We Sweden

The whole of this is occasioned by thoughts that originated right HERE , and at the end of my short take there, the issue that I’m referring to is this one (about a hater)

But now to the Swedish issues proper:

Gunilla Carlsson & Sweden’s development partners

To begin with, Sweden was not a participant at the Berlin Conference of 1884-1884 and so, thankfully, Sweden was never a colonial power (apart from that short stint at St. Bartholomew which Göran Skytte takes up in his “Det kungliga svenska slaveriet”, which until translated into other tongues is a must read for all those who are at home with the Swedish language. And now that we’ve just followed a very short and a very incomplete discussion about racism blossoming in OUR SWEDEN:

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/winefreedom/2010/06/20/blossoming-racism/

– suffice it to say that Mark’s article elicited all of 54 responses – an all-time record number of responses to any blog posting in The Local. This interest in the subject surely indicates that this unhealthy phenomenon is alive and I dare say is not totally unconnected with whatever historical attitudes could have survived unto this vastly, more enlightened generation of Swedes who never participated in the slave trade

Otherwise, Sweden according to all estimates is a great European nation which has never been a colonial power and Sweden has therefore always had a lot of credibility in the third world in particular – especially during the Olof Palme times when he championed the cause of what was then the “non-aligned nations”

RACISM & ANTI-SEMITISM – I have an American friend (who I Love dearly ;he claims to be an atheist and I have no issue with him about that ( he can jump into the lake of fire when he expires, for all I care) but every time he sees me ( I must confess that it didn’t happen when I saw him today, perhaps because the first thing I said to him after our traditional greeting (head to head) )  – was that I had a headache – and he  kindly offered me a headache tablet. Otherwise, he usually starts his incessant yapping about Jews/Judaism/Zionism etc…..and wanting to tutor about all things that I’ve spent a long time, studying, perhaps trying to convert me to his atheism…

Now whereas – inevitably racism, anti-Semitism does exist in Sweden and this can never be over-emphasised, it does not exist in Swedish policy towards  Sweden’s Development partners. True, as usual SIDA has it’s share of problems and that has always been the case, throughout its existence: Sweden is the world champion in terms of the percentage of our GNP that is given as aid , and the problem for SIDA has always been twofold: 1. Which countries should be the beneficiaries, and 2. and much more difficult, the management of this disbursement of funds, and the supervision of projects and the awesome responsibility of ensuring accountability for the moneys spent as the corruption has always been a major problem in most of the countries on the receiving end of Sweden’s largesse.

A very informative Swedish publication about aid, development and related global issues:

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=sv&u=http://www.xn--omvrlden-2za.nu/&ei=PX4rTPWyJIreONeh5bID&sa=X&oi=translate&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBkQ7gEwAA&prev=/search%3Fq%3DOm%2BVarlden%26hl%3Den%26rlz%3D1G1GGLQ_ENUK257

The present government has inherited that legacy ( from the Olof Palme times) but now in a very changed world and  has added to its blessings: which can be counted here:

1.

European Development Days, 2009 which was a peacock feather in Gunilla Carlsson’s hat….

To be continued ….

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Sweden is the country of statistics. The Government can calculate how much milk each and every citizen drinks per day, if they want to. However, considering that tomorrow is the 17th Tammuz , this is not a time for levity.

But, exactly what are we to make of the following short news item from TT :

“Impotence among men has increased under the current Conservative government.

Over 12,000 more men have received medication for erectile dysfunction since Fredrik Reinfeldt became Prime Minister.”

Twelve Thousand!?! That’s a serious number of severely handicapped men.

In this world of cause and effect, don’t blame it all on poor Freddy the frog? Well, at least on one level it looks as if it’s being suggested that it’s all the fault of Fredrik the Great Reinfeldt & his Moderate government. Perhaps if Mona Sahlin had been our Prime Ministress instead, the women would have been complaining about some other kind of ( female?) impotence. And they ( the Swedish men and women ) would then be blaming it all on the menopausal Mona and her government. Of course, menopausal here is used very advisedly and refers more to mind than to body and soul, in that very iconoclastic, male-er, Norman Mailer , chauvinist kind of sense.

The question being asked is, what’s the correlation if any, between impotence (“erectile dysfunction”) and The Alliance – not the marriage alliance, but the political alliance comprising the Moderate Party, the Liberal Folk Party, the Centre Party and last but not least, the Christian Democrat Party

We all know that in our consumer society, a bad personal / family economy and hard times can sometimes stress a marriage/ love relationship and even lead to not only impotence, but also separation, dissolution, and worst case scenario, divorce, even suicide, especially where sexual power/ prowess is linked to economic power.

But at least , as far as we can see, Anders Borg is happy with his pony tail, and most people are happy with Anders Borg..



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(To be edited after the Ghana – US match)

And nota bene:  Morality can go a long way in helping to save us.

As far as love is concerned: Baruch Hashem! And let the Shema be my passion.

Blessed is the Name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity!

“And you shall love Hashem, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your resources.”

This is my leisurely response to “America is Number 1” who lastly said in this accusatory message addressed to me, without any foundation in truth:

“” Why do you hate America so much that you are you counting on a mega-terrorist attack to “wake up” the US? Or is it that you hate Obama so much that you are wishing bad things for America just to get in a neo-con favorite to replace him as POTUS?

Iran is not an existential threat to the US. Even nuclear armed North Korea didn’t change the game for your preferred George W Bush.”

http://www.thelocal.se/27416/

Thanks for saying all of the above; it has given me enough reason to want to respond to you. And in reading this, please take note (keep it in yer head and not ferget) that it is Cornelius Hamelberg responding and not a neo.conman or anyone else of your imagination.

As for irresponsible speech, there’s the case of Balak ( nothing to do with Ballack, Germany’s best football player  who is unfortunately injured and out of the World Cup football tournament in South Africa) The immediate background to this posting is the study of Parashat Balak , the Torah portion for this Shabbat and the rest of this posting probably makes greater sense if we are familiar with the portion, as once again dear friend, I was struck by much instruction, wisdom and understandings derived from this Torah portion and not from any neo-con American politician or Barack Hussein Obama. With reference to great nations that have existed before and will probably exist in the future, we come across this sentence in the portion:

Bamidbar/ Numbers 24: 20: “He saw Amalek and declaimed his parable and said, “Amalek is the first among nations, but its end will be eternal destruction!”

In case you are wondering who “he “who saw is – he, refers to Balaam who is briefly described in these introductory words from my Stone Chumash:

“Balaam, prophet of the nations. God in His wisdom ordained that the gentile nations should have a prophet who would be comparable to Moses – though much inferior to him  – so that they would not be able to contend  that if only they had had someone who could communicate  to them the will of God, they would have  been as righteous as Israel. (see Ramban cited in notes to Deuteronomy 34: 10)  Balaam was that prophet. This Sidrah revolves around his ability to curse and his attempts, commissioned by King Balak of Moab, to curse the advancing nation of Israel. The sages teach that there is an instant every day when God is “angry” (Avodah Zarah 4a; Barachos 7a), meaning that He judges sinners at that time. Clearly, someone who is guilty of transgressions is most vulnerable at that instant, and it was Balaam’s “talent” to know when that moment was at hand. A curse at that time could subject its victim to such Divine judgment. Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, but God thwarted his plan by not sitting in judgment on that day ( ibid,) This Sidrah tells us of Balaam’s repeated futile attempts, and God’s insistence that he bless Israel. So significant were these blessings that the Sages even considered making them part of the daily Shema prayers. God wanted these sublime blessings to come to Israel through the agency of the wicked and immoral Balaam, so that all the world would know that everyone is helpless to harm Israel against God’s will. (Shelah).

Here, it’s a somewhat moving scene actually: The third part of the portion

All you have to do is to read the whole portion but once, and it’s unlikely that you will fail to understand the blessings or forget them, in essence, the Holy Word of the Almighty.

The donkey could see that which Balaam could not see with both of his eyes wide open. And here you have a short lecture on the significance of the episode: The Talking Donkey

Now, ”the USA is number 1”  is bordering on what your pals call kufr ( idolatry)  – of an object, in space, called  “ the USA” that entity which, since around 1979, the Radical Revolutionary Theological Establishment called the Islamic Republic of Iran, has consistently referred to as “The Great Satan”

The very same regime that is threatening to  “wipe out” Israel off the surface of the map of planet earth, and all you can do is sit there , calling yourself “ USA is Number 1” and telling us  at the Local, that “Iran is not an existential threat to the US.”

List of terrorist attacks against America

http://factsofisrael.com/blog/archives/000367.html

What’s this?

http://barenakedislam.wordpress.com/2010/05/26/islamic-terror-attacks-against-united-states-are-at-an-all-time-high/

The next terrorist attack on the US

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&tbs=lr%3Alang_1en&q=the+next+terrorist+attack+on+US

Looka here: I am a rational and loving being. WHY should I hate Brother Obama?

First of all I’d like you to know that I supported Brother Obama throughout his campaign. I’m not going to start bleating or sobbing “oh how I love America ” – and all that JAZZ!!! And I’m no Rev. Jeremiah Wright (“God bless America“) or Louis Farrakhan

America ( US) feeds a lot of people. Many of my closest friends and relatives live in the US,  mostly in  New York,  New Jersey, Florida and California. My younger brother Harold lived in New York and Georgia, for many years. I was in New York in 1976 and celebrated USA’s 200 years of Independence….

I could give you a few references going back to very long ago: Thomas S. Cox, Victor Le Vine, an American Ambassador or two, a female or two and much more if you want).You come in from the street, don’t know me from Adam but you’ve heard al –Qaeda say it time and again – or haven’t you heard it too? If so, why is it that when I merely repeat what everyone knows you have the gall, to tell me all the codswallop which began with these words of asinine contempt:

” Why do you hate America so much that you are you counting on a mega-terrorist attack to “wake up” the US? Or is it that you hate Obama so much that you are wishing bad things for America just to get in a neo-con favorite to replace him as POTUS?

Iran is not an existential threat to the US. Even nuclear armed North Korea didn’t change the game for your preferred George W Bush.”

The writing‘s been on the wall a long time

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=lang_en&tbs=lr%3Alang_1en&q=Israpundit%3Athe+next+terrorist+attack+on+US

And what about this? (It’s not about California falling into the sea)

http://www.davidicke.com/headlines/35563-and-the-sea-shall-turn-to-blood-a-biblical-catastrophe-that-will-affect-us-all-

Even as the BBC tells us that the USA & Europe are united someone no less than  Robert Gates is warning that Iran could fire hundreds of Missiles at Europe

Of course they are not yet strong enough to wipe out USA off the surface of the earth, but if the Mullahs only could, perhaps they would. You also know how people laughed when Noah started building his ark. And you know the reactions to the Prophet Jeremiah’s preachments?

As you yourself know, the US is not merely divided into Democrats and Republicans, or into Satyagrahas and those whom you call  neo-cons.

I’ll depart from your presence for now, but not without leaving you with the following questions 4U2 ansa:

1. Why is the US in Afghanistan? (Because of 911?)
2. Why is the US in Iraq (Weapons of mass destruction?)
3. Will the US invade Iran? If not why not, Wiseman?
4. Which side do you think that I am on:  The terrorists side or God’s side?

Old and new NEWS

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As everyone knows, Stockholm is the capital of Sweden.

It may come as no surprise to some, that  although on the one hand it’s said that the people of Gothenburg are friendlier than Stockholmers, on the other hand  it’s also said that the Gothenbuggers have an inferiority complex about Stockholm people because although the worthy Gothenburghers/ burghers of the city of Gothenburg also boast about city civilisation they are a little sad and generally feel inferior to us the more sophisticated cosmopolitans of Stockholm, because of our STOCKHOLM UNDERGROUND.

It’s one of the advanced systems of modern technology in action, which Gothenburg lacks, and so they lack all the benefits that go with this modern amenity which even the people of Cairo boast about, as one of the features of their modern life. However unlike Stockholm-by- the-sea, in Cairo which is in the middle of the desert, the penalty for dropping the smallest possible bit of litter, e.g. a cigarette butt, is severe to the point of being harsh. What else to expect in a system that is basically Pharaohonic, in a very no nonsense dictatorship sort of sense?

I’m sure that even Butt-head understands what I mean

The underground makes an enormous difference in (to?) the lives of the people who live in Stockholm. In fact the underground is a world of its own (more about that some other time)

And please take note that these tunnelbana papers are quite important in influencing the opinions of those who read them, especially now that the Royal Wedding is no longer centre stage and we now have the push and shove of an election just round the corner.

By “tunnelbana people” I mean those of us whose main means of locomotion within the city is by train and tube. The non-mobile people – and in Swengelska/Swenglish “mobile “( in Swedish pronounced mo- beel) mostly refers to the cell phone , whereas for Lady Chatterley’s Lover it would mean those who have automobiles ( and sometimes chauffeurs) to drive them in their automobiles, from place to place. To their various locations and sometimes secret destinations. Does that sound too mysterious, Senor Holmes?

Could have sounded more like this

First of all the story about good friend CONNY C. Lindström ( musical, hip poet, philosopher, life-style artist, connoisseur of the feminine mystique, father, papa, etc) whose portrait decorates the front page of today’s  Stockholm City ( of 24-06-2010 is still making me laugh – as if I’ve been given an overdose of laughing gas. I’m now suffering hiccups. And what makes for the excess of merriment and mirth is the bit that goes,”She narrates how he (Conny) grabbed her arm and demanded precise knowledge as to whether she was a man or a woman”

Excuse me – she says he said/asked but “are you a wo-man or a man???” Question asked in Stockholm by night. In Paris you could get even greater variety in the answer. Either or – or both. One terrorist to another: “Either you are with me – or you are with the terrorist/s” – and in being the one or the other or both let there be no contradictions!

Yeah, grabbed her by the arm and DEMANDED an answer to the question: “Are you a man or a woman?”

Such a request – given the environmental context not to mention the possible lascivious or not so lascivious intentions  - premeditated or not is still open to various shades of interpretation, ranging from what Queer Theory experts would come up with, to what the Homophobic Jahmaicans pronounce as legal and illegal sexual behaviour. However, just that quest for knowledge does not in itself; qualify Conny for an honourable place in the Guinness Book of Records because according to Private Eye , the world record holder for suspicion is one Fyodor Dostoevsky:

“I became suspicious”, he said,”when I noticed her male genitalia and moustache.”

That’s far from the Conny, the Brer Cunny Rabbit that I know.

On a more personal note to Conny, the bottom line to that sort of enquiry – the resolution of tha problem, the dénouement, cannot be very different from the question that is  the bottom line of Wole Soyinka’s ” telephone Conversation”

Conny runs one of the hippest joints in Stockholm , located at Hornstull, where I first saw BB King live  – at Domino, playing “ The Thrill is gone” before which he told his audience that the snowy Stockholm landscape reminded him of the cotton fields of the Mississippi. But no slave labour at Conny’s. It’s a scene of good music, diverse entertainments and engagements not only for friends but also for families……

And now more good news from today’s Stockholm underground newspapers:

Metro Stockholm’s headlines declare: “Sweden is best in the West” (Anders Görnasson gives the details)

Stockholm City’s other good news titbit is about the Moderate Party’s Joakim Larsson’s vision for Rinkeby. He says “We are on the side of the people who live in Rinkeby” – Rinkeby the often embattled immigrant headquarters of Stockholm. In the old days when the skinheads  were more visible, they would get as far as Rissne, and from there, like that statue of  their idol  Karl XII pointing – they too would point in the direction of Rinkeby which is just one tube station away and say, “ There live the svartskaller (the niggers) !! “ ;  but somehow they have always lacked the courage to invade the place, to enter the  well defended citadel of Rinkeby in their large numbers to take a licking.

More good news: At least in  Sweden and even in the “West Bank”,  things are not so bad that people have this kind of motto

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Love Story: Amor Vincit Omnia: “and the two shall become one flesh”

Love moves in its mysterious ways its wonders to perform.

The Almighty is happy. It is a commandment to be happy and to perform the commandments happily.

The King is happy, the Queen too.

The Princess and her Prince are happier than both of them. Our Princess and Our Prince.

The subjects of the king and queen, their people of the kingdom, the people of Sweden are all happy. Happiness reigns supreme in the Kingdom of Sweden and so doth the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.

Presently, the fact is that the king is happier than the queen and the Queen is also happier than the King. (In fact right now we are to imagine that they are both most probably still smiling in their dreams, a beatific smile on their faces as they sleep with the smile of contentment that comes after their having fulfilled their duties before God (the King of King of Kings) and man.

Above all, I and I certain that the Almighty is happy with all of them in the Royal Household.

Perfect happiness:

Princess Victoria is happier than her Prince Daniel, and Prince Daniel is happier than his Princess Victoria. They are both blessed with love & happiness and we pray that the Almighty be with them and their parents and their big family, always.

That’s what

Jesus talking ( according to Mark 10:6-9, King James Version)

^“But from the beginning of the creation God made them male and female.

For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife;

And they twain shall be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.

What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

” A Wedding fit for a Princess”

“And the princess and the prince
Discuss what’s real and what is not
(It doesn’t matter inside the Gates of Eden)”

More

Fabulous pictures

True: Truth can be more real and more familiar than fairy tale fiction.

Have never before seen or been able to even imagine anything like this, that which we just witnessed happening with our eyes open, between Crown Princess Victoria and her Prince Daniel.

History being made …. Now you’re supposed to smile:

(“In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility”)…….

“Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call’d fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood”:

The arrival at the Great Stockholm Cathedral, of the various Kings and Queens, quite a number of them , princes and princesses, presidents, and other dignitaries from overseas.

All of Sweden’s top brass there. Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and his own personal princess, Filippa by his side. Nobleman Carl Bildt (Honorary KCMG ) and his I-talian Mrs Bildt by his noble side.

Mrs Mona Sahlin and her husband also in attendance.

Queen Sylvia, of course there, and nowhere else. And finally the arrival of the Best man,  His Majesty Carl XVI Gustaf himself  with his beloved daughter on his arm – to give her away to Daniel, her Prince Charming …that too was a special moment of their lives….

The wedding ceremony -  the cortege, the special horse and carriage that took Princess Victoria and her Prince Daniel, for that half hour ride through central Stockholm over Djurgårdsbron, to the burnished boat …. Except that she did not sit – they stood:

“The barge she sat in, like a burnish’d throne,
Burn’d on the water: the poop was beaten gold;
Purple the sails, and so perfumed that
The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver,
Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made
The water which they beat to follow faster,
As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,
It beggar’d all description: she did lie
In her pavilion–cloth-of-gold of tissue–
O’er-picturing that Venus where we see
The fancy outwork nature: on each side her
Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,
With divers-colour’d fans, whose wind did seem
To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool,
And what they undid did.”

The 21- canon gun salute,

the 18 Jas airplanes flying in formation,

400 meters above us all in celebration & special salutation to the children of Venus…

The Wedding Banquet!

The Waltz!

Dagens Nyheter was also there

Lars Ohly the only and some a them other lonely or not so lonely should know that Prince Victoria is our  Princess, the People’s princess and that being born on Bastille Day, July 14^th – means that she is something of a Revolutionary – witness her beautiful words of  praise, her saying thank you to the people of Sweden for having given her her prince!

LOVE

“The human soul, in intense emotion, strives to express itself in verse.” (T.S. Eliot) – yes in verse, in Swedish and English and in tears of love & joy:

“Greatest of all is love – I love you so – Princess of my heart !” (Prince Daniel cannot supress his emotions; “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh”)

THE GREATEST ( rave)

More Video footage

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=The+Royal+wedding+in+Sweden&aq=o

Symbolically Prince Edward represented the House of Windsor at this Royal Wedding

(Symbolically?  Well, another great story of love with Edward VIII of the United Kingdom abdicating his throne in 1936,  in order to marry  an American divorcée Wallis Simpson)

The Archbishop’s Love sermon to the Princess and the Prince was in a way addressed to all lovers.

“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”

A little Rumi, on love

http://www.khamush.com/love_poems.html

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There are all the most competent people at the Utrikes, and that being the case,  it’s superfluous to add  that in taking a position, there are many things that have to be considered

Unfortunately, all around, there has been The Biased Rush to Judgment in the Flotilla Affair

It got to the point at which both Fredrik Reinfeldt the Prime Minister of Sweden, and our Foreign Minister, the Hon. Nils Daniel Carl Bildt and indeed several of the other party leaders in Sweden, have been extremely focused on Gaza as a foreign policy issue and have had quite a lot to say, since there was a hard core of very vocal Swedish “activists” in action on the so called “Freedom Flotilla”. And also because there are many Muslims and a good number of anti-Semites and anti- Zionists in their constituencies.

Mattias Gardell (who is said to be the brain) and the muscle to the action (the members of the armed resistance) who survived on board his Flotilla, not to mention the Hamas Fighters in Gaza, must all be very happy now that the blockade has been partially lifted. Very happy, but not totally happy, since weapons and materials with which to build bunkers or construct more primitive rockets will not be let through. For Israel to allow weapons to be let through, Israel would be departing from pikuach nefesh and committing national suicide instead. Before the Almighty or man, Israel does not want to be guilty of being an accessory to the crime of national suicide or an “accessory after the fact”.

Through violent confrontation, the Gaza Flotilla , the so called “Freedom Flotilla “ has partially achieved their aim – and of course it is the wrong signal – that confrontation having been the means in the past, their objectives will be attained through further confrontation ( more of the same) and so they are perhaps prepared to confront ( “armed resistance”) and therefore provoke retaliatory action by an IDF which believes in its own right to enforce the blockade on weapons and materials that could be used to make weapons , getting through to the terrorist jihadists in Gaza.

But what about Gilad Shalit ?

Israel, having made these concessions – “reciprocity” – to use one of Benjamin Netanyahu’s favourite terms, reciprocity is what is expected – and by “reciprocity” Israel too must also get significant – call it concessions if you will, in return.

Insha’Allah, Hamas will renounce terrorism as the way forward or they’ll more probably say, “Astagfirullah!” to such a suggestion

or

“ Heaven forbid!”

or better still sing this song of  peace

It’s not a long list of concessions that’s demanded of them.  At the top of the list is this

Equally important is the relationship between jihad, terrorism and Israel’s Security

Sweden should continue to exist, long after this generation and the next arrive safely in Valhalla. And so should Israel. (Continue to exist)

And that’s the bottom line. Israel’s security.  Just as in very similar circumstances Reinfeldt, Bildt and Military Chief-of-Staff/ Commander-in-chief, Sverker Göranson would be supremely concerned about Sweden’s Security – even in peacetime.

Shabbat Shalom everyone!

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There’s the so called first world and the third world ( called “turd” world by one of the characters in one of the Naipaul’s books (Shiva or V.S. – either in Shiva’s “North of South” or V.S.’s “A Bend in the River” , I can’t remember which )

As things are right now, in these globalisation & social media times, whether the geographic location is of 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd World sphere, CYBERSPACE is ONE WORLD, so to speak.

Here, and by here I mean both Sweden and The Local which is in cyberspace but heaquartered in Stockhokm, Sweden, there’s something enjoyed by all ( all of us enjoy it) and as for those who have no share in the blessing, believe it or not it’s called freedom of speech. The freedom for example to express my surprise that in South Africa’s post-Apartheid football team, there is no WHITE representative of the New South Africa in their Bafana Bafana. Not even as a symbolic white presence. It’s difficult to believe that there is no Muzungu good enough to be in Bafana Bafana – and to share in the collective responsibility of South African victory or defeat, since black ,white and all the other variations of colour are in the same rainbow boat, together.

Yes, it’s official, almost like an affidavit that in index after Index after HDIndex and all of this adds up to the grand finale that Sweden is BEST

It’s really something to boast about, and those with Swedish ancestors can further boast that they and their ancestors contributed to the development which all Swedish citizens now enjoy, and that the present Swedish society has evolved to the level it now enjoys, today, over a period of several hundred years.

In our demoracy this holy principle is not in theory only .

I got to thinking about this along with thinking about DELE GIWA, and about the IB Affair as I read this article about investigative reporting in one of Nigeria’s premier websites, of which, some are more democratically run than others.

This freedom of speech is now a part of our Swedish culture and quite taken for granted whereas elsewhere it could still be a foreign commodity which takes slightly more time to practise or to get used to.

For instance, whereas here,

Gaza

was discussed without abruption and make no mistake about it, Gaza is still a hot topic as I heard Bashar Assad talk about it on the BBC this morning.

responding to this article

was much more problematic – and by responding I mean a simple response expressing happiness with Agidimolaja’s response and indeed about the aspect about the Gaza issue that concerns Paul I Adujie so vastly, to the utter neglect of more pressing home issues, he need read no further than this:

http://www.israpundit.com/archives/23968

Could be sung,

“In you, my friend, I find no blame
Wanna look in my eyes, please do
No one can ever claim
That I took up arms against you.”

As to the legal angle, legal luminaries such as Alan Dershowitz have taken up the matter to establish that Israel was within the law. And anyone who may still be confused or uncertain must know that, ALL LIFE IS PRECIOUS that “an eye for an eye” has established the principle of equality for all time.

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/06/suicide-activists-on-the-gaza-flotilla.html

To further diminish ignorance:

ttp://www.freeman.org/other.htm

Sadly, we have not heard people crying as loudly about the Boko Haram debacle in Nigeria

– or Darfur, in the Sudan, or the invasion of Iraq and the mega-death consequences to the people of that nation – or Afghanistan, Pakistan and now Kyrgyzstan – or the decimation of the Tamil Tigers.

Of course , anyone’s free to choose a subject and to write as he please, but hopping onto the anti-Semitic bandwagon and repeating the same points that have cluttered the anti-Israel press these past several weeks, there’s no need to try to tell me to differentiate between anti-Semitisms, because they are all the same and the only difference is as to the intensity of the hatred which is often based on ignorance or mis-understanding – and in this case what is surprising is that more attention is not given to more pressing local issues such as this one:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10313107.stmAll Categories

About the Nigeria – Greece match coming up in about 45 minutes time, a victory for Nigeria is a victory for Sweden, since Nigeria has a Swedish coach.( A victory for the Ivory Coast is similarly a victory for Sweden, since the Ivory Coast has a Swedish coach.

There’s so much hullabaloo blowing about having an Oyibo coach and less big breeze about the guys who have to fly over-seas to receive expert medical attention from Oyibo doctors…..

However, the major question for us now is: How many African, black, Nigerian referees and linesmen are there in this world cup?

I wish that I had been the referee for that Nigeria – Argentina match

I was more than a little worried when I saw Heinz having a little heart to heart talk with the German referee. If they fear us not – fear no consequences  - it’s because they know that they can get away with bloody murder!

In the sports pages (World Cup Extra) of the Swedish Aftonbladet of 13^th June,

http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/landslagsfotboll/vm2010/article7292414.ab

Roland Andersson, Nigeria’s assistant coach (assistant to Lars Lagerbäck) had this to say about the match against Argentina:

“ Vi kände att Argentina hela tiden hade lite fördel hos domaren.

De fick till exempel frisparkar utanför straff området; det fick inte vi”

My reliable translation:

” We felt that Argentina was slightly favoured by the referee all the time. For example they were awarded free kicks outside the penalty area. We were not.”

He was asked whether he thought that Argentina received preferential treatment because they are a ”big time team”.

His reply: “There‘s always a certain psychology to it. Smaller teams and less well known players have to struggle a bit more.”

The Nigerian players agree with Andersson: “The referee favoured Argentina today. We are disappointed in them.” says Striker Yakubu

Right now the players are enjoying some good team spirit as they get ready to take on Greece.

In my opinion Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Argentina, Ghana, Brazil, Germany , Paraguay  and Chile are the great teams in this tournament.

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A very partial view indeed.

There’s no gainsaying what they say and you may like it or you may like it not; you may even wonder what do I mean by  “they” and for all I care you may even turn gray or blue or yellow or even green with envy because what they are now saying is that it’s now

O F F I C I A L

http://www.thelocal.se/27172/20100611/

Pray.  Pray. Pray every day. Pray for the nation, you know which one, and pray for yourself,

“Oh Lord, let them not drop that atomic bomb on me!”…

Whenever I think of Estland, I think of.1.Olof Palme, and 2, of someone called Eve Mandre, and more recently about that national disaster that traumatised so many, namely  the sinking of the Estonia about which event our prolific contributor to The Local, Trowbridge H. Ford has other interesting perspectives.

About conspiracy theories in general, the latest that I’ve gobbled up is that of Randy Texas who is a regular contributor to Israpundit

What every Swede knows or ought to know: Latvia, Lithuania and Estland are our sister nations of the Baltic States and  -  it’s not every Swede who ought to know this  – that  somehow when I think of the Baltic States I think of, 1.Carl Bildt (will explain further on) and of the present Swedish Government and SEB giving loans and financial guarantees to the Baltic States ( you very well know that you are supposed to love your neighbour as yourself and the other saying is “a friend in need is a friend indeed.“) In the period 1997 – 2001 I was a member of the Baltic Forum for Jews of the Former Soviet Union and no further explanation is necessary except perhaps to know that Vilna the capital of Lithuania was once known as THE SECOND JERUSALEM  through the proliferation of  great rabbis, such as the Gaon of Vilna and  great yeshivas  – and to have an inkling about the modern history of the Baltic States under Nazi occupation and under the Soviet Union, and with reference to just Latvia , there is this on-going  Project

On last Friday it was nine of us, something of a family excursion to Latvia on the M/S Romantika – a mostly unforgettable experience across the Baltic Sea and back on Swedish earth at 9.30 a.m. today.

It’s good to know that we are all Europeans and that the Baltic States are all members of the European Union. These boats – Tallink – ply the waters between Stockholm and our neighbouring countries – and once you go into the Duty Free shop on board – the system bolaget section, in that paradise for the sons and daughters of Bacchus, worthy members of the haram fellowship of the grape are all pleasantly informed that according to EU rules you are allowed to bring back the following:

10 litres al-cohol

20 litres Strong Wine

90 litres wine

110 litres beer.

I did not return with any of the above.

The holiday trip to Latvia is to be recommended  -  two cabs picked us up and drove us all the way to the Hotel Jurmala Spa .On the way  I noticed the usual assortment of cars and a whole lot of motorcycles which brought me to the premature conclusion that  the motorcycle is one of the most favoured means of transport in Latvia – only to discover  as soon as we arrived at the Hotel where there was a splendid convocation of some fifty Harley-Davidsons parked there and that  June -11-13 was billed as the 1st Baltic Bike Days

I asked a member of the Free Hawks of Latvia Mc how many people would be congregating for the motorbike Convention and he told me, “3,000!”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU89oBM-g74&feature=related

I asked a friendly-looking Latvian cop on the tourist beat in central Jurmala and he told me that last year it had been about 2,000 motorcyclists and that this year, it would be probably more. Finally met two Swedish motorcyclists, both blonde, both very tall (taller than me) the one from Globen in Stockholm, the other looking like Peter Fonda in his dark sunglasses and a leader of the gospel choir according to the Hells Angels – asked if they were Bandidos, but they said that they were independents and that this year the invitation had been extended to everybody, including Scandinavia and that there were even people from USA, Canada and Australia.

There’s the Jurmala Beach – clean, rumoured to have been one of the favourite resorts of the late Czar of Russia. There’s also the Dzintari Guest Hall where Russian stars perform and some good restaurants in Jurmala for example Majorenhoff – good food, at a fraction of what such meals would cost in Stockholm. And let me not forget to mention this very important event that took place on Sunday:

Brides Parade

Early first impressions: prepare ye for some sweeping generalizations since in sum total I’ve only met a few, but Latvians are much like the Swedes; the Baltic beauties are mostly tall, blonde and slim, dress a little more flashily, the language is very different from Swedish, but with a little more Russian Vodka in your tumbler plus a concoction consisting of “27 legal herbs” you may find to your  great surprise that you are speaking Latvian fluently, in a very fluid, vodka sort of way if you understand what I mean.  I’m told that under the influence of the said national drink ( Vodka)  the Russians tend to get a little more easily riled than the more easy going Swedes ( Male and female created He them) . Is it possible that that’s what Nikita Khrushchev had been drinking just before he took off his shoe to emphasise a point by banging it (his shoe) on the podium during that his famous UN speech? And when Yeltsin they say turned up at the local police station drenched to the bone  in the national drink and claiming that he had fallen into a river. It’s said that Russians like such macho tales of their heroes – and as everybody knows Put-in has a black belt in Judo – and so does Pierre Schori who is said to be a good friend of Fidel.

I remember that in the old days, at the height of the propaganda war against the USSR, Billy Graham once said  of the Russians – where  Orthodox Christianity is more than a thousand years older than it is in the USA, said Rev. Graham not long after blessing the troops to Vietnam,

“They are not Christians, they are MUSLIMS! LOOK AT THEIR DOMES! (of the churches)

Unfortunately I did not have time to look at any in Riga, but followed a guided Swedish tour for a while and got as far as standing outside St. Peter’s in Riga, which the guide said had the highest church spire in Europe (123 meters) prior to the Second World War. The synagogue miraculously survived as burning it down would have endangered the adjacent buildings….

And now from the ridiculous to the more sublime. On my way to the synagogue, I was distressed to pass a pub on the street corner – not that I am against al-cohol or pubs,  but this one  had the name PUSSY in neon lights – and it left me very distraught – until  the Swedish motorcyclist told me not to worry, because pussy is also the name of a popular al-coholic drink.

At the very beautiful synagogue in Riga, I met Michael Friedman and of all the Latvians that I met, he turned out to be the one with the greatest sense of humour. He told me about the 14 Commandments – the ten that the Almighty gave to the 600,000 souls assembled at the foot of Mt. Sinai  plus an extra 4  which he ( Michael) said was specially for Americans  and could perhaps have helped avert the financial meltdown and could certainly contribute to the healing of the present financial crisis. Michael’s thinking has obviously been deeply influenced by Milton Friedman, because at the end of our conversation and just before I waved goodbye, he asked me what I thought was the difference between now and then, when Latvia was first under Nazi and then under Soviet occupation. I told him, “The difference is that now you are FREE!” He laughed.

“The difference”, he said rather sternly, “is that before, it was Marx & Lenin, and now it’s Marks and Spencer .”

I’m sure that Carl Bildt will agree wholeheartedly with him.

On Monday my visit to The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia 1941-1991 was a much more sombre affair. It was a long walk with my better half and her niece, through the Old Town  and past no.4 Amatu Iela, where I read the following plaque:

“At the end of World War 2 and during the following years many members of the Latvian National Resistance Movement were imprisoned, humiliated, tortured and murdered in this building. The counterespionage Division of the USSR “Smersh” and the Special Division of the USSR Baltic Military District are responsible for these atrocities in front of God and all humankind for eternity.”

Further down the street a small procession was on its way to somewhere. I thought that it was the funeral of an old nationalist (the Latvian flag and the sombre mien of the people. I was told that that Monday, 14^th June is the Memorial Day for the Deportations of 1941, when some 15,000 Latvians were deported to Siberia and other Work Camps in Russia.

I arrived at the museum relatively ignorant and left very moved and very much better informed about how much the Latvians have suffered.

One the first floor of the Museum is a picture of Adolph H with the caption:

“The Soviet Nazi pact of August 23, 1939 is a prelude to World War 2.”

The Holocaust section covers two walls of the museum, with all the grim pictures and texts.

The  introduction reads:

“Even before declaring war against the USSR. Adolf Hitler orders the extermination of Jews living in the occupied territories. The first murders on Latvian territory takes place end of June 1941 and at the same time the occupying forces begin a widespread campaign of anti-Semitic propaganda which continued to the end of the Nazi occupation. The order to separate Jews from the rest of the population, the Nazis require them to wear identifying symbols on their clothing, forbid walking on the city sidewalks and working together with people of other nationalities.”

In the Holocaust in Latvia, 70,000 Latvian Jews killed during the Nazi occupation. Only 1,000 survive…. 25, 000 Jews brought from Germany and other countries, to Latvia. 20, 000 of them killed at the end of the war.

Purchased a book, ” Unpunished Crimes”  – Latvia under three occupations ( Momento – Daugas Vanagi , Stockholm, Toronto, 2003), in which there is a chapter entitled HOLOCAUST by Andrew Ezergailis pages 134 -138.

It begins: “Hitler alone would not have been sufficient, but without Hitler there would not have been a holocaust in Germany or in the rest of Europe. The doors to murder swung open only when Germany’s government was taken over by extremists. The Holocaust occurred by order of the German government. The Holocaust, like the war could not have started without Hitler. The destruction of Jews did not happen anywhere outside of the German occupied zones. And no country occupied by the Germans, including Denmark, remained without Jewish victims.

This truth has to be repeated again and again, for in recent years the idea has spread, especially in Germany itself among the so called revisionist historians, that Eastern European countries, including Latvia, were indistinguishable from Nazi Germany in their hatred of the Jews….”

Andrew Ezergailis: Holocaust

n. b : PAUL KRUMINS! The name of a Righteous Gentile: Paul Krumins

Lastly, I visited this place:

The Jewish Museum at Riga

which consist of two large rooms dense with hundreds of exhibits, mostly photographs  – and the limited time that I spent there was overwhelming  – it was  as if the life-like photographs could breath, were souls  and all very present, giving testimony.

Looked through a book with this title

signed the Guest book…

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First of all, Rinkeby as others see us :

A new Stockholm Syndrome

Rinkeby about which someone joked on Swedish Radio that to visit that place you need a visa and as a result of saying that was going to be taken to court for “hets mot folkgrupp” ( Hate Speech). Well, the first time that I ever visited Rinkeby, I thought that I had arrived at Little Damascus – complete with a little bazaar/ souk, a couple of ladies hurrying back and forth in their hijabs, a few completely concealed in mostly black burqas, no turbans in sight.

Rinkeby which boasts a number of gifted immigrant children who excel in mathematics.

Rinkeby, where Eric Bibb worked hard in creating a successful Rinkeby Choir

If people can sing together in harmony, they should get married.

RINKEBY the melting pot with its several mosques, food shops selling favourite foreign delicacies and Halal products. There’s also the annual Rinkeby Carnival.

Rinkeby – some social engineers call it a ghetto and talk about the ghetto-i- zation of immigrants, the ghetto as  a crucible – that you can’t compress such energy within such a little space and not expect a big explosion. When the new housing project in Abuja was completed, it was reported that it was a little like Rinkeby’s. So there nothing wrong with the housing…..

I was in a very peaceful Rinkeby on Monday afternoon (accompanied by my friend Rahman, from Bangladesh) and in a spirit of solidarity bought two jars of peanut butter from a newly opened Somalian store at the Rinkeby Square. The usual Rinkeby Square with lots of Somalians in particular, gathered in small groups, hanging out. Somalians, visibly and identifiably Somalians. Must support the brothers and there’s nothing like a successful commercial enterprise to inspire others to do the same. The shop is serving the needs of many of the Somalians who live in the Rinkeby-Tensta area. But there are many other immigrant groups that live in Rinkeby: notably Turks who are in the majority, Arabs, Ethiopians, Eritreans, diverse Africans from Africa South of the Sahara.

Last night “Aktuellt” news about the arson on the Rinkeby Academy was the baddest news on TV and the law-abiding citizens of Sweden are all shaking their heads in dismay and wondering , how could this happen and how in just one day, Rinkeby has been transformed into what is now being described as a WAR ZONE.

Last night Stavros Louca a math teacher in the Academy that was razed to the ground – was interviewed on TV 2 Aktuellt and full of love, hope and understanding – and a degree of forgiveness is optimistic that the Academy will be rebuilt and will be an even better one than the one that was burnt down.

This unfortunate turn of events in Rinkeby is reminiscent of the riots in France – but this is of course on a much lower scale.

One does not have to be a sociologist or a policy maker to intuit that the arson must have been fuelled by some deep-seated discontent. The psychologists say that violence – the outbreak of violence is always preceded by FRUSTRATION: There are these recurring problems that keep on occurring in Rinkeby. Violence is not the way, but through violence the machos are perhaps now getting the attention that they seek.

The authorities of course must pay attention and take the appropriate measures to solve the problems and their underlying causes, one of which must be the high drop-out rate from school and the equally high unemployment rate among the energetic Rinkeby youths.

General Björklund the Minister of Education will no doubt be issuing orders if not edicts about DISCIPLINE – others about Crime and Punishment as a cure for anti-social behaviour and the Minister of Integration , Sister Nyamko Sabuni also has a role to play in this old-new reality, not to mention the Sweden Democrats who also have a right to shout as loudly as  they live by the Golden Rule….

Rinkeby is a veritable dynamite keg of artistic talent and if all of the above is none too encouraging then listen to this, which I’m also listening to right now:

Julia Sarr & Patrice Larose: Set Luna

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And not a day too early.

What a relief ! Enough for some of the fans of their redeemer to burst out into the Hallel-u-jah chorus.

And no more cause for Sweden’s Prime Minister & Our Swedish Foreign Minister to start shouting, “ Let MY PEOPLE  go!!!”

Otherwise there would have been a great war of words between Carl Bildt who has been doing most of the talking, and Binyamin Netanyahu who has made it very clear, that it was not

a love boat

Even I who have not been anywhere near the sea shore feel weary, just now, after the emotional strain of following the developments since late Saturday…..

All I can say now is that I hope that there will be no Swedes on the other boat that they say is either on its way or will soon be on it’s way – heading for Gaza.

Nota Bene:

The Helsinki Principles

In the meantime, Stockholm is being transformed into a veritable City of LOVE as we get readied for THE ROYAL WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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