I know, I know this one: a dance-off!
From Spiegel, July 6:
Finland's Åland islands have been demilitarized for over a century as part of a peace treaty with Russia. Since Moscow invaded Ukraine, though, the agreement has come under intense scrutiny. Protests are held almost daily in front of the Russian Consulate in the capital city of the autonomous territory.
A peek into the windows of Mariehamn is a look into the past. The buildings in the capital of the Åland Islands are made of wood, the windows so old that the glass "has survived world wars," as Sia Spiliopoulou Åkermark says. The director of the Åland Peace Institute likes to talk about the decades-old windows – because they prove that the Ålands are islands of peace and remain so to this day.
The Åland archipelago belongs to Finland, but it is largely autonomous. During the Crimean War in the 19th century, Britain, France and Russia fought over the territory. In 1856, as a result of the peace negotiations, an international agreement stipulated the demilitarization of the islands for the first time and Russia committed to refrain from fortifying the islands. In World War I, Russia again stationed troops on Åland, with the agreement of its allies Britain and France. But in 1921, demilitarization was restored. From that point on, the archipelago was not to be attacked, and neither was it permitted to station military equipment there. All sides adhered to the agreement, which is the reason the windows in the wooden buildings are intact to this day, despite two world wars. "If Åland had ever been attacked and bombed, they would have been broken," says Åkermark.
The peace researcher is confident that Åland will remain an archipelago of peace in the future due to its special status. But people are less certain in the Finnish capital Helsinki.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Finns feel confirmed in their distrust of their neighbor Russia. And they have drawn consequences: Finland officially joined NATO in April 2023. However, the Åland Islands remain demilitarized. And that now leaves some Finns wondering: What happens if Russia attacks the islands?....
....MUCH MORE
First off, this is how the American Embassy in Prague greeted Finland's accession to NATO in April:
If that doesn't work - I'm pretty sure the islands don't get anywhere near the snow build-up that the mainland does - if that doesn't work, we bring in the Cowboys.
From 2022's "The Dissolution of the Soviet Union and the Culture That Is Finland":
In the post immediately below, Sovereign Debt: "Ukraine in default according to Fitch and S&P" I mentioned the breakup of the USSR in 1991, which event sparked a few years of hope that the time of geopolitical craziness was over.
It wasn't, but one of the manifestation's of said hope was the collaboration of Finland's Leningrad Cowboys with the Alexandrov Ensemble, formerly known as the Soviet Red Army Choir (A. V. Alexandrov Twice Red-bannered and Red-starred Academic Song and Dance Ensemble of the Soviet Army). The Russians usually sing backup but on this song they bring one of the soloists up front. The guy's got some pipes.
