The Norwegian Progress Party and Sweden Democrats – ideological contrarians
by Fredrik Runebert

Since the 1980s Contra has followed the Norwegian libertarian Progress Party. In other Swedish media the Progress Party has been described as a populist and nationalist party of discontent. During the last decade the party has been compared with the Sweden Democrats.

In the biggest selling Swedish daily, Aftonbladet, you could read in 2009: ”The biggest party in the elections was on the right The Progress Party and its leader Siv Jensen. A party that could be compared to the Sweden Democrats or the Danish People’s Party”. Sweden Democrats themselves do not make any efforts to change the view in major media. The General Secretary of the Sweden Democrats, Björn Söder, has declared that the fact that the Progress Party now is part of the Norwegian government is something to copy in Sweden.

But the picture is basically false. The Progress Partry is a party with libertarian roots and it is opposed to strict regulations and the welfare state in general,. Which is to the contrary of the views of the Sweden Democrats.

Different Shades of Red by Tommy Hansson

It was now more than twenty years ago the Soviet Union disintegrated and the Berlin Wall fell down. But Communism is still a firm belief for old nostalgic persons as well as for young idealists. It should be noted that a number of leftist organizations accept violence as a means for political work. From the extremist Revolutionary Front to the Left Party, which is represented in the Swedish Parliament.

The dysfunctional Washington is benefitting the political class
by Allan C. Brownfeld

The political Washington doesn’t work. The confidence polls for the Congress and the President all fall. During a period during the past fall all government activities ceased and the conflict between the Congress and the Presidency is worse than ever before. At the same time more and more politicians secure their financial future by turning their services over to lobbyists. They may even accept contracts on promoting views that are contrary to what they used to advocate as politicians.

Baltic Plaques in the harbour of Slite moved to leave space for the Russians
by Roald Volmer

In the harbour of Slite on the East Coast of the island of Gotland two plaques remember the boat refugees coming from Estonia and Latvia respectively during 1944 and 1945. The refugees fled from the advancing Red Army. During the past years the Russians have built a gas pipeline from the town Vyborg (Swedish Viborg) in Carelia, now controlled by Russia, to the German port of Greifswald (once part of Swedish Pomerania). In the middle the construction teams (who are now building the second line, parallell to the first, which has already been opened) have had Slite, approximately halfway between Vyborg and Greifswald as an important supply base. To give more space for the Russians the plaques have been moved from their old place, which was exactly where most of the refugees hit Swedish shores.

Myths of pensions and retired people
by C G Holm

Has the Swedish government ”pinched” 40 billion dollars from pension funds to put the money in government coffers? Are the retired people cheated on 10 billion due to a technicality in the Swedish pension system for the years 2011-2018? That is what lobbyists for retired people are claiming. Facts are completely different. The lobbyists are trying to steal money from their own children and grandchildren.

Old workshop communities laid the foundation for Swedish socialism
by Britt Louise Körninger

Old ironworks had a strict social structure with distinct segregation between bluecollar and whitecollar personnel. The dissatisfaction with this deep segregation, which was operational until the 1970s, was the foundation for the success of Swedish socialism. But it also created a new gulf between the trade unionists and leftist politicians and their members/electorate.

Information on the crimes of Communism
by Bertil Häggman

In 1982 Bertil Häggman published a small book on the magnitude of the crimes of communism since 1917. The book was published nine years before the fall of the Wall and the later fall of the Soviet Union. Today we have an abundance of information on the crimes of the Soviet Union. Bertil Häggman’s estimate was that the Communism was the cause of 104 million deaths. Today the number can be estimated at 150 million.

One month with the Svenska Dagbladet
by C G Holm

The Swedish press declines. One of the major newspapers, the Svenska Dagbladet, has for one month only had five top news on the front page that were really news (and this includes two losses for Sweden’s national team against Portugal in the qualification for the 2014 World Cup in soccer in Brazil). The other 24 days of publication in November 2013 included a lot of biased comments, ”news” created by the paper itself (as for example a group of economists asked by the paper to give a combined view on the interest rate of the Bank of Sweden). This is typical for the decline of news in Swedish media and the rise of political campaigns.