Free Republic

A NATO base to support the airlift operations of 12 nations will be established in Hungary early next year, and about 40 U.S. military members will be calling the station 100 miles west of Budapest home, according to an alliance agreement. The Strategic Airlift Capability Partnership — which involves the joint acquisition of three C-17 Globemasters — will increase NATO’s ability to transport large numbers of troops and supplies to far-flung places, such as Afghanistan. The town of Papa will host the base to be commanded by U.S. Air Force Col. John Zazworsky. "It (airlift capability) has been a longstanding...

The proposed U.S. financial bailout scheme is a dreadful mistake that could plunge the country into an economic abyss for years and will only reward the people who brought the financial system to the brink of disaster, says famed investor Jim Rogers. "It's the wrong approach," Mr. Rogers said yesterday while huffing through a lengthy morning workout on an exercise bike in a downtown Toronto hotel. "This has never worked in history. Other approaches have worked, which they're ignoring. Part of the problem is these guys don't know any history. "All they know is, Goldman Sachs is on the phone...

Comments comparing Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler, and a decision to have dinner in Ukraine have put Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt on Russia's black-list. In the past, Bildt has received criticism at home for having ties with Russia that are too close for comfort. But following statements in August at the height of the conflict between Russia and Georgia, the foreign minister learned that Moscow had decided to roll up the welcome mat. In criticizing Russia's rationale for invading Georgia, Bildt likened the behaviour to that of Adolf Hilter and Nazi Germany. "No state has the right to intervene...

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...

Porsches and Stockholm constitute a love affair.

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...

Stockholm - The recent war between Russia and Georgia would have 'profound consequences' on international relations, according to the Swedish Defence Research Agency. 'The Russian actions were the result of deliberate and premeditated choices,' researcher Robert Larsson said, noting Russia's decision to enter the conflict, and to use a 'relatively large portion of violence' and then to recognize breakaway regions in Georgia. Larsson made his remarks at the launch of a 153-page study titled 'The Caucasian Litmus Test: Consequences and Lessons of the Russian- Georgian War in August 2008.' Larsson, editor and one of 14 contributors to the study, said...

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...

This is the time for Bush and other NATO leaders to give high priority and visibility to discussions with Finland, which is considering joining NATO. If Finland joins, Sweden might follow, Swedish officials say. Alliance members also should move now to bolster the defenses of the three Baltic NATO members -- Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania -- as Kurt Volker, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, has recently suggested. The holding of no-notice joint maneuvers with the Baltic states would be one way to catch Russia's attention.

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (Sept. 13) - Swedish broadcaster SVT on Thursday released a previously unseen film clip purportedly showing the release of presidential candidate John McCain to the U.S. military in Hanoi in 1973. A former SVT reporter, Erik Eriksson, said he found the video in the network's archives when he was looking for footage for a book he was writing about his experiences as a war correspondent in Vietnam. SVT posted the edited 39-second clip on its Web site on Thursday. It shows McCain stepping off a bus with other prisoners. He has a pronounced limp but is not using...

A well-known radical Muslim, Mahmoud Aldebe is opening a district health care center at Telefonplan in south Stockholm. Nalin Pekgul, former member of parliament and chairman of the Social Democratic Women´s Organisation criticise the health care center. She claims the reason for Aldebe to open it is that he wants Muslim men to be able to control their women. -They do not want their wifes to go to an ordinary health care center where the doctors can propose abortion or birth control, she says. They even have only Swedish doctors because they could not find any female Arabian doctors, which...

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.

The same gene that affects a rodent's ability to mate for life may affect human marriages, Swedish and U.S. researchers reported on Tuesday. Men carrying a common variation of gene involved in brain signaling were more likely to be in unhappy marriages than men with the other version, the team at the Karolinska Institute found. Although they are not sure what the genetic changes do to a man's behavior, some other research suggests it has to do with the ability to communicate and empathize, the team reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "We never looked at...

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...

Swedish power metal band singing praises of Polish soldiers 22.08.2008 A song recorded by a power metal band from Sweden tells the story of a heroic stand by Polish soldiers in World War II. Presented by Elzbieta Krajewska "Baptised in fire, 40 to 1 Spirit of Spartans Death and glory; Soldiers of Poland Second to none" goes the song by the Swedish power metal band Sabaton. They tell the story of the Battle of Wizna, when over four days of September 1939, 720 Polish soldiers under the command of Władysław Raginis held off an attack by more than 42 thousand...

The Communist North Korean government has declared Sweden their enemy and a US war puppet. According to information from the Swedish Armed Forces, this brusque message was first conveyed in a North Korean radio broadcast, then printed as an official document and distributed to the United Nations. The North Koreans' attack is not directed against the Swedish government as such, but against Sweden's and other neutral countries' military observation missions on the border between North and South Korea. Sweden is active in the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) present in the area. Following the end of the Korean War in...

Several Norwegian opposition politicians say Russia’s intervention in the South Ossetia crisis shows that the country has Great Power aspirations, which could eventually pose a threat against Norwegian positions in the High North. Also in Sweden, the Caucasus conflict now triggers a domestic defence policy debate. Leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party, Ms. Erna Solberg, does not believe that a conflict like the one in Georgia could take place between Russian and Norway. She still believes that the South Ossetia events bear clear evidence of Russia’s great power aspirations. -We can not defend ourselves alone, Norway needs a strong army,...

<p>The 33-year-old immediately announced his decision to retire from wrestling....</p> <p>Abrahamian, who won silver at Athens four years ago, had high hopes of winning the gold in the 84kg competition...but was beaten in the semi-final by the eventual winner Andrea Minguzzi of Italy.</p>

"Abrahamian threw down his 84kg greco-roman bronze in disgust after his shot at gold was ended by a decision denounced by the Swedish coach as "politics". Abrahamian took the medal from around his neck during the medal ceremony, stepped from the podium and dropped it in the middle of the mat before storming off. The Swedish wrestler had to be restrained by team-mates earlier as a row erupted with judges over the decision in a semi-final bout with Andrea Minguzzi of Italy, who went on to the take gold. Abrhamian, who won silver at the Athens 2004 Games, shouted at...

Swedish authorities said parents can now name their newborns "Budweiser" or "Metallica" if they so wish. For decades, Swedish tax authorities had banned parents from naming their children after fast food chains, rock bands or their favorite brand of beer.< Snip >

Malin Alexandersson and Leif Lundgren celebrated 08-08-08 day by climbing on to the roof of the Stockholm Globe arena to tie the knot. The happy couple had to climb to the top of the 80 metre higher Stockholm landmark with the help of safety harnesses while their guests instead followed the wedding ceremony from a nearby balcony. The heavy rain that hit Stockholm on Friday was close to throwing a spanner in the works - but the rain ceased just prior to the beginning of the ceremony. The couple won the right to matrimony on the Globe's roof in a...

Proposed legislation in Sweden that would require gender reassignment patients to be castrated is insulting, a transgender rights group says. The Swedish Federation for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Rights said while the hormone treatments used in reassignment procedures can cause sterilization, mandating castration for all patients is discriminatory, The Local reported Saturday. The proposal suggests that anyone undergoing gender reassignment surgery be required to have their ovaries or testicles removed to prevent any chance of pregnancy. The battle over the proposal comes after it was revealed this year that a British transgender patient had become pregnant. The Local said...

It's an AP article so I can't excerpt, just summarize. Sweden generally has a system of government schools with a national curriculum, but for the past 16 years has also allowed "independent" private schools, which are government funded, cannot charge tuition, but can choose their own teaching methods. Some comparison to vouchers in our country, discussion of methods schools use to attract students, and some of the differences between private and public schools there.

There are, indeed, many reasons why people of Russian ancestry ought to keep their heads high. But just perhaps, the nation which my country - Sweden -nowaday manages to outdo in hockey rinks, although not in football/soccer fields (it was the other way around some decades ago) needs to rethink its self image. Russia of today is a giant, but sadly backward nation, presently going through a phase reminiscent of what took place in Italy during the 1920s and 1930s; she firmly believes in proudly waving a national banner and claiming territory, but her understanding of the very concept of...

Al-Qaeda Draws New Recruits Via Internet Al-Qaeda is using the Internet to recruit vulnerable young people to its terrorist network, according to a programme aired on Saudi Arabian TV late on Tuesday. Umm Osama, the founder of al-Qaeda's first women-only website, al-Khansa, joined several others on the programme to discuss how they renounced jihadist ideology. Among those who sought a response to this question was an imam from the Medina mosque, Saleh Ibn Awad al-Mudamsi, and the father of a young al-Qaeda suspect held in an Iraqi prison. Read More Qaeda Targets U.S. Oil Interests in North Africa U.S....

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish police said Saturday they had arrested a 57-year-old Spanish woman they claim is the leader of the Spanish cell of Colombian Marxist rebel group FARC. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert was arrested at her home in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, northeast of Madrid, they said. The interior ministry said Garcia Albert had provided logistical support for FARC and had direct contacts with Raul Reyes, the FARC number two who was killed by Colombian troops inside Ecuador earlier this year. Analysis of Reyes' computer passed on to Spanish investigators by Colombian authorities had led...

Swedish clothing company Ellos has pulled two-piece bikinis designed for baby girls and apologized for the products after widespread protests. The bikinis, which were designed for girls as young as 2 months old, were pulled from stores after children's and women's groups complained that the revealing swimwear contributed to the sexualization of the bodies of small children, Swedish news agency TT reported Thursday. Ellos is a family company. We do not want anyone taking offense from our assortment, Ellos representative Per-Olf Gustafsson said. We have erred in this case and we will do our best to ensure that there is...

IF ACCOUNTANT Ulrika Hylander happens to get pregnant here, she would rather return home to Sweden. After all, she and her husband would together be entitled to more than a year's duration of paid parental leave there. Under existing laws here, she would get three months. Her husband, three days. The 39-year-old moved here last July when her husband was posted to work as a finance manager in a Swedish company. She mused: "It's tougher to have children here." Perhaps not for much longer. Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew hinted at a dialogue on Wednesday that Singapore is reviewing its...

Sweden's Gripen competes with the F-35 By BOB COX rcox@star-telegram.com FARNBOROUGH, England — Just a few years ago, Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II joint strike fighter was widely viewed as the world’s leading next-generation, high-technology aircraft, with no strong Western competitor. That’s no longer the case. Saab, the Swedish industrial conglomerate better known in the U.S. for performance cars than airplanes, has impressed potential aircraft buyers with an aggressive marketing campaign for its upgraded Gripen fighter jet. Denmark and Norway, two nations that have invested in the F-35, are now holding competitions pitting the F-35 against the Gripen. Denmark is...

"Russian telecom operators have drawn up plans to re-route data and call traffic to avoid Swedish eavesdropping, following the passing of Sweden's new law giving spying agency FRA increased powers to intercept communications. Russian newspaper RBK writes that Russian telecom operators see the new law "as an attempt at industrial espionage at state level, and are prepared to bypass Sweden if necessary," according to a translation in Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet."

"Former leaders of the Liberal Party have called on the government to back down over the controversial snoop law which was narrowly passed by the Swedish parliament last month. ... "The underlying problem with the FRA law is that even those not suspected of any offence will have their telephone calls, e-mail and text messages analyzed by an authority whose operations are not subject to scrutiny," the seven write. They call attention to the fact that the criteria on which communication is subject to analysis is to be kept confidential "and without public scrutiny.""

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...

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...

An eight-year-old boy has sparked an unlikely outcry in Sweden after failing to invite two of his classmates to his birthday party. The boy's school says he has violated the children's rights and has complained to the Swedish Parliament. The school, in Lund, southern Sweden, argues that if invitations are handed out on school premises then it must ensure there is no discrimination. The boy's father has lodged a complaint with the parliamentary ombudsman. He says the two children were left out because one did not invite his son to his own party and he had fallen out with the...

We Swedes wish to honor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darrell_S._Cole True Swedes - like I - love America. Yes, we are Europeans and you are Americans. Often, we insult each other, by employing various methods. Yet, you are our sisters'N'brothers and nothing will ever change tHAT. I would give my life up for America. The US is a nation which believes in true freedom. This idea will conquer the world.

Brazil honoured the great Pele on Thursday and the other eight surviving players from its maiden FIFA World Cup™ triumph in 1958, a victory that put the nation on the football map and paved the way for four more titles. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave the nine men medals of honour at a banquet dedicated to their 5-2 final victory over hosts Sweden 50 years ago. "You helped us understand...we could make Brazil a winner," Lula told the players at the ceremony. Brazil, the most successful football nation with five FIFA World Cup titles, is now in a...

It was supposed to be a party with balloons and a birthday cake but the eight-year-old Swedish boy had not reckoned on his country’s obsession with equality and inclusiveness. Two of his classmates were left off the invitation list – and that, deemed his school – was forbidden and a violation of their rights in the strictest “nanny state” in Europe. The case has been sent to the Swedish parliament and has sparked a national debate about individual liberty. Does a child have the right to invite anyone he wants to a party, even if he risks hurting the feelings...

The Church of Sweden will carry out drive-in weddings lasting about seven minutes at a car rally next month in a bid to make marriage more accessible, it said on Thursday. Undaunted by soaring fuel prices, 36 couples have applied to get married at a gathering of auto enthusiasts in Vasteras in central Sweden, said priest Jerker Asterlund, the scheme's initiator. "Weddings are getting more and more commercialised and that is not something we have any interest in. We would like to make things simpler and more down to earth when people take the plunge and get married," he said....

Rape by gangs of immigrants is an assertion of dominance, and in that sense it is a political act. It says, “We are in charge here, and we do as we please with non-Muslims. No one may stop us; we operate with impunity.” There’s been a lot of talk here recently about the increased incidence of rapes, many of them committed by Muslim immigrants, in both Europe and Australia. We’ve highlighted the situation in Sweden, Norway, and Britain. Now it’s time to look at Belgium as well. If the Belgium government fails to prove such assertions wrong, then immigrant-dominated areas...

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...

Sodertalje has taken in more Iraqis than U.S., but mood is changing... SODERTALJE, Sweden - In this lakeside town, once best known as the home of Swedish tennis hero, Bjorn Borg, neighborhoods nicknamed "Little Baghdad" and "Mesopotalje" now echo with arguments over Assyrian soccer. Along the city's tree-lined waterfront, young Iraqi families and groups of older men chat in Arabic, enjoying long summer evenings.

Sweden approves wiretapping law Sweden's parliament has approved controversial new laws allowing authorities to spy on cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic. The country's intelligence bureau will be able to scan international calls, faxes and e-mails. The measure was passed by a narrow majority after a heated debate in the Stockholm parliament. Critics say it threatens civil liberties and represents Europe's most far-reaching eavesdropping plan. "By introducing these new measures, the Swedish government is following the examples set by governments ranging from China and Saudi Arabia to the US government's highly criticised eavesdropping programme," said Peter Fleischer, of Google. Checks and...

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here. This post was compiled from comments made on one of last night’s posts. The scale of violent crime white people are being subject to in countries such as Sweden resembles warfare. Not only does the state not protect people against this racist violence, it actively sides with the attackers. Which means that the social contract is now dead and buried in most Western countries. The state is either expensive and irrelevant or...

Firefighters in Malmö in southern Sweden are demanding police escorts on calls. The firefighters have had enough of threats and violence in some of the city's rougher areas. After being attacked by stones on a recent call, they are threatening not to take calls to Rosengård without a police escort. They are also demanding shatterproof windows and surveillance cameras on their vehicles. Bertil Ahlgren, a spokesman at Jägersros fire station where two of the men worked, told TT that their work situation was "completely unacceptable". The firemen were attacked twice last week during calls in the city's Rosengård suburb. In...

June 18 (UPI) -- Russian state television taunted Sweden with past military victories before the two countries vie for a place in the quarterfinals of Euro 2008, the continent's most prestigious soccer tournament. Vesti-24, the government's cable channel, played a commercial every half-hour today using Soviet-era movie footage of Russian soldiers killing Swedes during Peter the Great's victory over Charles XII in 1709 and Alexander Nevsky's defeat of invaders in 1240. Each scene was followed by a scorecard reading ``Russia 1 Sweden 0'' and accompanied by the theme to the movie ``Gladiator.'' ``It's part of a revival of Russian nationalism,''...

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...

HEY!!! What about "The Avenue"/"Avenyn" in Gothenburg (second largest city of Sweden) and Tylösand beach in the nearby Swedish West Coast city of Halmstad?? Like a certain Per Gessle of Roxette, - remember the hit "It must have been love (but it's over now)" feautured in Pretty Woman? - a native of Halmstad, put it: "The West Coast girls are the best thing on Earth!" The artricle: A survey by Traveler's Digest, a US travel magazine has made a list of the cities that are home to the world's most beautiful women. Stockholm came out on top. Rejecting the notion...

- In Sweden that is. All the same, if various experts are right, the Nordic countries are not only the richest part of the world, but also global leaders in the domain of QUALITY of life. Therefore, living in this part of Stockholm is probably as good as life gets, or? The article: "The Stockholm suburb of Danderyd is the best municipality in which to live, according to a new ranking by the magazine Fokus. Lund and nearby Lomma in southern Sweden follow closely behind. Ljusnarsberg municipality in the Bergslagen region of central Sweden ended up in last place. The...

Sweden and the rest of the Nordic countries are definitely more "Socialist" than Hong Kong, Isle of Man and Bermuda, but especially those who claim the economic performance of the Nordic countries is evidence Socialism works ought to know that this part of the world is RAPIDLY developing into a POST-SOCIALIST economy - just like certain other parts of Europe with a much darker Socialist past like Poland, Hungary, The Czech Republic, Slovakia and many other proud nations. Nordic competence in the area of hard work and doing trade existed before 1917, before Karl Marx, before the British Empire, before...