Hostage-taking in Sweden
Kidnapping as a political weapon makes the transition from the Arab mindset to Sweden.
Kidnapping, the taking of hostages for personal and/or political gain, has now made its triumphant entry into Sweden’s finest salons.
Hostage-taking is no longer the exclusive preserve of fanatical Islamist groups with a fearsome political agenda or of psychotically violent Taliban worshippers in Peshawar, Ramallah, Beirut, Baghdad or Fort Hood.
Now the disease has spread to Sweden.
Its prime advocate is Sweden’s least diplomatic and most aggressive Foreign Minister in history: Carl Bildt. In August, Swedish extremist left-wing tabloid Aftonbladet published an anti-Semitic article based on unfounded allegations of officially sanctioned Israeli organ trafficking using the bodies of dead Palestinian Arabs. The whole world waited for the Swedish government to follow in the footsteps of Sweden’s ambassador to Israel, Ms Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, who expressed distaste for the article’s racist content while at the same time supporting the newspaper’s right to publish it – embarrassingly amateurish journalism and infantile writing style are not, after all, illegal in Sweden. Sweden’s Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz confirmed there were no legal obstacles to either Carl Bildt or any other senior government representative voicing similar sentiments.
The Swedish government, however, did the exact opposite: Carl Bildt withdrew the ambassador’s statement and refused to comment on the article that made derogatory remarks about Jews. A few weeks later, however, there were very strong government comments in the Swedish media – because the same newspaper had published an article containing derogatory remarks about Muslims.
Carl Bildt was criticised by Israel for his unusually abrupt and – even for him – uncouth behaviour over the Aftonbladet case. In response to Israel, Carl Bildt has now taken Sweden’s foreign policy and its reputation hostage by spearheading an act that in terms of its aggressive intent is unparalleled in Sweden’s history: While Sweden still holds the EU Presidency, Carl Bildt has devoted himself to representing the Islamist rejetionist front, forging ahead in the vanguard of a movement to alter the status of Israel’s capital Jerusalem and formally give it to a non-existent state, “Palestine”.
By forcing through an EU decision on this matter, he is adopting a long-term strategy to create the legal foundation for international military action against the Jewish state. It is an act of unparalleled aggression that will have far-reaching consequences for Sweden’s reputation abroad – and will crush any hope of peace in the Middle East.
Carl Bildt is an embarrassing burden for Sweden. Voices in the Foreign Office mutter about his autocratic style and his constant efforts to put himself rather than Sweden’s interests or reputation in focus. No wonder then that several political parties are making huge gains in the run-up to national elections in autumn 2010 – on both the fanatical Left and extremist Right fringes and at the expense of the mainstream political establishment.
Carl Bildt is using the Foreign Office as his own private extortion organisation. He has kidnapped Sweden and is holding Swedish foreign policy hostage while he pursues his own private vendetta against the Jewish state.
Kidnapping, the taking of hostages for personal and/or political gain, has now made its triumphant entry into Sweden’s finest salons.
Hostage-taking is no longer the exclusive preserve of fanatical Islamist groups with a fearsome political agenda or of psychotically violent Taliban worshippers in Peshawar, Ramallah, Beirut, Baghdad or Fort Hood.
Now the disease has spread to Sweden.
Its prime advocate is Sweden’s least diplomatic and most aggressive Foreign Minister in history: Carl Bildt. In August, Swedish extremist left-wing tabloid Aftonbladet published an anti-Semitic article based on unfounded allegations of officially sanctioned Israeli organ trafficking using the bodies of dead Palestinian Arabs. The whole world waited for the Swedish government to follow in the footsteps of Sweden’s ambassador to Israel, Ms Elisabet Borsiin Bonnier, who expressed distaste for the article’s racist content while at the same time supporting the newspaper’s right to publish it – embarrassingly amateurish journalism and infantile writing style are not, after all, illegal in Sweden. Sweden’s Chancellor of Justice Göran Lambertz confirmed there were no legal obstacles to either Carl Bildt or any other senior government representative voicing similar sentiments.
The Swedish government, however, did the exact opposite: Carl Bildt withdrew the ambassador’s statement and refused to comment on the article that made derogatory remarks about Jews. A few weeks later, however, there were very strong government comments in the Swedish media – because the same newspaper had published an article containing derogatory remarks about Muslims.
Carl Bildt was criticised by Israel for his unusually abrupt and – even for him – uncouth behaviour over the Aftonbladet case. In response to Israel, Carl Bildt has now taken Sweden’s foreign policy and its reputation hostage by spearheading an act that in terms of its aggressive intent is unparalleled in Sweden’s history: While Sweden still holds the EU Presidency, Carl Bildt has devoted himself to representing the Islamist rejetionist front, forging ahead in the vanguard of a movement to alter the status of Israel’s capital Jerusalem and formally give it to a non-existent state, “Palestine”.
By forcing through an EU decision on this matter, he is adopting a long-term strategy to create the legal foundation for international military action against the Jewish state. It is an act of unparalleled aggression that will have far-reaching consequences for Sweden’s reputation abroad – and will crush any hope of peace in the Middle East.
Carl Bildt is an embarrassing burden for Sweden. Voices in the Foreign Office mutter about his autocratic style and his constant efforts to put himself rather than Sweden’s interests or reputation in focus. No wonder then that several political parties are making huge gains in the run-up to national elections in autumn 2010 – on both the fanatical Left and extremist Right fringes and at the expense of the mainstream political establishment.
Carl Bildt is using the Foreign Office as his own private extortion organisation. He has kidnapped Sweden and is holding Swedish foreign policy hostage while he pursues his own private vendetta against the Jewish state.
Etiketter: Carl Bildt, Chancellor of Justice, English, extortion, Fort Hood, Göran Lambertz, hostage-taking, Sweden
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