Photo Thursday - Valokuvatorstai: Smooth Way

The topic of the Photo Thursday (Valokuvatorstai) of this week was a line written by Vexi Salmi for a late (Finnish) pop musician Irwin Goodman: "Silirimpsis, sileä tie". (Could be something like "Chirpy chirpy cheep cheep, smooth way". But this is a very loose and over-creative translation!)

I have had difficulties to decide on which one of these two ways is smoother, so I have two photos with which I respond to the challenge. The first one being a nail studio:


"Tulevaisuus on kynsissäsi. Silirimpsis, sileä tie."
"The Future's On Your Nails. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, Smooth Way Ahead."


* * * * *

I had to take this one very quickly, because there was a young man being interviewed and I was being watched from the inside. So excuse me but this one is a bit blurred, please double-click it so it gets bigger. The company in question is headhunting waiters and cooks; mainly staff for restaurants and catering services.


"Yhtä henkeä haetaan, hälle silirimpsis, sileä tie."
"One Person Needed. Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep, Smooth Way Ahead."

Auld Lang Syne!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And days o' lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my jo,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.

– Robert Burns, in 1788

(See the end of this post for the rest & link.)

"When will Santa come?", Miss Funnybunny kept asking, with a demanding tone in her voice. Every day, several times a day. Starting in mid-November.



Before Christmas of 2008 I was very tired. The whole autumn had very rapidly moved forward to the most hectic pre-Christmas time, and I felt I am dragging myself somewhere behind. I was working all the time, and being seemingly active, but my mind was occupied in other things: A new writing project had started to haunt me. Miss Funnybunny had grown, got cleverer, really thus funnier, but still with little toddler's tantrums, and she required more and more of my attention after work.

And I wished I could have a holiday.

Finally: It was Christmas! Even though I am not at all religious, I understand the value of peace and quietness, and making the "holy" days more preecious with decorations and presents. At least for a few days.

Ministry for Foreign Affairs with its Christmas decorations on the other side of the bay.


... and a window from where we can take a look at it.


My feet resting when I am watching Titanic. Never seen it before, and I got my chance when Mr HP and Miss Funnybunny went to visit grandparents in the countryside for a couple of days. Me leaving home in the middle of the most beautiful and peaceful time at home? Never! With some wine and chocolate even a film as predictable and boring with not-so-good actors (except the villain = the guy who is to marry Rose) as Titanic was bearable. And with "predictable" I do not refer to the fact that the ship finally did sink. (Boy, was I waiting for that.)


After the holy days: New Year's Eve at friends' house, at a most stylish love birds' nest in Töölö. With Miss F, Mr HP and a bunch of jolly people. (Although we did not experience the very beginning of the year 2009 here, we were watching the great fireworks near the Cathedral of Uspenski.


Finally, Listen to the happy politicians singing and sing yourself with the SPECIALISTS, ie. Scotts! Plus there seemed to be a person from England, too. I also highly recommend you read the praising, tearful comments below the video: "Obama should do the same in the US senate"...

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
And gie's a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne!

(And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give us a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.)
Please see the poem and song as a whole in the Wikipedia site.

Berlin at the end of Nov 08

Hello, Franz Biberkopf, here we come! (The main character in Alfred Döblin's Berlin Alexanderplatz)


In the Berlin web site they say that

"some call it wild, colorful, and full of surprises, while others find it a little too hectic and gruff. Berlin is intriguing because it is so versatile and so multi-faceted. Differences are more extreme, conflicts more tangible, and problems larger than they are elsewhere. Yet even Berlin’s contradictions are part of its appeal."

Maybe that's why I had to organise a trip there. I have been there twice: once travelling through East Berlin in 1988, to Chechoslovakia and further down to Budapest, and in 1991 when I participated an international Nuclear Phase-out Conference (the real name of which I fail to remember). The most memorable moment then was a Buddhist ceremony on the minefield in the midle of the wall area. I think it was somewhere near the Potzdamer Plaz and Reichstag.

Seeing the area(s) now, there is absolutely no way I could tell.


Culture! Among several museums we managed to visit the main building of Faculty of Arts. Why? Because we needed to walk through it to the Jewish monument.



... which is right here. Very still, very moving.



And walking through it was not as easy as it seemed at first.


Books were burning, as everything else, under the WWII.


Ku'damm and its festive decorations.


The splendid life of the Finnish publishing editors does not require sparkling wine only.



Mr HP and I had to visit this place, too. First time in Berlin, for MR HP, it was. And at the Checkpoint I was thinking about the Len Deighton books.



Time to go back to Tegel ad take a plane to Helsinki sweet Helsinki. Editors would have wanted to edit this sign a bit.


We saw none of these guys at the airport.

"I want to go in". Félicitations!

So, you have let your hair grow? Stylish, as You always are. Congrats, Atiq!

* * * * *

"Soon they'll socialise the car industry," Mr HP commented this morning. He was puzzled, and slightly amused, too, I must admit. It is his birthday today, so into our bed he received coffee, newspaper and buns (proudly baked by me) with whipped cream.

While enjoying the warmest congratulations from Miss Funnybunny and me, with self-made cards and a poem (mine!) he was digging into the deep and crushing crisis of car industry in USA. (But good for the environment? Well, perhaps, if they build any alternative means of transportation. But that's what the big country is lacking at the moment.)

Then, just to make him laugh and forget the recession for a sec – an entrepreneur as he is (but in the hard business of literature, so he's not a car salesman!) – I told him the joke M.U. e-mailed me yesterday (THANKS again, dearest M!):

"One sunny day in 2009,

an old man sitting on a park bench opposite the White House, got up, crossed Pennsylvania Avenue and said to the U.S. Marine standing guard, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine replied, 'Sir, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.''Okay,' said the old man and walked away.

The following day, the same man walked over to the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.' The Marine replied, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Bush is no longer president and no longer resides here.' 'Okay,' said the old man again and walked away.

The third day, the same man walked over to the White House and said to the very same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Bush.'

The Marine, understandably annoyed, looked at the man and replied, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to speak to Mr. Bush. I've told you already that Mr. Bush is no longer the president and no longer resides here. Don't you understand?'

The old man said, 'Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it.'

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'See you tomorrow.'"

* * *

And last but not least, I would like to congratulate the newest winner of the most valuable literature prize in France, Prix Goncourt: Atiq Rahimi!

Your books on Afganistan and the wars the nation has suffered from have made me a huge impression. I can hardly wait for the next one!

It was lovely to work with You years ago. The war fabricated by the CIA or George W. or whoever, against "the axis of evil" – one strong member of which was supposingly Afganistan – had just started and everywhere You had to comment on the desperate situation of the Afgans.

But yet, we did have a good time in Central Finland, partying until dawn with a bunch of literature maniacs. It was a literature happening in Urjala, in the nostalgic landscapes of the most important Finnish classics.

Félicitations, cher Atiq!

In an interview Rahimi comments on his book Earth and Ashes: "I wrote the novel in 1996, when the Taliban had just come to power. I thought, "Why? Why this violence? Why so much destruction?" During the Soviet war, there was a lot of vengeance, much catastrophe. The Taliban came from this catastrophe. It is important to know where this came from. Also, I wanted to show the three generations of Afghanistan. Dastaguir, the old man, represents Afghanistan's past, its traditions, its customs, its honor. This is the older generation. His son is the present, my generation. He works in a mine; he is the mujahideen generation, the chaos. Yassin, the grandson, is the future. He is deaf, handicapped by war. It is always true that communication between generations does not exist. My generation, the generation of Mujahideen and Communist, has no communication with the past or future."

* * * * *

Happy Birthday to those of You who celebrate this very day: the twins Ode and Hannu, Antti V, and especially Petteri = 40 years!!!! Congrats for the degree to Ira!

Oh, say can you see

Congrats, USA! And thanks for showing there is hope for the future.

Dear Barack. Now start working for peace and human rights outside the USA, too. (Comes with the job as the World Leader. And you know, you and President Hu Jintao are the guys the aliens want to address to when right after their arrival they say to the first earthlings they meet "take us to your leader".)

In your country, reduce greenhouse gasses IMMEDIATELY (and encourage President Hu Jintao to do likewise), do not be slaves of oil and nuclear industries (like us Finns), build up the economy with green energy and sustainable development... (By the way, does anyone talk about "sustainable development any more, or is it too 1980's?)

Yeah, there's a lot to be done.



I wish I knew how the Kremlin will react! They must be dumbfounded: "What happened?", Putin is screaming. "A black guy? Why couldn't they organise the elections like we do in Russia: tell people who is the only candidate to vote for? But in the USA people actually voted, like, the citizens themselves went to cast their votes? How ridiculous. How could they allow this to happen? What is this sh*t – democracy, what's that?"



You've come a long way, baby! I remember I actually cried at the end of the Roots Tv series. And again when I read the book. This still is one of the best historical half-biografies I have ever read.

Yes yes yes you can!

Hello, Charleston! Hello, West Virginia! It is so good to be here. In the last debate, John McCain felt the need to declare that he's not President Bush. And just yesterday, John McCain actually went so far as to try to compare Barack Obama to George W. Bush. As my granddaughter says: Hello? John McCain is now attacking the Bush budget and fiscal policies. Folks, this is as crazy as the Sundance Kid attacking Butch Cassidy!
– Joe Biden in Charleston a week ago


I feel sorry for Newman & Redford. How terrible to be compared with McCain & Bush.

In the debate this week, my opponent felt the need to inform me that he's not President Bush. And in fairness, I don't blame Senator McCain for all of President Bush's mistakes. After all, he's only voted with George Bush 90 percent of the time.
– Barack Obama in St Louis a week ago

Go for Obama!

thumbsupfingerscrossedmeditationmeditation
thumbsupfingerscrossedmeditationmeditation
thumbsupfingerscrossedmeditationmeditation
thumbsupfingerscrossedmeditationmeditation
thumbsupfingerscrossedmeditationmeditation

I'm so excited!

In the Heart Of Darkness

A good friend said the other day he does not like the saying "one gets what one deserves", especially when brutal, unfair violence is sort of accepted with this saying: A husband killing his wife becauce "the bitch deserved it", or others saying "she deserved it because she did not leave him". A kid being tortured because she deserved it - she must pay for the sins of earlier generations, or maybe she was born in the wrong culture, and so on.

So many people get totally what they do not deserve: they are suffering from violence, torture, just anything a human being can imagine and even worse.



And we, in the rich Europe, get a lot of what we certainly are not worth of. "Goods", as they are called, even when they do good for no-one, or "products". Whatever you call the well-designed jars and boxes, filled with something that will soon be crap anyway.

These gloomy thoughts took over my mind as I am now under this weekend working at the stupidest fair I have ever been in. Anyone with a bit of sanity would become crazy here. This is all about women's "products for good life".

Cheating and crap, I say. Like over-priced cosmetics; "natural vitamins" (but get them from food and all of them are "natural"), "energy" or "balanced" treatments that promise much but most likely do not deliver (except money for the salesmen); memberships for gyms, the shortest term to get committed to being a year (now that is a clever business con. They sell memberships for lazy but hopeful and easily agitated people, and they can sell much more than actually would ever fit into their fitness dumps). And so on. Get the ugly picture.

I am here with The Books, of course. And I wish I was at home, playing with Funnybunny (who is briefly visiting her grandparents, and that's a really good thing, anyway).

* * * * *

A couple of days before I came across this mind-blowing piece in the Independent:

The deadliest war since Adolf Hitler marched across Europe is starting again – and you are almost certainly carrying a blood-soaked chunk of the slaughter in your pocket. When we glance at the holocaust in Congo, with 5.4 million dead, the clichés of Africa reporting tumble out: this is a "tribal conflict" in "the Heart of Darkness". It isn't. The United Nations investigation found it was a war led by "armies of business" to seize the metals that make our 21st-century society zing and bling. The war in Congo is a war about you.

So, is it because You are worth it? Read Johann Hari's article How We Fuel Africa's Bloodiest War and make up your mind.¨


The Congo River, the flow of which is the biggest after Amazon.


Please find more about the exciting rainforests and peoples - like Pygmies - of Congo here.

Please Please Please!

Xenophobic concervatives were the winners of the municipal elections in Finland, getting 5,4% of the votes – but they started from zero.

And I am happily thinking it is not impossible to leave this country some day.



As even the moon is guarded by the Americans, should McCain win there is no place where to escape this ultimate stupidity and arrogant ignorance so typical of concervative right-win politicians in the USA.

Let's help the people of the USA and push Obama's campaign. I give you, my fellow Europeans, some useful tips:

* Whenever you meet with an American who seems religious Christian, conservative, and you know, Republican-minded, tell him you wish McCain won and McCain is widely supported by your fellow Finns/Swedes/Russians/Nigerians. (I don't know about Sweden and Nigeria, but in Finland there are only few supporters of McCain. In Russia this most likely applies, though.)

=> knowing about the support from foreign countries there is no chance he would vote for McCain.

And you don't need to worry about some foreign newspaper revealing the real truth, because concervative Americans don't read foreign newspapers. Actually, they seldom travel anywhere. So it is not likely you'd met any. Ok, this was not a good piece of advice, but lousy.


Denali National Park in Alaska

* But this is a good one: Sisters, let your hair down, add some curls or cut it short. If you have longer hair, wear it in messy-looking style Heather Locklear used to have in 1990's, as if suggesting you have had sex only a minute ago. (This hairstyle is still awfully popular in Sweden, especially among ladies in their 50s.)

=> even in remote corners of Northern Lapland DO NOT get mixed with fans of Sarah Palin and thus channel positive energy into her camp of heavily armed religious lunatics.

=> But if you actually meet a supporter of hers, tie your hair up on your head and tell her you adore Sarah Palin, and when Alaska is transformed into a huge oil field the Russian oligarks (and smaller players now buying houses by the big lakes in eastern Finland) will quickly build their datchas in Alaska as well, since for them the Northern USA feels even more like home, at the same time being the country of their dreams. (And boy, aren't they religious, too. And when it comes to Palin's beloved hobby hunting I bet some Russkie oligarks would love to join the team.)

* * *

I just have to end this post by saying Please, Please, Please: go for Obama, please. Yes you can!

"It Should Be All Over". Please Don't Blow It This Time!

After a lengthy period of hectic duties; bookfairs in Turku, Frankfurt and Helsinki, travelling, organising, even partying (haha something easy, too!), I am doing my best in trying to recover and get back to normal.

Just as if I knew what the so-called normal is.

* * *



(President of the United States, David Palmer would be happy with the latest developments in the USA election circus.)

* * *

Normal? Besides being with Miss Funnybunny. She has suddenly become big enough to really start missing her mom and dad. And she quite bluntly tells us that. Which makes leaving her, even for a couple of days, more and more difficult. As it should, I know. Fortunately she likes being with the ones she has stayed with (THANK YOU EVER SO MUCH!), so we don't really need to worry about her. Just miss her.

I finally got a new laptop, so I can do some top-quality blogging at home, too. Or in a hotel, like the following weeekend, when I am working at a - surprise, surprise - fair, in Tampere, central Finland. (It's not a book fair this time, but something totally else. Since I'm more than a bit embarrassed of being lured to go there, I will not get into more details about this now.)

Miss Funnybunny will be first coming with me, and after a day leaving with her dad to see the grandparents, so I will not have to suffer from the ugliest guilty feeling. That's pretty helpful.


* * *

The US election polls are making the world anxious. Despite the predictions anything can happen. The unpredictable and the unpredictably horribly stupid has happened before.

"Mark Steel: I'm frozen with fear – could Obama still lose the election?

The Republicans have had the worst campaign possible. It should be all over.

I'm still cacking myself. I know all the commentators are saying Obama's already won but I find myself scouring the internet for reassuring polls, and there'll be an article from Nevada quoting a truck driver that's supporting McCain, and I'm like a hypochondriac that's discovered a lump, frozen with fear and convinced this means the Republicans will win and reintroduce slavery and make it illegal for any creature to evolve.

Because it ought to be utterly totally wrapped up, as the Republicans have had the worst campaign that could ever be possible. The candidate looked like there couldn't possibly be anyone in the country more idiotic, but he scoured the continent, found someone who was and made her his deputy. Then a disastrous economic crisis began weeks before the election while they're in charge, then their own side started deserting to Obama, they've been caught spending half the economy on dresses, but they're STILL only a few per cent behind. ...

Scary, isn't it? But please, please, dear Americans, please don't blow it this time.

(You can read about Mark Steel's heartache in the Independent of today, linked here.)

"She Is Still With Us"

Sorry for silence. Miss Funnybunny accidentally broke my laptop, and I have been far too busy to write this at work. (The insurance will cover a new one - I have just beeen to busy to buy the new one!)

But no time for silence. Today is marked as the second anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya. Therefore I must publish the following reminder written by my dear friend Oksana Chelysheva.

* * * *

On the second anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya's murder I feel like speaking up on those who are still alive. This year I felt more inclined to commemorate her on her birthday and to raise other people's fates on her death day.
Anna Politkovskaya is one of them as here assassins fail to erase her voice, her views and her deeds as well as her charm from her friends' memory.

For me personally Anna is one of those few who will never cease to exist. She is still alive as she is with us in her articles, in her small granddaughter who was named after her. Even the hatred of those who are hiding their shadows behind statements on Anna's "insignificance" and "damaging Putin's Russia's positive image" can't destroy the voice of Anna.
At the same time, I can't accept this kind of post-mortal symbolism of the person who often felt too lonely and even marginalized being called "too passionate", "too radical", "too much involved" and not very "diplomatic" unlike a huge crowd of those who prefer to balance the circumstances rather than call on their changing.
She was often listened to without being heard. And it is also the responsibility of those who could have done a lot more to stop Russia's sliding first to autocracy and now to despotism by just calling the developments in Putin's Russia by their real names…

Anna wanted to live, to enjoy life as fully as such a bright person could, to continue her often desperate attempts to help out those who didn't have public recognition of the level she had.

Their number is increasing rapidly. More and more people are being killed without any hope that their deaths would be ever investigated and the guilty would be ever brought to account. People are being taken into custody under falsified charges. They are more and more often subjected to enforced psychiatric treatment. They are being labeled as supporters of terrorism and traitors of Russian like it happened to terrorism survivors from the Voice of Beslan and Nord-Ost public associations.

Magomed Evloev, the owner of an independent Ingush website, was killed while in police custody on 31 August 2008. The murder is crying for impartial investigation, to ensure that the circumstances under which he died are brought to light and that those who are responsible for his death are charged and tried in accordance with the law. Nevertheless, the outrageous extrajudicial execution perpetrated at day light is declared to be "a death caused by accident". On October 6, life of another Ingush opposition leader was attempted. The car in which Akhmed Kotiev was driving was fired at. Fortunately, the bullets have missed this time.

On 25 July 2008, human rights defender Zurab Tsechoev, working for the human rights organization MASHR (peace) in Ingushetia, was taken away from his home in Troitskaia, Ingushetia by armed men, thought to be federal law enforcement officials. A couple of hours later he was found on a roadside near Magas, the capital of Ingushetia, with serious injuries. He had to be hospitalized. Is there any hope that the perpetrators of this act against Zurab Tsechoev would be ever identified and brought to justice? Much depends on what kind of response the authorities of Russia will get from the international community and whether this response would be limited to some mild rhetoric and expressions of concerns.

Late on 1 August 2008, an arson attack was allegedly made on the flat of human rights defender Dmitrii Kraiukhin from the town of Orel in the Central Russian Federal District. The arsonists had also allegedly tried to block the entrance door. Luckily, Dmitrii Kraiukhin was reportedly not in the flat, but his relatives who were, were able to alert the fire brigade in time. So far, to Amnesty International's knowledge, no criminal investigation into this case has been undertaken, as the authorities allegedly considered the damage too insignificant to warrant a criminal investigation. However, this is not an isolated incident as far as threats to Dmitrii Kraiukhin are concerned.

On 14 August 2008, unknown assailants threw a brick through the window of the flat in Nizhnii Novgorod where human rights activist Stanislav Dmitrievskii lives. Luckily, nobody was hurt. At the same time, the entrance of his apartment building was covered with abusive language and threats against Stanislav Dmitrievskii. Actually, it was all painted with swastikas. A criminal investigation into this attack has been opened. However, I don't believe that it would bring any results. There have been several cases initiated into death threats that both Stanislav and I have received in the last three years. All to no avail. I have heard various investigators telling me, "You do understand… the circumstances. We would not be able to identify those who are behind the threats".

They won't be able because they don't want to. Because they are afraid to get their own voice. Because they are not masters of themselves, in their words. Because they are ready to implement whatever kind of order as they are just loyal serfs of their master.

And it is in your hands to influence them. They should be under moral pressure from all people of good will. They should know that they will never be accepted and welcome outside Russia for their readiness and willingness to be on orders.

They should know that even their property bought in Finland, Spain, Italy, Germany, Austria, Montenegro or Czech Republic and Slovakia would not make them your neighbors. They should know that not everything could be purchased, no matter how wealthy they are. They should be aware that you have honour and dignity and that you are ready to stand up for them. They should be denounced and put to shame.

Oksana Chelysheva

Footage: Yevloev speaking. Suomenlinna, Helsinki, 2008.

Magomed Yevloev, the Ingushetian lawyer who fought for constitutional rights for his people, was killed yesterday in Nazran by the local police forces.

He visited Suomenlinna, Helsinki last summer. Please see the footage on You Tube, linked also here.

Statement on Yevloev

Statement on the killing of Magomed Yevloev

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum, 31.08.2008

The Finnish-Russian Civic Forum is shocked to hear about the killing today of Magomed Yevloev, the publisher of the Ingushetiya.ru website.
Yevloev's main contribution was to defend legality and the constitutional rights of all citizens of his republic. He stood away from the wave of violence raging in Ingushetiya. He was a man of peace in a region plagued by relentless and uncontrollable conflict.

Yevloev did not consider himself a dissident but said that it was only his duty to report events as truthfully as possible. Due to his extraordinary courage, Ingushetians were able to tell the world how flawed the election to the Russian State Duma in Ingushetiya had been.

We remember Magomed Yevloev as a friend after he participated in the second Finnish-Russian Civic Forum in Helsinki in June 2008, speaking to the public and the press about the problems of censorship in today's Russia.

We send our most heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of
Magomed Yevloev.

Helsinki, 31 August 2008

Finnish-Russian Civic Forum

Magomed Yevloev dead

According to the information I have recently received, Magomed Yevloev was killed this morning in Nazran, Ingushetia. Yevloev was a lawyer and publisher of the website "ingushetia.ru".

Yevloev was detained by the police at the airport in Nazran, and he was later delivered to the hospital - again by the police, it seems - where a wound in his head resulted to his death. According to the hospital he had been shot.

Mr. Yevloev visited us, the FinRosForum meeting last summer in Suomenlinna (Sveaborg), Helsinki. I will add a quote from him into IStori soon after I have watched his speech with my fellow Forum guys. EDIT: the footage is here.

Please see the Kasparov website for the news (in Russian).

* * * * *


This little princess is Anna Stepanovna Mazepa (later: Mrs Politkovskaya), age four, in New York where his father was an ambassador of the CCCP.

Yesterday it would have been Anna's 50th birthday.

Yes they can nominate him!

I have a dream! Even though I am not a Finnish Social Democrat, well-known for their new campaign made out of wishes that must come true if they are to continue among the hard-core achievers in the Finnish politics.

A Historic Moment. I can feel the winds of change.

Reuters today, in the Independent:

To shouts of "Yes we can," Democrats nominated Barack Obama yesterday as their presidential candidate in a historic first for a black American.

The following points belong to Obama's goals (quoted from his website, under the title of Foreign Policy):

# Strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty: Obama will crack down on nuclear proliferation by strengthening the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty so that countries like North Korea and Iran that break the rules will automatically face strong international sanctions.

# Toward a Nuclear Free World: Obama will set a goal of a world without nuclear weapons, and pursue it. Obama will always maintain a strong deterrent as long as nuclear weapons exist. But he will take several steps down the long road toward eliminating nuclear weapons. He will stop the development of new nuclear weapons; work with Russia to take U.S. and Russian ballistic missiles off hair trigger alert; seek dramatic reductions in U.S. and Russian stockpiles of nuclear weapons and material; and set a goal to expand the U.S.-Russian ban on intermediate-range missiles so that the agreement is global.

I wonder how Russia will take all this. I wonder. A black candidate reducing nuclear stockpiles. The Nashi kids must be dumbfounded, too.

I am afraid the Cold War is alive and well, and it is the Eastern block strenghtening it, this time.

A missile seeking sunshine in its silo.

Ruhnu (Runö)

This summer's Estonia Flower tour (Blomsterresan) headed as far as to Ruhnu, an island of 64 inhabitants in the middle of the Gulf of Riga. The surface of the island is 11,9 km², length 5,5 km and width 3,5 km.

It was excellent. We were 30 Finns, the majority of us (all but Mr HP, Miss Funnybunny and me) Swedish speaking Finns. Swedish as their mother tongue, Finnish as nationality.

Workers, unite!


One of us had to leave from the Tallinn harbour back to Helsinki with a helicopter and continue to Moscow, and to Georgia from there. The newest war in Caucasus broke just when we had arrived in Estonia.

So, from Tallinn, we 29 people drove by bus to the Munalaia harbour near Pärnu and took a small ship to Ruhnu. According to the information given by the captain the ship is not to leave the harbour if the wind becomes faster than 15 m/sec. But, as we think the case was, in the middle of the sea the wind was much heavier than the limit.

But I think we all would have become seasick anyway.

As we all did. So what. Recovery starts quickly, just when one has jumped onto earth. It took only three hours to get to Ruhnu, and - if you don't count the wind - the weather was mild, warm, almost sunny, and the water (= the Baltic splashing all over us) was warm, too.

Mr HP and Miss Funnybunny relax on the deck.


Our house. Our little family lived downstairs, with another couple next door, and four people upstairs. We all lived in cottages like this. loooks like from the Lord of the Rings, doesn't it? "Shire" I mean.


Our Swimming Society swam at 7 in the morning. As we did in Pärnu, and had shots of brandy afterwards. "Must celebrate the End of the Season", as our President explained.

Limo rand (Limo beach), Ruhnu.


Friendly fox, pal of Miss Funnybunny's.


A tromb is arriving. Luckily we sailed to the opposite direction.


Before being back in the North, we still had some important things to do:

firstly, to see a garden...



then, to enjoy nightlife on board (Tallinn -> Helsinki).


Last and least, the Sveaborg (Suomenlinna) fortress very near home sweet home, in Helsinki, Finland (despite the Swedish flag of the ship).