviews what looks to be an
interesting documentary on the Soviet war of aggression against Finland. He also writes about another documentary that covers the attempts by many Finns to resettle their children in Sweden (
War Children).
Vyborg, it should be noted, was taken from Finland by the USSR and is still part of Russia.
ReplyDeleteFinland, in its unfortunate position (a small, isolated country that most of the world didn't care about), found itself having to pay several hundred millions of dollars in reparations to the USSR after being invaded by the USSR. Bizarre.
ReplyDeleteA few years later, the USSR "refinanced" the debt. Although the dollar amount went down slightly what was owed was instead based on specific quantities of products but at 1939 or 1940 prices. The end result was the Finns having to pay more but they had no real choice in the matter.
A long time PM & President of Finland (whose name escapes me) described Finland's position as needing to bow to the East while trying not to moon the West.
Around 1968, in an effort to show the world how much democratic people love communists, the USSR ordered the Finnish government to form a coalition with the Finnish Communist party. They obeyed and promptly refused to seat any communist in the defense dept. The soviets rejected one after another after another of non-commie nominees and finally they summoned the Finnish president to explain. He arrived in Moscow and then berated the Soviets for wasting his time and they backed down. That took guts.
Personally, I like Finns. But then I'm the type of person who can spend hours in a room with someone and not be bothered that no one says anything. LOL
I agree with the good Colonel about liking Finns. Not sure I agre with the silence bit though - I have a new best friend called Olaf who went on for abut three hours to me on the Tallinn-Helsinki ferry about how much he likes Australians althoug worth noting he was hammered at the time as sky high booze taxes mean that internationl waters are their only opportunity to get really plastered.
ReplyDeleteIt's also worth noting that while they really didn't have any choice other than to ally with the Nazis, unlike others in that invidious position such as the Balts, they emerged with their morality largely intact. They refused to hand over Finnish Jews and indeed kept them on in the army, including one as official liaison to the Wermacht whom they promoted so he outranked his German opposite number. There was an interesting article in the Israeli newspaper Haaretz some weeks ago about Finnish Jews who had gone into action alongside the German Army. Needlesss to say they had somewhat mixed feelings about their service.
Gentlemen: Wonderful contributions. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAlthough the humour and your 'fiction' and the comments it inspires from Paco Nation are great draws to this blog, Paco, I must admit that THIS kind of conversation after the post is what I enjoy the most. Thank you all!
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