No update today, but your regularly scheduled programming will continue tomorrow.
Links and Stuff
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Add to the above list if you can, thank you.
Resources For Understanding The War Beyond The Bulletins
Defense Politics Asia's youtube channel and their map, who is an independent youtuber with a mostly neutral viewpoint.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have good analysis (though also a couple bad takes here and there)
Understanding War and the Saker: neo-conservative sources but their reporting of the war (so far) seems to line up with reality better than most liberal sources.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict and, unlike most western analysts, has some degree of understanding on how war works. He is a reactionary, however.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent journalist reporting in the Ukrainian warzones.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Yesterday's discussion post.
Next week (probably Monday) the Finnish parliament will have a special session to discuss a NATO application, maybe it will take 1 more day for counter arguments. They want to rush but also don't want to give the appearance to the public that they made a hasty decision. So I'd guess like next Wednesday or Thursday.
Submission of a NATO application nearing completion - see what will happen in the coming days (in Finnish)
Translation
The positive NATO position of the President and the Prime Minister paves the way for the submission of a NATO application. Before that, the process is still needed for a few days.
The attitude of the parties is already largely known, but the SDP's position is still expected from the party council on Saturday. With the announcement by Prime Minister Sanna Marin , it is clear at the latest that the SDP supports Finland's military alliance.
On Sunday, the Foreign and Security Policy Committee of the President and the Government will meet to decide on applying for NATO membership and taking the matter to Parliament.
Parliament will be called to an extraordinary session as early as Monday at 10 a.m. The historic debate is likely to spark a lot of speeches, so consideration will take some time.
According to President Matti Vanhanen (center), a referendum will be held on Monday's session on the government's proposal, which will state the exact position of the president and the government on the submission of the application.
It is expected that a vote will be taken at the end of the deliberations, as a counter-proposal is likely to be tabled among MPs.
Does Russia have revanchist aims in Finland? I think the situation is very different there; Finland doesn't have a meaningful Russian ethnic minority, which was one of the causus belli for Russia. Finland also doesn't have a warm water port, and as far as I know is not a major transshipment route for Russian products going in the EU. I don't know what you'd do once you invaded Finland. Occupy Helsinki for some reason? Herd reindeer? There's only five million people in the country. The Russians already have a port at St. Petersburg. I'm not sure what strategic gain you'd get from invading Finland other than a lot of pissed of Finns.
Yeah I think you're on the mark, I don't see any particular gain for Russia from taking Finland. If anything I think the Finns would lowkey love to someday take back the Karelian territory including the city of Vyborg (Viipuri) which they ceded in WW2. I think the situation is more that a lot of center and right wing Finns think it was a mistake not to join NATO 30 years ago, and this is a lucky second chance.
Did they have a referendum or something back in the day? Sucks when your government coups your government to join the Nazi Atlantic Treaty Organization when people aren't for it. I mean it sucks regardless but doing it all sneaky also sucks.
Should preface that I don't have extensive knowledge of Finnish politics, I only moved to Finland a few years ago. So I'm more of an outsider. I don't think there's ever been a referendum, but I think joining NATO would definitely get support if they did do a referendum. A polling agency does polling every year to gauge public opinion. (Title: Finland should join NATO. Green = yes, red = no, talvi = winter, syksy = autumn). After the Ukraine invasion, support jumped by like 30%, so that the president thinks a referendum isn't even necessary because it is already clear what the population thinks. Now support is at 76% based on May polling.
So :shrug-outta-hecks: technically they'll join without a referendum but I don't think Finnish people will be upset. I think more of them were upset that some pro-Russian citizens had parades on May 9.