The Finnish threat

Ah, with Finnish allusions enveloping the blogosphere, it is good to get some perspective.

First, a sociological view:

Then, a historical film from 1952 about the geopolitical challenge.

Back to the Revolución Bolivariana, next post.

Comments

[Jussi Jalonen]

The letter "ü" does not exist in the Finnish alphabet. The Estonians have it, but we use the letter "y". The letters "ä" and "ö" are not umlauts, by the way, but independent vowels on their own right.

So, the spelling of the United States in the punchline should be "U.S.Ä". Mind, I'm not nit-picking, because that would really make it even funnier.

The banknotes in the film weren't introduced until 1986-1987, so they weren't in use at the time of the 1952 Olympics (this is nit-picking, ha-ha).

About the corruption, and for a moment, in all seriousness; the much-vaunted results of the Transparency International have received quite a bit of criticism in the Finnish media. The newspapers have repeatedly noted that even though bribery is (now) non-existent, the good old-fashioned structural corruption is still alive and well in Finland. Personal interest groups, networks, cabals and shady under-the-table agreements are perfectly normal in a small country where everyone knows everyone.

Those of you who read "Financial Times" have probably noted the furore that broke over the electoral campaign funding on this summer.

The foreign comments were on the level of "I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!". The general approach of the common people in this country, however, was simply "These people are politicians; what do you expect?".

Cheers,

J. J.