SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - Finland Politics thread

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Finland angry at Germany: "You didn't understand the basic rule in dealing with Russia"

Created:11/13/2022 4:55 am

By: Anna-Katharina Ahnefeld

Germany's reputation in the world has suffered greatly since the Ukraine war. Finland's anger at Berlin is new: "How slowly are you learning to read Russia"?

Helsinki/Brussels/Cologne – A cartoon recently circulated in Finland. Two men are sitting in a bathtub filled with oil, the liquid is foaming between them, one of them is leaning calmly on the edge of the pool, the other is anxiously holding his hands up. The first is the Russian ruler Vladimir Putin, the second Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). The caricature reveals something about the seething in Finland in view of Germany's Russia policy. Finland is furious with Germany, furious with the traffic light government for its reluctance to deliver arms to Ukraine, furious with Germany's energy dependence on Russia.

https://i.ibb.co/3fppBvq/8-D50-E35-D...D84-F60915.jpg

Minna Ålander, political scientist at the renowned think tank Finnish Institute of International Affairs in Helsinki, is also upset in an interview with IPPEN.MEDIA 's Frankfurter Rundschau . Until recently, Ålander lived in Germany, where he worked for the Politics and Science Foundation. She has only been back in Finland for a few months. She says: "Germany is not even aware of how much its own role in the EU has changed."

Germany in the Ukraine war: Finland is appalled by German security policy

Russia's war in Ukraine is a turning point - that's nothing new. Nor that the perception of Germany has suffered greatly in the international community despite the promise of a "turning point in time". But that Finland is also angry about Berlin - that's what it is. With its five and a half million inhabitants, the Nordic country has fewer inhabitants than Hesse, but is one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Also because Helsinki has never forgotten the danger posed by the former Soviet Union . Politics in Finland is therefore security policy.

And that's the crux of the matter. The fact that Germany has primarily pursued economic goals in its foreign policy in recent decades, such as Nord Stream 2, is incomprehensible to the Finns. To make matters worse, the Federal Republic has actually been regarded as the closest and like-minded partner in the European Union. Those times seem over: “In Finland, the perception of Germany has changed significantly this year. Germany is still considered the most important partner within the EU, but the extent of German policy mistakes in the Merkel era, especially in energy policy, has clearly come to light - with serious consequences for all of Europe," says Ålander. That Germany is so dependent on Russia for its energy policyhas embarked, Finland belches badly.

The Finnish MEP Petri Sarvamaa (EPP) underlines this as well. In an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau by IPPEN.MEDIA, he too was dismayed at the German understanding of Russia. He asks: "How slowly is Germany learning to read Russia?" He cites the Kremlin 's nuclear threats as an example . According to the Finn, he has no idea how the Federal Republic can jump over every little stick that Russia holds out to them. The threats are nothing more than a "bluff", the last remnants of Vladimir PutinStrategy. Sarvamaa: “We need to wake up and realize that these guys never say what they mean and they never mean what they say. That is the basic rule for understanding Russia, which Germany completely misunderstood.”

Germany in the Russia-Ukraine war: allegations from Helsinki to Berlin – Baerbock makes promises

Speaking of waking up. On the day the Russian invasion war broke out in Ukraine, Annalena Baerbock said a remarkable sentence: "We woke up in a different world." The Greens meant a world in which war is raging again in Europe. But it quickly became apparent that it is also a world in which Germany's credibility suffers greatly. The German reaction to the Ukraine war is too slow, too little and too defensive , is the accusation that echoes through Eastern Europe in particular.

“We will convince the rest of Europe that we will do what is necessary to defend Ukraine.”

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens)

Germany is too unprepared, says Minna Ålander. “A shocking realization here in Finland was the state of the Bundeswehr. This complete unpreparedness for potential risks and crises in Germany is incomprehensible from a Finnish point of view,” said the expert on Nordic and German security policy. All the risks of German energy policy materialized in the most brutal way. Well aware of the damage Germany's image has suffered, Foreign Minister Baerbock promised during her trip to Warsaw in October: "We will convince the rest of Europe that we will do what is necessary to defend Ukraine", with reference to the delivery of the cheetah tanks.

Not only said cartoon recently circulated in Finland, but also a video recording of the Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin. A reporter asks the prime minister about a way out of the Ukraine war. The 36-year-old pauses briefly and then replies: "The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine. This is the way out of the conflict,” said the Finn. As she leaves, you can hear her laughing, the question seems so superfluous to her. It is such a matter of course that the Finns obviously miss in Germany.