was interviewed by Fareed Zakaria, -shown this morning...
how proud I am, -here is this 56 year old man, -very smart , -very athletic as a bonus
meanwhile them russkies across our Eastern border have
" elected " the evil one..
the very contrast could not be any bigger..
the russkie population should already have a leader
who actually cares about them
this latest KGB agent just wants to build bigger and bigger places for himself, -it's all seriously pathetic
the way the KGB agent and his cronies have looted the russkie land is stunning
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Former Finland PM Alexander Stubb wins presidential election
"Stubb, who becomes commander-in-chief and will lead his country’s foreign
policy, has vowed a hard line against Russia.
Stubb has said he intends to be a unifying force in Finnish society | Emmi
Korhonen/Lehtikuva/AFP via Getty Images
FEBRUARY 11, 2024
BY CHARLIE DUXBURY
Finland’s former prime minister, Alexander Stubb, completed a surprise
political comeback on Sunday by winning a closely fought runoff to become
the Nordic state’s president after seven years in the political wilderness.
The result will have been closely watched in European capitals and beyond
given Finland’s strategically important location along the EU and NATO’s
eastern border with an increasingly aggressive Russia. The country’s
president leads its foreign policy alongside the government, and serves as
Finland’s commander-in-chief.
Stubb, a member of the mainstream center-right National Coalition Party
(NCP), beat former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto of the center-left Green
Party in the runoff, 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent.
Stubb said before the election that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine had
convinced him to return to Finnish politics and to contribute to Europe’s
efforts to face down the Kremlin.
But speaking to reporters after the vote he adopted a gentler tone, noting
that while much had been said during the campaign about “war, defense and
NATO,” his message was “one of peace.”
“We must remember that one of the president’s main tasks is to ensure
Finland promotes peace, and I will do that as president,” Stubb said.
The new president succeeds popular outgoing incumbent Sauli Niinistö, also
of the NCP, who has reached Finland’s limit of two six-year terms.
Niinistö was the face of Finland’s dramatic decision to join NATO last April in
the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine. He was seen internationally as a
quietly competent operator who steered his country through tricky accession
negotiations with Turkey and Hungary in particular.
Comeback kid
Stubb grew up on the western edge of Helsinki. His mother, a housewife,
spoke Finnish, while his father, an ice hockey administrator, spoke Swedish —
an official minority language in Finland.
After attending school in Finland and later the U.S., Belgium and the U.K.,
Stubb entered politics in 2004 as a member of the European Parliament. He
hit the Finnish big time in 2008 when — to his own surprise — he was named
foreign minister.
Praised by allies for his high-energy approach to politics, he was also
criticized during his time in government for his occasionally hasty
statements, and was forced to apologize after being accused of swearing at
a meeting of the Nordic Council, a regional cooperation body.
During a difficult year as prime minister in 2014 he failed to reverse his NCP’s
declining popularity, and lost a parliamentary election in 2015 amid an
economic slump. After a subsequent spell as finance minister he quit Finnish
politics in 2017, vowing never to return.
During the five-month presidential election campaign, observers say, Stubb
earned the support of voters by demonstrating a calmer and more thoughtful
demeanor during debates than had been his custom, and for being at pains
to show respect for his rivals.
“However this election goes, it will be good for Finland,” he said in a debate
with Haavisto earlier last week.
Stubb has said he intends to be a unifying force in Finnish society, something
the country appears to need after a series of racism scandals involving
government ministers and, more recently, strikes over work conditions and
wages that paralyzed public services.
Stubb and Haavisto largely agreed on how to approach the key foreign policy
challenges facing Finland, including the need to take a hard line against
Russia, but observers judged Stubb to be slightly the more hawkish of the
two toward the Kremlin.
Haavisto, for example, opposed the presence of nuclear weapons on Finnish
territory while Stubb said it might be necessary under certain circumstances.
Stubb also appeared more open than Haavisto to allowing a Finnish military
presence on the country’s strategically important Baltic Sea archipelago of
Åland, which would reverse a policy in place since 1856.
Experts say Stubb will need to be on the alert for attempts by the Kremlin to
pressure Finland ahead of his inauguration, including through airspace
incursions or cyberattacks.
Moscow has been accused of orchestrating the arrival of waves of
immigrants from the Middle East at Russia’s border with Finland over the
winter; such tactics might also now resume.
“The authorities should be aware that there is a good chance that Russia is
going to try and test Finland in some way,” said Charly Salonius-Pasternak, a
researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
Stubb assumes the presidency March 1; on Sunday night he thanked voters
for their confidence.
“This is the honor of my life,” he said. "
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