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| Europe |
| Finland: Intelligence Chief issues warning |
| 2008-04-15 |
| Finnish security policy needs to take the growing economic and political strength of Russia into consideration, says Admiral Georgij Alafuzoff, Chief of Intelligence at the Finnish Defence Forces. "Ten years ago experts said that Russia would never be a cause for concern, because it is so weak. Now experts say that in 10 to 15 years Russia could be the world's fifth-largest economy", Alafuzoff said at a seminar in Helsinki on Monday. Alafuzoff pointed out that Russia's own experts have predicted that Russia will become involved either directly or indirectly in some large conflict in about the 2020s or 2030s. The cause for such a conflict would be competition for political and economic influence. "They are not saying that Russia would attack, or be a direct military participant, but it is nevertheless ready to use military strength for promoting political goals", Alafuzoff said to Helsingin Sanomat. Possible factors influencing the emergence of conflicts include the crumbling of nation-states, disputes over control of transport connections and natural resources, and the collectivisation of natural resources. The last two of these are connected with the status of the Baltic Sea. The sea is seen by Alafuzoff as an umbilical cord for Russian imports, which could be one possible reason why Russia is taking a closer look than before at its neighbours in the Baltic Sea area. The chairman of the Parliamentary Defence Committee, Juha Korkeaoja (Centre Party) spoke about the preparations for a security and defence policy report. Finland spends 1.27 per cent of its GDP on defence. Korkeaoja says that the government's report raises the question of how much Finland should spend on defence in the future. "I do not believe that the relative proportion of the defence budget can increase significantly", he said to Helsingin Sanomat. "One key question in the long term is also, if we will continue to have conscription. No other EU country has quite the same kind of system that we do." |
| Posted by:mrp |
| #1 There's a bear in the woods ... |
| Posted by: mrp 2008-04-15 20:30 |