Speech by Markku Siira at the Global Conference on Multipolarity, 29 April 2023

Greetings from Finland! I am Markku Siira and I am here to tell you about Finnish politics and how they relate to the idea of the multipolar world.

As everyone already knows, on 4th of April, my native Finland became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO. Although our political elites like to speak of democracy, people were betrayed in the process and no referendum was held to decide about the matter.

This historic transition was justified because of Russia’s special military operation that is going on in Ukraine. But even before that, Finnish public were constantly bombarded by the mainstream media’s lies about Putin’s Russia, so that they would accept only the Western narrative of events.

As I have often argued, because of hybrid influencing, Finland has achieved a foreign policy consensus in which political parties and groups from right, left and centre, have been brought together to promote Atlanticist engagement. Dissenters and critics are not given space in public forums, but are more or less ’cancelled’.

In my opinion, typical political commentators in Finland, have an outdated world view. They still think that the Euro- and Anglophone countries led by the United States, so-called ”collective West”, remains the principal actor and leader of the world. They don’t believe the unipolar moment is already over. This observation led me, over five years ago, to embark on a writing project, aimed at presenting an alternative views on world politics and opening up issues from a ’Eurasian perspective’. So I began my career as a dissident geopolitical commentator.

A recurring theme in my writings is, that the Western-centric liberal order built after the Second World War is at an end, and will be replaced by a new, different one. It is in this unstable, liminal state that we now live. It is this ”state of the world” that I comment on, noting the actions of various geopolitical rivals.

Of course, official Finland still tries to rely on Western institutions, as the latest NATO turn shows. It seems that Finnish authorities can’t accept that we are witnessing a tectonic shift in global power relations.

China and Russia, with their strategic partners, already represent strong poles in this emerging new international order. As in the past during such fundamental changes, the transition will be marked by various crises. The economic system is also undergoing a transformation. I have no doubt that the transnational financial circles are prepared for this scenario, too. The crisis of capitalism has  been talked about for a long time, but in the face of rising inflation, economists’ estimates or technocrats’ talk of digitalization are not necessarily just inspiring.

Will the multipolar world order be more fair, and lead us into a better future? What will happen to the central banks and the big investment companies, owned by the Western globalists? I don’t know, but we have been living in an exploitative, American-led system for decades, so I would at least want to give an Eurasian future a try.

Unfortunately many Finns, because of historical memory, or media’s influencing, prefer to swear allegiance to American hegemony, the bureaucracy of Brussels, or whatever, as long as they can identify themselves as ”Western”, or ”European”.

In 1995, Finns needed the ’eurocentrism’ brought by the membership in the European Union. This was still not enough for some, who also wanted to join the US-led military alliance to confirm their ’Westernisation’. For those living in the NATO bubble, membership in this Atlanticist club represents ’a giant leap into the civilised West’. So have we been primitive Ugrics until now, or how should such a view be understood?

The United States wanted our country into NATO to further its own geopolitical interests; Finland’s national security played no part in this plot. Finnish politicians and others did the necessary foot work, but the plans were drawn up in the Western centres of power already years ago. Once the worst NATO fever dissipates, will the foolish Finns realize they have been deceived?

Things may look dark and difficult now, but it has been interesting to notice, how in this tense situation, where we are still living between the old and the new order, the ideas expressed by Alexandr Dugin, among others, continue to disseminate into the mainstream.

Until recently, concepts such as ”multipolarity” were mentioned only by dissidents and obscure academics, but now, because of co-operation between Russia and China, they are mentioned in the mainstream news.

Here in Finland, it often feels like I am treading on enemy territory, when I speak and write about these things. While the local Atlanticists now celebrate the dire political change brought by the NATO membership, they do not realise that, beyond the small circle of self- satisfied West, the rest of the world is laughing at them, for becoming pawns in the great power game against Finland’s own national interests.

Because of NATO’s enlargement, Russia have to strengthen its military presence on the common border. We shall see whether the military spectacle will continue in Finland after Ukraine? In 1944, Finns survived the end of the world war and the collapse of Nazi Germany with relatively little damage. Will a similar operation succeed a second time in modern times?

Luckily, it is not up to our current political elite to decide which way the future will likely unfold. As the president of China has said, ”we will see changes not seen in a century”. A major shift that is underway, will affect tiny Finland as well, and one day we may again move away from the Western sphere of influence.

In the meantime, regional powers will once again emerge on the scene of international politics. I look forward to meeting you in a multipolar world – if it is not engulfed by the flames of war.

Thank you for your time.