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Seriously, Why do America think it rules the Earth? It does not. My home country, Sweden, has 9 million inhabitants and we rule Europe, aka the largest economy on the planet. Test me. Does a Koenigsegg embarrass a Lamborghini or what.. China, the US as well as Germany are loosers in the game of industrial achievments compared to my "little" nation. Why is it so hard for you to manufacture real world products?

We are not the French. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgFdvwIh1xo

Bismarck, N.D. - BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Former White House political adviser Karl Rove says he has an appreciation for all things Norse. Except lutefisk. "Any food that's key element is lye takes an acquired taste," Rove said of the dried cod dish that is reconstituted by soaking it in the alkaline solution. Lutefisk aside, the top strategist for former President George W. Bush said Tuesday that his Scandinavian roots run deep. His stepfather was of Norwegian ancestry, he said. "I have a brother, uncle and great-uncle named Olaf," Rove said. Rove is to North Dakota to be inducted into...

I live in Gothenburg, the eternal "second" town of Sweden. But today, it's hats off to big brother! Stockholm is expensive, but marvelous and has recently become home to two million inhabitants. Like it or not Denmark, Stockholm is THE capital of Scandinavia. Varsegod, smörgåsbord; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbNnw5Z0V6k&feature=PlayList&p=B965A4BE393A70A5&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=34

Quite contrary to the received wisdom concerning Islam's advance on Scandinavian soil, recent birth statistics from Stockholm, sole Scandinavian city boasting more than two million inhabitants, indicate that Muslim immigrants of Stockholm fail to keep up with native Swedes in this domain. According to today's edition of the free daily newspaper of City Stockholm, the inhabitants of Sweden's capital have lately been catching up with the rest of Sweden in terms of breeding, which actually is something rather unique. For a long time, Stockholm has been way behind the rest of the nation in this regard (- during the last...

The far-right Sweden Democrats have increased their support to a record 5.6 percent, according to a new voter poll published on Thursday. The Pirate Party, fresh from its success in the EU elections, has however fallen 1.3 percentage points and enjoys 2.9 percent support, according to the poll by United Minds and Cint which was published in the Aftonbladet newspaper. Since the previous poll in July the Sweden Democrats have increased their support by 1.5 points. Party leader Jimmie Åkesson is aiming for even higher in the general election to be held next year. "Our goal is to land on...

Scandinavia of today has, to a great deal, abandonded Socialism. Yes, Nordic taxes still lead the world, but so do Nordic companies. In several fields. Not only in the domain of cheap furniture and safe cars. Today, (Finnish) Nokia and (Swedish) Ericsson might well decide our common IT future to a larger degree than IBM and Microsoft do. Perhaps, Capitalism is a force so strong it could even survive European Socialism. I'm an optimist regarding my corner of the Eart. I feel the vast majority of the Scandinavians are beginning to realize companies like Lego, Electrolux and ABB buy us...

FRANKFURT — General Motors is close to a deal to sell Saab, the Swedish carmaker, to Koenigsegg, a manufacturer of high-end sports cars that is also from Sweden, a person close to the negotiations said Thursday. “We are still working on the deal,” the person said, requesting anonymity because the agreement is not final. “It is not the done deal that some people in Sweden seem to think it is.” Swedish television reported that a group of Norwegian investors are also part of the deal.

Good vid on what is going on in Malmo.

Nearly half of the predominantly Iraqi-refugees residing in Vännäs in northern Sweden have decided to permanently move out of the area after being terrorized by what police called “a lynch mob” in early May. “I thought that Vännäs was the perfect place for us. And there are many, many friendly people here. But we still don’t dare to stay; I’m seriously concerned about my children’s safety,” said father of five Ismail Ramadan to the Svenska Dagbladet (SvD) newspaper. Ramadan’s family and several others have decided to abandon plans of starting a life in the small community outside of Umeå less...

For decades following WWII, any discussion regarding Germany was bound to deteriorate into a discussion of Nazism and Hitler. If I post something here on this great site about, say, the Swedish National Ice Hockey Team, that thread will sooner or later end up in a discussion about Malmö and how the Muzzies have taken over large parts of Sweden as well as other places in Europe. As a Swede/European, I don't mind. Eurabia is reality and I'm convinced Americans who accuse us Europeans of being naive do so not out of malice or hatred towards Europe, but out of...

H*ll no! Scandinavia is evidence Capitalism works and Socialism does not. Yes, our taxes are high. But seriously speaking, does this mean we have surrendered to Marxism - or that we wish to impose this yoke on others? Our high standard of living isn't a question of luck. I'm poor by Swedish standards, but drive a very nice car. In any case, the Swedish government and our unions have very little to do with this. I'd say it has much more to do with the ethics I've been taught by my father and my grandfather. Today, the Scandinavian/Nordic ("Nordic" includes...

Fewer people are seeking asylum in Sweden, with the number of applications dropping 33 percent last year, according to new statistics. "During 2008, 24,342 persons sought asylum in Sweden, which is a decrease of 11,865 applications compared to 2007," Statistics Sweden (SCB) said in a statement on Friday. Two-thirds of applicants were men and one-third were women, a common proportion since 2000, it added. Over 100 nationalities were represented among the asylum seekers. The largest group was Iraqis who accounted for a quarter of applications. However, SCB noted that the number of Iraqi asylum seekers was down dramatically. "Iraqis represented...

Government health care advocates used to sing the praises of Britain's National Health Service (NHS). That's until its poor delivery of health care services became known. A recent study by David Green and Laura Casper, "Delay, Denial and Dilution," written for the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs, concludes that the NHS health care services are just about the worst in the developed world. The head of the World Health Organization calculated that Britain has as many as 25,000 unnecessary cancer deaths a year because of under-provision of care. Twelve percent of specialists surveyed admitted refusing kidney dialysis to patients suffering...

Sweden's Court of Appeal has issued a lifetime deportation order to a man who has lived in Sweden for 27 years. The man, who came to Sweden from Croatia in 1981 and received a permanent residency permit in 1985, has 18 criminal convictions on his record. His latest arrest came in 2007, when a divided Court of Appeal sentenced him to several years in jail followed by permanent expulsion from the country. With four children and one grandchild in Sweden, all of whom are Swedish citizens, the man called on the Supreme Court to rip up the deportation order and...

My granpa over here in Sweden worked as a salesman in the 1950's. I never experienced the 1950's myself (too young, unfortunately), but I can tell people here in Sweden were thrilled over the cars coming from across the Atlantic at that time. My granpa bought a brand new Ford Customline around 1950. Not a flashy car, but a very decent vehicle for being Sweden (nearly) 60 years ago. At that time, middle class Swedes were poorer than average Americans of those days. The 1950's are gone, for better or for worse, but the spirit remains. When it comes to...

The times they are a-changing. However, in some parts of the world, the winds are blowin' in quite a different direction than they are in the US. At least in terms of political support for Conservatism vs Socialism they are (no offense, as a Scandinavian I sure don't mean any malice towards America!). Scandinavia (and Finland) still is more PC, Liberal and Socialist than America, but people are beginning to wake up. The article: "The opposition Social Democrats are now at their lowest level of voter support since the 2006 general election, according to a new poll. "The gap is...

New documents have emerged that Swedish finance minister, Ernst Wigforss, approved secret Swedish bank credits to Nazi Germany in 1941. The documents were recently uncovered in a filing cabinet at the finance ministry. Historian and ambassador Krister Wahlbäck and cabinet office archivist Bo Hammarlund reveal the existence of the documents, which indicate Wigforss' approval of loans to Hitler's Germany, in a full page debate article in Dagens Nyheter on Sunday. The loans served to increase Swedish exports to Nazi Germany, of far greater importance, the pair argue, than opening the country's borders and train lines for the use of German...

Background: Volvo Cars (owned by Ford Motor Company) claims their all new Volvo XC 60 to be the world's safest car. The consequence: The Toyota people have worked themselves into a rage and now take legal actions. (The following is a translation of a Swedish article. My English isn't perfect, but I hope what follows at least is comprehensible:) "Toyota disapproves of Volvo's claims of the new XC60 to be the world's safest car. Toyota now sues Volvo in the Swedish Market Court (Marknadsdomstolen). In their application to the court, Toyota argues that there indeed are cars around the Globe...

With today's economy, wouldn't it be nice if we knew how to make an economy grow? To know what works and what doesn't? Well, we do. We just prefer to ignore the truth.What works is economic freedom. What doesn't work is more government. I'm sorry that those words sound simplistic and like Republican "ideology" (or at least what used to be Republican ideology - before the Bailout Fairy arrived). But they have the benefit of being true. If you were to start from scratch, ignoring all ideology and going simply by the evidence of what produces prosperity, you would come...

Power Sources: Our new energy secretary predicts dire consequences due to global warming. Meanwhile, Sweden ends its 30-year ban on nuclear plant construction to curb carbon emissions. Something to Chu on.In his first interview since becoming energy secretary, Nobel-prize winner Steven Chu painted an apocalyptic picture of California's future if climate change proceeds unchecked. California's farms, he told the Los Angeles Times, could be wiped out by the end of the century as a result of the destruction of up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack that supplies water to the nation's top agriculture state. "I don't think the American...

America has lost a true friend, Sweden a true champion and my home city, Gothenburg, mourns a great son. Although the quote below is fiction (as far as I know), I think this scene from a certain tv-series depicting the flower power-generation (by Peter Birro, Swedish author/playwriter) says a lot about the spirit of Ingemar Johansson and - not the least - his feelings towards America: Anno domino 1968. Mr Johansson, sitting in a café, notices a bunch of hippie protesters shouting anti-American slogans in the street. Johansson walks out of the café, halting the group with the question: "-...

The biannual Bocuse d'Or culinary competition in Lyon, France, ended on a familiar note Wednesday: A chef from Norway won again. It was a disappointment for U.S. contestant Timothy Hollingsworth, who placed sixth.

Please allow me to pose a question besides posting this article. If you really don't have the time, just skip all of the text preceding the below sentence reading "The article:". --- "The mind is a powerful tool", it is commonly said. There sure are several things which we humans can not accomplish assisted by our sheer intelligence and power of will, but there are much fewer things we are unable of achieving by using these gifts. This insight is not merely inspirational. It also is intrinsic to understanding the development of world history since the days of the Renaissance....

Mobile broadband users in Stockholm will soon be able to surf the internet on a new high speed 4G network, following the signing of a deal between Ericsson and TeliaSonera. The order from Finnish-Swedish telecom provider TeliaSonera marks the first commercial deployment of Ericsson’s Long Term Evolution (LTE) network technology and will provide mobile internet users with data speeds up to ten times faster than those offered on current networks. "LTE brings the highest possible performance and network capacity, which is needed to meet the needs of the fast growing group of mobile broadband users around the world,” said Ericsson’s...

- And so many Christian ones? The institution of the Nobel Prize is one of the few things that's just as big outside Scandinavia as it is within the old land of the Vikings. (There will probably never be a McLutefisk, I guess..) In similarity with most members of this forum, I don't think people like Al Gore belong in the company of (other Nobel laureates) like Einstein, Fermi, Wałęsa, Hemingway, Marconi, Bohr, and Churchill. The older and wiser I have become, the more I've realized we Europeans often look up to the wrong kind of Americans (- but we...

Democrats like Obama and Billary claim the US has got a lot to learn from the Nordic countries (Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden) in terms of organizing health care systems in a cost efficient manner etc. In one way, they're right. Healing a broken bone usually does not involve consulting a lawyer or an insurance company in the Nordic countries. Personally, I'm Swedish and I don't hesitate to say life in my country IS very good and that we Scandinavians DO enjoy a standard of living that is unparalleled. BUT, just about how easy is it to alter the...

Low-cost airline Ryanair has responded to 'anti-fun' opponents of its advertising by sending its raunchy 2009 cabin crew calendar to select Swedish politicians. Top of their mailing list is feminist Liberal Party politician Birgitta Ohlsson, who last month urged consumers to boycott the budget carrier over its “old-fashioned” response to complaints about an advert featuring a young woman in a skimpy school uniform. "We're expecting her usual 'anti-fun' response,' Ryanair spokesman Stephen McNamara told The Local. Entitled 'The Girls of Ryanair', the airline's new 2009 calendar features liberally oiled and scantily clad female cabin crew. "I can't see what the...

Guns N' Roses fans looking to be among the first to buy the band’s newest album should plan on coming to Gothenburg, Sweden by November 21st to attend a unique “pre-listening” party to be held at a local bar. Organized by the founders of the Sweden-based GnrDaily.com fan website, the event has the backing of Universal Music Sweden and will allow fans to buy the long anticipated Guns N’ Roses album Chinese Democracy ahead of its official release in retail outlets. “If you want to be the first person to buy the album you need to come to our party,”...

Now are rough times. For all of us. This is where we stand: Liechtenstein/Saudi Arabia: Business as usual, minor sources of irritation Venuzuela: INRI - IN a moRon CommunIst we trust, that'll do the trick! Germany/Switzerland/Austria: High tax, some captial, medium sized car, can't afford fuel, decent house, nothing left of our former empires. USA: Moderate tax, nice eating out, nice car, heavy debt, some capital, some fuel, no home. Japan: Small tax, microscopic car, no future Italy, Spain: Heavy tax, small car + vespas, Fascist tradition, government debt, Catholicism, nice food Norway: Heavy tax, small car, dried cod (lutefisk),...

A Swedish Migration Board (Migrationsverket) employee with 20 years' experience sued his employers alleging that he was demoted due to his pro-Israel political views. The board's counsel in the hearing has courted controversy by calling Hamas 'a liberation movement.' The Local reported back in February 2008 that Lennart Eriksson, 51, after a 'long and relatively happy' career at the Migration Board (Migrationsverket), had been demoted from his post as head of an asylum assessment unit. Eriksson alleged that he was moved to a lower ranking position when his supervisor, Eugene Palmer, learned of his pro-Israel views expressed on his blog,...

Imagine the unimaginable: Todd Palin picking out curtain patterns for the vice-presidential mansion. In such an eventuality, whither shall we flee? Four years ago, Democrats made a lot of noise about Canada, but as political statements go, there's not much sting to "I'm so mad at America I'm going to move a few degrees of latitude northward." Tina Fey has suggested we leave Earth altogether, but at the risk of reviving a discredited rubric, I'd like to propose a "third way." Actually, I'll let sociologist Phil Zuckerman propose it. In "Society Without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell...

A Swedish town with a large concentration of Iraqi immigrants played host on Thursday to a unique fair designed to provide information about the United States to prospective job seekers. Speaking to a packed audience of foreign immigrants, schoolchildren and journalists, Wood explained the drive behind the fair: "When I visited Södertälje back in April, I was impressed by the economic situation and the amount of refugees the town has taken in. “I was subsequently challenged by Lago to provide 1,000 new green cards. Obviously I couldn't achieve that, but I got his point." As a joint effort between the...

Until a few days ago, Britain was admired and respected by the average Icelander. But the UK's moves to seize the assets of this isolated European state have provoked a backlash of feeling and escalating resentment. "They treated us like terrorists."

The Nobel Peace Prize, awarded in Oslo on Friday, often generates a certain amount of controversy. This year's award to peacebroker Martti Ahtisaari seems to take the prize back to its roots. Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, whose will both funded and set up the terms of the Nobel prizes, decreed that the Peace Prize should go to whoever "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the holding and promotion of peace congresses." In recent years, though, the prize has gone to environmental champions, human rights...

Ryanair on Friday claimed Sweden's Trade Ethical Council against Sexism in Advertising (ERK) was out of touch with the "Britney Spears generation" after the agency accused the discount airline of running a sexist ad campaign. In defending the advertisement, Ryanair questioned whether the ERK accurately reflected the views of most Swedes. “We are sure that the anti-funsters at the ERK do not speak for the majority of the famously liberal and easy going Swedes,” the company said in a statement. “The ad simply reflects the way a lot of young girls like to dress. We hope the old farts at...

Swedish clothing retailer Hennes & Mauritz has been given the all clear to open an outlet on the swish shopping street Champs-Élysées. H & M beat off the vociferous objections of Paris city council. France's top administrative court, the State Council, rejected an appeal by Paris city council which moved in January to block a store licence granted to the retailer, according to deputy Paris mayor Lyne Cohen-Solal. "We are completely powerless" to stop the spread of big chain stores on what is touted as the most beautiful avenue in the world, she said. The city has now exhausted all...

The US debt rescue plan has sought inspiration from the work to tackle the Swedish banking crisis at the beginning of the 1990s. "I have been in the USA several times this year to explain what we did," said Bo Lundgren at the Swedish National Debt Office. "There can be significant similarities," Lundgren added. Lundgren was finance minister in the 1991 right-wing government and, together with current and former Riksbank heads Stefan Ingves and Urban Bäckström, was the architect behind the bank support committee (Bankstödsnämnden or Bankakuten) which did much to alleviate the crisis that raged in the Swedish banking...

My Scandinavian brothers and sisters in Norway and Denmark were raped by Nazi Germany during WWII. Finland was viciously attacked by the troops of Stalin, an army mostly consisting of young Russian farmer sons who never where told why they had to go to Nordic territory and have their throats slit in the cold winter night by a "puukko knife". These small countries, small even from my nation's perspective (I'm Swedish), fought back like hell and in the end they triumphed. Look at the performance of these countries of today. I'm not asking anyone to whine over the hardship the...

World history, as most Westerners interprets it, very much revolves around nations like France, Russia/Soviet, Britain, Italy and USA. These corners of the Earth, undeniably, have played major roles in the development of mankind. BUT, there seems to be a gap in the historical knowledge of several, otherwise well educated, Westerners concerning what took place during the period of approximately 1620-1720 on European soil. A lot of people seem aware that Britain at that time was not really, yet, the world's leading power and that France, Spain, Austria and Holland excersised much of influence over world affairs. However, during this...

Monthly salaries in Sweden averaged 25,800 kronor ($3920) last year, an increase of 800 kronor compared with the previous year. Women’s salaries amounted to 84 percent of men’s salaries on average, unchanged from the year before, according to new figures from Statistics Sweden. In 2007, public sector workers earned an average of 23,900 kronor per month, a 500 kronor improvement from 2006 salary levels. Meanwhile, private sector salaries improved by twice as much, landing up 1,000 kronor to 26,700 kronor per month on average.

Even though my country, Sweden, isn't a NATO-member, I'm beginning to feel somewhat annoyed over the behavior the Russian Air Force displays towards my dear neighbor country Norway. I think the Nordic countries, as well as the whole of "Democratic" Europe will have to fight Russian Expansionism within a generation. Russia will lose. Russia stands no chance against a united Western Europe - and if Russia does not wish to realize this, we will make them highly aware of their inferiority in terms of population size, technological know-how, production capacity and overall management skills. Compared to governments like those of...

Sweden's own version of the Loch Ness monster, the Storsjoe or Great Lake monster, has been caught on film by surveillance videos, an association that installed the cameras said Friday. The legend of the Swedish beast has swirled for nearly four centuries, with some 200 sightings reported in the lake in central Sweden. "On Thursday at 12:21 pm, we filmed the movements of a live being. And it was not a pike, nor a perch, we're sure of that," Gunnar Nilsson, the head of a shopkeepers' association in Svenstavik, told AFP. The association, together with the Jaemtland province and local...

Refugees from Somalia probably are the least welcome foreign "visitors" to Scandinavia. Personally, I don't consider acts of violence like this as a solution to the various problems connected to mass non-European immigration to Europe, but without a doubt there will be more attacks resembling this one if European politicians don't change their minds concerning policies in the area of (non-European) immigration issues. The article: "A 16 year-old asylum seeker from Somalia, was shot and critically injured while sleeping in his bed at reception centre outside Oslo. He was hit in the stomach by a rifle round fired through the...

Imagine yourself to be the PM of the PC kingdom of Sweden, Northern Europe. You'd face a situation of non-european mass immigration gone out of hand, while you simultaneously dispose of government vaults bulging with money donated by/stolen from humane and well educated/obedient and brainwashed Swedish tax payers. What would your decision be? Bribery is immoral, but sometimes it's just too tempting. The article (the source is SR/SVT, Sweden's equivalent to BBC): "Few refugees here are taking advantage of money from the Swedish government to subsidize returns home. Individual asylum-seekers from Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia can get more than 3000...

Since 9/11, most Western nations have, for obvious reasons, became increasingly sceptical of Christian and Muslim symbiosis. In this regard, PC Norway, PC Denmark and PC Sweden are exceptions as these small Nordic countries have continued to welcome Muslim immigrants, referring to various sorts of UN policies and UN "legislature" (an apparatus Scandinavian tax payers, to a large extent, actually uphold as many other nations have lost the interest of financially supporting and being directed by this organization). Yet, there are strong evidence Scandinavian political correctness is at an all time low.. The article: "After decades of being the noisy...

The 'biggest American car show in the world' opened in Västerås in central Sweden on Thursday. More than 10,000 cars are expected for the Big Meet 2008 show. The annual event started 31 years ago and was founded by Kjell Gustafsson who has seen it grow from the humble beginnings of 40-80 cars in a parking lot in Anderstorp. "Just to keep the show going over three days costs 1.5 million kronor ($252,000). 160 officials work with this. That is around the same as the Hultsfred festival," Gustafsson said to Di.se. The Big Meet 2008 show will take place over...

Sadly enough, this is what life looks like here in grim old Thule: "State environmental protection officials plan to forbid all new development of large shopping centers located outside established retail districts within Norway's cities and towns. The goal is to discourage driving...

Are the ices of the Arctic north about to melt away for good? Rami Abdelrahman gets the views of a range of Swedish researchers. Sweden’s Crown Princess Victoria is one of a number of Scandinavian royals making for the Arctic archipelago on the Swedish ice-breaker Oden this weekend to participate in an event to coincide with and promote International Polar Year. But will there even be a need for such ice-breaking vessels in years to come? Many commentators would have us believe that glaciers and ocean ice are about to go the way of the dodo. Upon their arrival at...

Native Sweden Volume 61 Number 4, July/August 2008 by Zach Zorich Indigenous Saami are rediscovering their long-lost heritage Smithsonian archaeologist Noel Broadbent and Tim Bayliss-Smith of Cambridge University walk past a line of 1,100-year-old hut foundations at Grundskatan. (Zach Zorich) Smithsonian archaeologist Noel Broadbent offers me a handful of blueberries he has picked from the shrubs that hug the forest floor. I pop them into my mouth. The pulp and seeds are sugary, rough, and slick at the same time. In early September the leaves change color and the berries ripen on Sweden's Hornsland peninsula. Broadbent crouches by the trail...