Minna Ålander 🌻
Associate Fellow @chathamhouse.org | @cepa.org Fellow | Senior Fellow Frivärld. Nordic-Baltic-Arctic security, NATO, European affairs. Plot twist: not from Åland. 📸 Arno Mikkor/ICDS
✍️ Northern Flank Notes: open.substack.com/pub/minnalander
- Big (military) mobility news from Finland: Finland starts working on changing the railway gauge to the European standard, instead of the current one that is a legacy of Finland’s 100 years as part of the Russian empire
- Giving Russia leverage was a great basis for peaceful coexistence last time 👍👍👍
- This is madness. US, according to Reuters, is exploring ways to restore Russian gas flow to Europe. What could possibly go wrong! www.reuters.com/business/ene...
- Revisited my theory of ”world wars” (instead of a World War) as the most likely escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The Biden administration paved the way for this development and the Trump administration has given green light to rogue powers and groups who are seizing the moment to wreak havoc.
- It seems that France has decided the good old Bernadotte connection is the most promising one in Northern Europe. The French have been eyeing the Swedish defence industry with interest for a while now. ”France and Sweden are strengthening their military bond - to be able to manage without the USA”
- US embassy in Stockholm has demanded companies that deliver goods and services to it to not have any DEI programmes. This is beyond ridiculous and it would serve the embassy right to have their services cut. Once again the Finnish saying applies that they’re asking to get the blood from their noses
- US Embassy vs City of Stockholm escalates: ”Let’s be clear, the Embassy is putting themselves into a situation. One that they’ll lose in. It’s them who won’t last without trash collection, heating, and running water,” says the city’s opposition center-right party leader www.svd.se/a/rPRX8a/fje...
- This would be great, but as it stands Finland’s military capability (population 5.5 million) is equivalent to, if not higher than, Germany’s (population 83 million). Germany and France will never not be powerful, but the smaller states are developing agency that creates new centres of gravity.
- Okay und was wenn die Sicherheits- und Wirtschaftsinteressen miteinander unvereinbar sind ? Das ist die 500-Milliarden-Euro-Frage.
- Eine sicherheits-, interessens- & wirtschaftsgeleitete Außenpolitik ist der große Fokus. Und zugleich bleiben natürlich die Resolution 1325, der Schutz vulnerabler Gruppen weltweit sowie Klima & Nachhaltigkeit bedeutende Pfeiler. – @aussenminister.diplo.de Wadephul 2/x
- For this week’s ”The Europe Dispatch” with @phillipspobrien.bsky.social I looked at what yesterday’s Merz mayhem tells us about Germany’s leadership prospects and wider power dynamics in Europe. Looks like the smaller states will have to continue their efforts to keep Europe on the right track.
- I had actually planned to write something else. But then Germany delivered this exciting topic 😉 Danke Deutschland !
- Hi All, delighted to say that @alanderminna.bsky.social second column has just been released (entirely free). It’s topical, covering the Merz voting debacle yesterday--and in particular one that might indicate about his and Germany's ability to lead. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
- Reposted by Minna Ålander 🌻Hi All, delighted to say that @alanderminna.bsky.social second column has just been released (entirely free). It’s topical, covering the Merz voting debacle yesterday--and in particular one that might indicate about his and Germany's ability to lead. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
