Is the EU a Real Player in World Politics—or Just a Paper Tiger?

Based on the latest news, it now appears that the EU will have to decide whether it is a significant actor or merely a paper tiger in world politics. I mean that the United States has pressured Ukraine to accept a peace plan dictated by Russia—or at least one that appears to be so—circulating under the name of Donald Trump.

According to media reports, the pressure has taken the form of threatening Ukrainians with a reduction in American military aid and intelligence support if the plan is not accepted. This is a serious situation, because—as I understand it—it is perfectly clear that Ukraine cannot continue the war in its current circumstances without U.S. intelligence assistance, when survival against the enemy is already hanging by a thread.

If Donald Trump is serious, Ukraine is left with two options: either to accept a peace agreement highly similar to the one effectively forced upon Finland in 1944, or for Europeans to step in and fully replace American support.

That does not mean that Germany’s Merz, France’s Macron, and Britain’s Starmer can simply continue to offer verbal reassurances of their support. The major EU countries must now genuinely commit to large-scale assistance for Ukraine, because the shoulders of the Baltic states and the Nordic countries alone are in no way sufficient to stop Russia. Otherwise, Ukraine will be handed over to the Russians.

Based on current information, a decision will be made by next Thursday, as Trump is waiting until then for Zelensky’s answer. After that, he—possibly due to some form of blackmail related to his past trips to Moscow—will abandon the Ukrainians to their fate.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Peace in Ukraine Would Be a Risk to Putin
Will Trump Finally Stand Up to Vladimir Putin?
Questionable Achievements of Donald Trump's Foreign Policy

The Finnish far left has difficulties with terrorism and antisemitism

Fresh news reported that the United States has classified the German Antifa group as a terrorist organization. What makes this newsworthy is that Li Andersson (Finnish Left Alliance) has visibly supported its activities.

It remains to be seen how prominently the Finnish mainstream media will report on the actions of our Member of the European Parliament. So far, I have not observed this happening.

For my part, I note that this case should be taken seriously within the Left Alliance, and that a thorough discussion should be held about the party’s stance toward various organizations. This would demonstrate a commitment to peaceful democracy.

There is also an excellent opportunity to take the first steps in this direction right now. Andersson and the party chair Minja Koskela could clearly state that they do not approve of their youth organization’s chair Pinja Vuorinen’s recent demand to make Finnish society unsafe for Jews, and take action to replace her with someone who shows greater respect for human rights.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
When Should the Independence of Palestine Be Recognized?
Iran Exposes the Finnish Green-Left as Intellectually Dishonest or Lacking Values
Expert Statement Highlights Russian Hybrid Threat Over Migration Across the Mediterranean

Ukrainian and Finnish Cases of Desertion

Financial Times published a report on Ukrainian soldiers deserting the front. According to it, as many as 60,000 charges have been filed this year alone against soldiers who have abandoned their posts.

For this reason, I would like to remind you – my esteemed readers – that Finns faced similar problems in 1944. However, they were resolved swiftly and effectively, which demonstrates that desertion can be brought under control quite quickly – if there is the will to do so. Undoubtedly, this applies to Ukraine as well.

* * *

During the Winter War, Finnish soldiers held their positions admirably, and morale remained high. But when the Karelian Isthmus front collapsed in 1944 under the pressure of the Soviet Union’s massive offensive, many Finnish soldiers also abandoned their posts. As a result, it was estimated in June 1944 that around 30,000 soldiers had gone missing from their units – some lost, but many deliberately fleeing.

This led Parliament to enact a law strengthening the military penal code, allowing for the death penalty for “cowardice in battle,” that is, desertion. This resulted in summary judgments by field courts and, in some cases, officers taking justice into their own hands. Consequently, roughly fifty Finnish deserters and war resisters met their end at the hands of their own countrymen.

* * *

These events have later been condemned with the infallible morality of hindsight – or, as Veikko Huovinen put it, with the “sweetest and most self-satisfied kind of wisdom.” The fact remains, however, that it was precisely those summary punishments – and the word of them spreading rapidly through the ranks – that brought desertion among Finnish soldiers under control.

Thus, swift and sufficiently firm action against desertion made possible, among other things, the defensive victory at Tali–Ihantala – the so-called Miracle of Ihantala, which stopped the Red Army’s great offensive and saved Finland’s independence. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Sensible Immigration or Moral Posturing?
Why Did Finland Remain an Independent Democracy After World War II?
Bless Ukrainian Soldiers With the Spirit That Once Defined the Celebrated Finnish Veterans

The original blogpost in Finnish:
Ukrainalainen ja suomalainen rintamakarkuruus

Ukraine Must Defeat Corruption Before Joining the EU

In addition to waging war, Ukraine is also striving to root out the rampant corruption in the country. And no wonder — in 2024, the nation ranked as low as 105th on an index measuring corruption levels. That means Ukrainians are slightly more corrupt than those in Morocco, the Dominican Republic, or Serbia, but still less prone to bribery than people in Algeria, Brazil, or Malawi.

Incidentally, the least corrupt countries in the world were Denmark, Finland, Singapore, and New Zealand. At the very bottom of the list — in positions 178 to 180 — were Venezuela, Somalia, and South Sudan.

* * *

Let us return, then, to Ukraine, which is fighting desperately for its independence against the Russians, with strong support from Western nations. Its leadership has also expressed a firm desire to join the European Union.

In my view, the EU — which itself struggles with corruption — must, despite all sympathy toward the Ukrainians, firmly maintain that this goal cannot be achieved unless corruption is thoroughly eradicated from the country. In this respect, Ukrainians are on the right path, but unfortunately still far from the finish line.

It was therefore rather foolish that President Volodymyr Zelensky tried during the summer to limit anti-corruption investigations — a move that raised doubts, both in me and surely in many others, about whether Ukraine can ever leave behind its Slavic legacy of corruption and one day embrace a Western way of life. 

To be sure, he quickly reversed course, but it is clear that the damage was already done and the stigma of corruption attached to Ukrainians only grew stronger. Erasing that image will not be easy — it will require revelations and punishments that may also reach into Zelensky’s own apparently corrupt inner circle.

It remains to be seen how Ukraine will tackle corruption in the future — and whether the problem can ever truly be brought under control so that the country’s EU membership might one day become even theoretically possible.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Ukraine Risks Losing Western Trust by Muzzling Corruption Watchdog
A New Beginning: Economic Independence in the Hands of Developing Nations
Can Trump Resist the Kremlin’s Lure?

James Watson, Great Scientist and Victim of Liberal Ideology, Has Died

One of the most significant scientists of the past century has died at the age of 97. I am referring to the American Nobel laureate James Watson, who—together with Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin—unraveled the structure of DNA.

Watson and Crick in fact determined the structure of DNA without authorization, as they did it alongside their official work, correctly interpreting Franklin’s X-ray crystallographic data. This story is fascinatingly told in Watson’s book The Double Helix, published in the late 1960s, which anyone interested in the history of science should read.

* * *

The great scientist who has now passed away was raised Catholic but later described himself as “a refugee from the Catholic religion.” In his words: “The luckiest thing that ever happened to me was that my father didn’t believe in God.” Thus, at the age of eleven, he stopped participating in religious rituals and instead embraced “the pursuit of scientific and humanistic knowledge.”

Watson completed his PhD at Indiana University in the United States, then moved to Copenhagen for a year as a postdoctoral researcher before taking another postdoctoral position in the United Kingdom. He made his breakthrough discovery concerning the structure of DNA while working at Oxford.

* * *

After these formative years, Watson later returned to his home country. There he became politically active, taking a stand against the deployment of American troops to Vietnam and later opposing nuclear technology, warning of the risk that radioactive materials could fall into the hands of terrorists.

Watson also directed the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, earning recognition for “transforming a small institution into one of the world’s leading centers for education and research.” By launching a program to study the causes of human cancer, scientists under his leadership made major contributions to understanding the genetic basis of cancer.

In 1990, Watson became head of the Human Genome Project. He was, however, forced to step down after opposing the patenting of its results. As he stated, “The world’s peoples must understand that the human genome belongs to the world’s people, not to its nations.”

According to press reports, in 1997 Watson stated that “if you could find a gene that influences sexuality, and a woman decided she didn’t want a homosexual child, she should be allowed to make that choice.” He apparently meant freedom of choice rather than advocating the abortion of homosexual fetuses.

In subsequent years, Watson made other remarks that drew attention and criticism from many quarters. In 2000, he said that “whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them.”

Later, he publicly supported genetic screening and genetic engineering, claiming that stupidity is a disease and that the “really stupid” 10% of humanity should be cured. He also suggested that beauty could be modified through genetic engineering, saying in 2003: “People say it would be terrible if we made all girls pretty. I think it would be great.”

* * *

As these examples show, Watson had an interesting way of seeing things. The same could be said of his opinions on many other subjects.

According to Watson, stereotypes about race and ethnicity had a genetic basis: Jews were intelligent; the Chinese were intelligent but uncreative because of conformity; and Indians were servile due to caste-based endogamy. He further claimed that “all our social policies are based on the fact that their (Black people’s) intelligence is the same as ours (White people’s) — whereas all the testing says not really.”

These views provoked widespread protests and ultimately led to Watson’s retirement, even though his stated intention had been “to advance science, not racism.” Unfortunately, the world was not ready for such discussions then — and perhaps still isn’t.

* * *

Adding an intriguing note to his story, Watson sold his Nobel Prize medal in 2014 after being branded a “nonperson” because of his views. However, he did not keep all the proceeds; part of the money — $4.1 million — was donated to support scientific research. The Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who bought the medal, later returned it to Watson.

I conclude this obituary by saying that James Watson was not only a great pioneer of science but also an honest defender of scientific knowledge and its freedom — a stance that ultimately pushed him to the margins. Not because his views were inconsistent with scientific knowledge, but because they did not fit the increasingly value-liberal dreamworld that has come to dominate the Western world.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
"Woke" pushes American science academies to favor women in their membership selections
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?
Sexual harassment and bullying in working life

The original blogpost in Finnish:
James Watson – yksi aikamme suurimmista tiedemiehistä on kuollut

A Professor’s Ten-Point Plan to Fix Europe’s Immigration Policy

Finnish emeritus Professor Vesa Kanniainen has made a list related to immigration policy.

1. The EU member states must abandon the universal social security model throughout Europe.

2. The processing of asylum applications must be moved outside Europe.

3. Financial aid must be stopped for those countries of origin of refugees that refuse to take back their citizens who have not been granted asylum and whose return would therefore not violate the Geneva Convention.

4. Those who have received a negative asylum decision must be required to cooperate and be housed in return centers while waiting for their journey home.

5. Crossing European borders by land, sea, or air must be criminalized when a person does not have a positive asylum decision or valid travel documents.

6. Transport vehicles (such as boats in the Mediterranean) financed by criminal organizations must be confiscated.

7. International cooperation with various countries must be strengthened in order to relocate refugees outside Europe.

8. Visits by those who have been granted asylum to their home country must be prohibited.

9. Family reunifications of asylum seekers must be prohibited or frozen.

10. All foreigners who have received an unconditional or conditional prison sentence must be deported, regardless of how long they have lived in an EU country.

I think the professor’s list is quite good. So good, in fact, that it should be implemented as it is. For that reason, all its points should serve as guiding principles both in the humanitarian decisions of the current European Commission and in Finland’s immigration policy program after 2027.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Two Men Sentenced for Raping Underage Girls
Is Immigration Driving the Nordic Countries Apart?
Why is Somalia unwilling to meet Finland’s conditions for continuing development cooperation?

The original blogpost in Finnish:
https://professorinajatuksia.blogspot.com/2025/11/vesa-kanniaisen-lista-kannattaisi.html

Finally, Honest Reporting on Immigration and Crime

Finnish media usually mislead Finns when reporting crimes involving people of foreign background by failing to mention that the perpetrators are immigrants. That’s why it was gratifying to see that Uutissuomalainen published this morning a crime report written in a very factual and professional manner. According to the article, “In downtown Jyväskylä, a group of about ten young people of foreign background followed the underage victim in order to rob them.”

By factual, I mean that the reader doesn’t have to guess whether the issue at hand stems from a failure in upbringing or in immigration policy. Instead, it becomes clear that the political responsibility for what happened lies with those parties and politicians who have been steering Finland down the same path as Sweden.

Toward the end of the article, it is also mentioned that the authorities have a good understanding of who belongs to this group of about ten immigrants, who have also committed other similar crimes. Therefore, the problems they cause are likely to be dealt with in the near future. Helping in this effort is the fact that – according to Detective Inspector Eeva-Maria Tahvanainen – “The Police Department of Inner Finland now has an entirely new unit focused on combating street crime, which will take charge of cases related to such offenses.”

I would like to thank the people of Inner Finland for this initiative and, sitting here contentedly behind my keyboard, wish the Central Finland Police the best of luck and success in pursuing violent criminals! I also wish that Finland’s ministers and members of parliament would recognize the facts and use common sense when making immigration policy decisions.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Is Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle Using Taxpayer Money to Mislead?
Terrorism Landscape in the EU Contradicts the Narrative Presented by EU Politicians and Media
Finland’s Minister of Finance Believes Not All Cultures Are Equally Good

Gender identity and the future of Finnishness

Suomen Uutiset, the news outlet affiliated with the Finns Party, reported that the share of young people in the United States who identify as nonbinary or as something other than heterosexual has fallen significantly since 2023. According to the article, this suggests that the phenomenon is more likely a social one produced by the rise of the woke movement rather than a hereditary tendency.

The conclusion is logical in the sense that nonbinary identity or homosexuality can easily be seen as negative in terms of reproduction and therefore as a phenomenon that would, through natural selection, tend to be weeded out — even though it is, of course, known that genetic factors may also play a role. However, this does not necessarily mean that people who experience themselves as sexually non-conforming do not genuinely feel that they are what they identify as — in other words, it is not primarily about pretending or acting.

* * *

From the standpoint of a nation’s renewal, various gender deviations are naturally detrimental because they often lead to childlessness. That, in turn, is a major problem especially in Europe, where the demographic structure of the native population is rapidly aging, meaning the proportion of the active population is shrinking even as the number of elderly people in need of care first increases and then the population begins to decline.

In Finland, this is clearly visible in Statistics Finland’s report describing the numbers of different age groups since 1900. At that time, only 5.3 percent of the population were aged 65 or older. By 2000, the figure had risen to 15 percent, and by this year it has reached as high as 22.7 percent of the total population.

Conversely, those under 15 years of age made up as much as 35.1 percent of the population in 1900, only 18.1 percent in 2000, and just 15.6 percent this year. Of the latter figure, a significant portion are of non-Finnish or even non-European descent, meaning that the share of Finland’s original population has in fact decreased even more rapidly than the statistics suggest.

This means that in addition to the aging of Finland’s population, its genetic composition is also changing rapidly — a development that will affect the nation’s culture insofar as heredity and the parents’ own cultural heritage shape people’s behavior, values, and attitudes.

Unfortunately, much of this — especially the parts related to genetics — has long been a forbidden topic in human research. As a result, we lack up-to-date, researched information that would allow us to reliably anticipate the future of Finland and Finnishness.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Eviction of Inhabitants for Incoming Immigrants Sparks Controversy
Eurovision Song Contest Funding Faces Pushback Due to Woke Ideology
A National Rally election victory does not mean that France will become like Finland under the Finns Party