Right, so Finland and Israel had already signed a military-technical co-operation agreement. So far, so bad enough. The contract was to be renewed every five years and covered development, research and procurement.
But when the old agreement was due for renewal in early 2024, Finland didn't just sign on for another five years. No, the Defence Ministry quietly wrote a brand-new ten-year memorandum that continued the military friendship until 2034.
Now this also included the usual military R&D and procurement sort of stuff, and the Defence Ministry didn't bother to inform the public because when do Defence Ministries ever cite transparency as their driving interest after all.
But now that people have found out, Finland's president, Alexander Stubb, beautiful Finnish name, has already been asked if Finland should continue to purchase Israeli weapons.
And this was his rather unfortunate reply.
Stubb is a perfect example of how to dodge a question so hard that you end up leaving a vapour trail.
He suddenly discovered that whatever was waiting at the end of that pavement was far more urgent than explaining Finland’s arms trade with Israel.
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