The Aland Islands are another oddity, in
the Scandinavian region, to come out of conflict between neighbouring states.
The Aland Islands became part of Finland by way of treaties between the Swedish
and Russians, in their numerous conflicts.
Although a part of Finland the islanders
all speak Swedish. This has lead to tension between the nations, since Finland
got its independence. The Aland Islands have subsequently managed to gain full
autonomy within the Finnish Republic. However there is a full-blown secession
movement that now seeks total separation from Finland.
A large faction of this movement also
seeks to be reunited with Sweden. However such a move could trigger conflict
between Finland and Sweden. Therefore a solution to this problem would be to
allow a mostly independent Aland nation to exist in its own right. It would
most likely be in Commonwealth with the Swedish Crown however. This would leave
the Swedish Monarchy as the head of its Executive branch, whilst it maintained
a fully independent Legislative branch in its own Parliament. This nation would
thus maintain a balanced buffer between the Swedish and Finnish nations.
This would leave a new nation of Aland
made up of the Aland Islands, currently a part of Finland.
The flag of the Aland Islands is yet
another flag of the Nordic Cross family. It is the Swedish flag defaced with
the Finnish red cross, symbolising the ties of the region to both countries. The
islanders adopted it as they achieved more autonomy in the 1950’s.
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