The shameless cow trade should be our vice

Concluding remarks. Johann Schollander accuses me of having written an “extraordinarily sloppy discussion article”. That may be. In contrast, his position is a perfect example of a great power’s apparent moral capacity for self-deception: “Sweden does not seek to protect any person given by grace, we seek to co-operate as equals in an alliance.”

The truth is that we seek to enter under the gallows, having knocked at home for decades and at court not under any circumstances desiring membership in this abominable organization. Add to that the fact that NATO is a club where all members have veto power over new members, and we have the problem in a nutshell.

One could certainly argue that we have every right to express sharp and justified criticism of countries like Turkey and Hungary. But for all nations comes the moment of truth, when one is forced to accept the consequences of past actions. For Sweden, this moment came when Magdalena Andersson made her famous statement that Sweden’s membership in NATO would destabilize the security situation in the Baltic Sea region.

The rude cow trade

The prime minister’s instinctive reaction was that freedom of alliance and foreign policy activism had served the SPD well and therefore should continue. It would not be a bold guess that her conversion only came about when she understood what the consequences of continuing this policy would be.

The relationship between Russia and NATO will be marked by hostility for a long time. This means that the time is up now that we can pretend to be non-aligned while expecting to be protected by NATO. If we remain abroad, we will be alone and weak, without the possibility even of continuing our defense cooperation with Finland.

Our hope now is that the United States will forget our previous cowardice and invest in forcing Turkey to forget that for too long we were not satisfied with killing terrorists for gold. Prime Minister Anderson’s rude meat to Emine Cakabaveh about supporting the Kurds should also be a burden to us.

By Stefan Hedlund

Senior Professor of Oriental Studies, Uppsala University

“Your immigration policy has led to problems.”