The Erkkos also have quite a monopoly: Helsingin Sanomat, Ilta Sanomat and what have you. And they frequently tell outright lies about the United States. Perhaps the family has done some bad share deals on the Wall Street…

Santeri – Erkko’s mother was American, and Helsingin Sanomat has always been one of the most US-friendly newspapers in Finland. You may have noticed their big project to convince the sceptical Finns that NATO is *good* for you. There is also a reason why HS got Sami Sillanp?¤?¤ embedded with the American troops in the Iraq war as the only Finnish reporter – good connections to Washington.

Helsingin Sanomat has always had extremely one-sided political “filters” concerning America and they choose according to their own political preferences what they print about USA.
Membership in NATO would have been extremely beneficial to Finland but the question about NATO I guess will be more or less academic, since when the EU begins selling high tech arms systems to China, NATO will cease to exist. Americans can?“t risk sharing arms technology with Europeans any more, to prevent its “leakage” to China. I think Americans will in the future work more closely with Japan, India, Australia etc.

Thanks, I really enjoyed your blog.