Finns protest Trump-Putin meeting in name of...peace?

RT
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 16:50 UTC

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

Protesters have hit the streets of the Finnish capital to protest the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, slamming both leaders ahead of the highly anticipated event.

Around 2,500 demonstrators turned up for the protest on Sunday, just one day before Trump and Putin are scheduled to hold their one-on-one meeting. They held signs which read "Make Peace Great Again" and "Refugees welcome," among others.

Comment: The inner contradictions of anti-Trump and anti-Putin mob is on full display. Trump has yet to start another stupid war - that makes him an outlier in terms of American presidents. Putin has never started a war, and he's bringing peace to Syria, which will lead to fewer refugees. It seems these crowds are so pro-refugee they'd prefer the wars to continue, if only so they can show how virtuous they are by then accepting the inevitable refugees.

© Lehtikuva Lehtikuva / Reuters

Speaking at the rally was Heidi Hautala, a member of the EU parliament from Finland's Greens party, who slammed Trump and Putin in no uncertain terms.

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

"The current world order... has been challenged by the admiration of force and an attitude of 'every man for himself.' And this is what these two men, Trump and Putin, have in common - contempt for democracy, contempt for international agreements, contempt for human rights," she lamented, as quoted by Reuters.

© Ints Kalnins / Reuters

In another part of the city, a small group of people, including some from the nationalist Finns Party, staged a pro-Trump rally.

© Lehtikuva Lehtikuva / Reuters

The protests were part of 16 demonstrations expected to be held in Helsinki on Sunday and Monday.

© Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

The city's mayor, Jan Vapaavuori, said he wasn't worried about them, saying the city is prepared and that Finland has a long history of peaceful protests.

© RT

Helsinki isn't the only European location seeing Trump-related protests over the weekend; tens of thousands of people demonstrated against his visit to London on Friday, while several thousand came out to do the same in Scotland on Saturday, where Trump has spent much of the weekend playing golf.

Comment: The Finnish media got on board, penning a letter to the two leaders:

"President Trump often seems to be in search of short-term political benefit at the expense of US allies, the international community," journalists Saska Saarikoski and Laura Saarikoski wrote on Sunday ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting, scheduled for July 16. Their open letter, addressed to both leaders, was published in the nation's leading paper Helsingin Sanomat.

The journalists, who have authored several books on Trump, are alarmed by the prospect of the US president making concessions to the "skilled negotiator" Putin who will sit down at the table "with a whole bunch of aces up his sleeve."

"What is difficult to understand is the fact that President Trump has threatened and intimidated friendly countries while speaking warmly of autocratic leaders, and even of a tyrant like North Korea's Kim Jong-un," the open letter reads. The authors lament the fact that Trump shows no signs of "a persistent policy" required to pressure Russia into changing its attitude. They recall how some observers have raised fears of "a new Yalta where Trump and Putin would divide the world between them in spheres of influence." By invoking Yalta, the authors refer to the 1945 meeting at which the leaders of the Soviet Union, the UK and the US decided on the political makeup of the world after defeating the Nazis in WWII.

Despite being "worried" about Trump's rhetoric towards Russia and its president, the Finnish journalists hope that during the upcoming talks "everyone will nevertheless understand that European matters can no longer be agreed-on over the heads of Europeans."

"The deterioration of US-Russian relations is not beneficial to anyone," the letter concludes.

At least they end it on a sane note.