January 7, 2005

NO PAIN, PLEASE, WE'RE SWEDISH:

For Swedes, 'no experience at all' (Alan Cowell, January 7, 2005, The New York Times)

For decades, this Scandinavian nation has grown in prosperity and peace, immunized by its policy of political neutrality. Like other Europeans, its people learned to abandon the chill of traditional winters for tropical lands brought all the closer by the easy connections of global tourism. But cheap charter airline fares do not include the cradle-to-grave security that Scandinavians have woven around themselves, and neither does neutrality guard against natural disaster.

"This will erode our confidence in our ability to be safe," said Goeran Rosenberg, a newspaper columnist.

Of course, the social safety nets of this land mean that pain is wrapped in the trappings of physical comfort - the PlayStation console and soft toys to distract a stricken child, the e-mails and cellphones linking nurses and social workers and teachers.

There are the chapels and priests awaiting returning Swedes at the airport. There is none of the raw desperation of homelessness and hunger in Indonesia or Sri Lanka.

But that does not reverse the loss.


Bet the folks in Aceh find this heart-rending.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 7, 2005 8:26 AM
Comments

'immunized by its policy of political neutrality'

There are those of us who would refer to this as Sweden's cravenness and greed when confronted by bullies. The sale of Swedish steel to Nazi Germany and the use of Swedish railroads by Nazi troops during WWII and Swedish toadying to the Soviets afterward are pretty instructive about what the Swedes mean by 'political neutrality.'

Posted by: Bart at January 7, 2005 9:20 AM

It is my understanding that the policy of Sweden was to assist NATO in the advent of a Soviet attack and that NATO knew this. I remember newspaper articles revealing this around 1994 or so. Swedish behavior was not stellar in WWII, but also did some good. It is worth remembering that overall no country acted saintly.

Posted by: Chris Durnell at January 7, 2005 10:26 AM

Safety should never be a society's highest value. When you put safety on top, whether you are a person or a culture, you necessarily will make yourself a slave to fear.

Posted by: Robert Duquette at January 7, 2005 11:43 AM

Safety is the only reason there are societies--it's always the first consideration.

Posted by: oj at January 7, 2005 11:47 AM

I can understand (though not like) Sweden staying neutral when Germany was strong. The thing that bothers me is that at the end, they could have safely declared war. It would only have been pro forma but it would have at least put them on the right side. I guess they needed those German payments for steel etc. more. Yet, they took the lead in attacking us in Vietnam. All in all a sorry little country.

By the way, I don't believe Sweden would have provided any more assistance to NATO than it did to the Allies. It would have been out of character.

Posted by: Bob at January 7, 2005 12:27 PM

As a Swede, I should take offense at all this Sweden bashing. But I don't. My great-grandparents got the heck out of there while the getting was good, and I'll always be grateful.

Posted by: Timothy at January 7, 2005 1:07 PM
« NO HISTORICAL THREAT: | Main | EXACTLY AS PROMISED: »