Christian refugees harassed in Sweden
Studies show that Christians more than other religious groups are victims of hate crimes. ”Christophobes” are however never focused as opposed to people who are regarded as islamophobes or antisemites. Open Doors have asked 123 Christian refugees in Sweden and 96 per cent of them have been harassed, mainly by Moslem fellow refugees.
Finn Bengtsson
– an independent voice in the Swedish Parliament
Finn Bengtsson, professor in medicine from the University of Linköping, has been a member of the Moderate (Conservative) Party for 48 years. During the past 11.5 years he has been an MP. Since the change of government (to the left) in 2014 he has been critical about the opposition’s reluctance to topple the government. His critical views have caused disciplinary measures from the leadership of the party. He is now barred from all committee work in the Parliament. Contra has talked with Bengtsson on his views of the structure and governance of Swedish political parties.
In Putin’s Russia
Masha Gessen tells about being called by Vladimir Putin when she refused to send a reporter covering Putin’s ”crane experience”. At the time she was editor of the Russian magazine Vokrug Sveta. Today she has left Russia and lives in New York and has recently published a book on Putin’s Russia: The Future Is History: How Totalitarianism Reclaimed Russia
Don’t get cheated by Bitcoin
Many have earned a lot of money on Bitcoin during the past couple of years. Libertarians have seen Bitcoin as a tool to get away from government control of the payment system. But the top user of Bitcoin are criminal gangs that have found a way to transfer money that cannot be traced. Bitcoin has created values of close to 100 billion dollars. But there is no way to guarantee that it will be worth a penny tomorrow.
Commander-in-chief Micael Bydén:”The policy of neutrality is dead”
–At present the likelihood for imminent war is low. But the strategic situation is calling for a serious lookout. That’s the way Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén chose to describe the strategic situation at a public lecture in his hometown Södertälje.
Aurora 17 – finally a military training exercise!
During three weeks in September 2017 the Swedish armed forces had an exercise called Aurora 17. A total of 20,000 soldiers from all service branches in Sweden participated, as did US, French, Finnish and Baltic soldiers. Contra contributor Jonas Bohman participated in the exercise. The first major military exercise since 1993.
To protect yourself against fake news
Contra’s Washington correpsondent has in a couple of articles during the past year discussed the threat to free speech in American Universities. Now the same phenomena is starting to appear in Sweden. The United States is usually ahead of Sweden – for bad and good. This time Allan C. Brownfeld discusses ”fake news” and how to defend you against them. ”Fake news” are discussed a lot in Sweden too, but actual effects of fake news have mostly been seen in the UK (the 2016 Brexit referendum) and the United States (the 2016 presidential election). The possibilities of defending against fake news is mostly an effect of your own efforts!