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I was born in the USA, I am nearly 40 and just became a Swedish citizen this year.
I was too old for universal conscription into military service; however if I was in the Swedish Army, I might find myself under US command on some overseas deployment. We live in a very interconnected world, were laws and rules are convoluted. As a Swedish citizen living abroad I don’t have to pay any Swedish taxes. When we live in Sweden, I have to file my US income tax. So does my wife who holds a US green card even if she is out of the US (taxation without representation).

Both counties have their advantages. I miss the 5 weeks of vacation we had in Sweden. We don’t currently have any health insurance for the family, so any serious illness would send us scurrying back to Sweden.
I have traveled in many disturbed areas of the world, and if I needed assistance, I would definitely turn to the Swedish Embassy for help. I know what everyone is thinking, but the reality is that we do not send the Marines to help the average Joe overseas that needs it. I have seen both Embassies in action and I have no doubt about my choice.

There are things about Sweden that drive me crazy. I am a republican to the bone and I believe nobody is born to a higher station in life than any other. The US Constitution is the greatest social charter ever drafted by man.

Where do my true loyalties lay ?
I was cheering for Sweden in the World Cup, does that make me a traitor to the USA ?

I think that Rahm Emanuel held dual citizenship when he worked in the White House
He served in the Israeli Army and was a reserve officer.

I don’t make the rules I just live by them.

I am a dual citizen (US and Sweden) My Daughter is also(born that way). My wife has a green card and will become a naturalized citizen as soon as she is eligible. For us, it is a matter of convenience, applying for a resident permit every time we move is a time consuming and expensive process in both counties. Sweden has only recently changes its laws to allow dual citizenship. It used to be you could lose your Swedish citizenship by taking the citizenship of another county.
When this law resulted in Sweden forfeiting the 1998 Olympic Hockey Tournament, there was a quick change in national priorities.
If I were to hold a “policy making” position in the Swedish government, I could jeopardize my US citizenship. Many years ago a US citizen was elected to the Israeli parliament. The State Department tried to strip him of his US citizenship. He took them to court and won.

>Is White the new appointment or the holdover? White is a GW43 appointment and former Enron Exec.

Brown is an American, you are thinking of Peter Jennings.

Ohno is a class act. He shrugged the whole thing off “That’s short track.” No whining. And he has a genuine respect for the Aussie that won (the guy made his skates and is something of an elder statesman of the sport). Even when Costas was pumping him to get the venom that was so much a part of the pairs skating he wouldn’t bite. Ohno is a true Olympian.

This is one you can’t blame on politicians. Last fall voters approved (with 66.07%) Initiative Measure No. 773 which increased the taxes.

There is something insightful in the The Kargil Committee report. This was the Indian’s government inquiry it to what was viewed as the major failings of it’s military that resulted in the Pakistani armed intrusion in the Kargil region in 1999. “General Musharraf himself served in Afghanistan and had ties with Osama Bin Laden and other extremists. He is a Mohajir and an ambitious, hard driving man. He had served in the Northern Areas for several years and had been associated with the crackdown on the Shias. He had commanded the Special Services Group with launched an attack on Bilafond La in Siachen but was frustrated.”

That is not quite the whole story of the naming game. Washington’s two most important counties were named after the President and Vice President in an attempt to curry favor and get Washington admitted as a state. The national government responded by making Oregon a State (Washington remained a territory for another 40 years). William Rufus Devane King was as open a homosexual as anyone was in the 1850s. He was the only American executive to take the oath of office while outside the county. He was sworn in on March 4, 1853, in Havana, Cuba he promptly died on April 18, 1853 having never done anything as Vice-President. But the fact is, that almost nobody who lived in King County had any idea who he was. Most people already thought that the County was named after MLK before the name change. Considering there is a King holiday, the change made sense.

Wasn't Pickett (of later Pickett's Charge fame at Gettysburg) a captain or lieutenant in the US Army at the time facing British regulars along the border, ready (almost eager) to fight the Brits in the event border talks weren't successful? Pickett was was the commander of American forces in the bloodless “pig war” on San Juan Island (the one in Washington State) There are now national parks at the site of both the American and British camps. Pickett’s camp was poorly sited and by all accounts a miserable posting. He was badly out numbered and out gun and surly would have been overwhelmed if the British had attacked. Larger geo-political concerns motivated the British to cede the islands.

crystalk says: >That is where BOTH parents are Americans overseas on a >temporary basis, not planning to domicile themselves >there. In this case, if I understand it, ONE parent is no >American at all, and the other might be said to have >emigrated with intent to reside abroad >permanently/indefinitely. No, that is not the way it works at all. In my case the child's mother was (and is)a Swede. I was living in Sweden with a permenate residents permit and had been for 8 years. We were not married at the time, but my name was on my child's Swedish birth certificate as the father. That was all that was required. IIRC at the time, there was a situation were a child born abroad of a US Citizen did not have a right to a US passport. That was if the parents were married and the father was the non-American. Think "fatherland"here. I think this has been changed now to be less discriminatory.

crystalk says: I meant, of course, that the daughter HAS NO CLAIM TO US NATIONALITY NOW. This is not true. My daughter was born in Sweden. We got a Certificate of consular birth for her and a US passport. If you are a US Citizen and have a child born overseas GET THESE DOCUMENTS ! Remember without a US passport nobody has right to enter the US !

First off, let me say that I am not a lawyer and I am not giving you legal advice and I am not advising you to do anything illegal. I am also married to a Swede (but happily) and lived in Sweden for 12 years. I know many people who have confronted this very problem. First understand that wherever you file for divorce is going to want jurisdiction. Physical presents trump everything. There is a well-known case that has been featured on TV magazine shows of a man that has a US court order that he has not been able to enforce in Sweden. If you file in Sweden, you are unlikely to get sole custody. You most likely would not in the US either. Either court may very well prohibit you to take the child outside of the jurisdiction (country). So if you file for divorce in Sweden you may not be able to take the child back to the US. You cannot take the child out of the country without the other parent’s permission. This is the rule, but if you have a passport (for the child) and tickets you are unlikely to be stopped at the boarder, especially if you depart for the US from another EU country. IIRC you need both parents to sign to get a passport in Sweden. Where was you child born ? Does the child have a certificate of consular birth and/or a US passport ?

I think that article is in German, not Danish.

I had the privilege to observe Italian and German ships that were blockading the Serbian coast during the Yugoslavian conflict. Some boarding parties were highly trained special commandos with short H&Ks but others were just groups of sailors who got the duty that had no special weapons. It did not seem that there was any special threat assessment made but that who ever was available was sent. In any case it seemed that both the ship (which was brought very close to the target) and the boarding party were highly vulnerable to an ambush. A latter day Q ship (especially if it were a suicide mission) could cause a lot of trouble. One problem that may not be obvious to the casual observer is the highly automated weapons systems onboard modern warships. Most of the ship’s guns and missiles could not be quickly safely brought to action against this kind of target.