Said Mikko Hautala, the ambassador of Finland to the United States, in "'Whatever Happens in the Sauna Stays in the Sauna': Diplomacy, Conducted in the Nude/The Finnish Embassy offers one of the hottest invitations in Washington: a chance to discuss serious topics in a sauna" (NYT).
August 25, 2024
"When you are half-naked or even sometimes completely naked, it allows for deeper discussion."
"You talk in a way that doesn’t happen when you are sitting around a table with a tie on or at some formal thing."
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Discussions would move more quickly when they had to look at Kissinger or Albright in there naked with them.
Bill Clinton approves.
The Finns want to put us into saunas
And throw cold water on us.
H/T Kiellor.
Saunas are good for politics. You scrub my back, I'll scrub yours.
A NJ friend had me to times a week as guest to his Route 3 LA Fitness membership with a sauna, a heated Olympic size swimming pool and a jacuzzi. While at the sauna there was never any talking of any kind. This is from when Trump was in the WH.
Only if a can flog them with a barbed wire viht.
Nudity and Nordics. Definitely a thing.
When I lived in DC, every sauna aficionado wanted to go to the Finnish embassy and housing complex. At the Christmas services at the Lutheran Church on 15th Street, I positioned myself strategically next to the Finnish ambassador and his lovely wife and kids, then sidled up to them afterwards and tried to cadge an invitation. No dice.
Sauna is the only Finnish word to have crossed over into English. I love a nice sauna followed by a cold plunge or a leap into a snowbank.
Deeper being aspirational.
Bodes better for the better body. That said, eyes up here, buddy.
Thought this was going to be another RFKJr article, too, about his shirtless workouts. Maybe he and Trump can play a real “skins game” of golf!
JSM
The best character in Veep was the Finnish prime minister, played by a Brit actress who was in the Bridget Jones movies. Managed to be a sexually predatory Nordic oddball….
JSM
Ew.
How many women are in the sauna? How many women would rather not be in the sauna?
The funniest story about saunas is one of Tom Bodet's stories about two couples who ski into a remote sauna and then take a dip in an icy pool. While in the pool, the sauna catches fire and burns all their clothes. They have to ski naked back to the road.
Sanna Marin the pm (or ex pm) of Finland is without a doubt the hottest pm ever. So sauna diplomacy would be good.
American's generally have a hard time understanding the cultural and social significance of sauna in Finland.
It's also important to not that if you're not hitting between 80-100 deg C, it's not a proper sauna. If you cannot throw water on the heater rocks it's not a proper sauna. If it's not hot enough and if you can't throw water on the rocks it's just a warm room.
Josephbleau said...
Sanna Marin the pm (or ex pm) of Finland is without a doubt the hottest pm ever. So sauna diplomacy would be good.
For Finland, apparently.
Get your sisu on.
Robert Heinlein said it best in Glory Road I think. SOME people should wear clothes. Some people have no need for clothes. Words to that effect. Age has a lot to do with it. As he got older, he mellowed somewhat on the issue as I recall, but then again, gravity always wins in the end.
How many women are in the sauna? How many women would rather not be in the sauna?
Scandinavians, Germans, and Austrians are not as hung up on nudity as Americans are. You go into a swimming pool or sauna in Germany or Austria, and you will see lots of nudity (from children all the way up to old people).
I used to ski a lot in Europe and entire families, from young kids to Grandma and Grandpa, were in the sauna, all naked. Once we (me and my wife) were in the sauna and there was a very attractive young woman (probably 20-something) in there with an older couple who were obviously her parents. When they left, I turned to my wife and said, "can you imagine getting naked in the sauna with your parents".
Hmm. I worked for a Swedish company and it required several trips to Sweden. On my first trip, a week long series of meetings and dinners, we took a field trip on the third day to a resort in Bro where suddenly the sauna was on the schedule. These men who I barely knew, other than an Englishman named Dave, expected me the American to balk. I could tell. But Ive learned not to hesitate in such situations and went right in.
The meeting in there was quite fruitful. I learned a vast range of nonverbal communication Swedes use, which I’d experienced in earlier meetings. They have a whole vocabulary of grunts to signal various reactions and forms of agreement and disagreement.
I learned i wasn’t a fan of hot humid environments. And yet here 20 years later I live in north Florida.
Hmm. I worked for a Swedish company and it required several trips to Sweden. On my first trip, a week long series of meetings and dinners, we took a field trip on the third day to a resort in Bro where suddenly the sauna was on the schedule. These men who I barely knew, other than an Englishman named Dave, expected me the American to balk. I could tell. But Ive learned not to hesitate in such situations and went right in.
The meeting in there was quite fruitful. I learned a vast range of nonverbal communication Swedes use, which I’d experienced in earlier meetings. They have a whole vocabulary of grunts to signal various reactions and forms of agreement and disagreement.
I learned i wasn’t a fan of hot humid environments. And yet here 20 years later I live in north Florida.
The Winter Soldiers built saunas in the field. They worked in short shifts killing the Bear, then retreated back to sauna and sahti. There is much wisdom in this.
It's hard to believe any higher level foreign diplomat would want to get naked in a sauna with the kind of people that the Democrats hire for the State Department. (If you know you know.)
We built a Finnish sauna near the shore of our lake home. Abachi wood is best for the sauna seats , fir for the walls and roof -- it has small pin knots or clear if from side boards and lasts in Finnish saunas. The sauna stove a Finnish one of course Harvia , Helo etc but all Finnish sauna heaters are high quality. A three row barley Finnish beer to top off the experience naturally after the lake swim or roll on the snow !
The award for most adventurous audacious sauna design has to go to the sauna on the ferris wheel in Helsinki, SkySauna!
https://skywheel.fi/en/experiences/
It might be a revelation to have our trans diplomats exposed in a sauna. Though the pronouns could be puzzling.
Alexandria Dedario for UN Ambassador, quick! And Matthew McConaughey for SEC State!
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.”
― Mark Twain
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