Over lunch I chatted with, among others, one of our Estonian members, Meelis Joost (Various Interests Group), about the conflicts this region has known. Joensuu is a sort of Finnish Strasbourg. It was, after all, founded by Czar Nicolas I of Russia. The region of Karelia was one of the major theatres of conflict during Finland’s Winter War. Much of its territory was ceded to Russia when the two sued for peace in 1940. Only some of this was regained when war between the two broke out again in 1941. (Joensuu, incidentally, lost many of its old wooden buildings to bombardments during those conflicts.) That whole period was simply horrible for Finland, a plucky nation stuck between two lumbering elephants. But consider this. Only three European capitals were not occupied during the 1939-45 conflict; London, Moscow and Helsinki. Melis has lived under Russian/Soviet rule, and so certainly knows better than me the sort of arrangements that have to be made when the choice is, to put it brutally, between being crushed or being squeezed. He told me of a rich irony. Under Soviet rule, Estonians had to do their military service. If they were unlucky in the lottery, they could end up in Afghanistan. Now, young Estonians must still do national military service and they could still end up in Afghanistan. The difference is that you have to volunteer to go, but Estonia is still there…