Across Finland last week a stillness covered the cities like a fresh fall of snow, silencing the roar of traffic. In Helsinki neither trams nor buses ran. People walked, or queued up for the occasional taxis that moved through the city's neglected, ice-encrusted streets. Ships lay idle in Helsinki Harbor, while others stayed gripped by offshore ice because no sailors were around to man the icebreakers. Factories and railroads were closed down. There were no newspapers, no mail. A citizen who slipped on the icy sidewalks could not get into a hospital. He could not even get a drink,...
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