DULUTH - FinnFest in Duluth is not only about rug making, Finnish dances or learning Nordic walking.
The soft diplomacy comes with an earnest undercurrent: to keep alive ties between Finland and U.S. Finns, especially during a time of geopolitical upheaval.
Finland, a small wooded country about the size, population and topography of Minnesota, has a story to tell that should appeal not just to Finnish-Americans but to anyone who cares about Europe and our country’s relationships with allies around the globe.
Finland probably understands Russia better than any other country in the world. It was once ruled by the czar and shares an 830-mile border with Russia. During World War II, the world watched as little Finland fought off an invasion by the then-Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. managed to chomp off a section of Finland, but the country managed to maintain its independence.
Finland has kept a wary eye on its neighbor ever since. After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, public support in Finland for joining NATO skyrocketed to 80%, Jarmo Sareva, the consul general of Finland in New York, told an audience of about 200 Saturday at FinnFest. Finland joined NATO in 2023, more than doubling the border of NATO nations with Russia.
Like all of Europe — and maybe most of the planet — Finland is paying close attention to the U.S. presidential election. Which means Finns are glued to their devices, jaws dropped to the floor.
What Sareva and other Finnish officials at FinnFest were too diplomatic to say is that a Donald Trump victory this fall may well embolden Russian President Vladimir Putin to further attack Europe.
Trump has promised that if elected, he will bring a swift and peaceful conclusion to the Ukraine war. But as Finnish parliamentarian and former foreign affairs minister Pekka Haavisto pointed out, nobody knows what that peace might look like. Trump could very well stop sending money and weapons to Ukraine, forcing that democratic nation to give up huge swaths of territory to Russia.