The Kingdom of the Leftists
by Magnus Ivarsson
The glorious time of progress is something of the past in Sweden. During the past decades Sweden has continued rapidly downwards in an international comparison. It might be that Greece is worse off in the short run, but the Swedish decline has been more long-term and has continued for an extended period of time.
Magnus Ivarsson has a MBA and a long career in international business and as an advisor to the World Bank in Latin America and Africa. He has written a book called The Kingdom of the Leftists. The World’s most odd people? The book is published by Contra.
Pork… A vote costs 40,000 kronor
This fall there are general elections in Sweden and all political parties tries to compete with pork. That is, they are trying to offer segments of society benfits that in the end will be paid by the general public and all taxpayers. The basic idea is that taxes are paid by all, at a relatively low rate. But benefits are concentrated to limited groups that get a lot. These small groups should cha nge their voting behaviour.
A study in economics based on the introduction of generous child care benefits in the election campaign of 1998 shows that the pork worked as vote catcher (the pork heavily benefited parents with children in ages 2–6), while the taxpayers had to foot a bill of 40,000 kronor (5,000 dollars) in order to move on vote into the part giving the pork away.
From muslim loyalist to one of the major critic’s of islam: Ayaan Hirsi Ali
by Fredrik Runebert
The West does not consider the true width of the implications of the moslem threat to the Western society. This is the basic idea of author Ayaan Hirsi Ali, now employed by American Enterprise Institute, a pro-business think-tank in the US. From 2003 to 2006 she was an elected member of parliament in the Netherlands, representing the center-right VVD party. In the election of 2003 she was given the highest numer of indivudal votes of any Dutrch parliamentarian. Her friend Theo van Gogh was stabbed to death in the street by a moslem fundamentalist who disliked his film ”Submission”, van Gogh direected the film, but Ayaan was the author of the manuscript. The murderer put a message on the wife he used to kill van Gogh: next time it will be Ayaan (who was born in Somalia).
Georgia – the country longing for the West by C G Holm
Georgia is the most pro-Western of all former Soviet republics. But the geographical location of the country constitutes significant problems in Georgia’s efforts to join the West. As opposed to the three Baltic republics Georgia has not been successful in becoming a member of the NATO or the EU. The closeness to Russia makes NATO support an almost impossible logistical task.
Mussolini – a study of power by David Stavenheim
Author Göran Häggs has written book called Mussolini – a study of power. The power position of Mussolini was unique and he had a more total control of the society, even more than Hitler. Fascism was a one.man show with Mussolini in charge.
The threatened position of the Swedish language in Finland by Tommy Hansson
Could the legal approach save the position of the Swedish language in Finland (approx 6 per cent of the population of Finland has Swedish as their native tongue). A law lecturer at the University of Umeå in northern Sweden, Ida Asplund, thinks a more legal approach could strengthen the position of the Swedish language. She is born in the province of Österbotten in Finland, just across the Gulf of Bothnia from the city of Umeå in Sweden.
A letter that cost him two years in prison
Zoltán Cséplö was a Hungarien with his roots in Transylvania. He was, however, born in Bucharest in Romania, here his father worked as a driver. When the Russians in the end of WWII marched into Romania he fled towards the West, but was stopped in the last town in Hungary before the Austrian border. In 1948 he wrote a private letter to a friend, a letter which was found by the police during a politically motivated search of his friend’s home. Zoltán had given critical views on the Communist regime in his letter, which cost him two years in prison. His daughter, now living in Sweden, has offered the sentence of Zoltán in a Swedish translation.
In the election this fall the Social Democrats offer a coalition government with the Leftists and the Greens. The Leftist (former Communists) openly supported the Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956.
Destiny without mercy by Frank Gordons
Russia has during the years deeply interfered in Polish affairs. Did they also April 10th when the entire Polish top leadership died in an air crash in Smolensk, Russia? There are a number of conspiracy theories. In Georgia it is for example claimed that Russian soldiers shot survivors. But what do we know? And which are the proofs avialable for different opinions?