The new Putin dictatorship
by Tommy Hansson

When communism ceased to be the government ideology in the Soviet Union in 1991 people around the world hoped that the new Russia would develop into a democracy. During the last years of the Soviet Union Michail Gorbachov had made the ”concrete communism” a little bit softer. And yes, the post-communist Russia is more democratic than Soviet Russia ever was. But corruption and crime have emerged and recent events show that a new dictatorship, prepared to use mafia methods, is a possibility, and it is already established in some respects.

Media leftism still rules
by C G Holm

If you read a foreign newspaper or see the news on a foreign newschannel you certainly will be bewildered when you compare it to Swedish media. Is Sweden located on some far away planet? For a long time minor journals like Contra or subscription to major international news magazines like The Economist or Der Spiegel were the only ways for a Swede to get in touch with the world. After the growth of internet and satellite television this is not any more the case. You can get a fair and balanced view of the world, even if you live in Sweden. But if you turn to Swedish media you get a distorted view. Studies on the political affiliations of journalists show that two thirds are leftists, most of them sympathising with the small extremist parties to the left of the former government party, the Social Democrats, i e the Communist and the Green parties.

Sowell is crushing the myths regarding blacks
by Fredrik Runebert

Thomas Sowell is professor in economics at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He is well-known for his research on minorities and is not only familiar with economics but also with political science. In addition to his scientific merits he is an active writer and columnist on http://www.townhall.com He is also well-known as a controversional speaker and writer. Recently he wrote a book challenging our views on slavery, on German history and anti-semitism. He also rejects a number of myths on what should be done to improve the position of blacks in America.

400 years since the first British settlement in the USA
by Allan C. Brownfeld

During 2007 the United States will celebrate an important anniversary: It was 400 years since the first British settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. The celebrations started already in May 2006 when a copy of Godspeed, the ship that transported the first settlers to Jamestown in 1607, viisted six harbors on the US East Coast in order to generate interest for this years celebrations.

Kuklinski supplied CIA with secrets from the East
by Tommy Hansson

Among the not very well-known heroes of the Cold War the Polish officer Ryszard Kuklinski should be noted. During the ten years 1971-81 he gave the CIA a number of secret Soviet documents. Kuklinski had to pay a high price in order to serve freedom.

Fredrick Federley – chairman of Young Centrists and friend of Israel

Fredrick Federley, chairman of Young Centrists (affiliated to the Centre Party, one of the four parties in the present centre-right coalition government in Sweden), recently made a speech at the Sweden Israel Society: Every time is marked by a spirit. In the beginning of the 20th century the spirit was racial biology which later turned into the Holocaust. But who dares to oppose the spirit of the time? We will, however, be judged by our deeds, as people have been done during all ages.

The euro at eight
by C G Holm

The Swedish electorate said no to the euro in the Sptember 2003 plebiscite. 56.1 per cent voted No. Later opinion polls have shown smalla changes in the views of the electorate. Today we can see what happened in the countries that joined the euro zone. A comparison between the euro and the non-euro countries of Europe (excluding the former Communist countries) shows a significant advantage in economic development for the non-euro countries.

The tragedy of the Shah – and of Iran
by Arvin Khoshnood

In 1979 Iran was hit by turmoil in an islamist/communist revolution. Iran was transformed into a fundamnetalist islamist state, controlled by ayatollah Khomeini. Iran and the world turned into a ”dark age” with murder, terror, threat and fear. Before the revolution Iran had been governed by shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who turned the country into the road towards industralism, modernism and – most important – democracy.