From communism to islamofascism
by Theo Hartman

When you look at the disgusting effects of Soviet government during the time after World War II and until 1991, considering economic, cultural and ethnical effects in Eastern Europe, a good question is: Why didn’t liberation come earlier? Theo Hartman describes ideas promoted by more activist conservative thinkers, and discusses if their ideas could have shortened the time to liberation.

The war in Chechnya still creates victims
Tommy Hansson writes on a book by Vera Efron

The war in Chechnya in the beginning of the 1990s still is a focal point in Russian domestic and foreign policies. Even if the war officially has ended. To be critical against Russian operations in Chechnya could lead to a rapid and violent death as independent media people like Aleksander Litvinenko and Anna Politkovskaia prove. Vera Efron has written a detailked account of the Russian war in Chechnya

The reign of terror in
the Iraq of Saddam Hussein
by Fredrik Runebert

The American author Jean Sasson has written the book “Mayada – daughter of Iraq”, which gives the story of Mayada al-Askaris during the time when Saddam Hussein was in power. It is an important reading in order to balance the views forwarded in major media. When you hear about anarchy and chaos in Iraq you should make a comparison with how it was before the fall of Saddam. The book is also important reading for people hit by feminist rhetoric on the injustices caused by the”invisible power structure”in Sweden. Sasson shows that women have real problems in other parts of the world…

Progress in Iraqi economy
by C G Holm

The security situation is bad. But in an Iraq hit by violence the economic development is dynamic. Especially so in the Kurdish parts of the country, but also in the Arabic parts of Iraq the economic development is rapid.

Mars grows warmer

Two recent reports doubt that the cause of increasing temperatures on earth are manmade. There are other important factors affecting the climate: The Sun and Cosmic Rays. Both affect the temperature of the planets, and not only so the Earth. Recent studies from Mars probes shows that the temperature of Mars has increased significantly during the past decades. And there certainly are no Martians emitting carbon dioxide in the Martian atmosphere.

Bornholm – a small island in the Baltic
by Tommy Hansson

Bornholm has duing almost all its recent history been Danish (in spite of the fact that it is located much closer to the Swedish mainland that to the Danish), but the island was a Swedish possession in 1645 and 1658-1660 after the conquests of King Karl X Gustav and the peace treaty of Roskilde. After the murder of the Swedish governor Printzensköld in 1658 the island has been in Danish possession. During World War II however the island was occupied by first the Germans and later the Soviet Union.

Eve was arrested for conspiracy for attempted manslaughter and later she was promoted to deputy mayor
by C G Holm

Contra has earlier reported on activists in the Left Party (post-Communists) convicted of first degree murder, theft, fraud. sexual harassments and so forth. In most cases they have been able to continue their political activities as local media has chosen not to report on their crimes. If a Christian Democrat had committed the same crimes the headlines would have been dark and the political career would have ended. Contra this time reports on Eve, who was arrested for conspiracy for attempted manslaughter (the knife put into the chest of her former boyfriend missed the heart by only millimeters), local media wrote about the crime but did not mention who was behind it. After the election of 2006 Eva was promoted to deputy mayor in her home city.

Sweden must act
by Ardavan Khoshnood

Since the revolution in 1979, which hit Iran like an earthquake, Iran has been governed with torture, terror and murder. The government in Teheran has many times shown that they despise freedom and democracy, and they never give in in their chase for enemies of the government. More than 200 exile Iranian have become victims of the extended arm of the Iranian secret police. Seden must protest against its operations in Sweden.

Memories from bad times can be seen in the East
by C G Holm

In many countries in Central Europe there are monuments and museums commemorating the bad times of the past. One of the better and more instructive is the House of Terror (www.terrorhaza.hu) in Budapest. A must sight for Contra readers visting Hungary this summer.

Tough times for democracy in Hungary

During the latter part of communist rule in Eastern Europe Hungary was slightly less worse off financially than the other countries. People could even talk of ”goulash communism” (or fridge communism as they said in Hungary), the people could eat and did not starve as in other communist countries. The country had made certain concessions to the market economy and thus Hungary was not as bad off as the others.

Today a former chairman of the Communist Youth League is Prime Minister. He has ”served time” as a capitalist however, and with the help of his communist friends he has turned former state properties into his own and turned into one of Hungarys richest men. His general policies are still inspired by Communism and democracy is under severe pressure in present day Hungary.