Word: finland
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...stormy battlefields of peace, the pause was noticeable. In Germany, the squabble over Berlin, a diversionary action in the deeper struggle for Germany and Europe, trailed off in angry mutterings; Finland had a breathing spell . In France, the Communists were hanging back, not sure what to try next. Even Greece was relatively quiet. The most exciting action in which Communism (allegedly) had a hand occurred far from the battle zone, in Bogota (see LATIN AMERICA...
Last week Finland's aging (78), anxious President Juho K. Paasikivi summoned editors of Helsinki's principal newspapers to the Presidential Palace, handed them a news item and an earnest exhortation. The news was the text of Finland's unwanted treaty of "mutual aid" with the Soviet Union, signed in Moscow's Kremlin. The exhortation: sugar-coat the news in order to minimize anti-Russian feeling among Finns...
...Over Finland's state-controlled radio Paasikivi himself set the sugary tone. Said he: "We can look with confidence toward the future." In Moscow, Prime Minister Pekkala had already thanked the Soviet Union for its "benevolent attitude." Editors and politicians took the official cue. Finland, which had wanted no treaty at all, found itself rejoicing at having made the "best possible deal under the circumstances...
...Finland's treaty was broadly patterned on similar pacts between Moscow and all its eastern European satellites. It barred Finland from becoming a base for aggression against the Soviet Union by "Germany or any nation allied with her," and provided that the two countries "will consult each other in event of a threat of military attack." Paasikivi and other Finns comforted themselves with this consultation clause, but the comfort was coldish. Moscow could dig up a "threat" any day it had a mind...
...Finland, closest to the heat, two members of the Finnish-Russian treaty negotiation delegation hurried home for worried talks about Russian demands. By week's end, Finland's coalition government had not yet stomached a Russian demand that Finland admit Russian troops whenever Moscow decided that Finnish "independence" was threatened...