Global Strategy - blog

Since the political thread of this blog has been opened, I thought it is time to discuss Finland - at arm's length. It seems to be the general opinion in the Finnish society to see the underlying adaptive-submissive tendencies of the people as a bringer of strength in the society. One should sneer upon trouble-makers and show appropriate respect to the carrying forces of the society. If I remember correctly, ‘national consensus' was claimed to be the main source of efficiency by one of the contributors in a fairly recent issue of Kanava. Unfortunately I do not have the access to this issue right now.

Nevertheless, I disagree with the view. Niccolò Machiavelli said something about this in his not-so-famous work, The Discourses. The message is crystallised in the heading of the Book I.4: "That Discord between the Plebs and the Senate of Rome made this Republic both Free and Powerful." He goes on to argue that the liberty itself arises from the conflict between the plebs and the upper class. And further, "...those who condemn the quarrels...pay more attention to the noise and clamour..."

Making a notion of contemporary relevance, I do not see how the Finnish society is going to overcome the ongoing, future, local and international discontinuities with a culture caressing unions, completely unidirectional ‘regional policies' and silence.

Maybe the society should go through the transvaluation of values, à la Friedrich Nietzsche. By the way, this will be discussed at Cambridge on Friday: "‘Transvaluating all Values'. Do you understand this phrase? The alchemist is in fact the most praiseworthy man there is: I mean he who transforms scoria, detritus, into something precious, even into gold. Only he enriches: the others contend themselves with trading."