Published: 14 Jan 13 16:42 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/45608/20130114/
Nato Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen visited the annual defence conference in the Swedish mountains on Monday, telling the press "you cannot stand outside Nato but still want everything it offers".
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"BANG!!!! BANG!!!! BANG!!! In the midst of the Stanley Cup’s Eastern Conference semifinals series, every Bostonian knows it is all about Bruins ice hockey. Oh right. I am in Sweden, home of the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation GOLD Champions. And there is certainly no doubt ice hockey fever has taken over Sweden. A lot of Swedes,..." READ »
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Want NATO to help in a crisis? Become a member!
That simple.
When I asked him why only 1 Swede had been killed in conflict, was it (i) they were so much better trained than the US or the British or (ii) they all had desk jobs in the Green Zone - he became strangely quiet.
Green Zoone, are you talking about Iraq? Sweden didn't take part in the Iraq war. Yes, they are in northern Afghanistan (5 KIA if I'm not mistaken) with German, Finnish and German troops in the same sector.
@ jostein
nuts! if you are part of the political opposition or a journalist critical of the current leadership you still risk your life, or jail time, in Russia.
The americans want to exterminate us. The Russians do not. Well, the Russians dont want to do very much against us at all, there is nothing for them here. But if we enter Nato its just another go-ahead for their bleeding troops to enter our country.
You look at the world like it looks right now. I look at the world as it will look in five to ten years.
Also to the editor: NATO is NATO, not Nato.
Now on to that story about the call to prayer from a mosque.
"The British plane broke down on the runway".
So what? They found another one pretty damned quick. At least the British have viable armed forces that are trained and equipped to fight. Does nothing ever go wrong with Swedish kit? Saab and even Volvo haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in recent years when it comes to quality and reliability!
so whats wrong with China running the show? even if you dont wanna see it, China will probably rise up to the top within some years. at least China wont even bother to invade Sweden, they wont come this far to rob IKEA
-sweden is Uranium-rich which might be attractive in a post peakoil world (nonissue for Russia, how about the US?).
-sweden still has plenty of iron but that is probably less interesting these days(??).
-Control sweden and Norway becomes impossible to defend, thus you control the north atlantic (the cold-war rationale for an attack on sweden by the Russian empire. Nonissue today).
-hold the swedish territory and you dominate the baltic. (probably a nonissue today but been alot of talk about this because of the russian-german pipeline).
-A very ethnically heterogenous population that are bound to start jockeying for control. Ethnic strife can pull in any and all actors internationally. For example, post peak fosfor, post peak oil will cause massive starvation in the world, especially in ME. ME cultures have secure bridgeheads in sweden already and can use the migrations caused by a starvation-catastrophe to overwhelm their competitors here in sweden. Here the USA is bound to side with the invaders and thats why we should have nothing whatsoever to do with them.
-I personally cannot not see how the Russians would ever pose a threat to us.
"Id rather be invaded by the Russians than the americans." WOW, I didn't know that they allow computers in Mental Hospitals!!!???
the russians pursue foreign policy in their own self interest. This makes them predictable and cautious.
The US foreign policy is a mixture of moralism, self interest and grandstanding. Such as projecting "democracy", topple regimes that offend your sensibilities, securing oil etcetera. This makes the US irrational, unpredictable and dangerous.
For example, the US supported undemocratic islamic rebels in Libya. The toppling of Khadafi sent womens rights back 1000 years.
At the same time the US fight against undemocratic islamic rebels in Afghanistan. One of the highest profile goals in Afghanistan is to protect the rights of women. Makes sense?
Another example, the US toppled a secular leftist sunni-affiliated dictatorship in Iraq, in effect handing control over to the enemy of the US, Shia Iran, and creating a shia powerblock, Iran-Iraq-(syria). Now US is discussing invading Iran and is supporting the revolt against shia-controlled Syria.
Studying US foreign policy the last 30 years it is clear it is unpredictable, untrustworthy, violent and irrational. Perpetually making war against its own foreign policy. You had the failed war on drugs. You had the failed war on terrorism. And you are in the deathtrows of the failed war for democracy, if that is what it was. It is crazy. What will be the next war?
Me, i want to give these crazed madmen as few excuses as possible to put their boots close to me and mine as possible.
I think all USs and most of the rest of us would gain if the US took less responsibility in the world. The only duty of US politicians should be the wellbeing and security and prosperity of US taxpayers and citizens. Imho.
Either that or give the Russian ambassador the keys to the country in a much publicized event.