[8] Aaltola experienced severe bullying at school when he was young, due to being a "shy" and "introverted" "teacher's son", as he considered himself.

[11] Aaltola completed a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology at Columbia University in New York City, where he also volunteered in George H.W.

Aaltola initially wanted to become a psychiatrist,[12] but eventually moved to Tampere, where he commenced his studies in political science and gained his doctorate in 1999.

Some of FIIA's employees said that they felt that Aaltola had acted ruthlessly during the appointment process by sending a presentation to the board in which he claimed to be a more qualified applicant than Jokela based on his number of academic citations.

[19] Aaltola's works and research dealt with the global role of the United States, great power politics, changes in the world order, and Finland's foreign and security policy.

[20] In 2019, he published the book Poutasään jälkeen (English: After the dry weather) about international politics since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014.

[30] In addition to being an active commentator on domestic and global affairs, Aaltola also appeared in numerous TV shows, such as Elämäni Biisi.

[31] Owing to his high-profile during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Aaltola rose to the peak position of an October 2022 poll in anticipation of the presidential elections in 2024.

[32][33] On 3 August 2023, Aaltola announced in Luumäki his intention to run for president as an independent, saying he ”felt an obligation” to help Finland.

[38] Aaltola announced his candidacy for the European Union Parliament election in April, 2024, as a member of the National Coalition Party (NCP).

[43] According to some analysts, Aaltola's success was partly based on his presidential campaign, but also on his emphasis on security policy, as was also the case with Pekka Toveri.

[45] In December 2024, his citizens' initiative to withdraw from the Ottawa Treaty, among other foreign and security policy experts, collected the required 50,000 signatures in four days.

At the same time, for example, he strongly disagrees with the neo-realist Mearsheimer, arguing how the West's surrender "created space" for Russia to attack Ukraine and influence North Africa.

[55] On the Helsingin Sanomat political spectrum, Aaltola was labeled slightly economically centre-left, and socially neither conservative nor liberal.

[58][59] At the age of 37, Aaltola had a benign brain tumor removed from the frontal cavity whilst in the United States.