Today marks 70 years of the beginning of the Winter War, that historical event that is still at the forefront of the Finnish psyche.  The good news is that Finland kept its unity and its independence (no mean feat when your adversary is the Soviet Union), the bad news is that it created a siege mentality that survives to this day in certain sectors of society.

For more background information, you can hardly do better than have a look in Helsingin Sanomat’s archive (1, 2, 3).