Finland after the Russian war in Ukraine

My home country, Finland, is a country with a large geographic size but small population. It has been part of Sweden for ca. six hundred years and thereafter a century as an autonomous part of Russia. And now independent for a bit more than 100 years. 

During our history we have learned that independence is highly valuable. And we have defended it with huge sacrifices during the Second World War - and learned there how important it is to have well equipped defense forces. 

As a sign of these lessons, Finland did not reduce its investments to military forces after the collapse of Soviet Union and kept its system of conscription. Then President Putin of Russia lost the last remains of his intelligence and started a war in Ukraine. 

Finland reacted immediately. We bought up-to-date GMLRS-rockets from USA and just yesterday decided to increase our artillery capacity by material from South Korea. And even before that, we applied a membership in NATO. 

We cannot predict the future in detail. However, the fact is that even if - or when - Russia will have to accept its weakness against western weaponry and withdraw from Ukraine it will remain a threat to its small neighbors, Finland included. 

Therefore, the future of Finland´s policy should be a combination of uncompromising loyalty with its western allies and - at the same time - a constructive force between Russia and West. All of that supported by a highly capable army. 

Having said the above, I remind our decision makers about the importance of economy as a precondition of the future. Right now the left-center coalition government of Finland has almost destroyed our economy. Its public debt increases rapidly although responses of the public sector are growing due to the aging population. 

That combination can only be handled by a strong productive private sector and efficient public services. Therefore, the most important task of the next government after the elections next April is to fix the policy made under the lead of our beautiful prime minister. It means, building up incentives for private economic activity combined by a removal of unnecessary usage of taxpayers´ money. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Fair policy will build a strong Union
Vakartšuk of the Okean Elzy: Finnish history inspires Ukrainians
The beautiful PM of Finland has driven herself into a trouble