We are your shield today.
This really hits home because as you know, Finland has also been under the Russian rule and the threat is real again. The world at large has been speaking about the war there for six days only but I know Russia has been violating your borders for years and years. I hope the supplies the West is sending reach you fast and you can defeat the enemy, everyone here is rooting for Ukraine. Slava Ukraini!
You know, I read translated article a few days ago about Finland, maybe you know what I mean - Sofi Oksanen: Föreställ dig tystnaden i ett finlandiserat Europa. I knew many things I had no idea before. It would be interesting to know your opinion.
That’s actually in Swedish but I found the column in Finnish too. Sofi is a writer with an Estonian mother so she knows a thing or two about living under Soviet rule. I just skimmed through what she wrote.
We had autonomy from Russia but half of Finns never wanted to live under any other rule than our own. We had to fight Russia, loose a lot of land and people, and have a civil war but we got our own country like it always should have been. I’m sure Ukraine can relate, you are your own people, culture and land. We have been in peace with Russia in my lifetime, and my parents lifetime, but living next to Russia has always been a delicate dance. We can see through Putin’s bullshit, always have, because it’s still not that long ago when we were in war with Russia.