International
The Åland archipelago, the last anti-militarist haven of the Baltic
After the entry of Finland and Sweden into the Atlantic Alliance, the entire Baltic Sea basin is occupied by NATO and Russia troops, with the exception of Åland, a picturesque Finnish archipelago of just 30,000 inhabitants that wants to remain the only non-militarized area of the region.
Composed of 6,757 islands and islets, of which only 60 are inhabited, this archipelago is strategically located in the heart of the Baltic, halfway between Turku, the former capital of Finland, and Stockholm, the Swedish capital.
Åland (Ahvenanmaa, in Finnish) is the only autonomous region of Finland and, despite its small population, it has its own parliament (Lagting) and an autonomous government, bodies that manage all competences except for foreign policy, customs and the judicial system.
The relationship of this archipelago with the European Union (EU) is regulated in a protocol that contains special provisions for the purchase of real estate, the right to establish business and the sale of tax-free products to travelers.
But the most peculiar thing about Åland is that international treaties stipulate that it is a demilitarized region, so it is forbidden to establish military bases, deploy troops and even carry out training maneuvers in its territory.
The demilitarization of Åland dates back to 1856, the year in which Russia – to which Finland then belonged – lost the Crimean war against an alliance formed by the United Kingdom, France and the Ottoman Empire.
Following the defeat, Russia was forced to sign the so-called Åland Convention, a document that established the demilitarization and neutralization of the archipelago, which in practice prevented both the fortification of the islands and their use in an eventual war offensive against another country.
Once Finland became independent from Russia in 1917, the Nordic country granted Åland a status of autonomy that guaranteed the right to self-government and to maintain its language (Swedish), its culture and its local customs.
At the same time, Helsinki ratified the provisions contained in the Åland Convention, which were confirmed by the international community in the Treaty of Paris of 1947 that followed the Second World War.
While militarism spreads throughout Europe as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and many countries increase defense spending, accelerate the purchase of weapons and consider restoring compulsory military service, in Åland they prefer to maintain their status as a demilitarized region.
“I would say that a very clear majority of Åland residents believe that this solution is something that has been very useful in the past and that it will also be useful in the future,” Johan Ehn, representative of the autonomous region in Helsinki, said in an interview with EFE.
Ehn admits that the bellicism of Russia, a country with which Finland shares 1,340 kilometers of border, has aroused some fear among the population of the archipelago, although he does not believe that it is greater than in other European regions because it cannot deploy troops on its islands.
“We have a neighbor to the east – Russia – who is behaving very seriously, and it is clear that in Åland we are worried and that there is also some fear about it, but neither more nor less than in other parts of the country, in Scandinavia or in Europe,” he said.
In any case, the demilitarization of the archipelago – Ehn maintains – would not prevent an eventual sending of Finnish and even NATO troops to defend Åland under certain circumstances, for example in the event of a hypothetical Russian attack.
“In Åland people know that there are systems to tackle the defense, so they are safe and satisfied with this solution.
And especially considering that Finland and Sweden are now members of NATO, we feel even safer,” he stressed.
Some Finnish politicians have criticized the maintenance of Åland’s status at a time of serious tensions with neighboring Russia, but neither the Finnish State, nor Sweden nor NATO have shown – at least for the time being – any willingness to change it.
When Finland decided to break with eight decades of military neutrality and apply for entry into the Alliance, the former Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, commissioned a report to the Foreign Ministry on the issue of Åland.
This report, published last year, concludes that the current status is beneficial for Finland and that Helsinki must respect international treaties, so at the moment there is no possibility of abolishing the demilitarization of the archipelago.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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