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The Star
19-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Prepping for war on ice and snow
THE Finnish Defence Forces sent out an urgent message: we are being invaded. We need help. Hundreds of US troops – part of a new Arctic division – boarded planes in Fairbanks, Alaska. Their flight curved over the North Pole and landed at Rovaniemi Airport in northern Finland. The soldiers quickly unpacked their M-4 assault rifles, rocket tubes and belt-fed machine guns and deployed to the quiet snowbound forests, dressed in Arctic whites and vapourproof boots. This was all just a drill, launched in mid-February. But the scenario is believed to be increasingly possible. As climate change melts ice across the Arctic, that part of the world that was once so remote and forgotten is becoming more accessible and more contested. The world's major militaries – US, Russian, Chinese and European – are all training for a winter war. 'It's really only been the past five or six years that everybody's moved on from the global war on terror,' said Robert McBride, a Canadian brigadier-general helping oversee the war game. 'Arctic nations are starting to understand the strategic importance,' he said. 'The Arctic now has come to preeminence.' The recent drill played out at a strange time in global affairs. US President Donald Trump has been leaning away from Nato and getting friendly with Russia, and European leaders are seriously discussing how to create their own defence industry should America abandon them, something unthinkable just a few months ago. But on this frozen ground, at least, US military cooperation and the perception of Russia as a widening threat appeared unchanged. In Finland, which fought the Soviet Union during World War II, Russia remains the once and future enemy. 'There's an old Finnish saying,' explained Janne Kuusela, a Finnish defence official. 'Russia will take what's not nailed to the wall.' America's relationship with Finland, one of Nato's newest members, seems solid. Trump recently played golf with its president, Alexander Stubb. Afterward he praised Stubb's golf skills and said, 'I look forward to strengthening the partnership.' The two sides worked well together during the battle in the snow. The Finns were nimble attackers, zigzagging through the woods on long, narrow skis. The Americans set up machine guns on small round hilltops and dug foxholes in the snow. Both sides said Arctic warfare was different. 'It's kind of like operating in space,' said Christopher Brawley, a US colonel. 'No one's coming to help you,' he said. 'And the environment will kill you.' The cardinal rule is staying dry. Jackson Crites Videman, a Finnish soldier, recounted a gruelling test that Finnish soldiers must pass. With all their gear on, including skis, they plunge through an ice hole cut into a river and have to scamper out – without freezing or drowning. The day he did it was -36°C. He had about two minutes to strip off drenched clothes and change into new ones before frostbite set in. And his hands stopped working. 'Your friends have to help you with the zippers,' he explained. Crites Videman, who is half-Finnish, half-American, was drafted into the Finnish military a few months ago. Finland is one of the few Western democracies with mandatory conscription. It's a country with a small population of 5.6 million, shares Nato's longest border with Russia – 1,336km – and it recently raised military spending. Finnish defence experts say tens of thousands of Russian troops used to be based near that border but have been decimated in the Ukraine war. They believe it will take five to 10 years before they become a threat again. Before the Ukraine war, the Finns say, Russia was investing in its Arctic forces, modifying tanks to operate better in the cold and designing new troop transporters. The United States has been doing the same. In 2022, it designated the 11th Airborne Division, based in Alaska, as its first and only Arctic division. The division is experimenting with new uniforms and different combat skis. During the exercise, the Americans showed off a new tracked vehicle that chewed its way up icy slopes, some quite steep. The soldiers lived off special cold weather rations, higher in calories, because of all the energy drained from trying to stay warm. Warfare during the Arctic summer isn't much easier. First, there is the issue of the sun. It never sets. So the advantage that night-vision equipment gives Western militaries is eliminated. When the ice melts, the land turns incredibly mushy. Upper Finland, for example, is covered in thick forests, small mountains, marshes, rivers, lakes and bogs, making it very difficult to navigate. In many ways, it's easier to move in winter. During the war game, the attackers exploited the frozen rivers like highways. Soldiers dashed across them, guns strapped to their backs. The commanders seemed pleased with the exercise and especially happy not to talk about politics. When asked if he were worried about Trump's friendliness with Russia, Sami-Antti Takamaa, a Finnish general, said, 'It doesn't worry me at all.' 'The US airborne division just came from Alaska,' he said. 'That's what matters to me,' he added. — 2025 The New York Times Company This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Boston Globe
15-04-2025
- Boston Globe
Santa lives in Rovaniemi, Finland. Some of his neighbors are not thrilled.
Tähtivaara scanned the label — in Finnish — and told her no. She saw more tourists in snowmobile suits lingering by the cashier. Before they could make eye contact, she got out of there. 'I was thinking: Here we go again,' she said. These were small impositions, but enough was enough. If you're blond and therefore identifiable as a likely native of Rovaniemi, you can barely move around a supermarket during tourist season — and it's all Santa's fault. A simple marketing idea, playing off a cherished childhood fantasy, has made a small city on the edge of the Arctic Circle almost unlivable, some people who live there say. Advertisement And it all started when the Nazis came to town. Early in World War II, Finland allied with the Nazis, who built a big base in Rovaniemi, a Lapland railway hub. But by October 1944, the Nazis were losing, and the Soviet Red Army was marching into Eastern Europe. As a little memento for the Finns and the Russians, the retreating German soldiers burned Rovaniemi to the ground. After the war, Finland asked Alvar Aalto, the celebrated Finnish architect, to redesign the city. Aalto, known for his bold churches, concert halls, and kitchen stools, came up with an idea: Why not remake the ruined town in the shape of a reindeer head, with the peripheral roads shooting out like antlers, to honor the area's connection to reindeer herding? Advertisement Aalto's timing was perfect. At that moment, the government was promoting Finland, over rival claims from Denmark, Norway, the United States, and Greenland, as the real home of Santa Claus. But it took some time for Santa to make his entrance. In 1984, just after Christmas, a Soviet missile, launched from bordering Russia, misfired. It speared into a frozen Finnish lake a few hours' drive from Rovaniemi. International journalists and officials flocked in to search for missile pieces. The head of Rovaniemi's tourism board came up with a cunning plan: Let's send Santa to the crash site. Photos from Finnish archives show a man in a red suit with a droopy hat standing on a frozen lake bed next to mangled missile wreckage. A few months later, in June 1985, Santa Claus Village opened 5 miles north of downtown Rovaniemi. Business began to grow slowly. 'It was very peaceful,' said Tähtivaara, who visited as a girl. But Rovaniemi knew it was onto something. In 2009, the city trademarked itself as 'the Official Hometown of Santa Claus.' And the area had another big draw in the northern lights. Tour operators imported all kinds of stuff that was not indigenous to Lapland but fun anyway: dog sledding, igloos, a hotel bar made out of ice. The Christmas season grew, too. It now stretches from October to the end of March. And the city began to change, very fast. Advertisement At the Rovaniemi Airport, visitors are greeted with a sign: 'Welcome to Lapland. Your search for Santa starts here.' Tourism officials in Rovaniemi are stunned by how many people are coming to see the jolly old elf. Sanna Kärkkäinen, the managing director of Visit Rovaniemi, the local tourism board, said that each year since the pandemic, the number of visitors had hit a new high. In 2024, the city had 1.5 million overnight stays, more than double the number 10 years ago. This in a city of 60,000 permanent residents. Tourism generates more than $430 million a year, Kärkkäinen added, and provides jobs for nearly 2,000 people. Santa's character, eager to chat in his 'office' in the city, shared some of the things that had happened in his little red cabin. 'Once,' he said, 'I had some young women who wanted to make an adult film. But how could I do that?' 'Another time,' he said, 'an organization brought some children who had two weeks to live. Seeing Santa was their last wish.' The jolliness faded from his eyes. Asked about the complaints from some residents that the town was overrun by tourists, he replied: 'The people who benefit are happy. Those who don't — they're jealous.' Santa Claus Village has grown into a sprawling operation, encompassing seven hotels, more than 20 restaurants, and endless souvenir shops. Some stores are run by 'elves' in pointy red hats. According to the village's operations chief, the Santas there are trained to carry on small talk in 20 languages. To meet them was free, but a photo cost 40 euros. The place was mobbed. Advertisement Where all these people stay is becoming an issue. Taina Torvela, a retired advertising executive, has been leading the charge against what she sees as Airbnb's abuses in the city. Torvela said tourists renting apartments had spoiled the feeling of community and shaken the sense of safety in her building, which houses many families and retirees. 'It's out of control,' she said. Torvela and others are pushing for tighter regulation that will cut down on commercial Airbnb use in residential buildings like hers. The owners of the Airbnbs, not surprisingly, view the situation differently. Tuomas Alaoja, who grew up in Rovaniemi, manages several Airbnbs and rents out his own apartment. During the tourist season, he can get 500 euros a night for his one-bedroom unit. Three nights at that rate cover his mortgage and other expenses for the month. 'I already have bookings for next year,' he told me. The numbers are so good that investors are scooping up Rovaniemi's limited housing stock to convert into Airbnbs. The city now has about as many beds through Airbnb and other rental sites as it does through its handful of big hotels. That means Airbnb keeps the local tourism machine chugging — whether the locals like it or not. This article originally appeared in
New York Times
12-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Prepping for War With Russia at 36 Degrees Below Zero
The Finnish Defense Forces sent out an urgent message: We are being invaded. We need help. Hundreds of American troops — part of a new Arctic division — boarded planes in Fairbanks, Alaska. Their flight curved over the North Pole and landed at Rovaniemi Airport, in northern Finland. The soldiers quickly unpacked their M-4 assault rifles, rocket tubes and belt-fed machine guns and deployed to the quiet snowbound forests, dressed in Arctic whites and vaporproof boots. This was all just a drill, launched in mid-February. But the scenario is believed to be increasingly possible. As climate change melts ice across the Arctic, this part of the world, once so remote and forgotten, is becoming more accessible and more contested. The world's major militaries — American, Russian, Chinese and European — are all training for a winter war. 'It's really only been the past five or six years that everybody's moved on from the global war on terror,' said Robert McBride, a Canadian brigadier general helping oversee the war game. 'Arctic nations are starting to understand the strategic importance,' he said. 'The Arctic now has come to pre-eminence.' The recent drill played out at a strange time in global affairs. President Trump has been leaning away from NATO and getting friendly with Russia, and European leaders are seriously discussing how to create their own defense industry should America abandon them, something unthinkable just a few months ago. But on this frozen ground, at least, American military cooperation and the perception of Russia as a widening threat appeared unchanged. In Finland, which fought the Soviet Union during World War II, Russia remains the once and future enemy. 'There's an old Finnish saying,' explained Janne Kuusela, a Finnish defense official, 'Russia will take what's not nailed to the wall.' America's relationship with Finland, one of NATO's newest members, seems solid. President Trump recently played golf with its president, Alexander Stubb. Afterward he praised Mr. Stubb's golf skills and said, 'I look forward to strengthening the partnership.' The two sides worked well together during the battle in the snow. The Finns were nimble attackers, zigzagging through the woods on long, narrow skis. The Americans set up machine guns on small round hilltops and dug foxholes in the snow. Both sides said Arctic warfare was different. 'It's kind of like operating in space,' said Christopher Brawley, an American colonel. 'No one's coming to help you,' he said. 'And the environment will kill you.' The cardinal rule is staying dry. Jackson Crites Videman, a Finnish soldier, recounted a grueling test that Finnish soldiers must pass. With all their gear on, including skis, they plunge through an ice hole cut into a river and have to scamper out — without freezing or drowning. The day he did it was minus 36 degrees Celsius (roughly minus 33 Fahrenheit). He had about two minutes to strip off drenched clothes and change into new ones before frostbite set in. And his hands stopped working. 'Your friends have to help you with the zippers,' he explained. Mr. Crites Videman, who is half-Finnish, half-American, was drafted into the Finnish military a few months ago. Finland is one of the few Western democracies with mandatory conscription. It's a country with a small population, 5.6 million, and NATO's longest border with Russia — 830 miles — and it recently raised defense spending. Finnish defense experts say that tens of thousands of Russian troops used to be based near that border but were decimated in the Ukraine war. The Finns believe it will take five to 10 years before they become a threat again. Before the Ukraine war, the Finns say, Russia was investing in its Arctic forces, modifying tanks to operate better in the cold and designing new troop transporters. The United States has been doing the same. In 2022, it designated the 11th Airborne, based in Alaska, as its first and only Arctic division. The division is experimenting with new uniforms and different combat skis. During the exercise, the Americans showed off a new tracked vehicle that chewed its way up icy slopes, some quite steep. The soldiers lived off special cold weather rations, higher in calories, because of all the energy drained from trying to stay warm. Warfare during the Arctic summer isn't much easier. First, there is the issue of the sun. It never sets. So the advantage that night-vision equipment gives Western militaries is eliminated. When the ice melts, the land turns incredibly mushy. Upper Finland, for example, is covered in thick forests, small mountains, marshes, rivers, lakes and bogs, making it very difficult to navigate. In many ways, it's easier to move in winter. During the war game, the attackers exploited the frozen rivers like highways. Soldiers dashed across them, guns strapped to their backs. The commanders seemed pleased with the exercise and especially happy not to talk about politics. When asked if he were worried about Mr. Trump's friendliness with Russia, Sami-Antti Takamaa, a Finnish general, said, 'It doesn't worry me at all.' 'The U.S. airborne division just came from Alaska,' he said. 'That's what matters to me.'
