They are a smart, loyal group that can fight above their weight with some strategic military capabilities for such a small country. The long border with Russia is pretty desolate, but having it be NATO protected would effectively shut off Scandinavia by land unless they go through the small bit of Norway at the top....really far north.
Norway is already part of Nato. Another reason why this NATO encroachment hypothesis to justify invading Ukraine was already a bit hollow.
The highest recorded speeding fine ever issued was to a 37 year old Swedish man in 2010 in Switzerland! He was fined a total of CHF 1.08 Million for driving at 290 km/h on a 120 km/h stretch of motorway.
Finland...home of the $103,000 speeding ticket (couldn't read...paywall...but I assume I know the gist of it). I was in Helsinki just after the ticket in 2002 was issued. It was the talk of the town. The fines are income-based, and the story I was told was in reference to a Nokia exec who had sold stock options.
They are a smart, loyal group that can fight above their weight with some strategic military capabilities for such a small country. The long border with Russia is pretty desolate, but having it be NATO protected would effectively shut off Scandinavia by land unless they go through the small bit of Norway at the top....really far north.
A decision by Finland and Sweden to join NATO will improve deterrence against Russia in northern Europe and add to the U.S.-led military allianceâs security, one analyst from Atlantic Council told CNBC on Thursday.
Her comments came right before Finlandâs President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin announced their country should apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization âwithout delay.â
âNATO membership would strengthen Finlandâs security. As a member of NATO, Finland would strengthen the entire defense alliance,â they said in a joint statement.
A similar announcement from Sweden is expected later this week.
âSweden and Finland joining NATO will increase deterrence in the region because of the assets they will provide the alliance. And the ability to plan for Northern Europeâs security in a comprehensive manner,â said the Atlantic Councilâs Northern Europe director Anna Weislander.
Membership of the political and military alliance will be a historic decision for Finland, which shares a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia. The Nordic nation adopted neutrality after its defeat by the Soviet Union in World War Two. Sweden, too, has not been part of any military alliances for more than 200 years.
Weislander said both the countries were well prepared to meet the oft-repeated political and military threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin who opposes their membership.
A couple of paragraphs to wet the appetite: In fact, a recent report by the chairman of market and investment strategy for J.P. Morgan Asset Management came to a surprising conclusion: The Nordic region is not only âjust as business-friendly as the U.S.â but also better on key free-market indexes, including greater protection of private property, less impact on competition from government controls and more openness to trade and capital flows. According to the World Bank, doing business in Denmark and Norway is actually easier overall than it is in the United States.
Finland also has high levels of economic mobility across generations. A 2018 World Bank report revealed that children in Finland have a much better chance of escaping the economic class of their parents and pursuing their own success than do children in the United States.
From the wikipage on suicides in Sweden which, once upon a time, garnered a fair bit of media attention in North America:
Sweden has a suicide rate which is below the OECD average.<1> During the 1960s, Sweden had one of the highest reported suicide rates among the most developed countries, but it declined as methods for measuring were standardized internationally.<2>
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland has rated the DVD release of the much-loved children's television series "Little House on the Prairie" suitable for adult viewing only.
To save money, Universal Pictures decided not to submit the series to state inspection, the company's Finland marketing manager Meri Suomela told Reuters on Wednesday.
Finnish authorities charge 2 euros ($2.57) per minute for assessing the correct age limit on films and television series. Distributors who forego this can only sell their shows with a sticker saying "Banned for under-18s."
"Long series can get quite expensive to check, and some use this exemption in the law to their advantage," said Matti Paloheimo, Director at the Finnish Board of Film Classification.
"Such unchecked material should not be shown to children publicly," he added.
Little House on the Prairie, which ran from 1974 to 1983, portrayed life in the U.S. West in the late 1800s and was based on the Laura Ingalls Wilder's children's book of the same name.
It remains popular in Finland, and is still shown weekly on Sunday mornings on state-owned broadcaster YLE.
(Reporting by Sakari Suoninen)
The Little House stories are known around the world. While chatting with a Thai woman in Bangkok a couple of years ago, her knowledge of the United States was obviously limited but when I said that I lived in Minnesota, she said, "Oh, yes! Walnut Grove, home of Laura Ingalls Wilder!" Nellie Oleson might be a tart, but let's hope we never see a Thai adult version of Little House.
