abstention vote was on the use ofnchemical and bacteriological weapons.nEven worse, in November 1983nFinland voted to condemn the USnrescue operation in Grenada, evennthough the operation had the supportnof the Caribbean states. On El Salvador,nFinland voted against the US and.nfor a Soviet-backed resolution condemningnhuman rights violations innthat country. (Here I should point outnthat this anti-US resolution was supportednby all our NATO allies, exceptnfor Britain, West Germany, and Turkey;nthey merely abstained.)nStill, despite these votes, I’ll takenFinland anytime. In the case of Finland,neven pro-Soviet UN votes arenonly half the story. The real storynabout Finland is that it has fought thenSoviet Union in two wars for independence.nIt has resisted Soviet pressuresnin the Khrushchev-Brezhnev era for annalliance and still does, even thoughnthese days the international atmospherenhas radically altered. It’s somewhatndifficult for a small country to benanti-Soviet after the four Reagan-nGorbachev road shows.nIn our own country we have justnseen a presidential race in which, fornthe first time since the end of WoridnWar II, neither the Soviet Union nornCommunist imperialism nor EasternnEurope’s captive nations were a-campaignnissue for either major party orntheir presidential candidates. And innthe House of Representatives sit morenthan two dozen men whose foreignnpolicy votes consistently parallel, innevery particular, the foreign policies ofnthe Soviet Union. “Finlandization”?nOn a previous trip from Moscow tonFinland, my Aeroflot plane had to landnat a Finnish military field, the mainnHelsinki airport being closed becausenof a labor dispute. As I disembarked onnthe tarmac, two camouflaged Finnishnfighter jets came thundering down anrunway in tandem. The roar was painfulnto my ears. As the planes leapedninto the air, I asked a nearby Finnairnguide why send up fighter jets (MIG’snbought by the Finns from.the Soviets)nwhen passengers were still on the tarmac?n”Oh,” said the flight attendant airily,n”we always scramble a few jetsnwhenever an Aeroflot plane comes in,nsort of to remind them we’re here.”nFinland spends a lot of money onndefense, although it doesn’t show innthe figures, where it appears to be nonmore than two percent of GNP. Accordingnto the London Economist, thenfigure is deliberately understated tonkeep Big Brother quiet. Finland’s strategyncalls for great investment in air andnmaritime forces. However, Finnish defensendepends on its conscriptednground forces. Its security policy is wellndescribed by a lecenfly published ForeignnMinistry paper:nIt is only with ground forcesnthat such military readiness cannbe reached as will prevent thencountry from being rapidlynsubdued with airborne troopsnand special forces attackingn. . . key points. By making usenof the depth of Finnish territory,nit is possible to inflict casualtiesnand loss of time on the intrudernand thus make it too costiy fornhim to launch an attack in thenfirst place.nThe nice thing about Finland is that itnspeaks softly and, for a small country, itncarries a very big stick—one that it usednso devastatingly in the 1940 war.nI am not the only American to feelnthis way about Finland. On this trip angroup of US editors and publishers werenreturning to the United States after antwelve-day tour of the Soviet Uniontherenwas little conversation in thenAeroflot passenger plane during then’ hop from Leningrad to Helsinki. As thenSoviet plane rolled to a stop and thenpassengers began to descend, one of theneditors said: “I never thought I’d evernrepeat something by Martin LuthernKing enthusiastically. But I’m aboutnto.”nAs his feet touched the airport walkway,nthe editor rolled his eyes, raised hisnhands skyward, and shouted out: “Freenat last. Oh, God A’mighty! free at last.”nAs several of his companions luggedntheir bags to Finnish customs and immigration,nthey took up the cry, “Freenat last,” out there on the ramp. ThenFinnish attendants grinned knowingly.nIt wasn’t the first time they’d seen thisnlittle ceremony.nArnold Beichman is a research fellownat the Hoover Institution. He isnwriting a book on Soviet treaty ^ndiplomacy since World War 11.nnnLetter From thenLower Rightnby John Shelton ReednE.P., Phone HomenMy buddy Ben is a newspaperman innWilmington, North Carolina. Likenmany in his trade, Ben is a connoisseurnof the grotesque and absurd, and occasionallynhe sends along a bundle ofnclippings and wire service bulletins.nLast Christmas he sent me a year’sn[Dead captain steersojd ghost ship into portnÂ¥wwfnwK^^^nr-n• I “• ‘ ‘ J^ ^ R’ 31 ^”^ *â„¢>9 number • * ” VnIk I “i i tlJmm^>^’^ J^-nSneak preview of blockbuster new book!L-I.T.-.Ck..’nELVIS IS ALIVE!nHorror^n]The King admitsnjhis funeral wasnmovie Innaked and tellsnstares f ^|n3o( secret lifendog to InJin Michigan!ndeath! InSex-change mom begs doc:nr:n’Turn me back into a man’nITeen marriesn^*J boyfriend’snv^jp-‘grandfathin»5tj Bug-siie UFO tound on playground!nworth of Elvisiana, and I thought somenof you might be interested. After all, ancolumn last year about the Elvis cultnelicited more mail than anything elsenI’ve written for Chronicles except anletter about what’s wrong with thenEpiscopal Church. Obviously some ofnyou care deeply about the King.nI hope, however, that you don’t carenas deeply as Jim Tennant, 50, of Wolverhampton,nEngland. The WeeklynWorld News (WWN) seems to havenbecome the newspaper of record fornnews of Elvis, his doings, and his fans;nit says that Mr. Tennant left home withnhis collection of 1,600 Elvis recordsnwhen his wife Joan delivered a meor-Elvisnultimatum. Tennant hadnannounced that he was changing hisnname to Elvis Presley. “I’ve been annElvis fan for 30 years, and that’s a lotnlonger than I’ve known Joan,” he said.nSpeaking of immoderate middle-nAPRIL 1989/47n