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Who Needs to Meet George W Bush?
On 19 June in the Helsingin Sanomat it was reported that the well-connected can jump the White House queue. I say, who cares!
Since George W Bush was elected President of the United States, the greatest number of visits, 18, has been by Britain. Finland has visited just a couple of times. In the same period, Bush has visited the United Kingdom just twice, in 2003 when he became the first U.S. president to be invited on an official state visit (the most formal way of recognising a foreign head of state) and in 2005, when he attended the G8 Summit in Gleaneagles, Scotland.
At the end of World War II, President Truman made available $17 billion for the reconstruction of the Europe economies in a programme known as Marshall Aid. Like Bush’s crusade into Iraq there was a hidden agenda. The countries of Europe had to spend this money on American products transported to Europe in American ships. In the long term, it can be argued this benefited the American economy far more than the European economies. It was not until 31 December 2006, that the UK finally paid back its war debts to America.
Contrast with Finland, who at the end of the Second World War had lost 13 per cent of its national wealth in the peace terms with the Soviet Union. In addition, Finland had to pay in excess of $300 million (1944 prices) in war reparations. Not only did the Finns repay their debts, they achieved it in 1952 without Marshall Aid. Today, the American dollar is on the wane, the Indian and Chinese economies are starting to outperform the American economy and Russia is emerging as an ever bigger player in the global energy market. At the same time there are heightened tensions between Russia and the United States with significant rhetoric and political propaganda and even the threat of a return of the Cold War.
The Americans are planning a missile defence system to be located in Poland and the Czech Republic. In response, President Putin has cautioned that he would take “retaliatory steps” if Washington were to go forward with the missile plan. This includes possibly aiming nuclear weapons at targets in Europe. The Russians claim that neither Iran nor North Korea have such rockets and that the system was clearly designed to be used against Russia. In an effort to ease relations, Bush has invited the Russian leader for an unprecedented stay at his family’s summer compound at Kennebunkport. But, he has also invited the Estonian President to the White House, which will not please the Russians, who are angry about the Baltic state’s removal of a memorial to fallen Soviet soldiers.
Finland’s Eastern border with Russia is 1,200 km long and she can claim to know Russia better than any other nation. An essential element of Finland's active neutrality policy is the concept of a Nordic Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone (Nordic NWFZ), first introduced by President Kekkonen in May 1963 against the background of a Europe increasingly armed with nuclear weapons. Sweden on the other hand has an armed neutrality and by the 1970s she was the world’s fourth biggest spender per capita on defence, with access to the highest military technology among non-aligned countries. Call me a cynic if you will but perhaps this is why the Swedes have visited the White House four times under Bush, including the recent visit by Prime Minister, Fredrik Reinfeldt.
In a recent unscientific telephone txt survey on BBC Radio “Who is the biggest danger to world peace, Bush or Putin?” Bush won with 52 per cent of the vote.
It is the opinion of this writer that instead of Finland requesting a meeting between Tarja Halonen and George W Bush it should be the other way round. George W Bush should be requesting a meeting with Tarja Halonen in order to learn about peaceful diplomacy and how best to live in harmony with the Great Bear, Russia.
Mike Bangle is the owner of Talking English language consultancy and can be contacted at mike.bangle(at)phnet.fi
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