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Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Sat Jan 30, 2016, 03:15 PM Jan 2016

‘Neutrality is Beautiful’: Majority of Finns Want to Stay Away From NATO

16:34 30.01.2016

The Finnish government is assessing the effects of the country’s possible NATO membership, Yle broadcasting company reported, citing Foreign Ministry sources in Helsinki.

The work is being done in connection with the preparation of a report on Finnish foreign and security policy.

The Ministry has appointed a group of four experts to carry out the assessment, expected to be available in the spring of 2016.

Johan Bäckman, a leading Finnish rights activist and social scientist, said that despite the official viewpoint, ordinary Finns are not particularly happy about the prospect of joining NATO.

“Why did they set up this group in the first place? I think the government bent under the pressure of the Americans and their friends here in Finland. And still, even though Finland, like many other countries, is now cooperating with NATO, the whole idea is not very popular among our people,” Bäckman told Radio Sputnik.

He added that, according to the latest polls, a mere 27 percent of Finns favored NATO membership, while the rest said they did not like the idea.

Read more: http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160130/1033973510/finland-nato-neutrality.html#ixzz3ykyvh2EJ

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‘Neutrality is Beautiful’: Majority of Finns Want to Stay Away From NATO (Original Post) Purveyor Jan 2016 OP
K&R smirkymonkey Jan 2016 #1
Sputnik 'news' nt geek tragedy Jan 2016 #2
Thanks. I'm certain no one would have figured that out Purveyor Jan 2016 #6
Smart People. Brave, too. Octafish Jan 2016 #3
And still got crushed jrandom421 Jan 2016 #8
At some point Sputnik becomes too incestuous to be taken not just seriously, but even just taken. Igel Jan 2016 #4
Can we please quit using Russian propaganda as a source? Odin2005 Jan 2016 #5
What you afraid of? Is your constitution so weak that you just Purveyor Jan 2016 #7

Octafish

(55,745 posts)
3. Smart People. Brave, too.
Sat Jan 30, 2016, 03:36 PM
Jan 2016

Took on the Red Army by themselves, and that's still something to brag about.

Igel

(35,300 posts)
4. At some point Sputnik becomes too incestuous to be taken not just seriously, but even just taken.
Sat Jan 30, 2016, 04:57 PM
Jan 2016
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_B%C3%A4ckman, for example.

Their source, their neutral main character, leans a bit to one side. Of course, utter partiality is Sputnik's "neutrality." The root of that word is, after all, "neuter." Backman prefers neutering in the face of Putin's utter virility and takes every opportunity to blow Putin's horn.


The poll cited is a bit off. And the "latest poll" is a year old. 27 percent of Finns favored NATO membership, 57 opposed--hardly a stunning number. But still, the OP's text all but require us to think that 73% were opposed.

"I don't like that" =/= "it is not the case that I like that".

There's a fairly large academic discussion over verbs that have a strict two-way meaning where negating the verb = negating the verb's denotation. So "I don't like that" = "I dislike that." They're idiosyncratic, on the surface, but show decided patterns that surpass mere idiosyncrasy.

"I don't like to eat meat but I'm okay with eating it." That sounds a bit strange, more for some than for others.

This is different from "I don't love Kate" which does not mean "I hate Kate". We have no verb "dislove".

"I don't love Kate, but okay with dating her" is perfectly fine pretty okay sounding for everybody, at least on semantic grounds.

On this score Sputnik can't claim plausible stupidity, however obvious it may be in other situations.

Then again, I guess the idiom chunk is "to blow his own horn," and "to blow Putin's horn" might be taken to have some other meaning, esp. in the case of Backman. Gee, who could've known?
 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
7. What you afraid of? Is your constitution so weak that you just
Sat Jan 30, 2016, 06:06 PM
Jan 2016

might be propagandized into submission?

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