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Germany could have done that for a while at least. Say, in a CP victory scenario, or otherwise becoming the European hegemon in the early 20th century through earlier PODs.

And defended northern Finland against the Soviet air force in the Winter War, with Gloster Gladiators and Hawker Harts. When the Finns just could not spare the planes to send up north, which without the Swedish help would have left much of Finland practically undefended from Soviet air attacks...

Finland can't really do much with ships that big. Not only would it take up to half of the navy's likely (unmobilized) manpower just to crew a single battleship, they also would be well nigh unusable in most of the Finnish coastal sea area because their draft is over 9 metres. The OTL Finnish...

The Soviet evacuation of Tallinn was IOTL one of the bloodiest naval battles in history, period, with the Soviets losing 12 000 or more people and more than 60 ships of different sizes in a couple of days. The Germans and Finns could have arguably inflicted even bigger losses on the Soviets, but...

Given that even the German mountain troops were inept in fighting in the nearly Arctic conditions between Petsamo and Murmansk, and in the sub-Arctic Karelian wilderness, the troops of the OTL Afrika Korps probably are not better for those conditions...

The first part of your comment would be true just after the Winter War, but no longer in the summer of 1941. The Finnish state and military rebounded admirably from the losses of the Winter War, through improving military training and mobilization, and going on a weapon purchase spree. By the...

If you want to try to estimate how the Swedish trade with the Allies and the Germans could change in different scenarios, here is a useful study for that: Eric Bernard Golson: The Economics of Neutrality

Narvik will be used to ship iron ore to the Allies, while shipments to Germany through the Baltic Sea will be stepped up somewhat in comparison to the OTL. Like I said, as long as Germany is a serious threat, Sweden's geopolitical position doesn't make it possible for it to favor the Allies too...

With an Allied Norway, the Swedish will sell somewhat less iron ore to Germany than IOTL, but there are limits to this at least until 1942 or so, depending on how the rest of the war goes. As long as Germany is still a major combatant, and thus a potential threat to Sweden, Stockholm will not...

Winter transport in early 1940. The Finnish Military Museum ... Thirty-three: Before the Flames Arvo Despite his warm clothes, the young cavalry officer felt a cold wind passing right through him here in the dark forest. Outside a card table, Arvo Vaara was not a supertitious man. But if...

A view of the southern Esplanade in Helsinki, from Fabianinkatu towards Erottaja. March 1940. The Helsinki City Museum Thirty-two: Salomo ”Harrumph!” The man in round, steel-rimmed glasses and a heavy, high-quality winter overcoat nearly slipped on the icy pavement, steadied himself by...

You and me both. ;)

Thirty-one: Veli Diving for cover behind a snow-topped boulder, Veli was breathing heavily after the run across the wintery forest. The enemy artillery kept pounding the surroundings, and along with the high-explosive rounds hitting the forested hill, treetrunks were exploding into masses of...

I agree that this is a very personal reason for a negative attitude towards Finland. But then politically and administratively speaking it is a part and parcel of the issues I noted above: from a Russian POV, the Finnish authorities had too much independent leeway to make their own decisions and...

That's why I put the "+" in there, to note the range from 60% to, say 97%. It would be highly optimistic to get 40% Saami. But purely theoretically, it might be possible if you build a small state centered on the province of Finnmark, which AFAIK is up to 25% Saami. Use the arcane magic of...

Being generous and discounting Russian nationalism, we could argue that it was about his reform-mindedness. The Grand Duchy was an anomaly in the empire, with its special rights and special position. Administratively and politically, Finland stuck out like a sore thumb. In order to harmonize and...

Was there a serious larger project to separate the entire province from Finland, one apart from moving the Uusikirkko and Kivennapa parishes from the Grand Duchy to Russia, a move which was already decided upon but never enforced IOTL? If ITTL there is a border correction including just mainly...

A Saami state would not really be viable, IMO. It is hard to see a realistic TL in the 1984 mold to have a total Saami population much bigger than 150 000 people. This is not a number you could comfortably base a state on. Especially as the Saami are spread out in such a comparatively huge...

I apologise for the derailment of the thread. To you and everyone else, including the Author of the TL, to whom I already said as much in a PM. I'll try to behave myself in the future.

Well, to make a short answer to this, my main argument to do with your point about the Soviet Navy is that in my opinion, their success in their efforts to blockade Finland were quite limited. In the Winter War especially, the Red Banner Baltic Fleet actions against the Finnish coastal defence...