In all fairness, the article being referred to ( and to be read care-fully)
Whereas, this is being written in a hurry.
“Festina lente”, say the old Romans. “Ta det lungt”, ( take it easy) say the modern Vikings.
The Modern Vikings also say lagom är bäst and that probably explains why the Modern Viking (Swedish sextion) will leave it all to the USA to kick ass whether it be in Afghanistan or even Iran ( if need be) but will not ( ourselves/ We Sweden) participate in an offensive mode. WE are peace lovers always and always in love. Let the Americans kick ass if they want to / love to / have to – for the peace of the world. After all George W did make it clear, separating truth from error: that either We (Sweden) are with the terrorists (Heaven forbid) or we are with the anti-Terrorists and their supporters. Of course we have always made a clear choice and no matter how you define terror/ terrorism we have chosen wisely….
“Now there’s spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down
Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain’t no neutral ground “
Not even in No-r-way
Perhaps that’s why Dr. Dynamite decided to award the Noble Prize to Brother Obama
The Swedish Government’s overwhelming emphasis is on peace, not war, and “ to extend the civil mission”.
In the meantime, Holland ( unlike Sweden, a NATO nation – and unlike Sweden with no claims of qualms about neutrality) has pulled out her 1,700 troops from any further military action in Afghanistan .
The following questions remain unanswered and continue to trouble the minds of some of the Swedish peace lovers – lovers who boast of having not waged war for the past two hundred years. Lovers who say that they believe in making love , not war.
Question 1. Why has Holland pulled out – and why has Holland not adopted the Swedish option of peaceful “ civil mission”?
Question 2: Is Sweden in for the long haul?
Question 3: Is Sweden married to the Swedish Alliance/Government policy through thick and thin – because it is not a wedding vow ( say like between Bush and Bildt – or even between Bush and Bolton) in which the one affirms with the other “ till death do us part” ( not that we expect that the Alliance or Bush will last forever) and death, deaths, ( in alphabetical order) Afghan deaths, Afghan Civilian deaths , American deaths, British deaths, Dutch deaths, verily even Swedish deaths and other deaths have already occurred in Afghanistan and our lads, buried with full military honours.
Deaths have occurred and are occurring and so are more and more wikileaks.
Two items for our consideration:
- Afghanistan ruined the USSR.
- The Afghan People cannot be defeated. Nor can the Taliban. Sure it’s not the same as Vietnam. We know that the Taliban are not Vietcong, they are Afghans. It’s their country and needless to say their motivation is strong as they believe that victory is theirs.( Perhaps if the Prophet of Islam – salallahu alaihi wa salaam were to be beginning his prophetic career today, some people would be fighting against him, right now, using their drones and their other modern weapons of destruction.
Having said that, there is an important question about the Taliban which many people say are steeped in the Wahabi doctrines from which source it is alleged they get their inspiration – and as far as I understand the Wahabi, they are intensely against all forms of Shirk (idolatry).
The question is :Is the Taliban amenable to some reform impulses, that could impact on their overall strategic interests – should the proper peace overtures be made to them?
Taking the source /s of their religious inspiration into consideration, that must be the main avenue through which they must be approached.
Therefore – in my opinion, the US and allies should be going the extra mile in suing for peace – to make an extended call for peace – to call ALL parties together for such talks, to invite among the other players and influences in the region, Saudi Arabia ( of course) and also the Islamic Republic of Iran who can surely have a constructive role to play – better as a friend, than as an enemy or “the enemy”. I say this, not as one acquainted with the al-ghaib – because, without my glasses I am not even privileged to see beyond my nose, but you and I know that right now in any talk about the future we “ see through a glass darkly” and – it was either Emerson or Thoreau who said that you can tell the direction of the wind by throwing up a piece of cotton wool – more difficult to tell the direction of the wind ( even a poisoned chemical or bacteriological wind) by throwing up a stone.
Similarly there’s no telling what lies ahead for the US , in the US and outside of the US. In life or in death.
The camel’s back will probably not be broken by another Obama surge of an additional 30,000 fighters from the American reservists or by firing more American generals because they tell the truth about the situation. We ( Sweden) do not want to sing more dirges of untold/ unmourned deaths of innocent Afghan civilians even if Barack Hussein Obama the Noble Peace Prize laureate believes that Afghan lives in Afghanistan are worth considerably less than American or Swedish lives here in Sweden or in the United States or in Afghanistan.
Sweden has around 500 troops in Afghanistan though many are support troops and the overall mission is for reconstruction and all those type projects. But of course insanely difficult when insurgents wage battle against them. They feel if they can bully Sweden, they can keep them inside their bases and conquer the local area. Luckily recent changes to their rules of battle allow Swedish soldiers to fire freely and not wait to be attacked to defend themselves.
Much respect to Swedes.
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Much respect to Kevin.
Perhaps Kevin would like to join the Swedish surge and “to fire freely and not wait to be attacked to defend ” (himself and others) ?
“recent changes to their rules of battle” ?
Golden Rule:
http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/do-right-to-me-baby-do-unto-others
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Make love not war is the worst tosh ever pronounced. Someone needs to graduate from those infantile notions (there’s simply no logic in it, if you come to think of it) because they don’t hold any water. If there’s been peace in Sweden for 200 years not for 60 years it’s because the tanks that used to run over the bodies of peaceful citizens of Eastern Europe (not only Eastern) were welded from the Swedish iron.
How ill-conceived a thought it is to leave a country to blood-thirsty gangs who can’t wait to put their swords to some decapitatory use when there are no obstacles whatsoever from the coalition forces.
It’s not an act of peace when you leave your friends in lurch, when you propagate enlightenment but not fight those who try to root it out, not to oppose those who are at bottom against peace, to be dead set on women’s rights but turning a blind eye to those who don’t even allow their daughters to go to school, who simply utilize them for only copulation purposes in order to multiply their fundamentalist ideas.
A little bit of consideration is all it takes, this decision portrays it alright.
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