[fsloth]

>>>> Finland never participated in the colonial era except as a dirt poor third world economy to be exploited.

>>A lot of this, I think, is the result of geography rather than the Finns (or rather, their leaders) being different / special.

My intent was not to signal virtue, merely the lack of historical action resulting in a system that could be economically or politically identified as colonization

Why? Geography, demographics and economy. Everyone was dirt poor - no economic elite to speak of. And the population was and is tiny.