Future Timeline

Sunday 15 May 2022

Finland has confirmed it will apply to join NATO despite Russia's president warning it would be a "mistake" to do so.

Finland's President Sauli Niinisto said joining the military alliance will "maximise" his country's security following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A formal membership application is expected to be submitted to NATO headquarters in Brussels next week.

"This is a historic day. A new era begins," Mr Niinisto said.

(Science Alert) Finland has been the happiest country on Earth for the past six years, according to the World Happiness Survey. This survey relies on the Cantril ladder life evaluation question:

• Please imagine a ladder with steps numbered from zero at the bottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder represents the best possible life for you and the bottom of the ladder represents the worst possible life for you. On which step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at this time?

Finland comes out top, followed by Denmark and Iceland. Just why Finns are happier than others comes down to a number of factors including lower income inequality (most importantly, the difference between the highest paid and the lowest paid), high social support, freedom to make decisions, and low levels of corruption.

wjfox wrote: ↑Mon Aug 21, 2023 5:25 pm

Finland has said it will close all but one crossing point on its border with Russia in an effort to halt a flow of asylum seekers to the Nordic nation, as Estonia accused Moscow of mounting “a hybrid attack operation” on Europe’s eastern border.

The announcement on Wednesday came after weeks of tension on the 830-mile (1,330km) border across which Helsinki accuses Moscow of guiding refugees and migrants in an apparent act of revenge for the Nordic nation’s cooperation with the US.

From midnight on Friday, said the Finnish prime minister, Petteri Orpo, the only open border crossing of Finland’s eight stations would be its northernmost at Raja-Jooseppi.

weatheriscool wrote: ↑Thu Nov 23, 2023 4:30 am The announcement on Wednesday came after weeks of tension on the 830-mile (1,330km) border across which Helsinki accuses Moscow of guiding refugees and migrants in an apparent act of revenge for the Nordic nation’s cooperation with the US.

(Stars and Stripes) HELSINKI — Former Prime Minister Alexander Stubb won the first round of Finland’s presidential election Sunday and will face runner-up ex-Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto in a runoff next month.

The vote largely centered on the Nordic nation’s new role as a NATO front-line country with Russia, and the security situation in Europe, particularly Russia’s assault on Ukraine.

With all the votes counted, Stubb led the first round with 27.2% of the votes, while Haavisto, Finland’s top diplomat in 2019-2023, took second place with 25.8%. Parliamentary Speaker Jussi Halla-aho came in third with 19%, followed by Bank of Finland governor Olli Rehn with 15.3%.

The first-round election result will be officially confirmed Tuesday. The result will push the race into a runoff on Feb. 11 between Stubb and Haavisto, because none of the candidates received more than half of the votes.

“Getting such a result together with the team is heartwarming. I am grateful and humbled by it,” Stubb told his supporters in an election party at a Helsinki restaurant, adding that he wasn’t planning major changes in his campaign for the second round of voting.

Updated 11:10 AM GMT, February 11, 2024

HELSINKI (AP) — Voters in Finland are choosing Sunday between two experienced politicians to be their next president, whose main task will be to steer the Nordic country’s foreign and security policy now that it is a member of NATO, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Former prime minister Alexander Stubb, 55, on the center right, and former foreign minister Pekka Haavisto, 65, from the green left, largely agree on Finland’s foreign policy and security priorities.

These include maintaining a hard line toward Moscow and Russia’s current leadership, strengthening security ties with Washington, and the need to help Ukraine both militarily and at a civilian level. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) border with Russia.

Unlike in most European countries, the president of Finland holds executive power in formulating foreign and security policy together with the government, especially concerning countries outside the European Union such as the United States, Russia and China.

The head of state also commands the military — particularly important in Europe’s current security environment and the changed geopolitical situation of Finland, which joined NATO in April 2023 in the aftermath of Russia’s attack on Ukraine a year earlier.