Sweden Starts to Eavesdrop Electronic Communications…

…and here’s one of their senior agents secretly photographed in action. Received from my foreign correspondent in Fyfanstad. My Norwegian espionage advisor has her doubts whether this technique is already mastered in Sweden.

The new controversial FRA law angers also in Finland because it allows Swedish authorities to wiretap any internet and telephone traffic that crosses Swedish borders. This includes a large percentage of Finnish foreign communications.

But is the new intelligence information going to help the Swedish authorities? Only a few months ago they were badly humiliated when a major robbery was done in Sweden although the police was warned about it and they were on the location watching while it happened. The police was not able to follow the robbers because they had left a message that there is a bomb in the police’s helicopter field…

The Strike of Finnair Pilots…

..leaves many on the ground starting from today. Finnair and the pilots have not been able to agree about conditions relating to the outsourcing of pilots.

Finnair is one of the oldest and safest airlines in the world and a pioneer in non-stop flights from Europe to Japanese and Chinese major cities. Today its “operations focus on transporting passengers between Europe and Asia, via Helsinki.”

I hope an agreement can be found quickly that allows Finnair to be a successful airline also in the future. Having one in Finland is crucial as we don’t have any quick land connections to any major foreign cities.

The plane in the photo is a DC-3 that Finnair hasn’t used since 1967.

20 Years Without The Berlin Wall…

…although only moments before the fall it felt like it’s going to outlive the Great Wall of China. THE historical event of my lifetime.

The fall of the iron curtain didn’t just completely change Europe but it ended many bloody conflicts that were supported by the cold war superpowers on several continents. There was no longer imminent threat of global nuclear war although the weapons still existed.

I can’t understand people who say that we now live dangerous times. We have our dangers but still terrorists or our current diseases are nothing compared to what one bad decision by a US or Soviet leader might have caused during the cold war.

It was a miracle that Soviet Union was not able to occupy Finland during WW II. It’s scary to think what my life might have been on the other side of the iron curtain if things would have went according to Stalin’s plans.

The wall in the photo is from Suvilahti.

Here are some Berlin Wall entries from the City Daily Photo blog community’s German members:

• Heidelberg
• Leipzig
• Düsseldorf

The author of Paris Daily Photo was in Berlin exactly 20 years ago and has included photos in his entry.

Cleaning Up The Water Damage…

…at the central railway station. I quickly took a few photos while I was on my way to work. Water from a broken pipe should have flooded to the streets but there was a hole in a wrong place and it damaged the station instead.

This might not look that bad but this metro station might be out of service for the next six months if they need to replace the escalators.

Helsinki metro is pretty small and this is the most important station. Hopefully during the next few days the metro can drive through this place so that the two stations to west of it can be opened as well.

Traffic Problems in Central Helsinki…

…due to a broken water pipe at central railway station.

Metro can’t reach the city center, some trams have to use an alternative route and cars can’t come here either. The metro is probably affected also during tomorrow.

Or is it the tears of the Swedish ice hockey fans who had just witnessed a 7-0 defeat against Finland here in Helsinki? That’s probably the ugliest score in the history of modern Swedish ice hockey.

EDIT: At the moment it is believed that the metro station will be closed for months…

The Trust in The Finnish Parliament is Currently Very Thin

For many years Finland was the world’s least corrupt country in the widely referenced Transparency International’s reports but now our politicians are making sure the ranking is going to drop.

This year the Finnish media has revealed many election campaign funding scandals and it seems that a lot is still to come. Most recently some politicians had received funding from public money that they personally were able to control. Companies have also supported candidates in ways that are not very acceptable in a society where, in theory, transparency is valued. You can only wonder the motives of a company that supported very generously many politicians before it went bankrupt.

Ruokolahden leijona (The Lion of Ruokolahti)

Remember you saw it first here – a photo of the Lion of Ruokolahti (Ruokolahden leijona) published for the very first time.

During summer 1992 Finland was talking about the sighting of a lion at Ruokolahti in Eastern Finland near the Russian border. Naturally there are no lions in Finland so the explanation was that it had escaped from a Russian circus. Except that there were no reports of missing lions. Well, it took a long time for the Soviets to report about Chernobyl and lions are a minor nuisance compared to blown up nuclear reactors.

In July nothing happens in Finland when people are having their vacations but news organizations still have to publish news. And if something even slightly interesting has happened or might have happened, it will get a lot of coverage. The Lion of Ruokolahti has became a term for such news.

Surprisingly the lion was never found. It was also a bit surprising to read now that there are some credible people who think that there actually was a lion. Some of the theories were also pretty wild: the lion returned to Russia where the locals, suffering from the collapse of the Soviet Union, ate it.

Early Exit for Team Finland at the Ice Hockey World Championships

Finland's ice hockey team is known as leijonat (lions) and they are now very disappointed after a 3-2 quarter final defeat against USA.

USA made all their goals in just four minutes and Finland was not able to convert game dominance into goals. The game plan was to frustrate the Americans who then would take stupid penalties but this time it was the Finns who took the stupid penalties without any American provocation.

Next year is a big year as the olympic ice hockey tournament is played and then all the top nations will have much better teams than in the world championships. In Turin Olympics  2006 Finland got only silver medals despite trashing ice hockey’s two great powers Canada and Russia earlier in the playoff games.

Lex Nokia – Privacy vs. Guarding of Trade Secrets

The Finnish parliament is currently working on a controversial law known as Lex Nokia.

Lex Nokia would give companies a right to follow their employees electronic communications. The main argument has been that companies need to be able to protect their trade secrets. Finnish mobile phone company Nokia has a big interest in the law which explains the nickname.

The law has been heavily critiziced by many stakeholders to such an extent that there have been even tv advertisements against it. It is said that the law will reduce the basic privacy rights given by the constitution. The police critized the law because it would allow companies to do more than what the police can do during an investigation. In addition to companies, the law would also apply to any community that provides means for electronic communication such as schools and housing associations.

What Is Imporant In Independence?

Tabloids made independence day extras.

The highlight of independence day celebrations is a party held by the president. An invitation is sent to people who have achieved something special during the year, people in important positions in the society, foreign diplomats etc.

In the years most popular tv program Finns watch as the president and her spouse shake hands with a few thousand guests. You can read from their lips that they also say “Happy Independence Day.” TV presenters try to identify the guests and – most importantly – comment the dresses of the women. For many years even the Finnish Broadcasting Company has used a fashion expert so that the general public will know who has made the dresses and what is special about them.

How can you get a big photo of yourself to the front page? You have to be prime minister’s recently new girlfriend or a member of a parliament with a history as an MTV video jockey. or a beauty queen.