678 Bomb Attacks in Six Months: Netherlands Faces Alarming Trend

Sweden’s problems with integrating immigrants have, years ago, already led to the transformation of the former “people’s home” into a society plagued by bombings and sexual crimes committed by criminal gangs. Now, however, it seems that Sweden may have found itself a “competitor” in this regard.

This is because, according to a recent news report, the Netherlands recorded no fewer than 678 bomb attacks in the first half of this year, while the corresponding figure for Sweden was “only” 104. In the country’s second-largest city, Rotterdam, alone, there were 150 bomb attacks.

According to Dutch police spokesperson Jasmijn de Vries, “the current trend is extremely worrying, especially considering the negative impact it has on citizens’ everyday lives.” This concern is, of course, well-founded, but it should also be noted that the situations in Sweden and the Netherlands differ significantly.

In Sweden, the violence is often linked to gang violence and drug trafficking, whereas in the Netherlands it is a broader security phenomenon in which the use of homemade explosives has been “normalized” as part of criminal activity. The motives vary, and often the incidents are acts of harassment or intimidation, rather than the kind of organized gang warfare seen in Sweden. What the two countries do have in common, however, is the use of children and young boys to carry out the attacks.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Getting Populists to Govern Responsibly: What the Netherlands and Finland Can Teach Us 
Should the Dutch Do Something About the Fact That Immigrants Don't Tolerate Visiting Jews?
A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change

Getting Populists to Govern Responsibly: What the Netherlands and Finland Can Teach Us

The Dutch government collapsed because the Freedom Party (PVV), led by Geert Wilders, withdrew from the coalition. The reason for this was that Prime Minister Dick Schoof's coalition government failed to implement the strict immigration policy outlined in the coalition agreement quickly enough.

In other words, Schoof and the other coalition parties did want the Freedom Party to support their policies, but they were not, in turn, willing to advance the issues that are of utmost importance to the PVV. As a result, new parliamentary elections will be held in the Netherlands on October 29.

This case is interesting from a Finnish perspective, as Finland also has a government that includes an immigration-critical party, the Finns Party. It has supported initiatives important to the other coalition parties, and as a consequence, has lost much of its support and its position in local politics in municipal and regional elections.

Nevertheless, the Finns Party remains strongly committed to the coalition because the government has, at the same time, pursued a much stricter immigration policy in line with the party’s demands—thus advancing issues crucial to itself and its core voter base. As a result, current, or remaining, supporters of the Finns Party are more satisfied with the government's actions than supporters of other parties.

This is something that should be noted in other Western countries as well. In most of them, immigration policy has been at odds with the will of the people, so a change is bound to happen sooner or later.

This means a stricter immigration policy, in exchange for which immigration-critical parties brought into government understand the necessity of supporting parts of the coalition program they may otherwise dislike. At the same time, forming coalition governments becomes easier and the will expressed by citizens in elections is more accurately implemented.

After all, isn't that ultimately the purpose of democracy? To carry out policies that reflect the will of the people as expressed in elections?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Should the Dutch Do Something About the Fact That Immigrants Don't Tolerate Visiting Jews?
A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change
Attitudes towards immigrants are not becoming more positive in Western countries

Should the Dutch Do Something About the Fact That Immigrants Don't Tolerate Visiting Jews?

One of the greatest public secrets of our time is that not all people and cultures are the same. We received a tangible example of this yesterday, when groups carrying Palestinian flags attacked Jewish supporters of the visiting team after a football match in the Netherlands, causing significant harm. Even non-Jewish tourists found themselves in difficult situations.

Naturally, Dutch police intervened and detained at least 60 rioters, and ultimately the Israeli government planned to send planes to bring Israeli football fans home from the Netherlands. The question, of course, is how such incidents are possible in a country that, just a few decades ago, was known for its exceptional freedom and liberal values.

I’m confident that my esteemed readers understand the answer to this question even without my explanation. However, I’m less certain whether this understanding extends to the decision-makers in politics. And whether they’ll reach the consensus that similar incidents will recur if immigration policies in the EU are not significantly altered.

So, we’ll see whether, in this case as well, the event will be lamented for a while, the attackers of Jewish people will receive minor punishments, but the real issue will be left unaddressed. Or will the Dutch government show the resolve that voters expected from it in the 2023 elections? And take actions that would halt the growth of problematic immigrant groups in the Netherlands, in the EU, and thus also in Finland.

That is at least what Geert Wilders demands, as he wrote on social media, "A pogrom in the streets of #Amsterdam. We have become the Gaza of Europe. Muslims with Palestinian flags hunting down Jews. I will NOT accept that. NEVER. The authorities will be held accountable for their failure to protect the Israeli citizens."

Never again.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Palestinian Youth Require More Understanding, Less Aggression
A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change
The Rwanda Law of Britain paves the way for the future of Western Europe

Ukraine can and will stop Putin

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said yesterday, during the NATO summit, that Ukraine will leave the meeting satisfied. One reason for this is that the United States, Germany, Romania, and the Netherlands confirmed in a statement released at the NATO summit that they are providing Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems.

This comes at a more than opportune time, as Russia has shown that it aims to destroy the entire Ukrainian society instead of just the Ukrainian army by launching missile attacks on a children's hospital. This is, of course, such a war crime that overlooking it with a shrug would be almost a crime against humanity in itself.

This was also noted by US President Joe Biden, who stated that "Putin wants nothing more than the complete defeat and erasure of Ukraine from the map." Additionally, he was pleased to note that NATO countries have invested more in their defense forces in recent years.

However, the most important outcome of the meeting was the agreement to grant a 40 billion aid package to Ukraine for next year. It is hoped that this will help Ukrainians protect themselves from Russia's war of destruction against civilians and, at the same time, turn the tide of the war permanently against Putin's army.

Biden also believed this, stating that "Ukraine can and will stop Putin."

Aiempia ajatuksia samasta aihepiiristä:
Finnish military intelligence: the Russian army is at the limits of its operational capability
Finnish weapons are being tested against the Russians in Ukraine
Technically backward, miscellaneous group of gunmen

A woman's logic, Putin's test, and the Netherlands' change

A Finnish media company, MTV3, has conducted an interesting survey. According to it, all Finns, regardless of gender, consider foreign and security policy, as well as internal security, to be very important issues in the European elections.

However, while supporting Ukraine is very important to men, women do not seem to care much about whether or not Ukrainians are supported in their fight against Putin's invaders. Instead, women consider it very important to prevent the rise of the far right and to combat climate change, whereas men are not as interested in these issues.

Based on this, it can be concluded that there will be significant differences in the voting behavior of men and women. Specifically, women are likely to support red-green candidates much more, while men are more likely to vote for candidates from the right side of the political center.

This is, of course, not surprising, as previous studies have shown that women tend to lean left more often than men. Nevertheless, their indifference to the fate of Ukrainians surprised at least the undersigned.

After all, Russian invaders have committed brutal sexual and other violence against Ukrainian women and even children wherever they could. Unfortunately, it seems that the old saying "a woman is a wolf to another woman" applies in this context as well.

It also seems that Finnish women have not fully internalized that a Russian victory in Ukraine would also jeopardize Finland's security situation, as it would show that the Western countries are ultimately not ready to defend their allies. Therefore, a few years after a possible victory in Ukraine, Putin might very well test whether the same logic applies to NATO countries as well.

In this context, it is likely that Finland would not be the first test target, but Putin's army would more likely test NATO's reactions in a militarily weaker country such as the Baltic or Balkan states. Nonetheless, it would be best to stop the Kremlin's megalomaniac dictator in Ukraine rather than let him even dream of challenging the Western allies.

* * *

I don't know what Dutch women think about their country's security policy or Ukraine, but there is, in any case, a political revolution happening in the Netherlands regarding immigration policy, as four parties, led by Geert Wilders' Freedom Party, have agreed to form a government. If they manage to agree on a common program, it will have significant consequences for the security of Dutch women.

According to an afternoon newspaper - Ilta-Sanomat - "the parties promise, among other things, to declare an 'asylum emergency' in the country, under which the government intends to take exceptional measures to temporarily restrict asylum rights and family reunification, as well as cut social benefits for asylum seekers". In other words, the appeal of the Netherlands among social-based asylum seekers will significantly decrease from the previous level.

Interestingly enough, according to the same article, the Freedom Party is also set to perform exceptionally well in the European elections. This contrasts with the situation of its counterpart - the Finns Party - in Finland, which, according to polls, is expected to achieve at best mediocre success. In this respect, it is interesting to note that the Dutch party is clearly more national-conservative than Purra's group – in leftist rhetoric, "more far-right".

Previous thoughts on the same topic: The procrastination of Western countries is paid for with the blood of soldiers Attitudes towards immigrants are not becoming more positive in Western countries History of Finland XI: Finnish democracy and gender equality for women

The Rwanda Law of Britain paves the way for the future of Western Europe

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - as the island nation's official name goes - is undergoing a process aimed at mitigating the impact of economic migrants from developing countries. In its latest development, the lower house of Parliament approved a bill that would designate Rwanda as a safe country, allowing asylum seekers to be sent there to await the processing of their cases— and, following a positive decision, potentially resettling them in the same country.

The bill now moves to the next stage, awaiting approval from the House of Lords, known as the curious relic of Britain's innate social inequality, the monarch's favorites, and the conclave of priests and senior jurists. If it also approves the bill, left-leaning legal scholars would no longer be able to argue claims of Rwanda's insecurity.

The entire process has, of course, arisen because so-called humanitarian immigrants have caused various issues in their new homeland. Muslims, in particular, are well-represented in violent crimes, accounting for about 20 percent, despite worshippers of Allah making up less than seven percent of the country's population.

This trend is familiar in Finland and other Western countries as well. Therefore, the decision of the British upper house is crucial for all of Western Europe, as it would likely halt asylum applications based on false premises in the island nation.

In the short term, this could mean increased pressure on EU countries. As a result, the ongoing rapid political developments in these countries (examples being Germany, the Netherlands, France, and Sweden) would likely accelerate, and the pressure to update international legislation related to asylum-seeking would strengthen.

This would not only be desirable but also vital for Western Europe to remain a prosperous home and haven for the continent's indigenous peoples and as a driving force for scientific and technological development serving the entire world.

Therefore, the outcome of Britain's Rwanda Law is by no means inconsequential, even for the Finns. On the contrary, its result is likely to shape our future and that of our descendants more profoundly than, for example, the ongoing presidential election.

The original thought in Finnish: 
Britannian Ruandalaki viitoittaa koko Länsi-Euroopan tulevaisuuden

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
A white family does not represent real Londoners
Finnish journalist called for British Prime Minister´s head to be placed on London bridge to dry
African female and Persian male ancestors

Attitudes towards immigrants are not becoming more positive in Western countries

If you follow the European media, one could imagine that racism in Europe - and thus also in Finland - would be terrible, yet gradually disappearing. Therefore, it was interesting to read a study that examined changes related to race and ethnic discrimination in hiring practices across six European and North American countries.

These countries were Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States. The data included all available discrimination assessments from 90 recruitment experiments conducted in various fields, covering over 170,000 job applications.

However, the time periods covered in the study varied by country: for instance, experiments conducted in the United Kingdom spanned from 1969 to 2017, while in Germany, the study only included the years 1994 to 2017. Discrimination trends were analyzed in relation to four groups with different origins: Black, Asian, Latino, and individuals from the Middle East or North Africa.

The results obtained by the researchers indicated that observed discrimination during recruitment has either remained the same or slightly increased in most countries and origin groups. Three specific changes were particularly notable. The first change was an increase in recruitment discrimination against individuals from the Middle East and North Africa, from the 1990s to the 2000s. The second significant finding was a reduction in discrimination in France, but only from extremely high levels to "only" high levels. The third change was that discrimination had increased over time in the Netherlands.

All of this suggests that the often stated claim of decreasing discrimination due to increased interactions with immigrants is not true. On the contrary, discrimination had not decreased in the past decades in five out of the six Western countries examined in the study - and most likely not in Finland either.

This raises the question of why it often appears that attitudes towards immigrants in Finland are most positive in large immigrant-rich cities, according to surveys, and more negative in rural areas where immigrants are scarcely present. Is this a case of urban residents simply misleading surveyors, or perhaps their conformity, the tendency to adapt to others' opinions - or at least perceived opinions?

Such perception might be due, especially, to the way our press tends to report on anything related to immigration in an overly positive light and, on the other hand, remain silent about its negative aspects. Additionally, the rural population might be influenced by the fact that there are hardly any immigrants there, so there hasn't been much interest or need to pay attention to press propaganda. The pressure to conform - or to lie in survey studies - hasn't arisen nearly to the same extent as it has among city dwellers.

On the other hand, recruitment is an action that measures people's real attitudes, and there's no room for conformity, as the success of the company or hiring leadership directly depends on the hired individual. Therefore, it is a much more reliable gauge of people's attitudes towards immigrants compared to survey studies.

The original blog in Finnish:
Suhtautuminen maahanmuuttajiin ei ole muuttumassa positiivisemmaksi länsimaissa

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
"Woke" pushes American science academies to favor women in their membership selections
Racism or self-preservation instinct?
People with Middle Eastern and North African inheritance identify themselves as non-Whites

Discrimination against women?

As my esteemed reader is aware, gender-related issues are currently a prominent subject of discussion. In light of this, it was delightful to come across a recent study that provided fresh and surprising insights on the matter.

Traditionally, gender discrimination has been widely regarded as a significant contributor to women's disadvantages in the labor market. However, previous studies have produced mixed results due to variations in research designs, making it challenging to compare discrimination estimates across countries.

To address this challenge, the researchers conducted a comparative field experiment on gender discrimination in hiring across six countries. By directly comparing employers' responses to fictional male and female applicants, they were able to draw intriguing conclusions.

Despite variations in crucial institutional, economic, and cultural aspects among the participating countries, the researchers found no evidence of discrimination against women. However, they did observe discrimination against men in Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and the UK, while no discrimination against men was found in Norway and the United States.

Even within diverse institutional contexts, employers tended to perceive female applicants as more suitable for roles in female-dominated occupations, all other factors being equal. However, the researchers found no evidence to support the claim that employers prefer male applicants in any location.

Hence, the researchers concluded that the well-known differences in salary between genders likely stem from women and men choosing different types of jobs rather than employers discriminating against women, as sometimes alleged.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The change in the demographic structure of Helsinki
Afghanistan now and in the future
Sexual harassment and bullying in working life

History of Finland II: From a hinterland of the Union into a modern state

This is the second part of a blog post series where I go through the significant phases of Finland's history. In the first post, I described how Finland (or actually its densely populated southern and western parts) became a part of Sweden, which inevitably connected our country to the development of the Western world.

During the Middle Ages, the Nordic countries formed the Kalmar Union, in which power gradually shifted to the union king - that is, the Danes. For Finland - and at the same time for all Nordic countries - it was crucial that Gustav Vasa's successful rebellion restored Sweden's independence from external forces, as it was important for the future development of the region.

This was accomplished with the support of the free town of Lübeck, which belonged to the Hanseatic League that dominated Baltic Sea trade. Of course, this support had to be repaid, and the only way to do so was by stealing the property of the wealthy Catholic Church that had prospered during the Middle Ages - a justification provided by the Protestant Reformation.

Later, Gustav made Sweden even more independent from Lübeck by severing its umbilical cord with the city through an alliance with Denmark and the Netherlands, and by defeating the free city in a war with their help. As a result, Sweden - and as a part of it, Finland - withdrew from the nearly monopolistic foreign trade advantages previously demanded and obtained by the Hanseatic city.

In order to enable all of these achievements and to increase his power, Gustav Vasa had to develop a functioning central administration in Sweden, complete with tax-collecting bailiffs and written commands. Trade was directed under the control of the central government through the steeple town system, which also enriched the king's personal wealth and the kingdom itself.

Gustav Vasa also changed the justice system so that the law courts shifted towards seeking out and punishing the guilty parties. The previous practice of seeking reconciliation between the warring parties - and their families - was left in the background.

Through these actions, the new taxation and legal practices, as well as the weakening grip of the Church on power, led to the king's strong position. Beneath Gustav Vasa, there were only his servants and loyal subjects. In support of this power, the king also created a standing army, the maintenance of which required taxes e.g. money.

The importance of a monetary economy grew throughout the entire kingdom, which helped to enhance the position of the nobility who cultivated large estates and the merchants who engaged in trade, in relation to the rest of the population. This raised the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie of the cities above the common people.

Overall, as a result of Gustaf Vasa's actions, a modern or at least pre-modern state led by the king was established and strengthened, which was able to steer the entire kingdom in the desired direction. At the same time, the living conditions of ordinary people declined for the next two centuries - this happened both in Sweden and Finland.

The original blog post in Finnish:
Suomen tie unionin takamaasta osaksi modernia valtiota

All the blog posts in this series:
History of Finland I: How did Finland become culturally part of the West?
History of Finland II: From a hinterland of the Union into a modern state
History of Finland III: The legal and economic weakening of the position of the people
History of Finland IV: The bleakest time in Finnish history
History of Finland V: The pursuit of economic profit saved the country
History of Finland VI: Age of freedom and utility
History of Finland VII: The dictator of the era of Enlightenment promoted capitalist economy
History of Finland VIII: Joining of Finland to Russia led to an increase in crime
History of Finland IX: Enlightended dictator initiated economic growth
History of Finland X: The birth of Finnish identity
History of Finland XI: Finnish democracy and gender equality for women
History of Finland XII: Bloody civil war
History of Finland XIII: The far-right's rebellion
History of Finland XIV: The end of the first Finnish Republic
History of Finland XV: Paasikivi-Kekkonen doctrine
History of Finland XVI: Through rise and fall to a new kind of future

Military service to overthrow Mr. Putin

The Finnish Ministry of Defense has decided to send soldiers to UK to educate Ukrainian troops. The purpose is to provide similar military training as is given in Finnish military service. 

This action is part of a British attempt to educate a total of 10 000 Ukrainian soldiers. Other countries participating are at least Sweden, Canada and Netherlands. 

This is kind of action where Finnish military can be useful for Ukrainians. That is because all Finns are reaching during their obligatory military service a level that was described after a common military exercise by a US Colonel with words "in my opinion, they are professionals as soldiers". He even mentioned that professional US soldiers had learned a lot from Finns during the training - although learning happened naturally also the other way around. 

My hope is that whatever Ukrainian soldiers learn in their training, that would help them pushing Russian troops over the border between the two Slavonic countries. And ultimately cause in Russia a revolution that would end the era of the current criminal regime led by Mr. Putin.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The Finnish army is respected by Russians
Russian army not comparable to western military services
Military specialist: Russian plan in Ukraine was incredibly poor