The result of the Finnish parliamentary elections held on Sunday 2 April is clear: the right-wing conservative parties won, and the center-left base of Sanna Marin’s government lost. The conservative party got 48 seats and the Finns party 46 out of 200. Although the social democrats slightly increased their share of votes (to 19.9%) and seats (to 43), this was likely because some supporters of the Greens and Left Alliance and perhaps also the Centre Party decided tactically to concentrate votes on social democrats in the hope of making them the biggest party. The three other main parties of the government coalition lost a combined 26 seats. (This blog was originally published by Brave New Europe).

Recently, calls for a negotiated peace agreement in the Ukraine war have increased not only in Europe but also in the US. General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff made such a call in early November 2022.[i] Professor Charles A Kupchan, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, announced “[i]t’s time to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiation table”.[ii] President Biden said during his visit to France on 1 December that he would meet with the Russian president if he showed a willingness to end the war. Possible and realistic terms of a possible peace deal have not however been elaborated. (This text co-authored with Tapio Kanninen was published in January 2023 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique in French as “Propositions pour une sortie de crise”; in English as “Giving peace a chance”; other editions will follow).

In the West, there are two different competing narratives about the war in Ukraine. The prevailing narrative is that it is a struggle between the “bad guys” and “good guys”. For many, Russia led by dictator Putin represents imperialism and is alone responsible for this unprovoked war, whereas Ukraine represents freedom and democracy as well as courage and heroism. The forces of evil must be won decisively by military means. Russians have their own version of demonization, with an opposite view on locating the good and the evil. The likelihood of a nuclear conflict is played down as it would lessen the resolve to reach a total victory. (This text co-authored with Tapio Kanninen was originally published by Katoikos.world on 29.11.2022; and republished the next day at Rozenberg Quarterly; ZNetwork; and Brave New Europe.)

My contribution to GTI Forum The Population Debate Revisited (a direct link here).