Hope For a Better Life Is Not an Acceptable Basis for Asylum

Nigerian Mary told Finnish media that she left Nigeria for Italy at the age of 18 in hopes of a better life. She was promised a good job, but upon arrival, she was forced into street prostitution. Behind this were Nigerian criminal organizations that profit from human trafficking.

In Italy, Mary married a Nigerian man who, according to her, was extremely violent. To escape this situation, she traveled to Finland with her two children a little over a year ago.

However, her asylum application was rejected because Mary had already been granted a residence permit based on asylum in Italy and had not disclosed in her initial application that she was a victim of human trafficking. After the rejection, Mary then revealed her story of forced prostitution.

This did not help, as a month ago, the Finnish Administrative Court decided that Mary could be deported. Following this decision, the immigration police took her and her children from the reception center and transported them to another part of Finland.

Hopefully, Mary's story reaches as many people from developing countries as possible, so they understand that coming to the EU solely in search of a "better life" is not advisable, nor is it wise to leave the country that granted asylum to seek new opportunities in another member state. Instead, in the country that granted asylum – in Mary's case, Italy – victims of crime should contact the local police, whose duty is to apprehend criminals.

Acting as Mary did will only lead to marginalization, where one is at best labeled an asylum shopper, whom no EU country wishes to accept. In Mary’s case, Italy, for some reason, made an exception, even though it is clear that the hope for a better life is not an acceptable basis for asylum.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finland to Tighten Citizenship Requirements Further
Statistics on Sexual Crimes Committed by Immigrants in Finland
Immigration-Specific Violent Crime Increases as Humanitarian Immigration Continues

Iranian Surge to Finland

The Finnish Wrestling Federation has been seeking a head coach. A total of around 80 applicants expressed interest in the position, of which as many as 50 turned out to be Iranian. This is surprising, even though Iran is among the strongest countries in the world in both wrestling styles.

However, the chairman of the Finnish Wrestling Federation, Pekka Paavola, speculated that not every applicant's motivation is driven by a burning passion for developing Finnish wrestling. Or even for working in wrestling at all.

Instead, he noted, "Iran is certainly known as a country where wrestling is a huge and successful sport, and of course, there are many good coaches as a result. I can't definitively assess their reasons for applying, but perhaps access to the Schengen area is an attraction for some applicants."

This may be hinted at by the fact that some of the Iranian applications were written in Iran's own languages, such as Farsi or Arabic, which naturally gave the recruiters an indication of the applicant's ability to use English as a working language in Finland. Therefore, they are unlikely to secure the position in my northern homeland.

It remains to be seen who will eventually be selected. However, in advance, the current executive director of the Wrestling Federation, Pasi Sarkkinen, can be seen as the frontrunner. Sarkkinen previously served as head coach of Greco-Roman wrestling from 2001 to 2004. During that time, Finland won five senior-level championship medals and its most recent Olympic medal was brought home by Marko Yli-Hannuksela from Athens in 2004.

Aiempia ajatuksia samasta aihepiiristä:
Immigration-Specific Violent Crime Increases as Humanitarian Immigration Continues
Everyone has the right
The human rights of immigrant women are not important in Finland

What seemed to be impossible just two years ago is going to happen in very near future

Turkey´s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told to Sauli Niinistö - president of Finland - that Turkey will start the ratification process that leads to Finland´s membership in NATO. That is excellent news to Finns, who tried to get along with the Russians after World War II by accommodating them in every possible way, hoping that this would prevent the great power to direct aggression towards Finland.

As this strategy proved to be wrong, at the latest when Russia attacked Ukraine, the NATO application received strong support from almost the entire Finnish population. And therefore the leading Finnish politicians have been commonly acknowledged for their action in the process.

President Niinistö described how the process with Turkey proceeded. First, president of the Republic, Sauli Niinistö together with the Minister for Foreign Affairs began their state visit by laying a wreath at the grave of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey.

Then the President of Turkey received the President of the Republic of Finland with proper hospitality. When Niinistö greeted Turkish soldiers, the response echoed in unison like a company to their commander. 

The presidents, walking along the blue carpet under umbrellas, were barely protected from the rain. However, Turkish President was in such a jovial mood that it did not take long for Erdogan to become concerned about the Finnish photographer's wet shoes. As the ceremony began with a slight delay, it seemed as if a rainbow had been drawn behind the rain clouds.

Provided that Turkey will do as promised by their president, there is still one obstacle left. That is Hungary, who remains the only NATO-country that has not started the ratification process of the Finnish application.

That may, however, change soon, as at the same time as Erdogan gave his promise, the ruling Fidesz party announced that the Hungarian parliament is scheduled to vote on the ratification of Finland's NATO membership on March 27. According to the leader of its parliamentary group, the party's parliamentary group unanimously supports Finland's NATO membership.

All of this means that something that seemed to be impossible just two years ago is going to happen in very near future. And my homeland can finally lean on the Western world that shares the same democratic values in protecting its security. 

That will be of utmost importance to me, as it marks the moment when we Finns can finally relax and put an end to the worries over the security risks posed by our eastern neighbor for centuries.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:

Erdogan wants fighter jets, and uses Finland and Sweden to get them
Finland after the Russian war in Ukraine
Why Finland will apply for a membership in NATO

COVID-19 against Finland´s NATO plans

The president of Finland - Sauli Niinistö - has an infection of SARS-CoV-2. Fortunately, according to the announcement, his condition is good, and he continues working.

Timing of the virus infection was worst possible. That is, exactly in the middle of Finland´s preparation of its application to join NATO.  

There is no doubt that Russians and their trolls would not do their best to take advantage on the situation. An example was already given by a member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom, Robert Skidelsky, who warned in Twitter that "application by Finland to join NATO would be a catastrophic mistake". 

Therefore I hope the infection would not affect President Niinistö´s activity in this task of utmost importance. But if it does, I hope he will share this duty with the Prime Minister Sanna Marin to get the NATO application submitted without any delay, but taking care of all preliminaries necessary. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Political rats and useful idiots
Finland and NATO - problems to be solved

World oceans are filled with previously unknown viruses

COVID-19 pandemic has been ongoing for ca. 1,5 years now. It started when a new RNA virus SARS-CoV-2 learned to reproduce in humans, and to efficiently transmit between different people. Furthermore, the pandemic has had several waves due to rapid evolution of the virus from the original form to ever increasing variants with more and more efficient transmission between people.

The pandemic underlined the dangers of new viruses. The human immune systems are not prepared for their attacks and neither has evolution prepared our genes to resist their effects. As a result, such a virus may be life threatening and kill millions and millions of people.

Therefore it was interesting to read about new research showing, that oceans of the world are full of unknown RNA viruses. And not only new versions of the kinds of virus types previously known, but completely unknown virus groups rooting in the earliest history of the life itself.

These new viruses are not causing diseases of humans, but mostly multiply in lower eukaryotes, bacteria and archaea. In doing that, these viruses affect evolution of their host organisms, affect marine community dynamics, speed up the cycles of matter in the biosphere and evolve themselves.

It remains to be seen, how the research described above affects practical human life. It is, however, clear that this piece of curiously driven science affects considerably the worldview of virologists and microbiologists and adds to their creativity towards new research projects. 

History has shown that such a cumulative increase of understanding is the basic value of the scientific inquiry. Any piece of new knowledge may ultimately lead to useful practical applications. And that has raised the western part of the world developmentally above rest of the human cultures.  

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Soil subsides under cities, but every cloud has a silver lining
American black population more vulnerable to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2