Dec 20th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
Beware Finland
The future of the Finnish military looks pretty badass. Just saying. Everyone needs to stay on notice — they’re a small country, yes, but a fierce one.
40 Responses to “Beware Finland”
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December 20th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Finland has always been surprisingly tough. Look up the 1939 “Winter War“: they fought the Soviet Union to a standstill.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
The Finns fought the purge depleted Red Army to a standstill in 39-40. Contrast that with the drubbing they received in the rematch a few years later against a hardened and battle tested Red Army.
December 20th, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Man, if only there was a C4I system in the world like that. (Although, what’s the deal with the virtual dial at the beginning? That makes no sense.)
December 20th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
http://liginmaclari.blogcu.com/galatasaray-besiktas-canli-izle-galatasaray-besiktas-macini-canli-izle-galatasaray-besiktas-lig-tv-izle-galatasaray-besiktas-macini-canli-seyret-galatasaray-besiktas-maci-galatasaray-besiktas-macini-izle-galatasaray-besiktas-macini-seyret_31670811.html
December 20th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
http://liginmaclari.blogcu.com/galatasaray-besiktas-macini-canli-izle-galatasaray-besiktas-macinin-hakemi-galatasaray-besiktas-macinin-tarihi-21-aralik-pazar-gunu_31278291.html
December 20th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
The combination of sisu and perkele! can be pretty scary.
December 20th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Also, that thing that looked like a guy manipulating a Minority Report interface? That’s actually the 2017 model of Nokia cellphone. Yes, the phones will be androids by then.
December 20th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
A single Finnish sniper killed over 500 Russian soldiers during the Winter War of 1939-40. German liaison officers ranked the performance of Finnish troops as superior to that of German troops, making the Finns the top performers, man for man, of WWII.
December 20th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
That looks like an IAI (Israeli) UAV.
Cranky
December 20th, 2008 at 6:31 pm
Moral of the story: if you ever see three Finnish generals dragging geometric shapes into the center of a big touch-screen, duck.
December 20th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Very little of that equipment is Finnish made, I think. For example, the transport aircraft is more or less the EADS version of the C-130 and is made in Spain. But it’s a recruiting video, not a defense industry one.
December 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Why is the video in English?
December 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Yikes! I think it is even more impressive the technology they have to direct their fearsome weaponry. I want cool touch screens for the US military!
I have to admit, I liked the uniting of the triforce type of thing at the end there to signal the attack. Does this mean Hyrule == Finland? These questions have to be asked!
December 20th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
Why is the video in English?
Because Finnish has fourteen fucking cases.
December 20th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
We don’t have a military in Finland. We do have defence forces (puolustusvoimat).
The money splurged on that childish “recruiting video” is a complete waste because service is mandatory for all of the male citizenry. Maybe there is some trouble recruiting enough professional officers.
Anyway, the Finnish Defence Forces do not threaten anyone who keeps out of Finnish territory. Since WWII we have kept a solid policy of non-involvement in foreign adventures. Unfortunately there is a growing will in the right-wing parties to commit Finnish troops to non-defensive NATO operations.
I did not like the style of that video. It was childish and menacing, with a lot of presumably expensive toys. What was the small village in the middle of nowhere that got bombed in the end, anyway? Didn’t look like a defensive operation to me. Or maybe there was a particularly boisterous wedding party that deeded to be contained with excessive force. (Based on completely accurate and indisputable intelligence from that drone.)
December 20th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I think all wars should be fought in CGI from now on.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:08 am
The Finns fought the purge depleted Red Army to a standstill in 39-40. Contrast that with the drubbing they received in the rematch a few years later against a hardened and battle tested Red Army.
They still did amazingly well against incredible odds and against the worlds most powerful military machine. Well enough that the Soviets declared that second war a draw and let them keep their independence.
Yup, quite the comparison.
December 21st, 2008 at 1:12 am
We don’t have a military in Finland. We do have defence forces (puolustusvoimat).
Yeah, in the US we have a Department of Defense instead of a Department of War. Don’t kid yourself, it is still a military, and it still serves the purpose of keeping Vladimir Putin from reclaiming old tsarist territories for his new and improved Russian empire.
December 21st, 2008 at 9:14 am
I’m frightened. Hold me.
December 21st, 2008 at 10:59 am
I dunno, the gigantic 8 meter-long words and complete lack of any hyphens scares me enough to not mess with them.
December 21st, 2008 at 8:05 pm
I have always had a two military rules, should I ever somehow become ruler of some military force. In order of importance, they are:
1. Do not mess with Finland. They kept the USSR out of their homeland, invented the Molotov Cocktail, and drink more than anyone else in Europe. Luckily, if you leave them alone, they will return the favor.
2. Don’t invade Russia. It’s just stupid.
December 21st, 2008 at 11:37 pm
2. Don’t invade Russia, unless your army is a horde of nomadic tribesmen, which solves the logistics problem.
December 22nd, 2008 at 8:37 am
There is a cool tank museum about 90 minutes outside of Helsinki, the Parola tank museum:
http://www.panssarimuseo.fi/
What impressed me when I was there were the practical tips on how to disable the various Soviet tanks, and displays on how amour-piercing ordinance really works. (It is only open during the summer.)
The Finns did OK in the “Continuation War,” (their term for World War II) by the way. They never really threatened the Soviets existence, survived without being occupied, and were the only people to ever bug Adolf Hitler’s private conversation.
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:17 am
Video : Fairly impressive.
Distributing video using WM : Lame
December 22nd, 2008 at 11:37 am
Ok, most of that stuff is US knock offs or was bought from the US or our NATO allies. The Rhode Island NG could take them out. No wonder you guys are so out of touch on Defense issues.
December 22nd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Clearly a message to the Swedes not to get any big ideas.
December 22nd, 2008 at 10:59 pm
Ok, most of that stuff is US knock offs or was bought from the US or our NATO allies. The Rhode Island NG could take them out. No wonder you guys are so out of touch on Defense issues.
Wait a minute, are you saying US equipment is so crappy that even the Finns couldn’t win a war using it?
By the way, very few small countries invent and manufacture their own major hardware. Takes a really big military-industrial complex to do that. It’s no bad reflection on the Finns if they didn’t invent their own missiles and tanks. It’s a matter of what they buy and what they do with it.
Recall the spanking the Argentine air force nearly gave the Royal Navy back in the Falklands War. If they’d actually had more up to date aircraft and munitions it would have been a massacre.
January 7th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
The Rhode Island National Guard has ~2 battalions of Military Police, an airlift wing, and some HQ units.
Finland has 11 brigades (smaller than a US brigade), ~20 independant battalions, and 63 Finnish-made F/A-18’s.
I give the Finns the advantage against the RING.
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