Explosion in Oslo, Norway

It is well known that Swedish society has changed as a result of immigration—from an idyllic "people’s home" into a battlefield of criminal gangs. According to recent news, the same development now appears to be taking place in Norway.

Last night in the capital, Oslo, an explosion occurred. Afterwards, police detonated a hand grenade found at the scene and arrested three underage youths. The incident was linked to a conflict between criminal gangs.

According to Wikipedia, as of 1 January 2024, Norway had 931,081 residents who were immigrants, representing 16.8% of the country’s total population of approximately 5.54 million. In addition, 221,459 people (4.0%) were born in Norway to two foreign-born parents, bringing the total population with an immigrant background to 1,152,540, or 20.8% of the population. The largest immigrant groups by country of birth were Poland (109,654), Ukraine (65,566), Lithuania (42,733), Syria (38,708), Sweden (36,612), Somalia (27,665), Germany (26,860), Eritrea (25,137), the Philippines (24,718) and Iraq (23,603).

It remains to be seen which of these groups, if any, are connected to the Oslo explosions. My own suspicion, however, is that it is not among the three largest immigrant-background groups, but rather involves criminals originating from the Middle East or Africa. That, however, remains to be seen—provided that the media chooses to publish the information.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Is Immigration Driving the Nordic Countries Apart?
Nordic Police Announce: Spread of Gang Violence Cannot Be Stopped
Nordic Nations Unite Against the Growing Threat of Cross-Border Organized Crime

Stupid and Fruitless Blustering by South Africa's Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool

The United States has ordered South Africa's ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, to leave the country by Tuesday. This decision stems from Rasool's statement characterizing the MAGA movement supporting President Donald Trump as a product of white supremacy. According to him, the MAGA movement emerged as a response to the multiculturalization of the U.S. population.

This blustering was of course stupid and fruitless. On the other hand, if you have given with a spoon, you cannot demand with a ladle. In other words, if a person is stupid, you cannot expect him to act reasonably. 

Of course, Rasool's behavior may have been related to his religion. Muslims around the world are known for blustering about anything and everything - and suffering severe consequences, as demonstrated by the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th 2023 and the resulting destruction of the Gaza Strip.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, being more pragmatic, has announced that the ambassador will return to his home country and expressed his desire to repair relations with the United States. After all, the U.S. is South Africa's second-largest trading partner, and losing that relationship would mean hard times, especially for the country's poor Black majority.

It remains to be seen how relations between the countries will evolve. Will good relations and trade ties be restored, or will South Africa drift into a state similar to other Sub-Saharan African nations?

In this context, it is interesting to observe the population trends of the country's white minority over the years. In short, the population decreased from 5.2 million in 1995 to 4.5 million by 2022. However, the trend has not been linear, but includes some periods of growth, although the past decade has shown a decline again. This does not bode well for the country's future.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Resisting Putin’s Foolish Dreams
South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?

A Finnish Deputy Mayor Wanted to Ban an Old Board Game from Children

The peak of the woke phenomenon has already passed, for example, in the United States. As evidence of this, many companies have begun removing the peculiar features inspired by the movement from their operations.

In Finland, however, woke activism continues, as demonstrated by a recent debate concerning daycare centers in Turku. It so happened that Turku’s Deputy Mayor, Piia Elo (Social Democrats), expressed her opinion that a popular board game from the 1950s, The Star of Africa ("Afrikan Tähti" in Finnish), should be removed from daycare centers.

The game is set in colonial-era Africa, where players search for a mythical diamond while traveling across the continent’s map on foot, by boat, and by airplane. Along the way, they discover treasures of monetary value but occasionally fall victim to white bandits.

Deputy Mayor Elo made her suggestion after the issue was raised by Paco Diop, an alternate council member representing the far-left (Left Alliance) in Turku. He pointed out that the game’s cover illustration depicts a stereotypical African figure characteristic of the colonial era.

Fortunately, not all Turku residents are as misguided as Elo or Diop. The Mayor of Turku, Minna Arve, correctly noted that The Star of Africa is a game developed in the 1950s. She explained that "It is a product of its time, and its illustrations and themes reflect the worldview of that era. Some of the imagery does not align with today’s values, and it’s worthwhile to discuss how to address such matters when teaching children how to play."

However, she added, "I consider it excessive to suddenly start removing games. I understand Deputy Mayor Piia Elo’s perspective, but I think the reaction was hasty, and I do not support political directives to daycare centers regarding individual games—for me, that is not the right approach."

Time will tell whether the words of Turku’s woke-inspired Deputy Mayor carry more weight than those of the pragmatic Mayor. For my part, I would like to say that the game is enjoyable to play with children—most of whom enjoy it—and provides educators with an opportunity for the kind of social interaction with kids that digital platforms cannot offer. At the same time, educators can, if they wish, teach children about the dark history of the imperialist era.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Three Islamists Arrested in Finland on Suspicion of Belonging to a Terrorist Group
Eurovision Song Contest Funding Faces Pushback Due to Woke Ideology
Finland’s Minister of Finance Believes Not All Cultures Are Equally Good

Can Peace Emerge from Horrific War Crimes?

Sudan has been engulfed in civil war for nearly its entire period of independence, spanning almost sixty years. As a result, South Sudan gained independence in 2011, but peace did not follow.

The problem lies in the fact that two men, both backed by military power, aspire to lead Sudan. The first is President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, a general and the commander of the armed forces.

The other contender for power is General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, whose death was once declared but later denied, and who leads the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a group of about 100,000 men capable of posing a formidable challenge to the army.

Thus, in 2023, these two men and their forces plunged Sudan into yet another ongoing civil war. To make matters worse, several foreign powers, including the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Iran, have become involved, yet the war remains unresolved.

As in all wars, civilians have suffered immeasurably. At its worst, they have been subjected to senseless violence.

For instance, Human Rights Watch has reported that RSF forces and their allied groups have committed horrific sexual crimes. Girls as young as seven have been abducted, held in slavery-like conditions, and raped daily.

Such atrocities demand justice. However, it seems unlikely that the perpetrators of African civil wars are ever held accountable for their crimes. Sadly, this will likely be the case in Sudan as well.

Even more disheartening is the fact that Sudanese society seems unable to live in peace, as there are always leaders eager to seize power through violence—and they inevitably find support for their ambitions. This, more than anything, effectively prevents the country from developing into a society capable of offering its citizens decent living conditions.

However, a glimmer of hope may lie in the fact that Western Europeans also waged wars for centuries, fighting under the banners of various kings, emperors, or power-seekers, destroying and pillaging as they went. Yet, since the Second World War, they have managed to maintain peace and improve living conditions for nearly 80 years.

Could the same be possible for Sudan?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Uncertain Horizons: Syria's Post-Assad Era
History of Finland XII: Bloody civil war
History of Finland III: The legal and economic weakening of the position of the people

Evolution in action

The yellow fever mosquito is responsible for spreading yellow fever, Zika, chikungunya, and dengue viruses, leading to hundreds of millions of infections each year. Although it previously showed no interest in humans and preferred other animals, a new genomic analysis has revealed that the ancestral mosquito species split about 5,000 years ago due to a drying climate in the West African Sahel, transforming the previously prevailing grassland landscapes into a desert.

Researchers compared mosquito genomes collected across Africa and Brazil and discovered another significant migration event when the insect spread from Africa to the Americas. This likely occurred around 1800, during the period when approximately 80 000 enslaved individuals were transported across the ocean annually. Yellow fever mosquitoes laid their eggs in water barrels and fed on the people aboard the ships.

In the absence of water bodies, some mosquitoes likely adapted to laying their eggs in water storage containers in communities, subsequently developing a preference for humans as a food source due to their increased availability compared to other mammals.

The investigation also unveiled rapid and ongoing evolution within the species, allowing for more efficient transmission of diseases in African cities. These evolving mosquitoes may explain recent changes in disease transmission patterns. 

For instance, Burkina Faso experienced its first modern dengue outbreak only seven years ago, yet the problem has resurfaced every year since. Additionally, Ouagadougou's mosquitoes quickly adapted to breeding in public hand-washing services installed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It remains uncertain whether the evolving mosquito strains will spread beyond Africa. But is is clear anyway, that scientists now have an unprecedented opportunity to observe evolution in action.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A popular hobby risks ecological balance, private property and human health in Finland
World oceans are filled with previously unknown viruses
American black population more vulnerable to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

African female and Persian male ancestors

When individuals migrate from their homes to different geographic regions, they encounter people from different backgrounds. This can lead to peaceful coexistence or intergroup violence, or both.

Over the past few decades, Europe has seen an influx of people from Africa and the Middle East. However, their integration into receiving societies has not always been smooth. As a result, a subset of the local population in almost all European countries holds highly negative attitudes towards newcomers.

The problem has been exacerbated by the fact that especially many muslim-background immigrants have been guilty of appalling sexual crimes against women in the majority population. For example, in UK an organised child sexual abuse in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England continued for decades from the late 1980´s until the 2010´s. And in Finland the raping frequency per Iraqi male is more than an order of magnitude higher compared to local men.

Therefore it was interesting to read a recent study on the genetic makeup of individuals from medieval and early modern coastal towns on the Swahili coast of eastern Africa. The study found that many individuals had a mix of African and Asian ancestry, with a significant proportion of their DNA coming from primarily female African ancestors and primarily male Persian ancestors.

This raises the question of whether something happened in Africa during the Middle Ages that is commonplace for Europeans today. Should we learn something from it?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A set of immigration-derived sexual crimes in a Finnish town
Rape statistics in Finland and Sweden are breaking prejudices
When will they ever learn?

Availability of coffee in a warming world

Most of the coffee-plants are grown in Africa, South America, south-eastern Asia and Indonesia. Despite that, more coffee is drunk in Finland than in any other country, when consumption is compared to the number of the population. Finns consume almost 10 kg of roasted coffee per person every year.

Therefore it was interesting to note that global warming may soon make it impractical for many plantations to grow the world’s most popular coffee bean, Coffea arabica. As a solution, coffee growers in Africa have seriously turned their view to a long-forgotten variety, C. liberica.

This plant was widely grown in the 1870´s, but due to its fruits being large and hard to process, the bean lost its popularity at the turn of the 20th century. Due to problems with C. arabica, Ugandan farmers have recently started to ramp up cultivation of a subspecies "excelsa" of C. liberica , which is resistant to wilt and other diseases. 

It produces excellent coffee and does not need chilly high altitudes to thrive. Therefore it seems that coffee cups can be kept full even if the planet warms as predicted. I believe this is a welcome news for the caffeine-addicts throughout the world - and especially valuated in Finland inhabited by the record holders.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Problem in berrypicking
A new route for the Ukrainian crops
Soil subsides under cities, but every cloud has a silver lining

Corruption in Nigeria may affect Europe

An explosion happened in an illegal oil refining business in Nigeria. As a result, more than 100 people lost their lives. 

Oil to such illegal refineries is obtained by stealing from legitimate oil pipelines, which is a popular business among unemployed and poor Nigerians. However, it was only last February when Nigerian authorities pronounced that they would put a stop to this practice, but obviously without great success.

The explosion reminds us that incapable politicians combined with inefficient - and obviously corrupted - authorities are a serious risk for poor people. But it is not only that, but also a barrier to development of national economy.

Actually, Nigeria had a notable economic success between years 2000 and 2015, which resulted in e.g. almost tenfold increase of Gross Domestic Production. But since 2015 the GDP has reduced by about one fifth, mostly due to low oil prices and COVID-19 pandemic. 

At the same time (i.e. 2000-2020) the population size of the country has increased by 70 percent. Consequently, the rapid economic development per capita seen during the first three quarters of the time has turned to considerable recession. 

The future of Nigeria does not look very good. As oil is the basis of its economy, the green economy transition in western countries will hit the rapidly growing Nigerian population hard. In a very short time, however, the ban of Russian oil in Europe might give Nigerian leaders a window of opportunity. 

Thus, it remains to be seen, if that opportunity will be used to diversify the economic basis of the country, or will the money flow in the pockets of country´s politicians and their cronies in the form of corruption. If so, the price will be high to ordinary Nigerians.

But not only for them, but recession together with quickly growing population in Nigeria could push people to search for better life in Europe as soon as the borders closed due to COVID-19 will be opened. Therefore, corruption in Nigeria may have a major effect also for people living in the European Union in a form of increased immigration.  

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
They want to wipe out from Finland what is good for Africa

Trump is leaving Africa

They want to wipe out from Finland what is good for Africa

The chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party Antti Rinne would like to reduce forest cuttings in Finland, because he thinks that "we are cutting too much in relation to the carbon sink". Also the Green party would like to reduce cuttings in our forests during the next four years electoral term and even the Left Alliance is along the same lines.

At the same time, the Finnish Broadcasting company Yle made a very positive story on the thoughts of Andrew Collins who is the CEO of Miro Foresty, which is producing lumber and charcoal in West African countries Ghana and Sierra Leone. According to Yle he has said that professional forestry is the only solution in this situation in a similar way as agriculture is the only solution for food production. And also that we cannot cut natural forests forever, but we need to grow trees for the increasing demand.

Collins mentioned also that e.g. access to forest plantations is less demanding and therefore it is easier to organize their cuttings. Furthermore, the logs are of the same tree species and therefore their economic use is easier.

The views of Collins are based on the loss of African forests due to the uncontrollable population growth of people. That is, the increasing cuttings of natural forests for the economic and domestic use of growing human population.

After reading the story I was left in thinking about the intellectual honesty of the green-leftist´s ideology. If forests in Finland should be removed from the economic use, then why in the world it would be desirable to increase economic forests in Africa? Is it enough that in Africa there is plenty of former forest land that has been taken to agricultural and other use, and that reforesting would make them a carbon sink for a couple of decades. Or actually less than a decade if fast growing eucalyptus would be planted.

Furthermore, I was left in waiting some of our politicians to notice that in Finland we have forests only because they have produced income to their owners. That is the very reason why forest owners have invested in their forests, which is why the forest growth in Finland (and thus their carbon sink) has increased continuously since 1960´s.

Could it be so that green-reddish people assume those investments to continue if owners will not get any income from their properties? Or do they think that there would really be enough of taxpayers money to pay for all Finnish forest owners for their forest protection at the same time when the reducing amount of wood usage in industry reduces the total yield of taxes?

For those who are not aware, I may tell that it is annually a question of billions of euros when we consider forest owners profits for their lumber and profits of wood processing companies. And even more, if we consider the disappearing jobs from forestry sector, that would increase unemployment and thus further reduce the amount of public capital.

Aiempia ajatuksia samasta aihepiiristä:
Suomen metsäpolitiikka on kohdallaan
Suomalaispuolueet päättivät ilmastonmuutoksen torjuntakeinoista
Maapallon metsäpinta-ala kasvaa vauhdikkaasti

Trump is leaving Africa

The public broadcasting company Yle told us that the United States will reduce its military presence in Africa. More specifically, Americans will reduce especially troops intended to fight against terrorism.

According to Yle the decision was affected by the threats caused by Chinese and Russians, against which Americans are willing to fight somewhere else than in black Africa. And naturally we all remember the promises president Donald Trump gave during his inaugural speech, according to which USA has focused too much on the borders of other countries instead of its own.

The story by Yle included few items, on which I would like my reader to put attention.

The first one stated that Americans are not any more willing to support fruitless operations for peace, and that they have already reduced their contribution to the development aid. My intrerpetation is that president Trump and his regime have got tired of spending their voter´s tax money and even American lives on futile operations in Africa.

Professor Emmanuel Kwesi Aning from Ghana has obviously not understood this connection as he pointed out that islamistic groups Boko Haram, al-Qaida and al-Shabaab are still timely threats. However, from the Trump´s point-of-view they are not threats to America as long as they stay in Africa and therefore neither targets on which American resources should be used.

It is also clear, that Chinese will not tolerate islamistic organizations any more than Americans, and as they have much less problems with their home fronts, they may use brutal actions to get rid of them. The same holds also Russians now settling more deeply in Africa. Therefore Boko Haram, al-Qaida and al-Shabab will only lose if Americans will be replaced by Chinese or Russians.

The other item I would like to discuss here was the comment of Kwesi Aning, who pointed out the real problem of Africal countries: he said that if you look at the ratio of soldiers and growing populations of African countries, the poor countries are not able to invest enough to their defense against safety challenges. I just wonder if also Trump regime would have understood that no number of soldiers or quantity of help will be enough if the African population growth will not be stopped - and therefore made his decision to give up.

Although I do not know whether Trump regime have understood this or not, it is a fact. And it remains to be seen how Chinese of possibly Russians will get on with the African population explosion.

I have understood that the purpose of China is to hit two flies with one hit - to turn Africa into a colony that supports their own economy and in order to get that done stabilize the African communities by creating local business opportunities. It remains, however, to be seen, whether they have means to handle the  population explosion. I do doubt that.

What is anyway clear, are the Chinese motives. Even Professor Kwesi Aning noted that he does not consider Russia or China to be friends of Africa as they do not care about democracy or human rights.

Unfortunately, the rhetoric question to asked here is that what good the Western countries - putting a lot of energy on democracy and human rights - have provided to Africa since mid 20th century with their developing aid - except of course that they have launched the population explosion that right now looks like the ultimate barrier preventing all development in Africa.

The original though in Finnish:
Trump on poistumassa afrikkalaiselta areenalta