Well, that’s a relief. The Bimbo of Finland has announced that Finland won’t play nanny to the Baltic states.

But let’s analyze this a bit further. It is obvious that it’s in Russia’s interests to have the Baltics take on the same kind of subservient role Finland has made world-famous, in finlandization. Can The Bimbo’s gesture, therefore, be construed as an act of charity to the Baltics?

Of course not. The Finnish political establishment has sought to distance itself from the New European states as much as possible, not only because they don’t like the way these states assert themselves against Russia, but because these states pose a threat to the high tax welfare-state regimes of Old Europe, the ideology of which Finland is more aligned with.

Thus we can be assured that Finland would never go up to bat to defend the new democracies emerging from the Soviet empire. And this presents an interesting question: would Finland condone Russian pressure on these countries, simply because they also present a threat to Old European interests?

All of which makes the notion of Finnish NATO membership a bad idea. Despite claims to support "international" law and trans-national principles, Finns are way too cowardly to take a stand when a stand has to be taken. And when they are not cowardly, they can be very conniving. They might preach the morals of democracy, but when it comes down to basics, they will never be prepared to defend them.

The Bimbo’s statement is simply a reflection of the myriad ways Finnish hypocrisy gets rationalized.