“Time for Nato Debate Is Now”
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ISSUE 3 (183) • 20 – 26 JANUARY 2011 • €3 • WWW.HELSINKITIMES.FI DOMESTIC INTERNATIONAL LIFESTYLE CULTURE EAT & DRINK Robberies Chaos Ski DocPoint Promoting on the in and makes Finnish decline Tunisia enjoy a point food page 4 page 7 page 18 page 19 page 20 LEHTIKUVA / ANTTI AIMO-KOIVISTO back among participating countries after a few years of absence,” says This year’s The Finnish Fair Corporation’s exhi- bition group manager Anita Mäkelä. travel Estonia, the offi cial partner country, has had a record-break- ing year in tourism. During the fi rst exhibition nine months of 2010, Finnish visi- tors spent 1.3 million nights in Es- is the tonia, exceeding the total number of nights in 2009 by nearly 20 per grandest yet cent. To emphasise this populari- ty, the Tallinn exhibit is putting on HELSINKI TIMES a special Estonian Design & Music food court and eatery as part of its display at the convention centre. THE NORDIC Travel Fair MATKA, the Another exciting new addition to largest travel-industry event in the the fair is the Dive Village, a special Nordic countries, will be held at the area focusing on all things dive re- Helsinki Exhibition & Convention lated, which is complete with a div- Centre on 20-23 January. This year ing pool, where visitors can fi nd out the fair features a record number what the underwater world looks of participants from new countries, like. The Dive Village is a must for with more than 1,200 exhibitors in all dive enthusiasts and features total from 70 countries. diving-industry service provid- “The travel industry has a more ers, dive-tour organisers and div- optimistic outlook compared with ing magazines from Finland and last year, which is refl ected in the abroad, who are all on hand to an- high level of interest in the fair swer any questions. among exhibitors. Bookings are up An anti-Nato performance Älä muuta virka (“Say No More”) by the Three Smiths Statue in Helsinki on 9 May 2010. and we are pleased to welcome a re- cord number of new countries, with Nordic Travel Fair MATKA Macedonia, the Caribbean, Gabon, 20-23 January Azerbaijan and Singapore all join- Helsinki Exhibition & Convention ing the event for the fi rst time. Den- Centre “Time for Nato debate is now” mark, Nepal and Greece are also With the Finnish Defence Forces in line for a shakeup, the authors of a L o u s y p a y m e a n s F i n l a n d recently published report argue that it makes sense to debate Nato membership. SUSANNA JÄÄSKELÄINEN – STT discussion of the Nato option is cut Finnish perspective, the key consid- struggles to attract MATTHEW PARRY – HT short by a pronouncement that the eration remains the alliance’s fun- issue is not yet topical. He argued damental charge: common defence. THE PROCESS of thoroughgoing re- that it makes little sense to wait “The key message from Finland’s foreign researchers form of the Finnish Defence Forces until defence capacity has deterio- perspective is that Nato continues to STT several reference countries. Anoth- now underway makes a discussion rated or a threat has appeared, be- take its task of common defence se- MATTHEW PARRY – HT er key difference between Finland about Finnish membership of Nato cause by then it will be too late. riously, that it takes care of region- and many countries where the sci- topical. Thus concludes Janne Kuu- Published by the Atlantic Council al defence for its member states, IF FINLAND wants to lift the qual- ences fl ourish is that here, less than sela, a policy adviser at the Ministry of Finland (ACF), the report does not and that it maintains a credible de- ity of its scientifi c output to rank half of the money for research takes of Defence, and one of two authors directly treat the issue of Finland join- terrent. Traditional military threats among the best in Europe, it must the form of basic state funding. of a report on changes in the mili- ing Nato, but its tone is pro-Nato and are seen as unlikely in the alliance, attract a larger number of foreign The Academy of Finland’s study com- tary alliance. it does not dwell on worst-case sce- but they are not ruled out entirely,” students and researchers. This can pared Finland’s science policies with Speaking at a 14 January press narios. It assures that a rise in defence writes Karoliina Honkanen, the sec- be inferred from a comparative those pursued in the Netherlands, conference on the report’s release, expenditure is not a prerequisite for ond of the report’s authors. study published on 21 December by Ireland, Norway, Switzerland and Kuusela said: membership, and that participation in Researcher Tuomas Forsberg, the Academy of Finland. Denmark. These countries were cho- “Fundamental changes to the military deployments is always based who took part in the press confer- What makes this a challenge is sen because they have performed Defence Forces are on the horizon. on separate national decisions. ence and commented on the report, that researchers in this country are well in recent years in studies com- According to the Ministry of De- pointed out that a decision on Finn- less well paid than many of their Eu- paring levels of research. The level of fence and the Chief of Defence, we No new arguments ish membership should not be based ropean colleagues. Poor salaries may research is ascertained by quantify- now face the biggest challenges in The actual subject of the report, on a single issue: also discourage some of the most ing how often a country’s scientifi c our peace-time history, and we can- reform of Nato, does not gener- “It’s an overarching consider- promising Finnish researchers from publications are referenced in other not meet them with structural re- ate arguments either for or against ation that looks at security policy pursuing a career in academia. scientifi c publications. forms alone; we also need a new Finnish membership. The new strat- factors and fi nancial aspects, but Finland also has not invested in This issue of Helsinki Times has a way of thinking.” egy approved in Lisbon in Novem- also at issues of identity. It’s wrong developing offi ce space and equip- special education theme. Read the On the other hand, Kuusela la- ber speaks more clearly of Nato’s to say that which club we belong to ment for researchers as much as in full article on page 13. mented that, far too often, public new threats and tasks. But from the is of no signifi cance.” Degree programme in Social Services - opiskele sosiaalialaa englanniksi! More about Studies in English www.english.diak.fi/english_degree_programme Study in english Hakeminen / How to apply Hae koulutukseen hakuaikana 3.1.–15.2.2011 osoitteessa www.admissions.fi. Apply online at www.admissions.fi on the application period 3.1.–15.2.2011. Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu, Diak Etelä Järvenpää Tiedustelut: Head of International Education Tony Addy, +358-40-7659025, [email protected] ja Opinto-ohjaaja Hanna Lamberg +358-40-3569445, [email protected] 2 20 – 26 JANUARY 2011 VIEWPOINT HELSINKI TIMES Viewpoints are commentaries written by experts and authorities about specific topics. You can submit your articles to [email protected]. Articles should be at least 5,000 characters with spaces long (maximum length 10,000). Helsinki Times reserves the right to accept or reject submissions, as well as to edit or shorten the text. Dr Vladimir Kozin is a deputy-director at the Russian Foreign Minis- try’s Information and Press Department. The views expressed here are his own and do not reflect the opinion of the Russian Foreign Service. ate a new “Cuban missile” Lisbon summit, President crisis – or, in this particular Dmitry Medvedev has warned case – an anti-missile one? that Europe would face a new A joint Russia-Nato arms race should cooperation THE OTHER problem that may on BMD between Moscow and complicate next stages of the Nato fail. Addressing the Rus- missile-defence “roof”: is it feasible? debates is interconnection sian Federal Assembly on 30 between Nato’s own theatre November 2010, the head of ballistic missile defence and the Russian state said that the With a military joint venture between former Cold War rivals looking increasingly likely, the third US BMD site to be former Cold War rivals have fi elded very soon under the the following choice: either several stumbling blocks are already on the horizon. title “Phased Adaptive Ap- they reach an accord on Eu- proach” (PAA) for missile de- ropean missile defence and fence in Europe, heralded by create “a substantial mecha- The year 2010, among many fi rm desire to resume not on- have its own national BMD sible exchange of data. The Barack Obama in September nism for cooperation in that other positive things (a new ly BMD computer drills but system. At the same time it article that appeared a week 2009. The latter, undoubtedly, domain” or they will fail to do START ranks high), has pro- advocated a qualitatively wanted to know more details ago after the Lisbon sum- is qualitatively much strong- so, by issuing in “a new spi- duced another remarkable new way of interoperability of the coordinated scheme mit in the Wall Street Jour- er than that of the previous ral of arms race”. He stated: result: at the latest Nato-Rus- in the future – the true-to- before it is fi nally launched: nal has claimed that leaders one announced by his prede- “We will [then] have to make sia Council (NRC) summit held life missile defence exercis- such as what kind of inter- of the trans-Atlantic bloc cessor in 2007.