Sauli Niinistö becomes next president of Finland

Sauli Niinistö announced today his intention to run for President of Finland next year. Considering over 50% of Finns think he should become the next president already, he will likely become one next year.

His popularity is such that the most pertinent question reporters asked was "will you be running for a second term, also?" The populist racist True Finn party has also considered supporting Niinistö for president in 2012.

Finland finally forms coalition government

Finland officially has a government again, praised be our Lord in Heaven. Here's the breakdown. National Coalition gets 6, Social Democrats 6, Left, Green and Swedish People's Party get two each. Christian Democrats get the Ministry of Interior. There are 9 women and 10 men.

Prime Minister Jyrki Katainen (NC)

Minister of Finance Jutta Urpilainen (SDP)

Foreign Ministry is divided as follows:

Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja  (SDP)
Europe and foreign trade Minister Alexander Stubb (NC)
Development Minister Heidi Hautala (Green)

Minister of Public Administration and Local Government Henna Virkkunen (NC)
Minister of Defence Stefan Wallin (SWE)
Minister of the Interior Päivi Räsänen (CD)
Minister of Justice Anna-Maja Henriksson (SWE)
Agriculture and Forestry Minister Jari Koskinen (NC)
Economic affairs Minister Jyri Häkämies (NC)
Minister of Transport Merja Kyllönen (Left)
Minister for Health and Social affairs Paula Risikko (NC)
Minister for Health and Social services Maria Guzenina-Richardson(SDP)
Minister of Education Jukka Gustavsson (SDP)
Minister of Culture Paavo Arhinmäki (Left)
Minister of Labour Lauri Ihalainen (SDP)
Minister for Housing and Communications Krista Kiuru (SDP)
Minister of the Environment Ville Niinistö (Green)

In case you are wondering about the two health ministers thing, there are actually three ministers working the same ministry. The official government website has the following explanation: Risikko, Guzenina-Richardson and Arhinmäki all work in the same ministry called the Ministry of Social affairs and Health. Guzenina-Richardson is in charge of the health services excluding actual medicinal affairs and pre-emptive care. Culture and sports minister Arhinmäki is in charge of matters of equal access to medical care. Social and Health minister Risikko is where the buck stops for all other matters pertaining to health.

From the same page, Foreign Ministry division of labour is as follows. With regards to the Chancellery of Government, Europe and foreign trade Minister Stubb handles the EU-secretariat matters, excluding Council of Europe summits, chancellery matters concerning the modification of EU-founding articles and governmental matters of appointment pertaining to the EU. He is also in charge of trade and Nordic co-operation related things. Development Minister Hautala is in charge of something called Ownership Steering, which basically boils down to governmental investments into developing countries. Other Foreign ministry matters are the responsibility of Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja.

All I can say is FINALLY!!

In other news, just so this post has something to do with the True Finns, three Left Alliance MPs, Yrttiaho, Mustajärvi and Kontula were rumored to consider joining the True Finns. When asked about it, they said "Trash", "Bullsh*t" and "No way", respectively.

Jussi Niinistö: lets form paramilitary groups to attack gypsies

Jussi Niinistö, the True Finn chairman of the parliamentary committee on defence (and a nationalist nutter), said today that Finland should consider arming paramilitary groups in Finland. According to Niinistö's proposal would be formed following the example of extreme right-wing Jobbik party of Hungary, where said groups are known to parade in formation wearing black shirts and violent attacks on gypsy settlements. Like Niinistö proposes, these vigilante attacks are funded and approved by the Hungarian police force who have been spotted laughing on the sidelines as skinhead thugs terrorise Roma people in their own houses, breaking windows and shouting racist slogans. Apparently the defence committee chairman in Finland thinks things like this are desirable and needed.

"This is what Finland needs!" -Jussi Niinistö, 2011

Surprisingly enough, groups such as these are not new to Finland. It was last tried in the Finnish civil war and it resulted in over 20,000 executions of suspected leftist sympathisers in summary executions and concentration camps, and over 30,000 deaths overall in a country with a population of about 3 million.  Following World War II such groups were disbanded in accordance with the Paris peace treaty. They were also banned in Hungary, but re-established after the downfall of the communist regime and the rise of populist right wing parties.

The results

I heartily suggest everyone read the blog Gyöngyöspata Solidarity, just to get an idea of what is about to happen in Finland. Not a day goes by without Iltalehti reporting another 'gypsy crime', or someone in Helsingin Sanomat calling for the deportation of all Roma people from Finland. If you're wondering why the True Finns should not be allowed anywhere near power, Jussi Niinistö his lunatic opinions are enough reason. And the kicker? Jussi Niinistö is widely considered to be one of the moderate True Finn MPs.

Freddy "Holocaust never happened" Wonterghem is at it again!

I blogged before about a certain Belgian immigrant True Finn candidate's views on the Holocaust. Well, turns out Freddy van Wonterghem has expressed his views once more, this time on Muslim women. No, it's actually not about them being subjugated or the violence they supposedly face in Islamic societies. It's rather more upfront than that. Here's what Freddy said on his blog:

Let Saudis stone whomever they want in their own country. When a Muslim woman dies there is the positive effect of having less women giving birth to Muslims. If we kill enough Muslim women, Islam will be extinct. These are the facts.

So yeah, I bet Soini will issue another statement where he "personally disagrees" with this call for an outright genocide against Muslims, yet this person will be allowed to continue representing Soini's party with impunity. Do you know why? It's because the majority of True Finn supporters actually agree with these views.

True Finn parliamentary aide turns out to be a violent criminal

Mikael Lith, a parliamentary aide for the True Finn MP Vesa-Matti Saarakkala is evidently a violent criminal with a penchant for abusing women he's in a relationship with. In 2009 Lith got sentenced to €300 fine as well as paying €1300 in damages to his then-girlfriend. According to contemporary sources, Lith beat his girlfriend with his fists, dragged her by the hair and kicked her while she was laying on the ground. He then tried to pressure her into not talking to the police, which got him sentenced for intimidation as well as assault. What a class act.

fun fact: this is the only picture that exists of Mikael Lith

In 2005 Lith was arrested brandishing a replica firearm outside the Russian embassy. His excuse is he was drunk, and a friend was egging him on. Makes one proud to be Finnish. Here even the most violent, unpredictable and all around odious people are given a second chance, in the True Finn party.

Lith identifies himself as a critic of immigration, and a supporter of traditional Christian family values. Spare the rod, spoil the girlfriend, I suppose.

Timo Soini on a 'pilgrimage' to Ireland

After being rejected from the Finnish coalition government, the anti-european leader of the True Finn party Timo Soini decided to make a 'pilgrimage' to Ireland. Tim O'Soini famously converted to Roman Catholicism while taking part in a student exchange program in Ireland.

The Ireland bailout was one of the more pressing issues during the Finnish 2011 parliamentary elections, which saw Timo Soini gain an historic amount of support. Catholics are weird!

Social democrats, left alliance walk away from coalition cabinet negotiations

Jyrki Katainen's negotiations to form a coalition cabinet took a step backward with the Social Democratic party and the Left alliance walking out of negotiations over disputes with economic policy. This leaves Katainen with the job of persuading the former prime minister Kiviniemi's Centre party to take part in the cabinet, and even that gives the new coalition a slim 105 out of 200 seats majority.

Centre party is remembered for being the undisputed greatest loser of the Finnish 2011 parliamentary election, losing a whopping 16 seats and going from the most popular party to the fourth most popular one. They have stated from election night onwards that they would not take part in any coalition cabinet, and that they would consider taking part in one an insult to Finnish parliamentary democracy. Looks like Jukka Tarkka may have been right after all, when he said he considered a new election a real possibility.