Finnish pseudo-neutrality

The issue


Whist this was unlikely it was still a possibility if Finland fell out with the USSR. Finland was terrified of a repeat of the Winter War of 1939-1940. It was a military conflict between the Soviet Union and Finland in 1939–1940. It began with the Soviet invasion of Finland on 30 November 1939, and ended with the Moscow Peace Treaty on 13 March 1940. Finland joined forces Nazi Germany in 1941 as a bid to regain lost territory like Petsamo, only to find it's self on the losing side. The Soviet Union had leased the port of Porkkala for it's navy to use between 1940 and 1955.

Finland survived the cold war as a pseudo-neutral nation that was covertly in the pay of the USSR. They were allowed to be freer that the offical Soviet satellite states like Poland and could help their fellow Scandinavian nations in non-NATO/Warsaw Pact related affairs. Finnish pseudo-neutrality enraged America.

Also see

 * 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finland#Cold_War
 * 2) http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Finland.svg
 * 3) http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2011/12/finland-and-american-intelligence
 * 4) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17520938
 * 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization