Finnpundit

Does econ make you conservative?

2006-12-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

Harvard University’s economics Professor Greg Mankiw is known for his popularity, especially as he seems to actually enjoy teaching introductory economics courses (while most of his peers tend to favor spending time with advanced, post-graduate students). He even runs a blogsite so that he can keep in touch with his students, now dispersed worldwide.

One student posed a question on that site recently that’s actually quite central to the kind of ideological divide we see in Finnish politics today: does the study of economics make people more conservative (or more classically liberal, in academic terms)?

I believe the answer is, to some degree, yes. My experience is that many students find that their views become somewhat more conservative after studying economics. There are at least three, related reasons.

First, in some cases, students start off with utopian views of public policy, where a benevolent government can fix all problems. One of the first lessons of economics is that life is full of tradeoffs. That insight, completely absorbed, makes many utopian visions less attractive. Once you recognize, for example, that there is a tradeoff between equality and efficiency, as economist Arthur Okun famously noted, many public policy decisions become harder.

Second, some of the striking insights of economics make one more respectful of the market as a mechanism for coordinating a society. Because market participants are motivated by self-interest, a person might naturally be suspect of market-based societies. But after learning about the gains from trade, the invisible hand, and the efficiency of market equilibrium, one starts to approach the market with a degree of admiration and, indeed, awe.

Third, the study of actual public policy makes students recognize that political reality often deviates from their idealistic hopes. Much income redistribution, for example, is aimed not toward the needy but toward those with political clout.

These are lessons certainly lost on Finland, where entrenched socialist ideology sees any challenge to its moral precepts as a threat. In fact, most of Finnish counter-arguments focus on the demonization of any contending models to the welfare-state, even to the extent of employing state-sponsored bigotry to ensure the status quo.

Zero Tuomioja and the Tobin Tax

2006-12-03T01:36:00.000-05:00

One of the preoccupations of Finland’s foreign minister “Zero” (as Chirac allegedly called him) Tuomioja, has been the implementation of the CTT, or Tobin Tax, especially in relations to ATTAC, where he is a member. Though Tuomioja’s rationale sounds benign enough, there are more considerations behind this folly than initially meets the eye.

Consider whom such a Currency Transaction Tax would affect. Far from dissuading currency speculators (as it was initially intended to do), a CTT is designed to collect taxes from two willing international trading partners and forwarding those tax monies to other countries who have no role at all in that particular trade. Thus, for example, if an American company wires money to a factory in China to produce some goods for America, a country like Bolivia, - which has introduced socialist policies designed to dissuade international trade – would benefit from that kind of international transaction taking place. In other words, Bolivia would enjoy a freeride at the expense of the other two countries, without ever needing to revise its own trade-stifling policies.

Obviously, Zero Tuomioja also enjoys the other aspect of such a tax: it would collect the most money from the one nation that thrives on international trade: the United States. As the cost of such a transaction would eventually be transferred to the American consumer, making goods more expensive as a whole, it becomes quite clear that this tax is just another manifestation of European anti-American bigotry. And, when we consider that it is the American consumer that has done the most when it comes to lifting third world nations out of poverty, the CTT can be seen as quite counterproductive to its poverty-fighting ideals.

In other words, it is folly, though it'll certainly never be comprehended as such by Zero Tuomioja.

Election Day, 2006

2006-11-08T21:02:00.000-05:00

So I voted the other day. It was quite easy this time, as there were no waiting lines, as had been during the presidential elections in 2004. The polling was conducted in public schools here in New York City (all school kids have the day off on Election Day, though that might vary from state to state). The voting booths were set up in the school’s gymnasium, and staffed mostly with retired folks, who took visible pride in conducting their duly-sworn, civic duties. The old African-American lady who verified my registration must have been about 80 years old. It was obvious that the other ladies gave her that honorific little job to do, though they stood by to assist. In a sentimental way, that little gesture kind of moved me.

I counted 10 different political parties with candidates in the fray. They were:

Republican
Democrat
Independence
Conservative
Working Families
Green
Libertarian
Rent Is Too High
Socialist Workers
Socialist Equality

The voting was done in these quite antiquated, mechanical lever devices which had a heavy curtain draping the voter in front of the lever board, displaying all the 30-70 or so candidates . Although voter fraud cases in New York City have rarely been reported (and I have a feeling no one wants to mess with the ladies in charge with electoral conduct), I’ve always wondered how long a state like New York will rely on these mechanical hulks. It seems there are so many ways where fraud is possible, - and if it’s possible, maybe probable - if New York ever becomes a state where key national voting decisions are made. It’s a worry, for anyone, of any party, who cares about democracy.

Later, in my busy day, I was surprised to find that almost all of the people I dealt with had taken the trouble to vote (though admittedly, I deal with a lot of hard-working, thinking people. My favorite bartendress, though, said she wasn’t going to vote, simply because she has no idea what the issues really are. Fair enough.) It’ll be interesting to see how this mid-term election compares in tally with other mid-terms in the past.

A Terse Assessment on Iraq

2006-11-01T02:00:00.000-05:00

If you're willing to look past the ongoing distortions in Main Stream Media, things are going rather well in Iraq. Significant oil revenues are now flowing into the coffers of the Iraqi government, surpassing pre-war levels. That could not be happening under wartime conditions. And most of that oil is not going to the US, but India. Additionally, China is now interested in investing over $1billion in developing Iraqi oil reserves. It's obvious that they've a different assessment of the situation on the ground than what we hear from MSM.

Mostly the fighting is of a low-level, criminal kind of gang/clan warfare (not counting the foreign terrorists). It would be nice to let these folks kill each other off, but the danger is that - unless they're repressed by some impartial force from the government - they could (and probably would) develop in organization, thus providing a threat to the central government which, for all its faults, is working rather well. Unfortunately, the only force impartial enough for this task are US soldiers, at the moment.

The foreign terrorists are, of course, being dispatched rather efficiently, if Al Qaeda's own internal memos are to be believed. And that was one of the better arguments for creating a warzone in that part of the world.

In either case, what the militants don't realize is that their continuing activity only provides more of an excuse for an American military presence. Even if all patrols would finally be conducted by Iraqi police and military units, the threat posed by the militants will be used to justify the long-term entrenchment of US bases in Iraq for some time to come.

Which is not that bad at all, for the US, as long as the area is of strategic concern.

Don't You Just Love America?

2006-08-29T00:03:00.000-04:00

Commuter to detonate DC bridge Monday night
Mon Aug 28, 2:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A detested bridge that has plagued generations of Washingtonians will be blown up by a long-suffering commuter on Monday night.
[…]
The Wilson bridge has long been one of the worst traffic bottlenecks in a region notorious for gridlock. Backups can stretch for miles when the drawbridge is raised 270 times per year to let boats through.
[…]
A local man who has crossed the bridge for 30 years as part of his two-hour commute won a contest to detonate a half-mile section. Dan Ruefly of Accokeek, Maryland, had his hip crushed in an accident on the bridge in 1999. He leaves his home at 5 a.m. each week day to avoid the worst of the traffic.

The Foibles of the State

2006-08-25T21:20:00.001-04:00

An amusing gallery of public works.

Terror Averted, Thanks to Torture?

2006-08-11T14:48:00.000-04:00

It was a little news item at first, the one where it was revealed that the whole recent international terror plot was foiled due to the initial arrest of a jihadist in Pakistan. The Pakistanis were quick to take the credit for it, of course.

Yet there is no way a jihadist would spill the beans on such a plot just like that. Was that man tortured by the Pakistani authorities? It's a guess, but it wouldn't be a surprise. If so, do thousands of westerners owe their lives to one man being tortured?

It's becoming quite amusing seeing how AP, Reuters, and AFP are tippy-toeing around that main question. They're now trying to bury the significance of that initial arrest with all sorts of facts about the subsequent arrests in Pakistan, in the hopes that no one will ask the most significant question of all.

UPDATE: More information is now available about the initial Pakistani arrest, via AFP:

In Pakistan, two senior officials told AFP that Britain's intelligence services had asked their Pakistan counterparts to trail Rauf after he entered the country. He was arrested on August 4 in the eastern city of Bahawalpur.

[…]

"When they interrogated Rauf, he broke. He told them what we believe was not even in the knowledge of the US and the British -- that they were actually planning to blow up airliners," one of the officials said.

Now, why are none of these journalists asking the obvious question at this time: did Britain’s intelligence services tip the Pakistanis off, knowing that the Pakistani security services would be able to “break” Rauf? It seems journalists only ask the tough questions when their political interests are served.

Tuomioja Blunders, Again and Again

2006-08-02T23:20:00.000-04:00

Reading all the tepid, equanimious statements emanating from the European ministerial meeting at Brussels on the crisis in Lebanon, it's clear that Finnish foreign minister (and foreign minister of the EU presidency for the next six months) social democratic party member Erkki Tuomioja is up to a backtracking start from the position of leadership in Europe.

Right from the start of the conflict in Lebanon, Tuomioja (and his former lover, social democratic Finnish president Halonen) reacted with the most biased emotion, without thinking what was good for Finland, and good for Europe. As an established anti-Semite, Tuomioja immediately condemned Israel for its so-called “disproportionate” response, not realizing that this was an opportunity to not only engage Israel in a dialogue where European prestige and influence might be made more significant, but also finally to make Europe a political entity that is willing to take the lead in international affairs in a way that it believes it is destined to do.

The stage was also very well prepared: the Israelis had accidentally killed a Finnish officer in Unifil, and were of course at a disadvantage. Instead of lashing out at Israel, - and accomplishing nothing new -Tuomioja could have leapt at the opportunity to use the incident at getting closer to Israel. He should have shown understanding towards Israel in this predicament, and offered a helping hand in getting rid of the terrorists in southern Lebanon. Such a robust initiative would be instrumental in injecting the kind of debate within Israel’s democratic factions (which are open for all of us to see) as to have possible long-term significance making Europe an important partner in the Middle East peace process, and a major, multipolar player on the world stage.

But no, Tuomioja (and the Bimbo Of Finland, Halonen) both boorishly retreated into their self-defined moral high grounds by condemning Israel, at the same time slamming the door shut for Finland, and Europe. For it is not Hezbollah that needs to be courted and engaged (their religious fundamentalism means they cannot), - but democratic, secular Israel.

And we should ask if this was not done on purpose. The Middle East is a frightening place, where many international politicians and diplomats have failed in their efforts to bring peace (perhaps Tuomioja simply feels inadequate to the task, and tries to hide his cowardice). The US is already bruised and battered by experience in the Middle East; wouldn’t it just be easier to let the US do the leading first, giving Europeans the easier pickings later? In other words, is it not more profitable to let someone else (the US) do the leading, while Europe could enjoy the freeride later?

Finland, especially, has honed socio, political, and economic freeriding into an art form. It is not surprising that it continues to do so, especially with Tuomioja and Halonen as the most prominent shapers of Finnish foreign policy. The fact that such politicians are so quick to quit the field (making the US the only heavyweight left on the field) does say something about the quality of the moral high ground Tuomioja and Halonen are so convinced they possess.

Every Now And Then, A Glimpse of The Real Picture

2006-02-20T16:59:00.000-05:00

A comment left by a poster named Mara (No. 64), at Phil's Finland For Thought site, provides an insight as to how state-rationing of universal health care really works in Finland:

“On the health care front, the state declared that the municipalities have to provide a “guaranteed access to care” within 6 months of first patient contact. In a caricature of implementation the guaranteed response turned out to be a phone call between the health provider and the patient within 6 months from the moment of contact. The outcome of the call was that the system now recognizes the patient’s need for care, and the patient will hear from them later on.

Some municipalities have transferred people in queues for hip or knee operations into physiotherapy, explaining that the better muscular condition will help them to recuperate after the operation. But after a while the patient finds out that his health has been officially re-evaluated to require the operation, but not immediately. And so the patient is back to square one in the queue for the operation. All the time everybody agrees that the patient clearly needs the operation, but the system can postpone it by few years, while the patient lives a very limited life. This “queue shuffle” with its variants seems to be a smash hit among the public admins. And private hospitals, which have no shortage of patients.”

A Brilliant Idea

2006-02-16T14:11:00.000-05:00

Former Spanish prime minister Aznar, the Wall Street Journal reports (subscription required), has come up with a brilliant idea for a viable counter move to Iran’s decision to go nuclear: have Israel admitted as a member of NATO. The move would certainly force Europe to make a fuller commitment to the preservation of Israel, and make it more difficult for Europeans to engage in spurious anti-Semitic exercises. And it would reintroduce the necessary Cold War politics that are needed when confronting Iran.

What’s more, the ascension of both Sweden and Finland to NATO would become more difficult, as these two cowardly states would have a harder time selling NATO to their respective electorates. Anti-Semitism is rampant in these countries, and being forced into a treaty with Israel would be complete anathema to all the foreign policy themes promulgated by these two freerider states.

By That Time, The Boat Should Have Departed

2005-12-20T21:25:00.000-05:00

It behooves American policymakers to make sure that Finland will never be allowed to change their minds, given the institutionalized anti-American bigotry in Finland.

“Finns would be ready to seek Nato's help if the situation in Russia became threatening, indicates a poll conducted by Think If Laboratories and published in the Finnish tabloid Iltalehti (IL) on Tuesday.

According to the poll, 70 per cent of Finns would support joining Nato if Russia were to become a totalitarian state that behaved threateningly towards Finland.”

Keep Finland out of NATO. End the Partnership-For-Peace program. Why accept another alliance with another cowardly European state?

Great Moments in European Cowardice

2005-12-20T21:04:00.000-05:00

As it is becoming increasingly obvious that Germans are ready to sell out their American "allies" every chance they get, it does serve the useful purpose of distancing the US from Europe even more so.

The extermination of the European welfare state can only be accomplished when the US abandons its protective stance towards them.

Great Moments in European Welfare-Statist Medicine

2005-12-20T20:59:00.000-05:00

This kind of stuff not even a Hollywood screenwriter could dream of.

"Nyree Ellison Anjos alerted staff at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital when she saw the larvae wriggling near a feeding tube attached to her mother's nose.

Christine Ellison died two days later, but the family is satisfied the maggot incident had no bearing"

2005-11-22T23:04:00.000-05:00

I’ve always thought that the best contribution Europe could ever do to combat global warming is to let all the farmlands of France, Benelux, Germany and Britain be reforested, just as they were before they were all leveled through human activity over the centuries. As the developing world is forced to denude its forests to feed its burgeoning populations, the best thing Europe could do is step into the breach and cover for the losses.

The only areas in the developed world that should be farmed are those areas that have historically always been grasslands: the prairies of Canada and the US, and the steppes of Russia and Ukraine. The yields from these areas are more than enough to make up for the loss of British and Franco-German farmlands.

Those lands used to be so thickly forested that Roman legions truly feared them. The Romans were the initiators of the clear-cutting that was to come, which heralded the advance of civilization, and the wiping out of indigenous cultures. But today, as agriculture has long ago lost its status as the benchmark of civilization, it makes sense to give up the farmlands back to nature.

And, just to be fair, it also seems that the previously-forested lands east and west of the Appalachian Mountains could also be given back to forests. The only difference between America and Europe is that it’s already happening through market forces, as there are more abandoned farms in America, because of less state support for them, unlike in Europe. In other words, the market is already giving up unneeded lands back to nature. Active reforestration programs, funded by environmental charities, would hasten it, though most environmentalists are too confused in their priorities to understand that.

There is so much overproduction of agricultural goods in both America and Europe that the state still has to intervene and buy up surpluses: a sure sign that there are too many farms.

I’d bet Vanhanen would have a fit, though.

2005-09-18T11:42:00.000-04:00

The world is changing. Globalization is here to stay. Globalization essentially got its start in America’s whole-scale subsidization of western Europe in the aftermath of the World War, not only through the Marshall Plan, but also through the opening up of American markets for western European products, in order to bind Europe closer to the US, and to forestall the appeal of communism. America went even so far as to directly subsidize, through the CIA, various social democratic parties in Europe (including that of Finland) in order to split the left. The various social welfare states which received support from these policies (expanding from earlier, but weaker, beginnings) were thus an anomaly: they were born out of the realities created by the artifice of the Cold War. They were only politically necessary; they were not economically necessary.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, we now have an economic entity in the world which is almost as artificial as that of the Soviets, in the form of the European welfare state. It is an entity which, in its construction, cannot but hoard wealth, in order to survive. It does not act as an economic stimulus to other, less-developed parts of the world, since it is essentially an end-user: no recycling of wealth takes place, as the Europeans fritter away the wealth earned from outside trade by indulging in easy living. And it cannot survive if not for a market for its exports which, by necessity to Europeans, cannot have a welfare state in turn if the European model were to survive (i.e. the less-taxed, cash-flush market composed of the American worker-consumer).

Thus there is exploitation since, ironically, in a globalized world, the fact that some parts get taxed more than others means others get exploited, as the benefits of that taxation is not transferred to others. In fact, high taxation becomes a huge problem, as it winds up restricting global trade, and thus becomes an obstacle to the developing world.

Now, running a trade deficit is not transferring wealth, but the selling of debt instruments certainly is. A trade deficit which is financed by loans from the seller is not exploitation at all: the world is filled with business deals such as these, from car loans from manufacturers, to easy credit terms from banks and realtors. And it has been incredibly useful in helping those who need help – in this case, lifting hundreds of millions of Chinese out of poverty. FDR even had a term for it: “pump priming”, a farming term that referred to water being forced through a pump in order to get it to work. US consumption acts as the necessary pump primer for Chinese growth. The trade deficit, however, could not be financed if not for Asian purchases of US securities. Thus the Chinese and the US have a mutually beneficial relationship – no exploitation takes place. And the Chinese, it turns out, are better than the Europeans in allocating the resources earned in trade, as they don’t fritter away the wealth in easy living, thus increasing the likelihood that the US will have a better trading partner in the future.

Consumption is not a favor one does to someone else, but it is an economic tool, in addition to being an end goal. Its most effective implementation as a tool is realized not by state consumption, but by taxpayer consumption, since outsiders can respond more readily to the tangible consumption needs of consumers, rather than the intangible, untradeable benefits of a welfare state. A taxpayer whose consumption increases because of lower taxes also increases market efficiencies, since the market is always more responsive than the state in allocating resources.

Yet the welfare states refuse to acknowledge the present state of affairs, being ruled by elites who have an interest in maintaining the status quo. So the exploitation continues. However, what we do see rising is a realization that the inequitability of European freeriding cannot be permitted to go on. The justification for the elimination of the European welfare state is there. Whether the extermination process has to happen willingly, or by force, remains to be seen.

2005-09-16T19:35:00.000-04:00

This is tremendously BIG NEWS, yet the Main Stream Media has totally ignored it!

I haven't seen any TV news or newspaper cover the story. I just learned about this from the blogosphere.

"Interestingly, these words from Blair, addressing an audience of a thousand at the Sheraton just a few blocks north of Times Square, failed to get any pickup in the media. Even The New York Times, published just down the street, ran a story that dwelt on the star power in the room, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Jesse Jackson, and George Stephanopoulos. "Isn't this awesome?" said one participant, and those words seemed to reflect fully the Times' take on the event."

It's truly flabbergasting that at an event with so many world leaders, where there were so many members of Main Stream Media, the bombshell of a statement by one of the Kyoto Treaty's main proponents doesn't even get a squeak.

2005-09-14T23:02:00.000-04:00

Are there homeless people in Finland? Of course, for the very same, familiar reasons that there are homeless people in America.

The caption runs something like this:

“A homeless person happened to find herself here in Kaleva one day; she slept long into the day. I’m not sure, but she looks like a woman who’s sometimes seen around the railroad station, whom I’ve christened The Birdlady, as how some Swedish police records named a certain homeless person. This Birdlady also feeds pigeons. Of course I didn’t disturb her, and neither did anyone else. Let the poor one sleep.”

2005-09-12T22:41:00.000-04:00

Michael Totten, one of America's most important bloggers, is going to do a very brave thing.

Totten is probably the one blogger with whom I feel any kind of political affinity. A former left-of-center liberal, he was transformed by 9/11, - like so many others - and found himself supporting Bush and the war in Iraq. His blogs are seminal for those who truly seek to understand why Bush won in 2004 (a much better preoccupation than focusing forever on the religious right, which Europeans are so obsessed about).

His most seminal blog entry was one of the first to be picked up by a major newspaper. It is an elegant piece of writing, and captures the dichotomy of contemporary American political stances very well.

2005-09-08T13:37:00.000-04:00

If you wonder how Members of the European Parliament spend their time, take a look at this particular representative from Sweden.

Hat tip: Jussi Salonranta

2005-09-06T12:02:00.000-04:00

For what it’s worth, New Orleans is America’s Venice. It's main industry is tourism, who flock there because of its historical allure. That same allure also keeps an indigenous city population there; the city has History. But it is also a city whose feasibility is in question; it simply should not be, anymore, as it has sunk into the ground so much that it will constantly have to battle the elements to survive. But the city holds so much allure, especially as a major center for African-American culture (practically the birthplace of jazz) that’s it’s abandonment is untenable.

Thus man tries to fight nature with dams, levees and dikes. And, just like in Venice, and in Holland, dam politics enters the picture. I don’t know how many of you have seen that excellent documentary about the dams engineered to save Venice (with the nice, computer-animated depiction of the dams that would rise from the seafloor, pumped with air, once a storm approaches). The documentarians make the point that the idea, - deemed the best one ? remains just an animation, as it got mired in local Italian politics, with the communist mayorality unable to get the backing of the entire country for such an expensive engineering project. The hope now is that the EU would finally kick in some funds to save Venice; I’m sure Finnish taxpayers won’t mind that one bit.

If we examine the history of the failings for state spending on New Orleans’ levees, then it mirrors in longevity to that of Venice. The debate has stretched for decades, long before this administration, and long before the previous one. The arguments of coulda-woulda-shoulda, of course, enter the picture once the Big One actually happens.

As to all the current political recriminations, that is to be expected. People feel a need to blame authority for every natural disaster. Look how many silly Finns took their anger out at the Finnish foreign ministry, for not being somehow more? responsive? to the tsunami. The ministry’s role in tsunami relief is open to question, but in this case it wound up serving as the needed scapegoat for a public still reeling from the scale of the disaster.

The sad fact is that every one in office at the moment of a natural disaster will be somehow blamed for the natural occurrence. It does not matter that money for the levees were turned down even during the Clinton administration, when there was a budget surplus. And it doesn’t matter that it would take some 30 years to actually update the levees for a category 5 hurricane. People need to find a scapegoat, and the present officeholders wind up serving that purpose.

Now that all the houses in the below-sea level area have been pretty much destroyed, New Orleaners have some new options on the table. The historic district in NO has always been on higher ground than the later development (NO forefathers had experienced enough floods to have the common sense to build on top of landfill). It is the later development that can now be built up, so that residents don’t have to live below sea level. Doubtlessly such a project would take years to develop should it be left for governments. Private developers, however, could do a better job, as they have the necessary capital, and as the storm just provided an opportunity to start with a fairly clean slate.

2005-09-06T11:59:00.000-04:00

One of the less-discussed points to the New Orleans fiasco is the reluctance of African-American residents to leave their city, due to their knowledge of the lawlessness in their own neighborhoods. Most people would like to return home as soon as the storm passes, if only to guard them. Looting is a problem in high-crime areas that have experienced some sort of an upheaval. It happened in the NYC blackout of 1977, when the crime rate was quite high, - but did not happen in the blackout of 2004, with a much lower crime rate.

Crime in NO had been rising, defying the general national trend of declining rates in recent years. A lot of analyses and studies have been made as to why, but the one single factor is the reluctance of African-Americans to accept jobs in law enforcement in their own communities, even when the city government is basically all black, and even when affirmative-action policies are in place. This ingrained cultural attitude, - that law enforcement is essentially an obsession of white people, and very few want to join the side that is habitually regarded as inimical to their concerns, - is all the more baffling when statistics show that African-Americans constitute a greater proportion of the criminal population in America, but at the same time the greatest number of crime victims are proportionally African-Americans, too.

In the end, it is freeriding at its worst: a community refuses to participate in the odious tasks of self-management, in order not to lose their status as a class always in opposition to management. It is, actually, a stance engendered by welfare. And welfare, as we all know, makes people less prone to take personal responsibility for their decisions.

I like to follow African-American politics, if only to get clues as to how an underclass that has suffered great historical wrongs can be co-opted into a position where it can thrive with the rest of society. If it could be done more successfully in America - where such an underclass was historically the most opressed in all the world - then lessons from such an experience could possibly be applied to other parts of the world.

The most significant recent development in my mind is the emergence of two factors: the African-American Republican, and the influx of recent African immigrants, mostly from West Africa. If you haven’t noticed, “native” African-Americans tend to resent the influx of these new immigrants, who tend to be - just like all immigrants - very hard working and very civic-minded, if given the chance. These two new forces might actually cause some major changes in the domestic political platforms of the African-American community, perhaps to the point where some of the damage done welfare-statist policies of previous decades can be undone.

2005-08-15T14:08:00.000-04:00

"We have swept away Hitlerism, but a great many Europeans feel that the cure has been worse than the disease."

When it comes to media hysteria, some things never change.

2005-08-13T20:05:00.000-04:00

The Norwegian blogger Jan Haugland has the right take on Schroeder's call to "take the military option off the table" when it comes to dealing with Iraq:

'"The Europeans and the Americans are united in this goal," he said. "Up to now we were also united in the way to pursue this."'

"Up to now"? Bush has not changed anything. He has consistently refused to rule out force, and simply reiterated that obvious position. Remember, "force" includes not only an invasion, it would also include airstrikes against nuclear facilities. Schroeder, by insisting that such options -- which ended Saddam's nuclear weapons programme -- are off the table, also weakens the negotiating hand of the EU-3. But, hey, it's election. So who cares if the Mullahs get nukes?

The fact that Iran just broke their agreement with Europe is ample evidence that European initiative in this regard is, once again, a failure.

2005-08-04T15:14:00.000-04:00

Hooray for John Bolton!

Aug. 3 (Bloomberg) -- John Bolton used his first full day as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations to forge a strategy with China aimed at defeating a formula offered by four U.S. allies to expand the Security Council, the Chinese envoy said.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said he and Bolton decided to coordinate efforts yesterday to block the initiative by Japan, Germany, Brazil and India, during one of Bolton's first meetings in New York with a UN envoy.

Looks like Bolton's even more effective than James Lileks' little satire imagined him to be.

2005-08-03T20:01:00.000-04:00

A hilarious account of John Bolton's first day at the UN!

(Hat tip: Instapundit.)

2005-08-01T21:26:00.000-04:00

My father used to tell me that when he was a child many decades ago in our hometown in Finland, there was a campaign started by missionaries of the Finnish Lutheran Church to help out poor African children. (The Finnish Lutheran Church has had a long history of involvement in Africa, mostly in tandem with the German Lutheran church, operating in the former German colonies of Tanganyika, Togoland, Cameroon, and Namibia).

When the ladies of the church knitting circle in our small community heard this, they wanted to do their part. But as Finns themselves were not very wealthy in those days, the ladies decided to do their good deed through labor instead, and started knitting mittens for the poor African children. Explanations of the warmth found in African climes fell on deaf ears as (according to my father) the ladies reasoned that the children might be warm in the summer, but there’s always winter….

It’s not too much of a stretch of the imagination to see that all those good-hearted people today who contribute money and insist on more foreign aid to Africa are essentially as well-meaning as the ladies of that knitting circle, - and just as deluded. However, when we consider the motivations of people in the governmental elites of welfare states, - who have access and knowledge of the counter-arguments against foreign aid – we must ask ourselves why do they still insist (as The Bimbo of Finland does) that government-to-government foreign aid should be raised to the level of .7% of the GNP of developed nations, - as suggested by that most crooked of institutions, the United Nations.

Something more insidious is at play, and we can only surmise that self-interest has a role in it. For what does a European welfare state gain when funneling money to the government of a nascent African state… but converts in the educated elites of such nations to the notion that an all-benevolent state should be at the controls of all aspects of societal activity, including economic activity. The welfare states of Europe are practicing a form of conversion that is as conniving, presumptuous and, - yes – imperialistic as the Lutheran missionaries of days past.

The sad part of it is, of course, that the people of welfare states like Finland are still behaving like those ladies of the knitting circle. For my father said that the church did not try to stop them from knitting – it was better to give them the illusion that they were doing something good. No doubt the pastors and missionaries routed those mittens to some other charitable organization that had nothing to do with keeping African children warm. And no doubt foreign ministries throughout Europe know that taxpayer foreign-aid funds are routed to all sorts of unintended destinations in Africa.

What is really at stake is a geopolitical strategy to co-opt African states to European-style welfare-statism and dirigisme.

And, most of all, what’s certainly at stake for the elites of the welfare state of Finland today – as it was for the elites of the church then… - is to preserve the notion that only they, indeed, know how to direct the altruistic yearnings of their constituencies.

2005-08-01T12:42:00.000-04:00

Hooray for Bush for stepping in and appointing a truly tough American ambassador to that den of thieves we call the UN!

Bolton will be instrumental in the necessary cleanup process, - the rest of the world will, of course, benefit yet again from another bold American initiative.

2005-08-01T12:21:00.000-04:00

"For God's Sake, Please Stop the Aid!"

2005-07-19T23:14:00.000-04:00

And now a word on Finnish socialized dental care, via Helsingin Sanomat:

“Long Lines For Dental Care In Helsinki

"Up to 6200 people are in line to receive dental care in the county of Helsinki. The waiting time for care could be as long as half a year.

In acute cases a doctor’s appointment can be received on the same day, but that does not guarantee that treatment will begin in a reasonable amount of time.

Helsinki would require dozens of new dentist and dental assistant teams for waiting times to be reduced to a few weeks.

According to Helsinki’s Director of Dentistry Seppo Helminen, the dental care capacity of the city would be adequate for a city the size of Tampere.”

2005-07-15T10:06:00.000-04:00

Looks like there's a lot of cocaine use in the EU parliament.

2005-07-12T14:53:00.000-04:00

I love the banner on this blog! It's written by "two hot-blooded women, one American and one French, both living in a socialist paradise called France".

It's obvious that they have quite a lot of opinions about frogland. I've bookmarked them, as they're bound to have a lot of interesting views.

2005-07-08T14:58:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the growing US economy, tax collection has increased - even with Bush's tax cuts - to the point where the budget deficit may drop as much as 24% this year.

2005-07-08T14:08:00.000-04:00

Reminds me of the kind of group think that usually passes for consensus in a welfare state.

2005-07-06T00:48:00.000-04:00

Ah, another good term to use to describe a phenomenon of our times: activista.

And Michael Totten is as insightful as ever.

2005-07-06T00:31:00.000-04:00

More good news from Iraq.

American troops on the Syrian border are enjoying a battle they have long waited to see - a clash between foreign al-Qa'eda fighters and Iraqi insurgents.

[...]

Following al-Qa'eda's seizure of the main buildings a number of residents fled. Arkan Salim, 56, who left with his wife and four children, said: "We thought they were patriotic. Now we discovered that they are sick and crazy."

The strategy is working.

2005-07-04T11:33:00.000-04:00

Jacques Chirac now agrees with Berlusconi:

"The only thing they [the British] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow disease," Mr Chirac said, according to the newspaper's report.

"After Finland, it is the country with the worst food."

2005-06-22T23:29:00.000-04:00

Finland For Thought highlights a very familiar feature of the Finnish welfare state landscape.

2005-06-22T15:07:00.000-04:00

Sweden just cut its interest rate, from 2% to 1.5% and, given its independent status from the European Monetary Union, is probably more nimble than Europe (and Finland) in confronting the economic malaise that is taking hold of Europe.

Broadly speaking, what does this mean in layman’s language? Sweden is trying to reduce the cost of borrowing by reducing interest rates, thus hoping there will be more spending by consumers and businesses. Usually artificially induced economic activity can mean a rise in inflation. However, given that the prospects for economic growth are so low (due to high taxation and declining demographics), not only is there no danger of inflation, but there is a real danger of deflation: the reduction of all prices and wages. To put it even more broadly, Europe is getting collectively poorer, when compared to the rest of the world.

Finland, which is tied to the EMU, unfortunately can’t take the same kind of early independent action as Sweden, and will probably share with Europe the experience of sinking into greater national poverty. Most likely no one will notice, - or care - yet in a welfare state the stress lines will manifest themselves in all the familiar places: uneasing, and possibly increasing unemployment, more cuts in services, and longer waiting lines.

2005-06-13T11:05:00.000-04:00

More good news coming from Iraq.

If it was this easy to accomplish so much, we should try to do it again, in Syria and Iran.

2005-06-08T18:14:00.000-04:00

The moronic Aatos Erkko has apparently published a typically lame-brained thesis in the “Foreign Policy” journal of Finland. NewsRoom Finland has a summation.

Aatos Erkko, main owner of Finnish publisher Sanoma Oy, does not think a deepening transatlantic relationship would require membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

Just exactly why a deepening transatlantic relationship is necessary in the first place is not explained. Finland’s membership in NATO is not in the interests of the United States.

In an interview for the latest issue of the quarterly Finnish Journal of Foreign Affairs (Ulkopolitiikka), Mr Erkko was quoted as saying that he was a firm believer in the European security system, not the US-led military one.

This is essentially the same “security system” that coulda woulda shoulda stopped the Yugoslavian holocaust, but didn’t.

Mr Erkko is known as a stern proponent of close transatlantic relations. In contrast to that reputation, in Ulkopolitiikka he dishes out strong critique of the United States, saying, for example, that the recent European tour of President George W Bush was a smokescreen.

Bush’s tour reached those it was designed to reach: the New Europeans, where his words were very welcome. The opinions Old Europe are basically irrelevant.

He added that the US could act as a global example, but instead chose to act in the manner of an autocrat.

Basically, what he really wants is for the US to set a European example. But that would be catastrophic to the entire world, as Europeans have been pretty incompetent not only in stopping wars (Yugoslavia), controlling their currency (run-up of the euro), and implementing political integration (the failed constitutional referendums), - just to name a few.

"The complex of a big country is shocking and it leaves us no choice but to behave well toward the US," he was quoted as saying by Ulkopolitiikka.

So that should not be too difficult for Finns, who’ve worn kneepads vis-à-vis the Soviets for four decades.

Mr Erkko also describes the Bush administration's foreign policy and worldview, guided by neo-conservatism, as dangerous. He told Ulkopolitiikka that the neo-conservatives were as dogmatic as Soviet Russia was in its day.

Neo-conservatists are dogmatic about freedom. I suppose Erkko finds fault with that.

He feels Finland is currently a very irrelevant country as far as the US is concerned. The question is, Mr Erkko adds, whether Finland is beneficial to the US or not. Finland is not, he answers.

Damn right. And Americans should keep Finland at a distance, because no good will come from associating with such a country.

Mr Erkko told the periodical that all kinds of foreign policy activity were now called for, in particular more active involvement in EU policy than at present.

Good luck with all of that, considering the EU’s latest debacle.

The senior publisher also lauds President Tarja Halonen.

"Our president approaches the matter seriously and has attempted to create a discussion forum with President Bush. And she has succeeded in that.”

Tarja Halonen was completely ignored by the Bush Administration when she last visited the US. To imply that she has succeeded in creating a ‘discussion forum’ is completely false.

2005-05-22T22:13:00.000-04:00

Yes, well, that’s the price one pays for freeriding.

“Finnish meteorology equipment maker Vaisala is to close its lightning detection technology facility in Aix-en-Provence, southern France, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

In a move to increase efficiency, the company has decided to concentrate all its lightning detection technology research and development in its US office, located in Tuscon, the statement added.”

One of the consequences of freeridership is that you’ll always be buffeted about by those economies that are more flexible. There is a certain justice meted out if nations intend to engage in global trade.

“Vaisala has offered its Aix-en-Provence employees the option of relocating to other Vaisala facilities.”

The weather in Tucson is actually not that much different from Aix-en-Provence.

2005-05-22T20:13:00.000-04:00

Ah, yes. Another left-winger has (just like me) left the fold.

“True, it took a while to see what was right before my eyes. A certain misplaced loyalty kept me from grasping that a view of individuals as morally capable of and responsible for making the principle decisions that shape their lives is decisively at odds with the contemporary left's entrance-level view of people as passive and helpless victims of powerful external forces, hence political wards who require the continuous shepherding of caretaker elites."

Wow. A perfect summation of how an ENTIRE NATION like Finland can be so continuously and systematically fooled by their own good intentions: "a misplaced loyalty". Well put.

"Leftists who no longer speak of the duties of citizens, but only of the rights of clients, cannot be expected to grasp the importance (not least to our survival) of fostering in the Middle East the crucial developmental advances that gave rise to our own capacity for pluralism, self-reflection, and equality. A left averse to making common cause with competent, self- determining individuals -- people who guide their lives on the basis of received values, everyday moral understandings, traditional wisdom, and plain common sense -- is a faction that deserves the marginalization it has pursued with such tenacity for so many years.

"All of which is why I have come to believe, and gladly join with others who have discovered for themselves, that the single most important thing a genuinely liberal person can do now is walk away from the house the left has built. The renewal of any tradition that deserves the name "progressive" becomes more likely with each step in a better direction.”

Bravo! Once again, America is at the forefront for innovative political thought.

2005-05-21T16:47:00.000-04:00

Great quote from a Christopher Hitchens’ book review in the Times:

“A professor at the École Normale Supériere is popularly supposed to have said: ‘I agree that it works in practice. But how can we be certain that it will work in theory?’”

Hitchens is one of those rare Marxists that actually supported the Iraqi war, on the grounds that democracies should try and overthrow fascist dictatorships.

Finns should get more familiar with his work. A good a place to start as any is the book review.

2005-05-21T14:27:00.000-04:00

Jari Sedergren brings up a point that I’ve observed over and over again in Finnish society: namely, that Finns hide behind their language to conceal their bigotry (and I translate):

“The world has so many places where religious feelings have more meaning than here [where we value] orderly hot dog lines and the Winter War. All of you in the blogistan who mock the Pope could sometimes remember this, though anonymity and the Finnish language will pretty much protect one from the most personal attacks. Humorous writing I can certainly understand, but in my opinion the unnecessary insulting of religious feeling is something to be condemned.

“It is our fortune that Catholics don’t read comments on the Finnish blogistan, for example, during the [recent] exchange of popes. They might have cause for some anger…”

But he writes this in connection with the recent Newsweek fiasco regarding the purported desecration of the Koran by US authorities. And then, quite predictably for a Finnish welfare-state academic, he indulges in some spurious conspiracy theories:

“…No western editor is writing about the fundamental question of whether Newsweek was pressured by the United States government to change its stance. From the press’s point of view the situation is already embarrassing, but to quiet from this kind of essential factor says a lot to someone like me who’s studied propaganda a lot. The press fears something in western countries, too. In other words, the asking of essential questions."

He then goes on at length quoting an editorial from the Helsingin Sanomat on the subject, pretty much parroting the usual anti-American, bigoted conclusions of the “Hesari”.

What gets me, though, is not that this welfare-state academic believes that the press in the western world might be constrained by pressures from the US government (a laughable concept to begin with! - he obviously hasn't experienced the scandal-feast that is American media), but that he doesn’t turn around and ask the question in another way: does the western press, in Newsweek’s use of unattributable material, - see themselves in the mirror, in their own practices? And couldn’t this be the very reason for their silence: that as one of their journalistic brethren has been caught red-handed in the act of news fabrication, editors the world over tone down their criticism, since they’ve all most likely engaged in some of that in the past.

The Newsweek fiasco also reminded me of an incident a few years ago in Bethlehem, during the Intifada. A bunch of Palestinian terrorists had barricaded themselves inside a Christian church, and early news sources reported that they had started using pages from a Bible they found there… for toilet paper. What was most interesting to me at the time was how quickly this detail disappeared from subsequent news reports of the stand-off, as the EU negotiated a deal for their release. These were, after all, Palestinians we were talking about, and they tend to get preferential treatment in the western press.

When it suits them, the press will “manage” the truth. Perhaps this is something the good doctor Jari “I’ve-studied-propaganda-a-lot” Sedergren should keep in mind.

2005-05-18T21:24:00.000-04:00

Fouad Ajami is at it again:

“...Unmistakably, there is in the air of the Arab world a new contest about the possibility and the meaning of freedom... Mr. Bush may not be given to excessive philosophical sophistication, but his break with "the soft bigotry of low expectations" in the Arab-Islamic world has found eager converts among Muslims and Arabs keen to repair their world, to wean it from a culture of scapegoating and self-pity. Pick up the Arabic papers today: They are curiously, and suddenly, readable. They describe the objective world; they give voice to recognition that the world has bypassed the Arabs. The doors have been thrown wide open, and the truth of that world laid bare. Grant Mr. Bush his due: The revolutionary message he brought forth was the simple belief that there was no Arab and Muslim "exceptionalism" to the appeal of liberty. For a people mired in historical pessimism, the message of this outsider was a powerful antidote to the culture of tyranny."

There’s more.

I especially like the term “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. That sums up the attitude of Finns when it comes to the Arab world.

2005-05-16T17:15:00.000-04:00

The strike in the Finnish Paper Industry is on, and it might be anybody's guess as to how it will end.

But the most interesting part of the drama is not happening in Finland at all:

UPM-Kymmene's U.S. shares rose 25 cents to close at $19.49 in Monday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Stora Enso's U.S. shares increased 23 cents to close at $13.04 on the NSYE.

Looks like the most important people are taking bets against the workers, in this case.

2005-05-12T14:35:00.000-04:00

Here's an example of how to read between the lines of MSM:

Could somebody explain to me exactly which country needs to be crossed for drugs to get from Afghanistan to Iraq?

It's also interesting that the article provides no proof whatsoever that Iraq is a transit point, - merely "anecdotal evidence" from a "UN" bureaucrat in Vienna (who, at the bottom of the article, turns out not to be a UN official, after all).

Amazing.

2005-05-09T16:46:00.000-04:00

See, you just don't see Muslims in EUrabia organizing something like this.

Europeans - and Finns - are simply lost when it comes to understanding how to deal with their Muslim minorities.

2005-05-09T12:38:00.000-04:00

That indefatigable blogger, Arthur Chrenkoff, has another round up of the good news coming from Iraq.

It just amazes me how well things are improving there, and how much the prospects for positive change throughout the region have increased since the liberation.

2005-05-06T18:00:00.000-04:00

Josh Marshall, a very well-known leftie in American political criticism and blogdom, has a fascinating article in the left-wing New Republic, claiming that statist elitism has decided the issue of the death penalty in Europe, not the will of the people.

"When a 1997 poll showed that 49 percent of Swedes wanted the death penalty reinstated, the country's justice minister told a reporter: 'They don't really want the death penalty; they are objecting to the increasing violence. I see this as a call to politicians and the justice system to do more.'

An American attorney general--or any American politician, for that matter--could never get away with such condescension toward the public, at least not for attribution."

Whether your pro- or anti- death penalty (and I'm against it, not for moral reasons, but because so many mistakes have been made), Marshall's take on the ubiquitous condescension of the European statist elite hits the mark. After all, that Swedish minister's remark could as easily be heard from someone in the Finnish government.

(Hat tip: Barcepundit)

2005-05-02T10:15:00.001-04:00

Every once in a while the left in Europe generates a thinker who will dare to think out of the boxed-in mindset of most Europeans. Ilka Schröder , a German Green MEP, is one such thinker:

"The primary goal of the EU is the internationalization of the conflict [in the Middle East] in order to underline the need for its own mediating role... the Palestinians are playing the ugly role of being the cannon fodder for Europe's hidden war against the US."

Here's more of her in her own words.

It would be nice to see this kind of honesty and bravery in Finland.

2005-04-28T16:21:00.000-04:00

Even more than the The Bimbo of Finland, the Finnish Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja, is perhaps the most incompetent Finnish political leader today.

His decision to bar the sale of gas masks to Israel points to an ineptitude in foreign relations that is simply breathtaking.

P.S. Some of the comments in the link really point out how poorly Finns have explained their role in World War 2 to the rest of the world. Doubtlessly the Finnish government's decision to join the festivities in Moscow to mark V-E day will not help the matter.

2005-04-25T14:30:00.000-04:00

The news from Iraq just keeps getting better and better.

The number one thing to keep in mind is that if this liberation is a success, - and the evidence seems to point to that - it can and should be repeated in other countries, as well.

2005-04-23T09:40:00.000-04:00

How do the welfare states exploit and oppress the world? This is a subject that has manifold aspects to it, and I will have to write and expand on it in sections, time permitting. (In the end, work takes priority).

There are several broad arenas to examine:

1. The exploitative yet dependent relationship welfare states (the EU) have to a group of worker-consumers (the US) that do not have welfare state protections, but who must continue to lack welfare state protections in order to guarantee welfare state protections for the EU.

Contrary to the common impression – that this relationship happened accidentally, and that the exploited quite willingly acceded to their role – it is clear that the European leadership always knew what they were doing, and continue to deceive the European public as to the reality of the relationship.

2. Welfare states have engendered a class system that is controlled by an elite which consciously limits possibilities for class mobility.

Social strata are codified, even if the need for such strata is suspect. Look at the number of farmers that are kept in farms, when there is no need for such numbers. Look at the number of workers that are kept in factories, when there is no need for them anymore. And look at the elite that makes the decisions where everyone is kept, when there is no need for them anymore, either.

In the end, social democracy is a benign form of communism, but perhaps because it is so benign it is more insidious than communism.

3. Welfare states burn up the wealth and resources of the world, without giving anything of equal or of enhanced value back in return.

Shorter working hours and leisurely living arrangements of welfare states are touted as a value and a resource, but they are completely lost hours and lost resources, as they produce nothing of real value that can be shared with the rest of the world. Those values are also guaranteed at the expense of the Third World, who wind up being the biggest losers, if welfare states are the winners. Contrast that to the US worker, who works longer hours, and shares more of the wealth and knowledge created from that labor with the rest of the world, - than the EU is ever willing to do.

4. Welfare states spread their statist ideology to Third World entities without regard to the harm it causes.

The reason they do this is simply to guarantee their own survival against the free market model. Never mind that the resultant poverty winds up causing more havoc than they are able to deal with. Foreign aid is a proven disaster; foreign trade a proven success.

5. Welfare state justifications for their own existence have created a culture of moral relativism that provides the greatest support for ideologies that spawn terrorism.

In the end, even the 9/11 attacks can be ideologically traced to European welfare state academia.

All good reasons to work for the destruction of the welfare states of Europe, including that of Finland.

2005-04-20T11:03:00.000-04:00

Look at the difference between the way these two Finnish news outfits report on the same bit of news:

The anti-American Helsingin Sanomat reports that Prime Minister Vanhanen used a conference in Brussels to chide the EU for a lack of cooperation, while the more staid SST, Finland’s News Service, reports that Vanhanen also called for more European cooperation with the US, a fact totally omitted by Helsingin Sanomat.

Quite frankly, I would oppose Vanhanen’s call since, as an American, I oppose any cooperation with the freeloading welfare states of Europe, and would support their destruction. But it is ironic that welfare statists would work against that entity (the US) that is their main financial support.

Given such obtuse thinking, the prospect for bringing about their destruction is not as far-fetched as one might think.

2005-04-16T13:42:00.000-04:00

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.

2005-04-16T13:13:00.000-04:00

The one single aspect of European welfare states that has to be kept in mind is that it is inherently dependent on exploitation of a set of worker-consumers... that do not have welfare state protections, namely, the American worker-consumer. This exploitation happens in the form of an export surplus in Europe's favor which, in effect, provides the crucial financing that keeps the welfare state solvent.

Should Americans institute a welfare state tomorrow, and raise taxes to a necessary rate to support that kind of state, the European welfare states would not be able to support themselves economically. For the purchasing power of the American consumer - which exists only because the American worker-consumer gets taxed so little compared to the European worker - is what maintains the European welfare state.

Thus the European welfare state is inherently exploitative. However, this reality is always soft-pedaled, and Europeans constantly try to use ruses to portray the welfare state as benign. Witness all the peace-initiatives, and all the advocacy for foreign aid (when dropping welfare-state tariffs are much more effective in helping the developing world). And, of course, the use of the best weapon of all: America-bashing.

Yet it is the greed and stingyness of the welfare state that is more exploitative in the world. America redistributes wealth on a massive scale (hundreds of millions of Chinese have been lifted out of poverty, thanks to the American worker-consumer). The European welfare state economy, on the other hand, consumes most all of its surplus wealth on its own people.

The truth is hard to bear, for welfare-statists. That is why thinking along these lines tends to be actively suppressed in Europe

2005-04-14T18:29:00.000-04:00

Oh, no! The Bimbo of Finland is up for another job! This time with the OECD.

Can't this moralizing idiot be kept president in isolated, evil little Finland? Must the entire world have to endure her lame-brained, equivocating ineptitude?

For a while I thought that we were safe from her influence, as Finland is thankfully not a part of NATO. But if she gets access to other "international" organizations... perish the thought!

2005-04-14T16:31:00.000-04:00

Barcepundit is following a story about a Spanish sale of chemical weapons to Venezuela.

As soon as the socialists were in, the Spanish government started courting dictatorships.

Figures.

2005-04-11T23:02:00.000-04:00

A small statement from this blog entry about Bobbie Fischer simply jumped out at me.

"Iceland granted Fischer a passport in recognition of his 1972 triumph, and Japan let him go willingly enough. But Iceland has an extradition treaty with the United States, so he may not be free for long. And even if the State Department relents, it probably won't take Fischer much time to wear out his welcome in Iceland. He is greedy, uncouth, paranoid, anti-Semitic, anti-social and probably schizophrenic. He made obscene, jubilant anti-American radio broadcasts in the Philippines after 9/11, and has had the fillings removed from his teeth to prevent them from being used as mind-control receptors. Despite (or because of) his 180 IQ, he relies on sycophants to manage daily life, but inevitably denounces them in the end. It won't take him long to turn the boreal statelet into just another self-constructed prison."

Hell of a guy. But it probably won't take long for some European nutjob to claim that Bobbie Fischer was used by the US to try to discredit anti-American conspiracy theorists...

Here's one German Green who comes pretty close to that.

2005-04-11T20:12:00.000-04:00

Arthur Chrenkoff provides a roundup of the good news coming from Iraq.

Most all of this never gets reported in pro-Saddam Finland, of course.

2005-04-09T09:48:00.000-04:00

More evidence that Finland is firmly in the clasp of Old Europe. Finland's alignment with the Franco-German conspiracy to have social welfare state ideology dominate all of Europe is a given. (All the more reason to oppose Finland at every turn, and work against Finnish interests.)

It remains to be seen whether the New European countries of eastern Europe can have much of a rehabilitating effect in Europe. Their market-friendly taxation policies should certainly be emulated. But most likely the seductive power of EU subsidies will lull them into co-dependency, until they, too, are sucked into the system.

2005-04-08T10:44:00.000-04:00

As to Iraq and the Middle East, I am astounded how well things are developing there. Almost all of the goals of the neo-con strategy are being met. Just think of it! Democracy is taking root, with ripple effects throughout the region. Israel is becoming less of a focus for Arab obsessions, given the spectacle of the Iraqi elections. And the terrorists are now doing what they always preached they would never do: kill fellow Muslims, - a fact not lost on the Arab world.

And that's where the fault always was in the first place: within Arab Muslim society, and not in Israel, or America. It'll take time, but the signs of Arab weariness at their own ineptitude is growing.

What a brilliant strategy!

2005-04-08T10:28:00.000-04:00

Roger L. Simon has been following the UN Oil-for-Food scandal closely, and thinks that the investigation is being soft-pedaled.

The scandal receives scant coverage in Europe, of course. But it is clear that Saddam's bribes under the UN's auspices was a major factor in shaping the French and German governments' anti-war stance. All of that tends to get ignored now in Finnish and European media.

2005-03-30T19:40:00.000-05:00

Now this is a lawsuit that's worthwhile pursuing. The humiliation the state of Finland caused these women is appalling. I wish them all the success in the world, and I hope Finland is made to pay.

2005-03-28T15:13:00.000-05:00

Here's some wonderful pictures of a hospital in Cuba's state health care system. This hospital is distinguished by the fact that it serves non-foreigners only.

A Finnish friend told me once that life was not that bad in Cuba.

I guess she only got to see the part meant for foreigners. And gullible Finns.

2005-03-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Here we go again. Another welfare-statist wants to hoard the wealth of industry all to itself, instead of sharing it with the developing world:

Otto König, chairman of the Hattingen branch of Germany's powerful IG Metall union, feels the greed of the owners of Kone, the Finnish engineering group, is ridding the livelihood of hundreds of Germans. Shaken by the job losses, the mayor of the Ruhr asks whether the people at Kone have any social responsibility at all.

Kone's decision to transfer the production of escalators from the German industrial heartland to China and England is facing escalating resistance. The projected job losses amount to 301 in the Kone factory and a further 200 in companies that supply it.

"Kone has broken all its promises," Mr König told the Finnish News Agency (STT).

Notice the same old rhetoric. Social responsibility, blah, blah, blah. And not one whit about the lack of German social responsibility with the rest of the world.

Kone is doing the right thing. Farm out the heavy industry, and share the management expertise with the world. That goes a long way more than any pathetic foreign aid in helping the developing world.

2005-03-28T09:27:00.000-05:00

Michael Totten thinks that Vaclav Havel would make a good UN Secretary General, to replace Kofi Annan. Barring that, he suggests Howard Dean.

He includes a good quote from Howard Dean. If the UN is to redeem itself in the eyes of its biggest donor, an American as a secretary general makes sense...

2005-03-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

Claudia Rosett skewers Kofi Annan’s plans for the UN quite well.

“The grand failure of the U.N. is that its system, its officials and most visibly its current secretary-general are still stuck in the central-planning mindset that was the hallmark of dictators and failed utopian dreams of the previous century. Mr. Annan's plan takes little practical account of a modern world in which competition, private enterprise and individual freedom are the principles of progress. He has his own agenda, which he would like the rest of us to follow and fund. The words sound lofty: "development, security, and human rights for all." The devil is in the details, and because this is a blueprint for the future of the entire earth, that means a lot of room for big trouble. This report is not a benign document.”

I tend to think that the UN is unreformable, and that the best the US can do is to cripple it with a permanent veto. There are so many other supra-national institutions and organizations that can be used to achieve many of the functions of the UN. There is absolutely no reason why housing them all under one roof would be better, from a democratic point of view, or from a pragmatic point of view.

2005-03-21T16:07:00.000-05:00

I'm sure Erkki Tuomioja and The Bimbo of Finland will continue to put their ultimate trust in the wisdom of the UN, even though UN "peacekeepers" continue to have sex with children.

Would be interesting to see if the Finnish media will even report on this.

2005-03-21T10:51:00.000-05:00

Looks like Finns are actually fatter than Americans, according to a new study:

"In Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Greece, Malta and Slovakia, a higher percentage of men are obese or overweight than the estimated 67 percent of men in the United States, according to a report from the International Obesity Task Force, a coalition of researchers and institutions."

Another anti-American stereotype bites the dust.

2005-03-18T09:55:00.000-05:00

Wretchard makes an interesting observation in connection to the Wolfowitz nomination, - something that I've long held: foreign aid and institutions like the World Bank are failures by virtue of the fact that the developing world is still in poverty:

"The same thought has probably occurred to anyhow who has watched the World Bank and other international development agencies flail their arms against the tide of poverty. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars in the best ways academia could conceive, five decades of development aid hasn't even established whether the effort was useful. 'Never in the face of human effort has so little been been accomplished by so much'.

But if insanity is expecting different results from the same actions then the asylum is larger than it seems. The development bureaucrats are outraged that Wolfowitz might try to do things differently. Columbia's Jeffrey Sachs reacted to Wolfowitz's appointment saying "we need someone with professional experience in helping people to escape from poverty. Mr Wolfowitz does not have that track record". Neither, he might have added, did anyone else."

I'm all for Wolfowitz's nomination. Lofty-softies have been a failure at the World Bank, and the obvious proof is that Africa is still poor, and getting poorer. To keep ranting that more money must be thrown in just doesn't sound like intelligent thinking. It's time to try someone new.

2005-03-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

I've been very wary of Tony Blair's initiative to cancel Third World debt: I've always suspected that it really will not solve any problems, and may only compound them. But Abiola Lapite, - an erudite British man of African descent - has confirmed my suspicions.

To put it succincly, I don't believe in foreign aid, nor in loaning money to the Third World. The best way to lift people out of poverty is to drop our tariffs against the produce of poor people, especially in agricultural products. That takes a lot of political courage, considering the kind of power farmers have in Europe. So we can safely assume that it won't get done, as Europe lacks the necessary courage for that kind of action.

2005-03-03T22:36:00.000-05:00

Via Turun Sanomat comes this interesting reference: according to the British Centre for Retail Research, Finland has Europe's second highest rate of "shrinkage" (stock loss from crime or wastage) in its retailing sector.

Hmm. It's even higher than France's, Germany's, Sweden's, and Estonia's (but not higher than Britain's, which takes the top "prize")

What could be the reason? Turun Sanomat points out that according to the study half of the figure can be ascribed to wastage, but the other half goes to theft, of which a full third can be ascribed to retail businesses' own staff.

Is something rotten in the state of Finland?

2005-03-03T21:57:00.000-05:00

This screed by Vaclav Havel is a tour de force:

...It is suicidal for the EU to draw on Europe's worst political traditions, the common denominator of which is the idea that evil must be appeased and that the best way to achieve peace is through indifference to the freedom of others....

Fell on deaf ears in Finland, though.

2005-03-03T15:14:00.000-05:00

More good analysis from the Big Pharaoh, in Egypt. His is a refreshing voice to hear, coming as it is from a culture that is infused with biased media. In addition to that, he is a big-hearted man with a jolly good sense of humor!

Anyway, I want to tell you something interesting. Al Arabiyah channel ran a poll on its website asking Arab readers to choose between Bush and Kerry. Readers were also allowed to vote via email. The final number was something like 42% for Bush 58% for Kerry. I personally doubt this 42% that Bush got because it is too high! Anyway, the channel then classified the votes based upon countries and guess what was the ONLY Arab country that voted for Bush in a landslide? Iraq. 80% of Iraqi emails went for Bush.

This election taught me something: NEVER trust the media. I admit that I often considered this media talk a little bit too overreacting, I somehow believed that credible big media such as CNN and New York Times are basically fair and balanced. I was wrong. I stayed up late to watch the elections on CNN and right before the elections even started, their pundits started to talk about the "youth votes", "first timers", "turn outs", and then mentioned how all those factors are more favorable to Kerry. I started to believe that Bush will lose even before Indiana closed its polls. Then guess what??? The difference between Bush and Kerry in the popular vote turned out to be over 3 million!!!! "Youth votes", "first timers", "turn outs" BWAHAA HA HA HA HA HA!!

As soon as this 3 million number became clear, Larry King turned pale and said "what went wrong with the democratic party??" Wolf Blitzer jumped and told him "it's not over yet Larry". I was always skeptical of Fox News, now, I just want to yell: THANK GOD FOR FOX!!

I believe the American people made the right choice and I will immediately post my memo to President Bush when kerry finishes searching in his provincial ballots

His take on the recent kidnapping of the French journalist is insightful... and probably true.

2005-03-02T22:51:00.000-05:00

According to the Finnish-language version of the Helsingin Sanomat, the Bimbo Of Finland has used the occasion of a state visit to Chirac yesterday to opine that she and Chirac are of the same opinion that Russia hasn't "really taken to our (EU's) way of thinking".

Hmm? Quite bold of her, do you think? Not really: it's just easier to say that now after Bush blazed the trail for her last week by confronting Putin in Bratislava on his lapses in democratic values.

Finns really are such cowards, - always catching a freeride, after the US takes on the bolder task.

And that goes for all of Europe, too, doesn't it?

2005-03-02T11:40:00.000-05:00

From Reason Online comes this little nugget:

Kyoto is a solution in search of a problem.

I'll add that the Kyoto may have started out as an initiative in responsible environmentalism, but was transformed by Europeans into a weapon for the practise of anti-Americanism... anything to slow down the growth of the behemoth, so that certain others might catch up and overtake it.

2005-03-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

The Wall Street Journal published an editorial highlighting this "governor's report card" put out by my favorite think tank, the Cato Institute.

Look who's the top scorer! None other than Ahnold. The other thing to note is that most top scorers are Republican.

"So what?" Europeans might say, but as the trend in American politics goes, most future presidents are chosen from the pool of state governors, not from the pool of congressmen (it has probably to do with congresspeople having to flip-flop so often in their careers; the public hates that).

The word on the blogosphere is that the one Democratic governor to look out for is Tennessee's Phil Bredesen: he's a Democrat who won a lot of Republican votes.

2005-02-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

Having gone to an American high school, I, too, was taught to revere the work of the great American workingman's playwright, Arthur Miller, who recently passed away. Death of A Salesman is as much a part of the high school curriculum as The Catcher In the Rye or Lord Of The Flies.

Yet Canadian blogger Colby Cosh nails it on the head:

"When I think about the man who wrote plays about how capitalism thwarts human aspirations, and then got married to Marilyn Monroe, I'm afraid about all I can do is giggle."

2005-02-28T20:53:00.000-05:00

Via Reuters comes this fascinating incident from the Bush-Putin meeting in Bratislava:

"When Bush complained about restrictions on press freedom in Russia, Putin gave a response that surprised Bush and baffled the Americans.

"He said if the press was so free in the United States, why did reporters at CBS News get fired over a story that arose during the presidential campaign, officials said.

"CBS News fired four employees in January after an independent report critical of CBS anchor Dan Rather found a "myopic zeal" led the network to disregard basic journalism principles when it aired a faulty story on Bush's military service record.

"A senior U.S. official said other Russian officials raised the same issue during the day and noted a Russian journalist at the Bush-Putin news conference had asked about journalists fired in the United States. This led to suspicions that the question had been orchestrated by the Kremlin.

"The view that Bush somehow had something to do with the CBS firings was'divorced from reality,' the U.S. official said."

For those of you who don't know about the "Rathergate" incident, it was a case uncovered by bloggers, who also coordinated an investigation amongst themselves that soon brought to light the deception that CBS had very eagerly fallen for.

But could the Kremlin be so dense as to not be aware of the blogosphere phenomenon? Are they so out of touch with the internet? If that is so, then it really leads me to believe that American pre-eminence in things innovative will be preserved for a long time to come.

2005-02-24T13:00:00.000-05:00

Interesting billboard in Los Angeles.

The most significant aspect of this phenomenon is how deeply disconnected the two liberal coasts are with middle America. American MSM certainly did not help in this, as they overwhelmingly supported the losing side. I tend to think it has a lot to do with people believing their own propaganda.

In one way, we saw this in the deafening silence of European media in the aftermath of the successful elections in Iraq. Europe's MSM believed their own version of the future, and made no allowance that the coalition presence might have stirred other things than just dissatisfaction against their presence.

2005-02-23T21:47:00.000-05:00

Helsingin Sanomat, that mouthpiece of the Social Democratic party, refused to print the following article by MEP Ari Vatanen. So he turned to the Wall Street Journal Europe for help, and they were all too happy to oblige.

Here is what Hesari tried to censor:

Finland's Shame
By ARI VATANEN
February 21, 2005

The Finnish Parliament decided in December that we are to remain a non-allied country. For an EU member this claim is as credible as being half-pregnant.

The recent anniversary of the defense victory against Stalin in 1944, when Finland lost Karelia but kept its independence, made us Finns realize once again how we were on the edge of the precipice 60 years ago. Had the heroic defense along the eastern border collapsed, the Red Army would have marched to Helsinki. Finland would have been occupied like Estonia and its stubborn people would have been scattered around Siberia.

When World War II began we were left alone because the League of Nations turned out to be nothing but a paper tiger. The fact that the 1939 aggression against Finland, which started the five-month Winter War, led to the expulsion of the Soviet Union from the organization did nothing to stop the Red Army. No state came to our rescue and all we had was the will to remain independent. The battle against injustice united Finns and gave us the strength to make the impossible possible. The second attack against Finland during World War II was the only major campaign Stalin failed to see through victoriously in 1944-1945. The fate of the Baltic states was avoided by the skin of our teeth, but the cost was tragic: 95,000 dead and 200,000 wounded. My father lost four of his brothers.

Finland's insular political culture adds salt to these old wounds by censoring debate about Stalin's capture of Karelia. The memory is still painful for Finns who were torn away from their homes. Democratic neighbors must be able to talk about such past injustice.

Now we have to secure the dearly won freedom for our children. The instinct of self-preservation that arises from our collective memory should dictate our future direction. It is our duty to analyze the ever faster evolving world. Nobody is threatening the former enemies Britain, Germany and France, and yet they remain active members of the alliance. Similarly, the three Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as well as other former Warsaw Pact members rushed to do the same after the fall of Communism and the Berlin Wall. Are we Finns going to wait until Russia joins NATO? Already 94% of the EU population belongs in NATO because it's like a revolutionary fire insurance that actually prevents the fire. Every father would want this kind of protection for his family.

It is time for Finland to join NATO. Among the EU countries attacked in World War II, only Finland remains alone. It is impossible to understand why we are taking such a risk -- haven't we learned from our history? We are like a lonely survivor on a desert island refusing to board a ship because we think it may be going in the wrong direction. But in considering what's best for the nation's interest, there's no room for political correctness, wishful thinking or anti-Americanism.

How is the petite Finnish Maid reacting when looking at Russia, where democracy is sadly going down like the Kursk, the Russian submarine that sank in August 2000? We must do our utmost to help the democratization in Russia. The best way to do that is to be faithful to universal values.

Alarming events are taking place next door, most tragically the war in Chechnya. A war in my country on the scale of Chechnya would mean the death of about one million Finns or 10 million in Ukraine, another country that borders Russia but isn't in NATO. If President Vladimir Putin in his actions is a prisoner of his past, we certainly cannot afford to be the same. Yet we recently closed down a Chechen resistance Web site that had been operational for only two days without as much as a court order. The Web site was then relaunched from Sweden. In January, Chechen ex-minister Akhmed Zakayev did not dare to come to Helsinki from his asylum in the U.K. because he did not get guarantees that we wouldn't hand him over to Russia. Shameful post-Finlandization!

The Finns did not fight and die so that 60 years later the leaders of the country could undermine Finland's security. Does President Tarja Halonen meet her responsibilities as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces when she insists on the unilateral prohibition of mines in order to join the 1997 Ottawa Convention? Finland shares a 1,269-kilometer border with an unstable great power to the East, which has no intention to follow suit. At the same time Russia is opposed to Finland allying itself with the peacemakers of the West. Do we deserve a drafty home with unlocked doors? During the wars, the keys of Finland were in firmer hands.

The leading foreign policy duo, Ms. Halonen and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, insists on fighting yesterday's battles. They have been unable to grow out of their 1970's anti-American, anti-military ideology and cannot bring themselves to admit that without decent defense forces, peace cannot be guaranteed.

Consequently they managed to change the mutual defense clause of the future EU constitution to allow Finns to stand idly by while other EU members are putting their necks on the line. No NATO, no EU defense for Finland. Instead the grand project of our leaders is the Helsinki Process where Finland is creating a brave new world by clamping down on globalization. But Finland is not an NGO nor is ATTAC our best defense!

Ms. Halonen even insists on a green light from the U.N. as a precondition to dispatch troops for missions of the EU rapid reaction force. But what about the thousands of Srebrenica civilians who died when they trusted the U.N. for protection? Dogmatism can be a lethal substitute for realism. This Chamberlain vision of world affairs is not shared by our previous Social Democratic leaders Martti Ahtisaari and Paavo Lipponen.

During the Cold War, it was wise to be neutral, though signing the Agreement of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance with the Soviet Union made our political elite rot from inside -- in stark contrast to our defense forces and the general public. Now wisdom and the national interest call for Finland to have such an "AFCMA" with countries deeply committed to democracy and human dignity. We cannot be free-riders while others lose their lives to build a democratic global team.

Great things are happening. Europeans made history when we stretched out our hand to Turkey, a world of a different faith. Ukrainians majestically stood up for their rights and the resulting victory of justice inspires people all over the world. And in Iraq, not even terrorists' death threats could quench the people's thirst for democracy. Finally we hear some positive news from the Israelis and Palestinians. The roadmap for global peace is boundless, and though it is littered with obstacles, it will lead to a new world where all arms point in the same direction. At this crossroad, the Finns need leadership that stands the test of time.

Mr. Vatanen, a native Finn, was elected to his second term in the European Parliament from Grand Sud-Est, France. He is a member of the European People's Party and the Foreign Affairs Committee.

2005-02-23T10:38:00.000-05:00

Is Putin becoming Russia's Richard Nixon? This Newsweek article studies his paranoid tendencies.

2005-02-23T00:43:00.000-05:00

Wow. A completely negative view about Bush's initiative to patch up things in Europe, - from Canadian Mark Steyn.

And you know what? I'm almost in agreement with him: 'This week we're toasting the end of an idea: the death of "the West".'

The sad part is that Europeans are clueless as to the sea-change that is certainly happening right now. They're still all caught up in wanting to be "an equal partner" to the US, without paying the price. In other words, still hoping to catch a free ride on the shoulders of the American worker-consumer.

Finns should ask themselves why did Lipponen (the smarter of the Social Democratic set) make an appearance in New York a few weeks ago for a speech to the Finnish-American Chamber of Commerce? At least he has a clue that the bridges might not be that sturdy, after all. Goodbye to Nokia, and all of that quick growth...

Europe is all washed up. The demographics say it all: aging populations, lavish welfare states, and scloretic business environments, (not to mention a completely inept policy in handling third-world immigrants). The worst part, of course, is this insiduous bigotry against the American worker-consumer, who wound up paying the lion's share of the costs for the secure, European welfare state.

It won't take long for Americans to wake up to that fact, especially when ex-Europeans - like me - get on the campaign trail.

2005-02-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

In what is quite uncharacteristic of the New York Times, here is an opinion piece by Jessice Seigel that claims that French views about American obesity vs. European slimness do not take into account the massive amounts of cigarettes that are consumed in Europe.

"In her best-selling diet book, "French Women Don't Get Fat," Mireille Guiliano says that when she was an exchange student in the United States she gained 20 pounds from the American way of eating - specifically from junk food. Even after returning home, she continued to gorge on pastries, but finally slimmed down by learning to eat with élan the feminine French way. Considering the strain in French-American relations these days, I thought it very gracious of her to share this story."

"When I was a college student in France for a year, I also picked up a bad habit: a pack of cigarettes a day. That's what you do in Paris - sit in cafes drinking coffee and smoking. I acquired a newly svelte figure not from chewing slowly through four-course dinners, supping on oysters, or setting out fine china at every meal - among the sensuous eating pleasures from the land of Chanel that the author recommends. The régime français I learned was cigarettes and it took me 15 years to quit. Merci beaucoup."

Kudos for the New York Times for "daring" to publish such an anti-French piece. It's about time they tried to be a bit more fair and balanced.

2005-02-21T14:54:00.000-05:00

The anti-American blogosphere in Europe, - in addition to the MSM in Europe - seems awfully quiet so far during this latest Bush trip. As I see it, Europeans aren't really prepared to handle this latest initiative from Bush. And quite rightly so: Bush is in a win-win position. Either Europeans accept this overture and begin to work in tandem with him (something they are loathe to do), or Bush can go home, demonstrate to his domestic critics that an attempt was made at bridging the gap, but in the end America has no choice but to embrace unilateralist policies.

I'm also very skeptical about assertions that the US desperately needs EU involvement in Iraq. No one in their right mind in the State Department thinks that the EU will come through on Iraq. Even if it did, the contributions would be so paltry (but just enough to be able to justify freeloaderism) that it really wouldn't make a difference. The stage is set, rather, for noting that the invitation was there, but that the EU did not rise to the challenge.

2005-02-21T13:18:00.000-05:00

A friend just emailed this link to me: the LATEST CRAZE on the internet.

http://scottrope.typepad.com/scott_rope/files/voice_mail.mp3

It's an mp3 copy of a voicemail left by a guy who witnessed an accident while on his cell phone. It's a laugh riot! Moral: don't get into accidents with little old ladies...

2005-02-20T18:51:00.000-05:00

I like the term "lofty-softies" that this Indian blogger uses. I think the term applies well to the Bimbo Of Finland and her nitwit sidekick, former lover, and foreign minister, Erkki Tuomioja.

2005-02-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

Great photo of Scandinavia and Finland, courtesy NASA.

Check out the Russo-Finnish border in Karelia. The border is clearly delineated in topographical terms.

2005-02-17T17:19:00.000-05:00

David's Medienkritik is organizing a Pro-American rally in Germany for the upcoming visit by President Bush.

2005-02-17T15:37:00.000-05:00

Excellent article on the current state of the American blogosphere in the Wall Street Journal

2005-02-16T18:56:00.000-05:00

More good news from Afghanistan... thanks to the US.

2005-02-16T16:34:00.000-05:00

"According to Oppenheimer, behind-the-scenes debate is already under way in Washinton on how to approve the [Kyoto] treaty without losing face".

This assertion by Americans Michael Oppenheimer and Peter Goldmark, published in Turun Sanomat, is so far from American political reality that it bears careful scrutiny why these two gents from the Environmental Defense Organization would frame it in such a way.

The article doesn't mention exactly where, - and to what audience - the two men made such an assertion, but a quick Google search of their names reveals numerous German articles on the subject, which leads me to believe that they made the statement to a German audience.

Now, the key to everything is really this statement (and I translate from the Finnish):

"Most likely the US will demand significantly relevant changes in the treaty before joining, Oppenheimer predicts, but he holds this to be more akin to unavoidable political theater.

In this way the White House will be able to say that withdrawal from the original treaty was due to inherent weaknesses in the treaty, and not from American selfishness".

My guess is that Oppenheimer and Goldmark are attempting to set up a political environment where Europeans will be amenable to acceding to American demands. It makes sense, if you're a concerned environmentalist. However, I doubt that the message is understood in such a way in Europe. For Europeans, Kyoto has become equated with the expression of anti-Americanism to such a degree that any retreat from European demands has become politically untenable.

Those are the costs of policies based on bigotry.

2005-02-16T14:47:00.000-05:00

STT, Finland's main news service, recently issued a proud report that, according to a recent study, it only takes 6 years for an immigrant to start paying for his own way in Finland's welfare state society.

As I wandered New York's streets, marvelling at all the immigrants in the city busily making money, it occurred to me that under America's immigration "policies" - which do not grant ANY aid to incoming immigrants - it takes 0 years for an immigrant to start paying for his own way....

2004-12-05T16:21:00.000-05:00

I am having terrific fun posting comments at the site of the Big Pharaoh, a most uncommon Egyptian. Take a look.

2004-10-10T11:02:00.000-04:00

Helsingin Sanomat carries a very strange headline today: "A More European Andy Warhol in Stockholm's Large Exhibition", by some ninny of a Finnish journalist by the name of Mari Manninen. Is this another example of Europeans trying to redefine American culture as their own? And if that is so, why is it that Europe is compelled to do so? Quite pathetic, IMHO. What's so amusing is that Andy Warhol couldn't have cared less about nationalistic labels. He really is not an American artist, as much as an international artist. Perhaps this is yet again an attempt by a European to claim that "internationalism" is only defined by Europe.

Of course, it is also a sign of how bigoted Finland has become: they can't possibly find value in American art without attempting to redefine it as European, after all.

2004-06-05T15:01:00.000-04:00

"Stocks rose on Friday after the release of a long-awaited jobs report that showed an economy that still isn't growing fast enought to require drastic tightening by Alan Greenspan's Federal Reserve".

Leave it to Reuters to put a negative spin on some tremendously good news.

Why are they doing this? Answer: because the improvement can wholly be ascribed to Bush's successful economic policies.

2004-06-03T15:41:00.000-04:00

An example of why America will prevail over Europe, simply because it attracts immigrants who try harder, rather than those of Europe, who tend to wind up on welfare rolls.

Most of these children are recent immigrants.

The question Europeans should be asking themselves is why don't they attract the talented and the hard-working immigrants? The answer, of course, is that America is the place to go IF you want to strive and succeed, while Europe is the place for freeriders.

2004-06-02T12:56:00.000-04:00

On the same day, we learn from Helsingin Sanomat an example of how development aid should be dispensed to developing countries. Hooray for China and Costa Rica!

As for Remec, it's time to pay more attention to shareholder interests and ditch evil little Finland for good.