English or Finnish — That’s the Question

I have been considering returning this blog to its original purpose — to publish here only English translations of the most significant entries from my Finnish-language blog, edited when necessary to take into account an international readership.

There are three reasons behind this consideration. The first is lack of time, as maintaining two blogs takes up a large part of my free time. The second is that I suspect most readers of the English-language blog are in fact Finns, who can therefore also read my Finnish posts. Thus, posting less frequently in English might allow me to write Finnish entries more often than I do now.

For this reason, I ask you — my dear readers — to indicate on the discussion forum below, in a single word, whether you prefer to read the entries in Finnish or in English. Based on your comments, I will make my final decision about the future of this blog.

Attitudes Toward Immigrants Are a Problem in Schools

In recent decades, it has long been known that humanitarian immigration has had harmful effects on Western societies. For example, the link between immigration and increased gang, drug, and sexual crime is quite clear (example, another).

Less has been said about other impacts of people from developing countries on Western nations. In Finland’s case, however, this is one of the reasons why, according to PISA tests, the country’s school system is no longer anywhere near the best in the world.

The matter was written about by a local Helsinki newspaper, which interviewed Ulla Talvensaari, who has worked as a primary school teacher for 25 years. To understand her views, my esteemed reader must know that in many Helsinki schools, the proportion of pupils with an immigrant background can exceed half of the student body.

According to the experienced teacher, insufficient Finnish language instruction for pupils with an immigrant background threatens to weaken the entire education system, from primary school to vocational studies. This is reflected in the fact that “today only the sharpest quarter of pupils can manage tasks that, at the start of my career around the turn of the millennium, were routine for the majority.”

This has led to a situation where “secondary school teachers wonder why children with such weak skills have been allowed to pass through primary school to higher levels. In vocational studies, people then question secondary school assessments. Eventually, in vocational schools, standards are lowered and incompetence becomes a burden for working life.”

Schools also do not take immigrant pupils’ lack of competence seriously, but instead “it is now difficult for a teacher to hold anyone back a grade or to give conditional passes. Many teachers end up lowering standards just to get everyone through the system.” In this way, they avoid being branded as racists for prolonging immigrant pupils’ time at school.

Thus, the teacher raises the question: “Is it really equality if there are huge gaps in skill levels within classrooms? We used to talk about the Gaussian curve. Most pupils were average, with only a small number being particularly weak or highly gifted. Now the middle group has almost disappeared, and classrooms consist mostly of extremes—either capable pupils or those with major learning challenges.”

As one way to improve the situation, the teacher also calls for more parental responsibility. In her view, “we [Finns] should demand that immigrant parents also practice Finnish regularly at home with their children.”

One can only hope that this teacher will be listened to both in Finland and elsewhere in Europe, and that society will abandon woke dogmas and instead uphold children’s right to learn at school—including those with immigrant backgrounds. This should remain the case even if their learning takes longer than that of the native population’s children.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Unintended Consequences of Modern Value Shifts
Finland Denies Blanket Asylum for Gazans, Confirms Tighter Immigration Policies
Has Modern Education Strayed Too Far — and Is It Time to Change Course?

Estonians Have Learned from Their History — and Defend Accordingly

One of the countries that regained its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union was Estonia—the northernmost and smallest of the Baltic states. It has a population of just under 1.5 million people, of whom 68.5 percent are ethnic Estonians, 21 percent Russians, 5.4 percent Ukrainians, and the rest people of other ethnic backgrounds.

This nation has built a prosperous state, where GDP per capita has risen from $2,685.90 in 1993 to an impressive $31,170. In other words, it has grown more than elevenfold—or by 1,160 percent.

Estonia was independent from 1918 until 1940, when the Soviet Union occupied it along with the other Baltic states, based on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact it had signed with Nazi Germany. Incidentally, Stalin also issued ultimatums to Finland on similar grounds and eventually launched a full-scale military invasion. However, the Finns did not yield and managed to preserve their independence.

Having learned from all this, Estonians have taken national defense seriously since regaining independence. As a sign of this commitment, Estonia joined NATO as quickly as possible, and the country’s defense minister, Hanno Pevkur, has stated that Estonia allocates five percent of its gross domestic product to actual military spending.

Unlike in many other countries, high defense spending enjoys broad public support in Estonia. Among Estonian speakers, 41 percent believe defense spending should be increased to five percent of GDP, and 34 percent support a defense budget of 3.5 percent. Even among Russian speakers, 17 percent favor 3.5 percent, and five percent support increasing it to five percent.

This strong public backing allows Estonia’s defense forces to develop their capabilities further. In practice, this has included the acquisition of HIMARS air defense systems and long-range missiles capable of striking deep into Russian territory. The rationale behind the latter is the principle that if Russia attacks Estonia, the war must be taken immediately to Russian soil.

I believe that Estonia’s perspective is worth listening to not only in neighboring countries that share a border with Russia but also in Central Europe—and even along the Atlantic coast.

This is because people in those countries can only remain secure if the whole of Europe sends a clear signal that Russia has no chance of success—neither in the borderlands nor further west—thanks to overwhelming support available to frontline countries like the Baltics, should it ever be necessary.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Did Russia Realize the Risk Was Too Great?
Did a Finnish Fighter Jet Rush to Intercept a Russian Sukhoi Yesterday?
Shifting U.S. Foreign Policy Sparks Concerns in Estonia

Does Germany’s Ban on Arabic-Language Posters Signal a CDU/CSU-AfD Coalition?

Germany has banned Arabic-language posters in protests taking place on its soil. This decision stems from the fact that disruptive behavior and even outright crimes have increased in demonstrations held in support of Palestine.

Additionally, Arabic-language slogans have called— in Arabic— for the destruction of Israel and Jews, essentially advocating for a continuation of the Holocaust.

The police have acted swiftly, having already interrupted a protest in Berlin where the Palestinian cause was being promoted with Arabic slogans and music. At the same time, some protesters were arrested.

* * *

The ban on the Arabic language should be seen as a reaction to all the events (example, another) that have recently shaken Germany. It is also part of a shift in the political climate, which may ultimately allow Europe to retain its fundamental character despite the reckless immigration policies of recent decades.

For Germany, this has meant growing support for the immigration-critical AfD and BNW parties, as well as a shift in the Christian Democrats’ stance in the same direction. However, the CDU/CSU leader has stated that under no circumstances will he form a government relying on AfD support.

This is a strange promise because, without the AfD— which currently enjoys around 22% support— it is impossible to form an immigration-critical government in Germany. Any other government program would be tantamount to betraying the voters, which could lead to a collapse in CDU/CSU support.

I believe that Chairman Merz understands this as well and will therefore not betray the will of the people. Instead, he will ultimately form a government with the AfD, provided the parties can agree on other issues and current polling numbers hold.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Javier Milei and the Great Western Opportunity
Friedrich Merz Needs the AfD – A Precedent from Finland
Citizen Journalism, Free Speech, and EU Challenges

Swedish School Shooting with Automatic Weapon Highlights Nation in Crisis

I am writing this text just as a shooting has taken place today at an adult education center in Örebro, Sweden, where people have been shot dead. The shooter had access to an automatic weapon, so this does not appear to be an ordinary school shooting but a more serious incident.

According to social media reports, Swedish language lessons for immigrants are provided at the shooting site. However, based on a widely circulated photograph, the shooter does not appear to be of immigrant background but ethnically Swedish. It remains to be seen whether the photo is authentic.

The case will certainly become clearer in time, but even at this stage, it can be said that something strange has happened in Sweden in recent years, turning what was once the world's safest society into something entirely different. This was also hinted at by the country's Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson, who stated less than a week ago that "we are clearly unable to control this wave of violence right now."

It remains to be seen whether the Swedish government will regain control of the country and by what means it will attempt to do so. At this point, the only certainty is that Kristersson's task will not be an easy one.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The Swedish Immigration Catastrophe – A Cautionary Tale
Police Ban Public Fight Between Neo-Nazis and Street Gangs in Finland
Immigration Policy Should Be Based on Evidence

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

The EU's 7.4 billion euro aid package is intellectual dishonesty

Intellectual dishonesty, according to Wikipedia, is dishonesty in thought or communication. This includes advocating for a viewpoint that one knows to be false or misleading, or advocating for something whose veracity one has not bothered to ascertain, or omitting relevant facts that one knows to be essential.

According to the same source, rhetoric is intellectual dishonesty when it is used to reinforce one's own agenda or important beliefs despite evidence to the contrary. This comes to mind repeatedly when I read news related to humanitarian immigration.

Today, it happened when I came across a headline stating, "EU will soon pay Egypt to contain the migration flood – concern over two borders." These borders are the borders with Sudan and Libya, through which people travel through Egypt towards Europe.

Behind this are the human rights treaties signed by European countries, according to which all people in the world have the right to seek asylum if they manage to reach the border. If and when this happens, asylum must be granted whenever there is no evidence of its undesirability.

And that's not all, because after granting asylum, the receiving country must provide various services to the arrivals, from maintenance to healthcare. Instead, they are not obligated to undertake specific duties themselves, such as financing their own lives through work or adopting the language and culture of the receiving country.

In other words, through the international agreements they have signed and their practical measures towards asylum seekers, EU countries have done everything they can to make themselves as attractive as possible to developing country migrants seeking a better standard of living. And at the same time, they intellectually dishonestly spend money to ensure that these people could not present their asylum applications.

Otherwise, this wouldn't matter much, but bribery of transit countries to keep borders closed is costly (in Egypt's case, €7.4 billion by the end of 2027), there are still plenty of arrivals despite the bribery, and they cause exorbitant costs in their destination countries. And most importantly, the intellectually dishonest Union could change its immigration policy by its own decision, so that it would not attract economically motivated migrants who are unable to adapt to society.

Key points here could be 1) transferring the burden of proving the need for asylum to the applicant, 2) limiting positive decisions to those who have personally experienced persecution (and not, for example, due to general chaos in the country of origin), and 3) making maintenance contingent on work, learning the language and culture of the receiving country, and giving up harmful aspects of previous lifestyles. Additionally, it should be ensured that applicants with rejected decisions are either returned to their home country or isolated from the receiving society in other ways.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Strong statement or intellectual dishonesty in COP27?
Most useless organisations of our time
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?

History of Finland X: The birth of Finnish identity

This is the tenth part of a blog post series in which I go through the most significant phases of Finnish history. In the ninth post, I described how the change of power in Russia led to the creation of liberal legislation and enormous progress in the development of society.

At the end of the 19th century, the Finnish nationalistic movement, or Fennomania, also emerged, which, alongside the liberalization of the country, was the most significant development of the time. We Finns remember it best from our school days as an idea created by Swedish-speaking great men such as Arwidsson, Snellman, Runeberg, and Topelius to improve the position of the Finnish people and their language.

And to some extent, that was indeed the case. However, school books left open the question of why Swedish-speaking great men originally started advocating for the position of the Finnish people.

The explanation for this can be found by examining fennomania as a transfer of power between social classes. The growing intelligentsia allied themselves with the wealthy peasants who had benefited from pre-capitalist economic policies to challenge the predominantly aristocratic, Swedish-speaking civil servants in the distribution of high-level positions reserved solely for the Swedish-speaking upper class. And in this battle, the language of the peasant class was well-suited, especially since the children of noble estates did not speak it.

In addition to the rising peasant class that challenged the Swedish-speaking civil servants, the will of the emperor - or grand duke as the Tsar was called in Finland - was also crucial in this struggle. His advantage was to weaken the close ties of the civil servants with the old motherland, Sweden, and the elevation of the status of the Finnish language was ideal for this.

Throughout the 19th century, however, the civil servants were initially stronger than the fennomaniacs, and by the mid-1800s, it appeared that the fate of the Finnish language would be that of the disappearing Irish language. However, an unexpected change occurred when Alexander II ascended the throne and signed the Language Decree of 1863, which made Finnish an equal language alongside Swedish.

This had far-reaching consequences. Firstly, despite the great disappointment of the Swedish-speaking population, the decision ultimately saved their mother tongue in Finland, as it ensured them an equal linguistic status with the Finnish-speaking population after Finland's independence. Otherwise, Finland would have become a monolingual country like Estonia.

The second significant consequence was that, after winning the language struggle, the original fennomans, i.e. the old Finns, became advocates of the emperor in Finland. This was evident during the years of oppression, where to preserve the autonomy of the Grand Duchy, concessions were repeatedly made to the Tsar's administration. In exchange for this submission, they were granted official positions by the Grand Duke, but as a reaction to this, the younger generation of fennomans, the young Finns, emerged with a highly negative view of their predecessors.

At the same time, there was a lively debate in the Swedish press, in which Snellman also participated. The Swedish government had recognized the facts and reluctantly accepted the loss of the eastern part of the country to Russia. Despite this, there was still debate on the western side of the Gulf of Bothnia, where since the 1830s and especially during the Crimean War, there were voices calling for Finland to be returned to the old motherland by joining forces with its enemies.

This debate likely had a strong impact on the Tsars allowing Finland to maintain its autonomous special status, which allowed the former backward eastern part of the Swedish kingdom to develop into a state capable of achieving high-level accomplishments in almost every field within a hundred years. Thus, the Swedish revanchist spirit ended up doing a favor for Finland - albeit in a way that its representatives had not intended.

The original blog post in Finnish:
Suomalaisuuden synty

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

Hussein Al-Taee, an Islamic militant and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland

Next Sunday, Finland will hold parliamentary elections, and one of the candidates for the Social Democratic Party is Hussein Al-Taee. He has an immigration background and is known for his work in Nobel laureate Martti Ahtisaari's peace mediation company. 

However, it has been revealed that Al-Taee sympathizes with militant Islam and dictatorships, and has been suspected of having connections to the intelligence service of Iraq. He may also have had a task to interfere with Finnish policy and help members of Shia militia immigrate into Finland through the international asylum system. Additionally, Al-Taee has written antisemitic texts, but he apologized for his mistakes after they became public.

Despite these concerning revelations, Al-Taee was still accepted as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party in the elections. Furthermore, he published a video in Arabic where he suggests that immigrants are taken from their parents by force.

In other words, Al-Taee is spreading the same kind of disinformation in Finland that is used in Sweden to hinder the integration of immigrants from the Islamic world into their new home. Furthermore, he has made it clear that his positive views on militant Islam have not changed.

Therefore, as the people of Finland, we must question whether the Social Democrats should continue to support Mr. Al-Taee. They should admit that they made a mistake by nominating him as a candidate for Parliament and discourage voters from supporting him. If they do not take action before the elections, they should cancel his party membership immediately after the election, regardless of the outcome.

We must also consider whether allowing Al-Taee to remain a member of the Social Democratic Party obstructs Finnish immigration policy and endangers the country's security. If so, the party leaders and the entire organization may be unworthy of the trust of the Finnish people.

The original blog post in Finnish:
SDP:n on erotettava Hussein Al-Taee

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Ayatollahs in Iran demonstrated their ridiculousness
Sweden already in trouble - Finland following
Riots in Sweden: what next?

The change in the demographic structure of Helsinki

The Capitol of Finland - Helsinki - is not a huge city but rather a relatively big town with its ca. 660 000 inhabitants. It means that approximately 12 percent of Finns live in their Capitol.

According to current predictions, the population of Helsinki will grow up to 700 000 people in the following six years. But that will not be due to a baby-boom or even Finns moving from countryside, but mostly via immigration from abroad, which will be responsible of two thirds of the increasing population.

Even today, Helsinki may be considered somewhat multicultural town as only about 83 percent of people speak Finnish or Swedish (the official languages of the country) as their first language. Russian is the most common foreign language and is spoken by almost three percent of the population. That is followed by Somali, Estonian, Arabic, and English speakers with 1.8, 1.6, 1,3 and 1,1 percent share of the population. 

The figures above indicate, that most speakers of foreign languages have moved to Helsinki to work in Finland (e.g. Russian, Estonian and English speakers). In other words, they are contributing to the welfare of the city dwellers and whole country. 

However, in 2021 the number of people speaking domestic languages moving out from Helsinki was higher than the amount of those moving in. The reasons are unclear but may have to do with increasing possibilities of remote working, COVID-19 pandemic or increased violence in the streets of Helsinki. 

The big question in the future will be, what kind of immigrants Helsinki will attract in future. Will people move into the city due to its working possibilities or are they only looking for the benefits of the relatively liberal social welfare-system of Finland. And - as has been seen during the last few years - will they instead of working contribute to the criminal records. And thus reduce the quality of life in the town?

 

The answer cannot be provided yet, but it is clear that the immigration policy of the next Government of Finland will direct the development. The key question to be decided by voters in spring 2023 is, whether Finland will support possibilities for private enterprises to hire highly educated foreign workforce or if it rather opens Finland´s borders to masses of uneducated asylum seekers from the developing world. 

Interesting though, according to recent news, almost one third of Ukrainians - who escaped Russian aggression - have plans to live rest of their lives in Finland. They are hard working, and have not caused similar problems as people from Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan who looked for protection in 2015 using the war in Syria as an excuse. 

Whatever will be the outcome on the politics of the next Government in 2023-2027, its will have a major impact on the future of the Capitol area of the country. In the best case, Helsinki may in future - largely due to the positive contribution of immigrants - be seen as an excellent option for people looking for sufficient income and decent living in a safe environment - but in the worst case the Capitol may develop towards a town with poor street safety but high taxes to support living of increasing non-working population. 

These two scenarios will provide the road make to the future of Helsinki - and ultimately the whole of Finland. Therefore, elections of the Finnish Parliament in 2023 are more important than normally. And voters should use their right to give their support to candidates only after a serious consideration.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finland after the Russian war in Ukraine

Sweden already in trouble - Finland following
Vakartšuk of the Okean Elzy: Finnish history inspires Ukrainians

Soil subsides under cities, but every cloud has a silver lining

In a recent scientific publication it was noticed that in most of the coastal cities around the world part of the land is subsiding even more quickly than a sea level is rising. Therefore it can be expected that these cities will be challenged by flooding much sooner than the current sea level rise models predict. 

The problem is most serious in South, Southeast, and East Asia, but the phenomenon is also observed in North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia. The main driving force for this subsidence is groundwater extraction.

I live in Finland, and here the soil - including that under the coastal towns - is rising due to a return from a subsidence that occurred during the last ice age. The problem, however, will also affect our life, as the Baltic sea is connected to other seas via Danish straits, and the land there is subsidizing even without human contribution. 

The outcome of this development will be higher rate of water change between the Baltic sea and Oceans. It will have the following two consequences. 

First. The sea water will become more salty than today, which probably affects also the fauna and flora of the unique brackish water ecosystem along our coasts. And as the level of the Baltic sea uniqueness - i.e. exceptional salinity - will be reduced, it will become even more receiving for all kinds of alien species dispersed by human actions, especially via ballast waters from ships sailing between different geographical areas.

This will worsen the biodiversity problem, which already now is considerable. According to this report, around 140 non-indigenous species or new species with unknown origin have been recorded in the Baltic Sea. And as easily understood, the situation cannot be fixed as eradication of non-indigenous species is not a viable management option for a whole sea.  

Second. The deep waters of Baltic sea are largely suffering of hypoxia, i.e. lack of oxygen. Its ultimate cause is an excess nutrient loading from human activities and in summertime its effects are visible as algal blooms. These blooms sink to the bottom and overuse the available oxygen, which leads to mortality of bottom-living organisms, and ultimately creates dead zones.

The situation is partially regenerative, as in some years more salty water from Oceans enter to the Baltic sea, and due to its heaviness compared to the brackish water, sink down to the bottoms. There it pushes the oxygen-free bottom water upwards and reoxidizes the deep sea basins. 

Now, if water change via the Danish straits increases due to the climatic change and land subsidence, also the area of deep basins suffering from hypoxia will reduce. That will ultimately lead to decrease in algal blooms, which currently considerably reduce the recreational value of the marine nature along the coasts of Finland and other Baltic sea countries. 

Taken together, the sea level rise expected due to the predicted climate change and land subsidence, as well as other human actions, can be expected to have negative effects to the nature of the Baltic sea, but  probably increase the recreational value of the sea to humans. 

For such a situation, we have a proverb in Finnish: "ei niin pahaa, ettei jotain hyvääkin". That means "not so bad, that there would not be something good", or to express that with an English proverb: "every cloud has a silver lining".

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Measurements of arctic temperatures and sea ice area agree with each other
World Resources Institute had an arrogant demand

Notice

My aim was to translate some of my thoughts to English for international audience. It seems, however, that I have not enough time and energy to do so. Therefore, I will keep these pages open, but I am not going to add new thoughts regularly.

The original Professor´s thoughts can be found here, and may be translated to English or other languages. Unfortunately, Google translator is not at its best when translating from Finnish to Indo-European languages. The reason for this is obviously the distant relationship between Fenno-Uralic and Indo-European languages.