In Finland, one third of the adult population belongs to the reservists.
(Photo: dpa (M))
For the past five years, Finland has led the UN ranking of the happiest nations in the world. But the Finns are far from living in cloud cuckoo land. On the contrary: for decades they have feared that a war with Russia could break out at any time – and have prepared accordingly.
The capital Helsinki is almost like Swiss cheese in some places underground, the system of dozens of kilometers of tunnels is so branched. “There are areas like in a James Bond film,” ex-defense chief Jarmo Lindberg recently boasted. The army headquarters are even said to be under hills of 30 to 40 meters of granite.
In addition, almost a third of the Nordic country’s adult population belongs to the reservists. If you include them, Finland has one of the largest militaries in Europe relative to its size. The country, with a population of just 5.5 million, is constantly examining which security policy weaknesses it should correct.
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