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Finland announces migration of its rail network to international gauge

(yle.fi)
461 points axelfontaine | 7 comments | 20 May 25 07:40 UTC | HN request time: 0.423s | source | bottom
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vesinisa ◴[20 May 25 08:26 UTC] No.44039149[source]▶
Here's a much better article from the Finnish public broadcaster giving more context: https://yle.fi/a/74-20161606

My comments:

The important thing to note that at this point it's just a political posturing and an announcement of intent. They haven't shown any concrete technical plan how this would actually be executed.

> "Of course, we are very pragmatic and realistic, we cannot do this in five years. Planning will continue until the end of the decade, and maybe in 2032 we can start construction."

Once they have the cost estimates and effects on existing rail traffic studied, I bet construction will never start.

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oblio ◴[20 May 25 09:58 UTC] No.44039743[source]▶
Fear of a foreign invasion by a country much larger than your, and one that occupied you once for 200 years and attacked you again just 20 years after independence tends to clear the mind.
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pydry ◴[20 May 25 10:13 UTC] No.44039837[source]▶
Fear of foreign invasion is also why the Soviet Union invaded during the Winter War ("Greater Finland" irredentism was a thing, and St Petersburg was militarily exposed).

Fear is why Finland allied with the Nazis.

Fear is why the Soviet Union also signed a pact with the Nazis and invaded Ukraine.

It's easy to justify anything with fear.

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StefanBatory ◴[20 May 25 10:41 UTC] No.44039987[source]▶
Fear is why Finland allied with the Nazis.

... or maybe because Fins got invaded by Soviets.

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1. pydry ◴[20 May 25 12:03 UTC] No.44040586[source]▶
They didnt stop being allied to the Nazis after the winter war was over. Fear maintained that alliance.

Just like fear of "greater finland" made the Soviets invade in the first place.

It's fear all the way down. The only difference is the validity of those fears. Obviously your country's enemies' fears were always invalid while your country's allies' fears were always justified.

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2. mopsi ◴[20 May 25 12:51 UTC] No.44041006[source]▶
> Just like fear of "greater finland" made the Soviets invade in the first place.

And the fear of Poland made the Nazis invade Poland, right?

Their propaganda no doubt presented things this way, but that was far from the truth. Much like Nazis had to stage a Polish attack on German radio station[1] to justify their invasion of Poland, the USSR had to fabricate the shelling of Mainila[2] to justify the invasion of Finland, because neither Poland nor Finland were apparently threatening enough on their own.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shelling_of_Mainila

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3. pydry ◴[20 May 25 13:46 UTC] No.44041629[source]▶
No. The closest living analog to the Nazis today is our allies in Israel and like the Nazis they arent shy about endless expansionism for the sake of creating lebensraum for their ubermensch. Theyre not very shy about the holocaust theyre committing either.

Russia never went on an extermination drive in order to create an ethnically pure ethnostate.

The biggest western geopolitical mistake of the 2020s is assuming that Israel isnt run by Nazis but Russia is.

>Their propaganda no doubt presented things this way

Every country presents its propaganda in its own way. Pointing that a country that you consider an enemy publishes propaganda without reference to your own serves merely to underscore that accident of birth dictates which flavor of propaganda you believe.

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4. oblio ◴[20 May 25 21:04 UTC] No.44045909{3}[source]▶
> Russia never went on an extermination drive in order to create an ethnically pure ethnostate.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassian_genocide

5. oblio ◴[20 May 25 21:13 UTC] No.44045979[source]▶
> Just like fear of "greater finland" made the Soviets invade in the first place.

Which "fear" prompted the Soviets to invade Romania in 1940? Which "fear" prompted the Soviets to invade Poland in 1939? Which "fear" prompted the Soviets to invade the Baltics in 1940?

Ah, now I remember, the "fear" of not being the premier colonial power.

6. earnestinger ◴[21 May 25 13:10 UTC] No.44051074{3}[source]▶
> Russia never went on an extermination drive in order to create an ethnically pure ethnostate.

Technically correct is the best kind of correct.

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7. pydry ◴[21 May 25 19:11 UTC] No.44055082{4}[source]▶
Technically I'd prefer to be living in a newbuild in Mariupol paying taxes to a different government rather than having the Israeli army drop bombs on my head and starving my entire family until we are all dead.

Small distinction to you perhaps, but to me it's a bit more than just "technical".