The Duran Podcast - Finland NATO Gamble: Unemployment, Drones, and Silenced Press w/ Armando Mema

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

Finland NATO Gamble: Unemployment, Drones, and Silenced Press w/ Armando Mema

All right, Alexander, we are here with Armando, Mema, joining us on the Duran for the first time. Armando, it is great to have you with us, and where can people follow your work? Thank you very much for inviting me. It's a true honor to be with you today. I'm a very big fan of yours, and I think you have one of the best show on YouTube about job politics and where people can find out how things are really going on almost on real time with daily updates. And today, Alexander, allow me to tell people, if you like the show and the program, please subscribe and support the Duran show because it's a very good quality.

and in these times of all sort of information, it's a very rare thing. Just say, thank you. Thank you. And your ex-account, Armando, your ex-account is an excellent ex-account. Yes. I will have it as a link in the description box down below, and I will also have it as a pin comment. So, Alexander, Armando, let's talk about what is happening in Finland.

We've got a lot of news coming out of Finland recently. Indeed, an awful lot of news. And can I just say that we are very, very privileged to be talking to Armando today. Armando is somebody's been involved in Finnish politics. He understands the situation in Finland very well. Finland is a country that is particularly dear to me. I've been there many times. I've been to Helsinki. It is the part of Scandinavia, which I am connected to. And it is a country with a very very very, very important and very interesting history. And it's a history which I'd like to explore with Armando to a certain extent, because it brings us up to date with events that have taken place, which he has been affected by, and I'd like him to talk about that, and the general effect on Finland itself. Now, I get to say a little bit about my understanding of Finland. Finland is a country that fought and struggled for its independence. It was conquered by the Russians after a war with the Swedes in the first decade of the 19th century.

It became an autonomous region within the Russian Empire, a relationship which was not without tensions, but which saw Finland develop, and develop its culture, including its high culture. Sibelius, the composer, for example. It's a country that then gained its full independence after the Russian Revolution. It continued to have a very complicated relationship with Russia. It fought a war, which is well known in much of the West,

the Winter War, as we call it in Britain, in 1939, 1940. Then there was what I think in Finland is called the continuation war, which was fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during the Second World War. And Finland came out of it and through very skillful and intelligent diplomacy, it came out of it very well. And the result was the Finland that I came to know, which is dominated by one political figure, which is the president of Finland for many decades, a man Uro Kerkerenen, who became universally respected as one of the leading statesmen in Europe at that time.

And contrary to what you often hear, Finland pursued a policy, an independent policy, which was a policy of non-alignment and neutrality. Now, I've heard many stories about how it was part of the Soviet sphere of influence. This is entirely not true. After the Second World War, the Soviets briefly had a military base in Finland, but Kekernan managed to get that closed. And during that entire period, Finland's economy, its society developed rapidly and above all its democracy.

And it became one of the great successes of post-war Europe. So I just want to set out that context. Now, Kekhounin did that, as I said, through a policy of neutrality and non-alignment. And my understanding, and to my shock, is that over the last few years, That has been completely reversed. And it's been reversed in a way, which, in my opinion, as somebody who used to know Finland very well and loved it very much, has had a negative effect on Finland's internal situation.

So, Armando, first of all, that was my introduction to Finland. You're welcome to push back against any of the points that I have made. if so, please do and tell us what is happening in Finland now. You've made a very good introduction and I think it makes a lot of sense to start from the policy of neutralities that used to benefit before and what is the actual today pictures of politics in Finland. and as you said, it is truly going in the total opposite direction. Just to make a short quote about the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb.

He said about the war in Ukraine that it has become his personal war. So this tells you a lot about how the previous president, Keckhkonen, was trying to work through a policy. of non-alignment to a president right now that is saying the war in Ukraine is my personal war. So this tells you a lot about how dramatic and terribly the change in the foreign policy of Finland has become. And for a quick update, Finland used to be a very peaceful country. and since it joined NATO, the situation has changed very much. And a good example of that, I think, is the last week where we had the three Ukrainian drones crushing into three different part of southern Finland, which could have caused very serious damage

to civilians or to the buildings. And I think this, I think I would like to start from this, that these three drones, which after investigation, they were found to be out Ukrainian. So Finland has changed so much the policy of the foreign policy. And at the moment, it is escalating very fast. We had these three drones and the authorities said that there is not much they can do about it. Like they told people that if you see a drone, just go in your home and try to be safe, like, which I find it very shocking. They said that they cannot shoot directly the drones if this is in the direction of Russia. because some missile can enter the Russian territory.

So this is one thing. Regarding the political landscape, I've been active in Finland for about four years. I started with the Green Party, and for a reason which can be found online, I have departed from the Green Party. And what I have learned by my own experience, is that the current political key figures of the country seems to be totally influenced by the policies made in Washington. So now you have from a position of real independence, which was there under Kekkonen, like he was truly making Finland an independent country. So Finland then joined the European Union and it lost its monetary sovereignty.

So that is one of the basics for the foundation of a state that if you cannot print your own currency, you're basically depending from the central bank of European Union. So Finland gradually started to lose its sovereignty step by step. and this, in my opinion, were made possible by policies decided in Washington. And by this, I mean exactly that the deep state cherry-pick, the political key figure of Finland. And I know this is a very big statement to make, but according to my own experience, nothing makes sense of the policies that the current government is. is doing if you don't see it in the optic of the policies made in Washington.

Which is a remarkable fact because, of course, the thing that was always said about Geckernet, the criticism that was always leveled against Finland and against him personally in the West was that through the policies that he was following, would be that he was following, would to repeat again were policies of neutrality. Finland in the main had good relations with the Russians whilst he was president. But as I said, they were never submissive. As I said, he got the Russians to close their base in Finland, which is a difficult thing to do, by the way. But he did that and he successfully promoted Finnish economic interests. But the argument that was constantly incessantly made, was that this was somehow undermining Finland and its freedom and its independence.

And what you're telling us is that the reality is the exact opposite. The abandoning neutrality, which was Kekonen's actual policy, and perhaps we shouldn't just say neutrality, abandoning the defense of independence, which is something that the Finnish people, had fought for very hard for well over a century, but much longer than that, actually. He was undermining freedom, including political freedom within Finland. But now you tell us, actually, actually, the leaders of Finland are to some extent selected. and in every case follow orders that are coming from outside Finland from Washington. So it seems as if what has happened is the mirror of what he was accused of.

In other words, it's exactly the situation of what in Kekkonen State, Finland was being accused of. It's actually happening now. Yes, it's truly remarkable. And since Finland also joined NATO, then also the media started to lose the independence press. Because after that, the media became a mainstream media of a satellite state of the United States. And just the same thing that it has happened in Italy, after all the old. political process. It also happened in Finland where the media, from the day we joined NATO, they only promote the narrative that is decided in Washington. And what this means means that

journalists have a tremendous pressure into publishing real story and real articles. And this was certainly the case of my arrest during the European parliamentary election when Ursula von der Leyen came to Helsinki for a public speech. Just five days before the voting day in the middle of the European election, I was arrested for peacefully protesting and disagreeing. there were protesters from the University of Helsinki, and I was actually not planning at all to be part of the protest that day. And I didn't know that European President Ursula was coming there. And I just, it was so natural to join the crowd and to be among those students that rightfully, they were protesting against the ongoing genocide in Gaza and Europe role in this thing. And so it happened so fast after that I got arrested and the media had a tremendous pressure.

So they wanted to protect Ursula Wunderland image and the European Union image. So the journalists made pictures, video, and they were not allowed to publish anything. Now, the incredible story of this is that somehow the video went viral on X and other social media platform. Even Elon Musk shared on his own profile the video of the arrest. And it was just the day he got the 100. 40 million sanctioned bill from the European Commission. So he reposted the video that day. I mean, what is the situation?

I mean, this is a terrible story that you're describing this arrest for engaging in a peaceful protest against a visiting politician, by the way, not even a Finnish politician. But what is the situation like in Finland today? I mean, what is the state of the economy? What is the state of society generally? Yes, the economy, we used to benefit a lot from having business with Russia. Just the tourism by itself will produce one million euro per day to the Finnish economy.

The transportation of gas and energy, I think roughly about 6 million euro per day. So we used to purchase this energy from Russia. As of now, Finland has the highest unemployment rate among the all eurozone. So it has been affected very much. We have an unemployment rate, which it should be around over 500,000 people right now. And for a population of 5.5 million, It's really a huge number on top of that. Companies which used to produce, let's say, in the construction industry, they are facing a big damage.

They will produce things in Russia and then sell it here or transport it around the world. So just roughly, I will say that Finland's economy right now, it's not in a very good shape. It's actually in a bad shape. And this is a direct result of the sanctions against Russia and cutting all energy ties. And of course, I will say the war in Iran right now is affecting. drastically the cost of living. I was just coming from work today and the fuel prices keep increasing every day, which is like as Alexander described in some of his video before,

that it's truly apocalyptic for the energy crisis. Let's turn to the security situation because they said we've had, we have a country that came very close to being massively defeated in, as I said, in the World, in the Second World War. It came through and it came through well. And as you rightly say, it was very peaceful and very secure. It was the place where conferences used to happen. I mean, this is where world leaders used to meet. Helsinki became a major conference center. The Helsinki Final Act is called the Helsinki Final Act because it was agreed in Helsinki. And it was a place, by the way, where world leaders used to like going.

It's a beautiful city. And it's got all of the things that a city like Helsinki absolutely has. It's got the museums, the art galleries, the restaurants, all of those things. So what is the mood now? because you have a president who says there's a war in another country. Is his war? You have a situation where you are now aligned with one alliance against another alliance. The Russians don't want to come to Helsinki for meetings with the Americans anymore

because, well, they see Finland as an adversary state. Is there a sense of fear? You talked about the drone situation and the drones landing in Finland. Are people worried? Of course, people are extremely worried, especially after last week where three drones crashed into Finnish territory. And let's say also that just the fact of being geographically near to a country big like Russia and especially after the war in Ukraine started in 2022.

It's actually started before, but how the media here are portraying it that it started. There is a great sense of, I would say, regret for having joined NATO so fast and for having changed the foreign policy in such a drastic way without leaving the remote possibility of opening the door for diplomacy in future. So I would say that people are frustrated, like the cost, just the average food prices or the basic things for basic life have increased, and they continue to increase from months to months. So people are starting now, especially when they go to the station to buy fuel for their car.

And from one week to another, the price rises sharply, like just for 20 liters right now. I think it's about 47 euro, like 47, 48 euro. used to be before, one euro, one euro 29, one 30. I just saw it today. It was two euro and 79. Are people in Finland aware of something else, which is that I've read several articles in the British media, which say that, you know, if we do find ourselves in a war with the Russians,

if Europe finds itself in a war with the Russians, It'll be the Finns who will take the first blow. And we needn't worry because the Finnish army, which is 200,000 men, is one of the best. In other words, we are in Britain talking about the fact that we are hiding behind the Finns, that we see the Finns as our front line. I mean, are people in Finland aware of that? And what would they think about it if they knew about it? Yes, yes, they are aware and probably the best way to describe what's the mood about this

will be to share a short story which I talk with a reservist, which it could be called in case of war with Russia. And he told me that he has a vote to die for his country, not for another country. for Ukraine. So the general mood now in the Reservist is that why should we go and fight this war for Ukraine? Like we're supposed to fight wars for Finland, not for Ukraine. So I think this is a personal story which I talk directly to him and of course I will not make the name. But it tells you a lot about the general mood among the Reservists right now. So Finland is going through difficult economic times. There's regret that the policy was changed so suddenly and so quickly.

And without very wide consultation, as I remember. I mean, there was no referendum or anything like that or an election in which people were asked whether they wanted this huge change. There's economic stresses. Is this why they took the kind of action that they did against you, that people in authority, in the media, and all of that, are very, very nervous? I'm just asking. Yeah. When Finland joined NATO, I was at that time, I was with the Green Party,

and Peca Avesto, which was the current Foreign Minister of Finland, and I was part of his presidential campaign. He signed the bill of joining NATO, but that was just a formality. There have not been any public discussion about it. And when you talk about NATO open-door policy, we hear a lot in the media that countries are free to join, but it's actually happening the opposite.

Is NATO who cherry-pick the countries that can benefit is geopolitical interest? And then once they make that decision, they tell the country whether they want to join or not. So it's not actually that free has they portray that Finland wanted to join NATO or no. It happened quite the opposite. It was NATO who thought that Finland might be good strategically and military for its alliance. And after that, the government, and particularly Peca Aviso, it just didn't go even on through the parliament. It was just a formal discussion in the parliament. And he signed the document, and that document is the actual thing that made.

the joining the alliance possible. So it was his signature and that document it's preserved today there is a copy that the original one of it with Peca Amist's a signature on it and the regarding the sense of people it's sometimes it's difficult to to truly understand how the old society thinks because As I said, the media push a narrative that make it seems as if people still want to support the continuation of the war in Ukraine, that there is no regret at all. And just today they published a new article saying that, well, actually, the dissatisfaction of joining NATO is actually increasing in Finland. but they put it to some 10% of the population. So they don't put the real numbers on the thing

because they want to, in my opinion, to maintain that feeling that somehow still, even if we are in NATO, we are safer than just being by ourselves against Russia. So this is the general idea. So we have this situation, very unhealthy situation, in which the media is saying one thing, which is different from the reality. And the entire political class are going along with that. And the political class, the political system is becoming increasingly disconnected from the people of Finland

who are under considerable economic stress and fear. I mean, this is something we encounter, Alex and I, when we talk about country after country. I mean, I have lots of contacts in Germany, for example, as I think is well known. It's exactly the same there. It's the same in Greece. It's the same in Britain.

Where I live, it's very difficult, once you get into this situation to change, to change things around. Is there any chance it could change in Finland? Are there any political movements developing which might cause an orderly democratic change, a return perhaps to the kind of policies that worked so well for Finland in the past?

Yes, of course, there are, like our political party is the only remaining. party which is opposing the policies that are being carried out by most all of the main party. Like you have SDP, you have Kocomus, you have the Green Party, even the left alliance, which initially they started to have anti-NATO policies and all sort of that, they are continuing to support and vote in favor for more weapons. sending more weapons to Ukraine. So that is one thing that I learned when I was part of the Green Party,

that there was not real opposition in Finland, and that was one of the reasons that made me leave the party. And it was a very difficult choice to make, because usually people, when they want to make career, they go to a bigger party, which can give them more operational, and possibility to grow in their career. But I made the opposite because all the other political party in Finland, they were continuing unconditionally support for weapons to Ukraine without any strategy for diplomacy.

And the Freedom Alliance, we are a very small party. We have a last chance, which is next year for the parliamentary election. If we don't manage to win seats in the parliament for next year, then our political party will be dismantled. According to regulations, you cannot continue to keep a party if you don't have any seats in the parliament. So as of now, we are the only opposition, which is somehow moving things. one good example is that the Russians started to notice this that we were doing opposition to the main political party. And they were actually agreeing with some of the things that I say. And for this reason, I got a tremendous publicity, a tremendous advertisement in the Russian news.

Like, I will say I have more interviews on the Russian outlets than on the Finnish one because the mainstream media here wants only pro-NATO, only pro-Euro, but the actual thing to restore democracy in this country will be to return to local currency, to Swarman Marker, so you can actually print your money. and then once you have the monetary sovereignty, you can make policies of change the economy. As of now, we have to take loans from the European Central Bank. So this is one main thing of our political party. And the other thing, it's policies of neutrality. Like we're not that optimistic that we're going to have good relations anymore after all the things that have happened with Russia, but we're hoping to have just a normal relation with the neighborhood. So we would like to reopen the border.

We would like people to re-travel, to reunite with their families. And in this historical context of energy crisis, it could be very strategical for Finland to buy cheap energy. where in the market now, like just this week in Italy, they started to reduce the flights because they don't have enough fuel. So the summer flights are compromised because they don't know if they will furnish enough fuel coming from the Strait of Ormuse. So this tells you how really policies of neutrality can benefit a country. country and we are trying, I am trying in my political career here in Finland, but it's very

challenging when the opposition that all making Washington narrative, they're not saying what could be the actual benefit for Finland to have cheap energy, for example, when the media are controlled. And now, after being controlled, they also started to attack me, trying to discredit and ruin my reputation by all means. And they're not giving me interviews, for example. So if you can't have an interview, how can you reach the people to express your idea or thoughts?

So this is pretty much the situation right now. which takes us back to the issue about a political system that's becoming very, very nervous because if they weren't nervous, presumably they wouldn't be behaving in that way. This is a policy that you've outlined that takes us back to a policies that Finland used to follow, which worked. I mean, I saw that Finland. I saw how they worked. So I would have thought that it would resonate with most people or many people in Finland

if they were to learn about it. And Finland is a country, as I said, which has fought for its independence and its freedom before. So I would like to believe that that tradition, that tradition of fighting for freedom and independence has not gone. Anyway, I'm glad that there is a political movement in Finland. does that, which points to the simple geographical facts which all countries need to think about when they make their policies. Armando Mehmet, that's my last comment. Is there anything further that you wanted to say? No, I just wanted to thank you very much for today's interview, because it was really, really great, and it gives a chance also for our political party

to be heard in alternative media space where we can share freely our thoughts without pressure, without openly. And so thank you very much for inviting me. And I hope you reach a million of subscribers because you have a very good show. And it helps people understand better the reality. And that's a very,

honorable thing to do for allowing people to understand better the reality. So thank you. Well, thank you very much. And as I said, good fortune to you. Thank you, Armando, for joining us. That was a great show. Follow Armando on X. I have the link to his X account in the description box down below,

and I will also have it as a pinned comment. Armando Memma, thank you so much for joining us.