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Around 100 million euros is earmarked for the acquisitions.
Preparations for the purchase began after Finland’s withdrawal from the Ottawa Convention took effect in January, Colonel Riku Mikkonen of the Army Command told Finnish news agency STT. He said there are around half a dozen companies in the country able to make mines.
Finland reintroduced landmines due to the worsening security environment. Ahead of the decision, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called Russia a long-term threat to Finnish and European security.
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Please do elaborate. The way I see it it’s about not being killed and protecting your independence. “Moral integrity” is just PR used to get support from other nations. Russians don’t need it so they don’t care about any rules. Finland/Ukraine needs it so they have to respect the rules most people in the west care about. No one puts limits on themselves in war because it’s the right thing to do.
But why protect the independence in the first place? Because we don’t want to live under Russian rule, because it’s shitty. But getting more and more like Russia, i.e. not respecting international treaties and responding authoritorian to developments, doesn’t make anything better. Like, what to do with my awesome independence, when it’s just like Russia.
I mean, maybe the Finns don’t fear that, but from Germany’s perspective the threat of just being Russia without Russia invading is very real.
Come on, you can’t be serious. People are not worried they will live in a country that ignores international treaties about white phosphorous and chemical weapons. They are worried about being raped, having their children kidnapped and starving in a gulag.
“My house was burned down by invading army and my family is dead but at lest my country is not using landmines” said no one ever.
Countries that use white phosphorus and chemical weapons tend to have e.g. a police force that does not play by any rules. So, cool, I am not thrown into torture jail by Russian soldiers but by my own police force, great 👍. Just have a look what happens in the US right now, or what happened in Spain, Germany, Italy in the 1930ies (and happening again rn in Germany).
If you can imagine that a state can break some unconvenient rules on a whim, but will hold up other ones, which can become just as inconvenient under certain circumstances, I applaud you on your trust.
Is it illegal for Finland to have landmines? No, they withdrew from Ottawa Convention. So democratically elected government follows the laws but you think it’s as bad as being tortured by invaders from a country governed by a ruthless dictator… That’s an interesting point of view that no one else in the world shares with you. But you know, be yourself.
No, I don’t think it is “just as bad”, I think precedent matters and it is a slippery slope to retreat from established values when it becomes harder to uphold them.
Like, saying “landmines are bad”, while there’s no reason to use them, is worth…nothing. So why even ratify the Ottawa convention in the first place?
Exactly, slippery slope. That’s why the only solution is nonviolent resistance. If we start using guns today we might start using landmines and them chemical weapons in the future. Moral purity is more important than independence. When we’re marching into gas chambers at least we will know we didn’t use landmines.
Pray tell, why did Finland ratify the treaty initially, if it is just impossible to defend without landmines?
Really? It’s so difficult? Countries proposed this hoping that everyone will sign up and landmines will no longer be used. It was a show of good will, basically telling other countries that “we will not use them if you won’t”. Now there’s war going on and it’s clear the other side is still using them so the countries that are threatened directly by enemies using landmines are saying “Ok, we tried but we will not give advantage to our enemies for the sake of moral purity. Not being raped is more important to us”. And I agree.