kamakawida

Due to recent Russian military activities and mishaps both in Finnish airspace and within its maritime boundaries the govenrment has suggested that it may increase its military budget because of such incidents. Some political parties are concerned about Finnish sovereignty and therefore are pushing for an increase in Defense capabilities against its humongous neighbor (Russia).

Meanwhile the due to a world wide recession which is also affecting the Finnish economy, planned social service cuts are being pushed through (pensions, childcare etc).

Now personally I am on the side of the leftist political parties in Finland who argue that these incidents of Russian encroachment onto Finnish territory should not be interpreted as hostile even though some of them were possibly intentional. Historically similar incidents have happened on a yearly basis but because of the Ukrainian situation and the perceived threat of Russia advancing into Easter Europe people have become worried.

Sweden has been hinting that it too may increase its military capabilities.

I have two problems with this mentality.

First of all is a purely realistic approach. Let’s imagine Russia wanting to invade or advance into Finland. Long story short, Finland would not have a chance against Russian military even if we invested more into Defense, this is just a fact. So putting any increased taxpayer money into the army would be a waste seeing that Russia for the perceivable future will have the upper hand no matter what.

Secondly investing into the Defense and cutting social security safety nets will only worsen peoples lives, harm the society and most likely weaken the economy.

Yes it is unfortunate that Finnish sovereignty is being encroached on but lets not over react. Lets think about the society and well-being rather than unnecessary fear mongering.