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Shkruar nga PamfletiThe president of the Scandinavian country is a champion in the sport that Donald loves. And he could be the EU's ace in this field.
On the eve of the Alaska summit, Europe discovered an unexpected "bridge" to get closer to Donald Trump and influence his behavior on the war in Ukraine: Finnish President Alexander Stubb. On the surface, the two leaders have nothing in common except for one very important detail for the president of the White House: golf.
Stubb is so good at the sport that as a young man he received a scholarship to attend an American university for free, where he played in the national university championships, and later considered becoming a professional player. Instead, he chose politics: when he returned home, he became a member of parliament, a minister, a prime minister, and, most recently, president.
Five months ago, he found himself on a green with Trump in Florida, impressing the American president. Since then, they have played together several times, and Donald has called him at dawn in Helsinki, surprised: “What, you’re awake already?” He found him awake because Stubb, 57, is health-conscious, waking up at five in the morning for daily triathlon training and then a sauna. Thanks to golf, the friendship that has already been born is useful for European countries. For this reason, the Finnish leader is included in the selected group, along with colleagues from France, Germany and the United Kingdom, who constantly speaks with Ukrainian President Zelensky and then reports to Trump.
“We Finns have no hidden agenda and are known for being straightforward in our conversations,” Stubb told the Wall Street Journal. “I can tell Trump what Europe and Zelensky think, and then tell them what the American president thinks.” Above all, he understands better than anyone what it means to be invaded by Russia: his grandfather and father were born in the 15 percent of Finland that Stalin managed to annex in the 1939-1940 war. The Russian dictator wanted to conquer it all, but the Finns resisted.
The Financial Times reports that Stubb cites the case of his country remaining democratic and independent as a possible solution for Kiev. What is certain is that when Trump escalated tensions with Putin, he was returning from a golf tournament from which he posted photos on social media with Stubb and the trophies they had won. The hope of European leaders is that with the help of the Finnish president, the Kremlin leader will get lost in Alaska./ La Repubblica
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