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Finland's Spy Service Warns of Russian Interference, Attacks:
Finland must brace for Russian interference and hybrid attacks as it weighs whether to join the NATO military alliance, the security services warned on Tuesday.
The Nordic nation shares a 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia and has remained militarily non-aligned since the end of World War II to avoid provoking its eastern neighbour.
[...] "The whole of Finnish society must be vigilant towards Russian attempts to influence Finnish decision-making regarding the NATO question," Antti Pelttari, head of the Finnish security services Supo, said.
Releasing its updated terrorism threat report, Supo on Tuesday highlighted the danger of "widespread Russian interference and illegal surveillance," but kept the national terror threat at level two, or "elevated", on a scale of four.
[...] Finland has previously been subject to so-called hybrid tactics from Moscow, such as repeated airspace incursions, or the release in 2016 of 1,700 migrants across the Finnish border.
Earlier this month the transport authority Traficom said it had received "numerous" reports from aircraft of GPS interference in eastern Finland, but was unable to identify the source of the interference.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 01 2022, @02:19PM (1 child)
You are correct, I've never talked to any soldiers or former soldiers from Finland who kicked Russian ass. Somehow, my travels never took be to your part of the world. The nearest I ever got to Finland, was Copenhagen (or Kobenhavn) for a couple days of liberty.
Your points are maybe valid, but there are differences. How long has Finland been a neutral country? Compare that to Ukraine. If Ukraine had almost a century of dedication to neutrality, then Russia's attitude might be different, do you think?
Also, Finland doesn't hold possession of Russia's only warm water naval port, which would have been handed over for NATO use, right on Russia's door step. Drawing parallels between Finland and Ukraine only goes so far.
As for Finland joining NATO, if you're going to make that leap, you had best do it quickly. Dithering for years will invite Russia to step up it's interference. Make the decision within a couple months, send the diplomats to make it happen, and join within six months. A year is too long to dither over it. You can see how that worked in Ukraine.
It is also worth noting that we don't see a lot of Russian expansion. In Ukraine, we see Russia trying to keep what they consider theirs. Right or wrong, Russia sees Crimea as theirs. They took it back, and now they taken back the water supply that makes Crimea a viable base of operations. Go ahead, make the point again that Russia ceded Crimea - but you've not convinced the Russians. They've taken back Crimea, and the water supply that the Soviet built to supply Crimea. Denying them that control isn't up for debate. NATO isn't going to war over Ukraine, and Ukraine isn't going to take all of that back on their own.
I'll remind you that since the first man picked up the first stick and sharpened it, world affairs have not been determined by right and wrong. Being a Finn, and knowing your history, you know that might makes right. That's the way it always has been.
Again, if you're going to join NATO, do it quickly. Fortune favors the bold, and crushes the undecided.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday April 01 2022, @05:20PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaliningrad [wikipedia.org]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"