Dressed to distress; borders, bikers, Bolsheviks and black fingerless gloves.

There was a little story from the AP yesterday that I'm sure will have been read more closely in Finland than in most other countries;  Vladimir Putin wants to commemorate the Soviet soldiers who died in the Winter War against Finland in 1939-40. According to the AP:

Putin said Thursday at a meeting with military historians that Soviet dictator Josef Stalin launched the war to “correct mistakes” made in drawing the border with Finland after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.

I'm not sure if many historians would agree with that analysis but that's by the by. Anyway, the Washington Post had illustrated the story with the somewhat tangentially connected picture of Putin giving an award to the head of some Russian biker group, Alexander "the surgeon" Zaldostanov for his patriotic youth work or some such. A quick google on Mr. Zaldostanov shows that he and Mr. Putin have been friends for some time, but more to the point the both seem keen on black fingerless gloves!

It's a long time since I last noted the black fingerless glove issue in these pages, but it's a 'thing', honest guv'! My global-mayhem-fashion/black fingerless gloves all-encompassing theory of international relations is still developing, but tentatively I'm will to say, when they are worn (or worse - when just one is worn) be nervous.

(There are more images of Putin with fingerless gloves on in this photo essay along with some frankly disturbing shirts-off imagery.)

Incoming!

YLE reports that the Finnish air force is getting ground attack capability. They're buying 200 millions worth of kit off the US Navy including long range air to surface missiles. They've been trying to get this stuff for some years, there has been both reticence from the Americans to sell the best stuff and political resistance in the Parliament. I remember reading a minority dissent to a parliamentary defence committee report from a Left Alliance MP who specifically argued that the airforce is for defence and therefore didn't need ground attack capability. This is a bit of "duh!" arguement if you think about it, but reflects a general pacificist/neutralist strain that remains very strong in the Finnish body-politic.

Anyway, the Defence Forces will be pleased. Last year a prominent British analyst pointed out that Finland still has the biggest artillery force in Europe, 500 more big guns than the UK has. This was meant to be a criticism but tends to get a "yeah, and...?" response from Finnish defence professionals for what they take to be completely self evident reasons. Last year I put this 'criticism' to one of the most senior civil servants in the Ministry of Defence in Helsinki. He looked slightly shamefaced about it, a bit like a teenager caught wearing last years sneakers, but explained - "of course if we had long range air to surfaces weapons for the F-18s we wouldn't need so many". So dreams do come true (at least if you lobby hard enough), andGeorgia is on everyone's mind after last summer and that can't of hurt the MoD's case.

Finnish fringes

Finnish fringes - supposed Islamists and Russia fans rally in Helsinki (photo from Wikipedia)

Sometimes if I get a late bus home, I see my friendly neighbourhood Salafi. Salafi-chic is a lot less common in Finland than it is in, say, parts of London so he sort of sticks out. He's a skinny white guy with a friendly and slightly goofy smile - but the rest is classic neo-Salafi: the straggly beard, the skull cap, the shalwar kameez, but crucially with mid-calf trousers, and of course some old army surplus jacket over the top. A bit Tora-Bora 2001 for my taste, but there's nowt as queer as folk and each to their own. He wears combat boots though, which I thought was missing the point as aren't Salafis meant to show their ankles to follow the Prophet's example? But ankles and Islamic jurisprudence are by the by - whenever I see him, I think of the Finnish Islamic Party and Abdullah Tammi.

You don't get more loony fringe than Tammi - who may or may not have been a neo-Nazi, communist, fireman, KGB spy, wife beater, entrepreneur and captain in the Red Army. And if that isn't an interesting enough life, now he most definitely is the leader of the tiny Finnish Islamic Party. The FIP aren't solely white converts, but they do seem to make up the majority of the party. The Finnish Muslims I know from more traditional immigrant backgrounds seem to treat them with polite scepticism at best.

Tammi along with some other FIP guys were protesting today outside of the Helsingin Sanomat offices in Helsinki - but it wasn't their protest. Oh no. They were there with the "Nashi", the Russian, pro-Putin and sort of ultranationalist youth outfit - more famous for chasing and harrassing ambassadors in Moscow from countries they don't like, such Estonia and the UK. Now the Nashi don't really seem to be mad at Finland, their fire is directed at Estonia, but for reasons you need to read the news story to see if you can work out (because I'm not sure if I fully do), it was more convenient to protest here.

The jist of it seems to be that those who criticise the Soviet Union are really just criticising the Russia of today, and they are doing this because they are fascists. All the breakaway states from the USSR - like Estonia - are full of Russia-hating fascists. It's a rather silly argument, but then the Nashi are a populist youth movement so perhaps expecting much more would also be silly. But anything to do with Russia can bring the 'interesting characters' out of the woodwork in Finland - Johan Bäckman being one such. He appears to think that the anti-Russian sentiments prevalent in the Baltics are being imported to Finland. This strikes me as odd as you really don't have to dig very far to find Finnish anti-Russian sentiments. Why they would need to be imported from Estonia escapes me. Bäckman is a member (founder member I think) of the Finnish antifascist committee that seems to be more interested in criticising the Baltic "apartheid regimes" and supporting Russia than the more normal sort of Antifa activities like rucking with skinheads. All very odd.

What Tammi is doing there is anyone guess (beyond the stated protesting for better recognition of Muslims in Estonia - if I was an Estonian Muslim [or should the be the Estonian Muslim], I'd be running in the opposite direction from Tammi's 'support'). I suppose he couldn't get much more weird in the eyes of the Finnish public. But for a man who has praised bin Laden, turning up at a Nashi protest, an organisation that lionises Putin - the destroyer of Grozny, is strange to say the least.

Anastasia Baburova - anti-fascist hero

I occasionally find the obituaries in the Economist quite affecting, often when not expecting it. This week's, for Anastasia Baburova, was once such. Baburova, a young brave investigative journalist, was gunned down last month in broad daylight in central Moscow whilst walking with Stanislav Markelov, a human rights lawyer. She tried to tackle the assasin of Markelov, who simply killed her as well. No one in government has even expressed their condolences. Human rights lawyers who defend Chechen rape victims, and reporters who report their stories, clearly aren't worth much sympathy to the powers that be in the Kremlin.

It is a fine obituary for a brave young woman:

In Turgenev’s poem “The Threshold”, a young woman stands before a door. A voice asks whether she is prepared to endure cold, hunger, mockery, prison and death, all of which await her on the other side. She says “Yes” to everything, and steps over. “A fool,” cries a voice from behind her. “A saint,” suggests another.

She deserves such fine words, but 25 years is far too early to hear them.