Suomi

Suomi
Originally uploaded by Miguel Frutos.

Revisiting the Security and Defence Policy

A working group has been assembled to research and report on Finland's stance militarily in an international system that "has entered a new development phase." At issue will be NATO, the UN and EU security guarantees, the defensive policy of non-alignment, and an eye towards an increasingly unknown player directly to the east, i.e. Russia. The group's report will be presented sometime in 2008, though I'm already a bit nervous about revisiting the NATO question. I guess we'll just have to wait a few months.

Tampere to the Champions League?

While not quite as improbable as Finland winning Eurovision was, landing a Finnish team in the Champions League would be quite an accomplishment. Tampere will attempt to continue their march to do just that tonight.

Nokia Battery Recall

A la Dell battery recall a year or so ago, due to batteries overheating while charging. 46 Million Matsushita-maufactured units to be replaced. See if you are affected. Poor Nokia=/

Helsinki by night

Helsinki by night
Originally uploaded by Sameli.

Cloudberry

cloudberry
Originally uploaded by mwri.

Finnish summer gold. The best berry in the world- eaten alone or with ice cream or pancakes (lettuja or pannukakku) or as a jam or wine or one of the countless other options. Cloudberries are one of the things I miss most when not in Finland.

Left Alliance and Greens speak in favor of sending troops to Darfur

While Finnish PM Matti Vanhanen has voiced his political support for the African Union-UN joint venture in sending troops to Darfur, there are those in Parliament and in his government who believe he has once again come up short. As if being the man who made the text message breakup famous wasn't enough...

Sirpa Puhakka (Left Alliance) and Labour Minister Tarja Cronberg both made calls for Vanhanen to put his money where is mouth is and add Finnish troops to the ranks. Finland (and much of Scandinavia) has long harvested the image of the Jiminy Cricket of the world- the ideal security community where fighting is unthinkable among it's members but willing to go elsewhere to help maintain the peace and bring a little piece of their culture to the world. I'd have to agree with these two- even only a few symbolic troops to demonstrate commitment would be better than what Vanhanen is currently doing.

And speaking of text message breakups...

(don't ask)

Hiking in Finland

Those of you who enjoy getting close with nature will appreciate this link. The Finnish Ministry of the Environment maintains a page in English with information and trail maps for the country's national parks, protected areas, etc. The views from many of these locations are astounding, sometimes even more so in the winter.

I took this picture in Lapland in April. There are tons of views like this in the Pallas area.

Helsinki skyline, summer night sky

Helsinki skyline, summer night sky
Originally uploaded by delayed gratification.

Amazing capture of the contrast between the light sky and the artificially lit city below. Another amazing summer view from Helsinki, as summer slowly starts to wind down