Finland will not give any development aid to governments and countries that support Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to the programme of Finland’s new right-wing government, Foreign Trade and Development Minister Ville Tavio told YLE on Monday.
Seems like a bad idea to tie humanitarian funding to the political stances of these governments, especially when ostensibly part of the reason to provide it is as reparations for Finnish participation in colonization. It legitimizes China’s use of the belt and road initiative as a political cudgel, while still making it a more viable alternative for countries that don’t share our values. Aren’t programs like this meant to draw countries closer to the west?
It’d be one thing if “support” meant countries that are actually providing weapons to Russia, but this article is short and nonspecific about that.
