The Finlandization of Europe (and the World?)

by Paul Trog

A few of us still remember 1945 and the end of World War II.

Imagine if you will, a country crushed and conquered by the Soviet armies yet incredibly, managing to retain a measure of national independence. Although its industry was bombed to pieces and its economy was in tatters, impossibly burdened by punitive contractual agreements it was forced to sign with Stalinist Russia, it succeeded to retain its national identity: Unlike the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where a good part of the population was forced to migrate to Russia in order to make room for a flood of Russian immigrants, a calculated dilution process of their traditions and national character, this never happened in Finland. Its unbending thirst for independence did not weaken. This resilient strength is still the driving force of the Finish people today.

Subjected to an unprovoked Soviet invasion in 1939 which it valiantly repulsed, Finland became an ally of Nazi Germany in order to strengthen its defensive positions against a gigantic communist foe. But this proved to be a fatal miscalculation resulting in de facto ECONOMIC DEPENDENCE ON RUSSIA. That crushing entanglement lasted until l989, the year the Soviet Union collapsed.

In this context I wrote the following unpublished piece in l982 during the Soviet economic domination of Finland:

“Mr. Jean Poperen, the No. 2 leader of the Socialist Party of France, during a debate in the French parliament about the current (1982) European situation, angrily accused the French Communist Party of behaving like agents of Moscow and trying to achieve the FINLANDIZATION OF EUROPE. This statement caused an uproar in France and still reverberates in Europe.

What does “Finlandization” mean in this context? First of all, by way of ENERGY and raw material supplies, as well as lucrative business contracts, achieving meaningful European dependence on Russia. We have traveled quite far down this road already. At this point in time, so many Western nations have let themselves become entangled in Soviet trade agreements, that any interruption in commercial activities could turn out to be a Soviet weapon against the West and not the other way around. Indeed, Western banks have bent over backwards, eagerly extending large credits to communist Poland and other Eastern block nations. This endangers their solvency, should private lending be forced to stop abruptly by fiat, or by other credible threats of actions against Western economic interests by Moscow. Indeed, by structuring any sanctions now, we could do serious harm to ourselves. It is a fact that any substantive economic pact with communist East European countries does result in a partial loss of our own freedoms. The final step of the communist program of “Finlandization” is the slide of the European democracies, with their will to resist damaged, and bereft of their ingrained identity while shorn of all moral mores and ethical principles, then crumbling quite naturally by their own weight at the feet of the communist colossus.

Nothing less than a common, coherent European approach to ENERGY, trade and banking policy towards the communist block of nations, born out of a unified ideological commitment to moral and ethical principles, can counter the Soviet policy of “Finlandization” effectively.”

Today, European dependence on Russian natural gas is overwhelming. The building of a pipeline called Nabucco, which would have resulted in greater European energy independence has been stalled by ecological technicalities for years, not unlike the Keystone pipeline project in the USA.

By shutting down its natural gas supplies repeatedly, Russia was able to strangle the Ukrainian democratic revolution led by then President Viktor Yushchenko. Then a decisive blow against Yushchenko personally was administered at a dinner given in his honor by his own secret police. Unknowingly, he ingested mind control and psycho-morphic drugs, in addition to a poison that disfigured him. He survived, incapacitated and psychologically unraveled. Today unfortunately, the Ukraine lost both its political and national independence. It has become a Russian puppet once again.

Decades ago in Germany, coal mining was abandoned and many of its pits were flooded by order of the government. In a few years, all the German Atomic power producing facilities will be shut down. And thus, with no alternative energy resources to replace Russian gas, (wind and sun power are a drop in the bucket regarding its over-all energy needs), the industrial power-house of Europe, Germany, is at the mercy of Russia’s unabated and growing ambitions of domination.

Have we not learned anything from the past?

Should we not revisit the US relationship with China urgently in the context of FINLANDIZATION and rethink our policies? Slowly decoupling from that threatening embrace must be a national priority. Our economic and political freedom must be regained, preserved and protected at all cost. But the re-election of President Obama last month makes this courageous policy change improbable.

Paul Trog
Innsbruck
December 7th, 2012