Thread by @minna_alander

The whole thread leaves me simply speechless. It’s utterly incredible to me that the Finlandisation idea would make a comeback in any serious conversation especially AFTER Finland itself joined NATO and by doing so made it clear that non-alignment wasn’t an option anymore

https://twitter.com/vonderburchard/status/1853364173658309080

If one thing is clear about the changes needed in a new or at least adapted European security order, it is that spaces for neutrality are almost nonexistent.

Neutrality a la Finland was never an option for Ukraine for several reasons:

1) Ukraine is much higher on Putin’s obsession scale than Finland ever was, and Ukraine is also much more important than Finland. It was partly luck that Finlandisation worked, as the Soviet Union didn’t deem the benefits to overweight the costs of trying to subjugate Finland.

2) Ukraine chose the European and Euro-Atlantic path already in the orange revolution in 2004 and confirmed it in the revolution of dignity 10 years later. Ukraine therefore does not have the option of balancing between Russia and the west. It’s either the west or destruction.

Especially this part leads me to worry that instead of seeking to appease Russia, as many claim, Germany is instead getting ready to accept and accommodate itself in a new world order with less America and more China.

https://twitter.com/vonderburchard/status/1853366258151870546

Mit der Bitte um Weiterleitung ans Kanzleramt.

Wrote this explainer on 16 February 2022 explaining why the idea of Finlandisation of Ukraine gets it completely wrong and can’t be a serious suggestion in this day and age.

swp-berlin.org/publikation/wa…