> we like them and we prefer to be friends with them.

How true is this? Every Finnish person I've ever met has mistrusted and feared Russia.

Perhaps the difference is between "Russia the state" and "citizens of Russia"? Especially when they're almost neighbors, when you live near the border, I don't see why you'd fear any random Russian citizen just because they live in Russia.

I'd be quite interested in their perspective on world politics. My impression is that Russia has a lot of propaganda and filtering of the media, and I assume it has a different character from the propaganda and filtering of the media in western countries (... where it happens just as well, but in a more decentralized, money-oriented fashion).

Just as illustration: after November 8 a lot of russians were celebrating - just because of hope that relations with US will be warmer. Really, people don't want cold war or any other war.

Warmer and on their terms; attempts to have closer relations without Putin, and with other US leaders seem to have both been less well-received.

taxi drivers, making discounts for clients with Trump's photo, weren't thinking about their terms. They just want peace.

To clarify: I'm not fan of Trump, but I glad to see such reaction.

100%. Russia is multi-national country and we have some nations inside country that we don't like (sorry, but it's true), so I can say we like Finns even more than some russians :) They have awesome vodka (much, much better than any russian vodka), they are smart and friendly, not arrogant - awesome people. I highly doubt any russian leader, even Putler, will try to offend them.

Russia is like the only enemy Finland has at this point, it doesn't matter whether you, personally, like them or not.

Bullshit. Do not read Soviet newspapers until dinner. It's not "just me". Looks like you get your information from news portals which nobody read in Russia because they are owned by government.

The Russian military has been skirting/violating the Finnish airspace lately. It's in the (Western) news.

They are violating somebody's airspace every week, nobody cares. It's just political games of the current moment, it's not whole nation's decisions. Or you think we call referendum before each airspace trespassing?

I guess when Russia tried to invade them back in 1939 there was no referendum and it wasn't a whole nation's decision either. Heck, you could even deem the Russian people friendly towards the Finns (they were trying to free their Finnish comrades from the capitalist yoke!). I don't think it made the Finns any happier though.

What I CAN see is the glee on the Russian discussion boards whenever an incident like that is mentioned in the news. It's either that or outright denial blaming the Finns (British, Estonians, etc.) for making these claims up out of "russophobia".

You will not believe, but yes! Putin is fan of Stalin and they both use internal and external propaganda. And it may sound wild or ridiculous for you, but there is official agency where people get salary for writing comments on forums, youtube, facebook and other well-known public services. There was even article about it in some western newspaper. And reaction of people: 2 guys threw molotov cocktails to the window of that agency - that's our real relation to Putin.

So, I assume, when our army will start to bomb Moscow to throw out Putin regime, you will be happy?

You said you are OK with event, which can cause a war, and you dislike Putin.

Can you make full list of nations which are liked by Russians, please? It will be very short, I guess.

Maybe. Your tone and prejudice doesn't help to make it longer.

Night clubs of St.Petersburg are full of Finnish people, who drink even more than locals. Apparently, the mistrust is limited to subjects other than alcohol.

iirc Finn's drink more per capita than any other nationalities...

Worked for a Finnish company and I concur.

They frequently bring up how they beat the Germans and the Russians in WW2. And how Finnish vodka is the best. And how it sucks that the world's most popular sauna heater is made in Sweden, because Finnish sauna heaters are superior.

Well, it doesn't prove that russians don't like Finns, maybe just Finns don't like russians. Sad to hear, but, looks like our government's propaganda works. And Finnish vodka is really the best ;)

I have many Russian friends and they're intelligent and nice people in general. The info war and traumas from the winter war still exist though and we really don't like Russia as a country, except the neo-nazis who think Putin's actions against minorities should be supported and many of them think that Russia should conquer Finland so we wouldn't have such a liberal government.

Of course after Trump, the general feeling about US is pretty close what we think about Russia...

See - we have idiots on both sides :)

Russian hackers are a meme right now because of their meddling in the US Election. They hacked the Clinton campaign's email system. There's also the recent spate of DDOS attacks traced to Russia, iirc.

After Trump election you can forget about them.

Yeah, that's kind of the problem.

You don't understand difference between local hackers and government-paid hackers.

I do understand it, of course. Regarding "coincidence", it was a kind of joke - a quote from top Russian propagandist Kiselev. ;)

Agree. Some say Russia is the only neighbouring country Norway hasn't been at war with, although I cannot think of a time when we ever fought against the Finnish either.

That said, no reason not to be careful after what has happened in Ukraine etc we should of course be careful: Russia can wipe out half of Norway just by turning around while they sleep.

Frankly i think that oversimplifies what happened in Ukraine.

The civil war may or may not have been part of the plan, but the primary Russian goal was to secure their supply route to the Black Sea naval port.

A port that Ukraine had been happily leasing to the Russians since the dismantling of the USSR.

There are no such reason for Russia to enter Norway. They already have Murmansk as a naval port, and they export way more oil and natural gas than Norway.

There is no civil war in Ukraine.

You guys were lucky Russia didn't roll over Finland in 1939. You'd probably be next in line, right after Sweden.

Maybe yes.

That's why we try to be friends and we continue to be part of NATO

And now apparently there will be some 300 US Marines stationed on Norwegian soil. Something that didn't happen even at the height of the cold war...

> Everybody can be smart after the case :) I'm sure now the'll design something more safe.

Yes, but this is the kind of basic issue that everyone designing any sort of networked system should be aware of. The network is not reliable, and if you assume it is you're just setting yourself up for failure.