Heikki Skyttä 
Traditional car culture and hands-on automotive enthusiasm are going through a period of transition. The average age of car enthusiasts keeps rising, hair in garage crews is turning gray, the ranks are thinning, and conversations more often begin with the words, “Do you remember back when…” Younger enthusiasts still find their way in, but in … Read more
Finland’s rise into the group of countries with the highest unemployment rates in Europe is striking. Even more striking is that this is not the result of a single, sudden crisis, but rather the collision of several long-smoldering structural problems. The economy has stagnated for an extended period, business investment has remained modest, and at … Read more
Historical comparisons have a bad reputation. They’re used too often, too casually, and all too frequently as political weapons with little factual basis or serious analysis behind them. Yet it is precisely through history that we try to understand the dynamics of authoritarianism, the concentration of power, and the erosion of democracy. But is it … Read more
I’ve been producing events since the early 1990s—in many different roles and across a wide range of productions. One of the most important has been the family-friendly classic and hobby car event Big Wheels – The Summer Meet in Pieksämäki, which has been part of my life since 2002. Over the years, Big Wheels has … Read more
The “rules-based international order” has, since World War II, largely been a story the Western world has told itself: a world in which international rules are respected, sovereignty is honored, and disputes are resolved in institutions rather than on the battlefield. Now that story seems to be breaking down—fast. The extraordinary U.S. military operation in … Read more
The Monroe Doctrine seems to have stepped back out of the history books into the world of the living — now reborn as the Donroe Doctrine. But has a new Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact already been concluded as well — and are we already living with its consequences? History has a habit of repeating itself. The United … Read more
We all carry around a whole dictionary of comforting phrases: “Pull yourself together.”, “Think positive.”, “One day at a time.” and the classic: “This too shall pass.” They’re easy to say. They roll off the tongue like an automated reply — friendly, harmless, a little distant. Most of the time, they’re meant to build a … Read more
Donald Trump’s second presidential term has made visible what scholars of democracy have long pointed out: systems do not collapse spectacularly overnight. They first begin to weaken in those areas that relied less on legislation and more on people’s self-restraint and shared rules of the game. In the 1800s, U.S. President Andrew Jackson built a … Read more
Right now, several generations live side by side, each with a very different relationship to war and its threat. There are children, teenagers, and adults for whom the Cold War is nothing more than the title of a chapter in a history book, and many no longer have anyone in their close circle who still … Read more
It’s easy to blame globalization, online shopping, and cheap shipping for the disappearance of brick-and-mortar stores. But honestly, the biggest culprit is often staring back at us in the mirror — we, the consumers. Many of us walk into a local shop to test a product, feel the quality, and ask the salesperson for extra … Read more