(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Many Swedes were probably about to get coffee and morning croissants down their throats when, a week and a half after New Year's, they received the message in the media that Sweden was in a situation where the country should prepare for war. The instructions came partly from the commander-in-chief of the Swedish defence, Micael Bydèn, partly from Carl-Oskar Bohlin, who is a minister in the defense department and minister for civil defense in the government of Ulf Kristersson, and partly from the prime minister himself. (see footnote 1)
Sweden's path towards NATO
Since the accession in October 2022 of the minority coalition between the Moderata coalition party, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals, the Swedish government has steered against NATO membership. The Russian invasion of Ukraine began on February 24 of that year, and this event is officially the primary reason for Sweden's desire for NATO membership. But a closer examination of the process shows that Russia's war and the scare campaign that it will be extended to other countries is just a shell for a policy that, in the long term, intends to bind Sweden more strongly to the US military geostrategy, primarily through NATO. (2)
Several members of the government are now urging the Swedes to prepare for war.
Sweden's path towards NATO membership includes a unconstitutional so-called DCA agreement (Defence Cooperation Agreement) with the USA, which is reminiscent of the one Norway and Denmark already have. Negotiations on this agreement have taken place between the Swedish government and NATO in secret and were signed by the Swedish Minister of Defence, Pål Jonson, on 5 December last year, without any political or public debate having taken place about it. (3)
The agreement implies that USA gets access to 17 regiments in Sweden and has rights to stockpile weapons – nuclear weapons not excluded – and deploy personnel without supervision or regulation from Swedish authorities. US law will apply to these base, and the Swedish state has no right to inspect them. In Folkbladet, a social-democratic daily newspaper from Norrkjöping, it was said: «The US (and NATO) primarily sees Sweden as an 'advance area' for allied troops that are mobilized and equipped for defense operations where it is deemed most likely that Russia could conceivably go to attacks in the Baltic Sea region.» (4) For obvious reasons, the agreement increases the risk of Sweden being drawn into a conflict between the USA and e.g. Russia and thus risks becoming a bomb target. (5)
What is the background to the defense policy developments that have recently taken place in Sweden, and which increasingly draw the country's defense policy in the direction of the US/NATO? To understand this, we must take a closer look at one of the people primarily responsible for the aforementioned development, namely Defense Minister Jonson.
Is Pål Jonson NATO's man in Sweden?
#Pål Henning Jonson#, born in 1972 in Älgå parish in Värmland County. (6) He is a trained political scientist and was 2010–12 forbundsordfører for the Moderates (the liberal conservative party, which is now in government in Sweden) in Värmland County. He has also been head of chancellery for the Moderates in the European Parliament, expert at the Ministry of Defence, a ministry under the Swedish government with responsibility for overall Swedish military defence.
In 1994, Jonson completed his military service as a coastal hunter at the then Vaxholm coastal artillery regiment. At the age of 26, he took a master's degree in political science with a view to international politics at Georgetown University in Washington, DC The university, founded in 1789, is the oldest Jesuit-Catholic university in the United States, an expensive and exclusive institution. (7) The year after his graduation in the USA, Jonson took a master's degree from the so-called College of Europe in Bruges. (8)
Jonson then became a doctoral student in military science at King's College in London. He completed his doctorate in 2005. Jonson was also general secretary of the Swedish Atlantic Committee. Wikipedia has: «The Swedish Atlantic Committee has the ambition to be an important forum for all-round security policy debate with an emphasis on the importance of the transatlantic link. Since 2015, the committee advocates that Sweden should become a full NATO member.» (9) Perhaps you get an impression of how powerful this body is in Swedish society when you hear that grundläggeren af og første presiden for SAK was former director general of Folke Bernadotteakademien and principal of Försvarshögskolan and current National Security Adviser in the Swedish State Council Committee – Henrik Landerholm. (10)
According to the Swedish ugeavis Proletären The Swedish Atlantic Committee acts as an invisible power grouping in Swedish society. As the newspaper writes: «The ideals of the Atlantic Committee can be described as strong pro-Americanism. The United States is the good superpower that the whole world should cooperate with.» (11)
Jonson has also been a visiting researcher at the NATO organization NATO Defense College i Rom. (12)
"Since 2015, the committee has been advocating that Sweden become a full NATO member."
The Swedish journalist, former France correspondent and SVT employee, Chris Forsne, points out that Pål Jonson is by a large margin the most educated person in the entire government. She says in an interview with Swebbtv's Mikael Willgert: «Pål... has attended selected foreign elite schools that are very, very expensive to enroll in. He has been completely focused on getting Sweden into NATO. It turns out that he has close connections with the Swedish Atlantic Committee, which is a member of the international organization ATA – Atlantic Treaty Association. An organization with the aim of 'promoting the values of the NATO Treaty'.» (13)
Contacts for Ingemar Dorfe
Another member of the Swedish Atlantic Committee was a sage Ingemar Dorf, born in Berlin in 1939. As a child, he moved with his mother to Sweden to the family's family farm in Arvika, just a few miles from the farm owned by Bo Jonson, Pål Jonson's father. As a young man, Dörfer participated in Bo Jonson's hunting team, and he was often with Pål Jonson at his home on the family farm, Grinsbols gård.
The Swedish Atlantic Committee acts as an invisible power grouping in Swedish society.
Dörfer is a mysterious figure about whom it can be difficult to gain in-depth knowledge. He earned his doctorate at Harvard with Henry Kissinger as his teacher, has been a mentor to Carl Bildt and a keen advocate of expanding Sweden's dependence on the US and the country's NATO involvement. Bildt's words about Dörfer are significant: "He was in many ways the link between the deep security policy in Sweden and the qualified security policy debate environment in the United States." Bildt tells of a visit to the Pentagon where Dörfer showed that he knew the most secret ways to gain access to the center of the Pentagon complex and that he knew everyone and was known by everyone there. (14)
In his book America’s Grand Strategy: Implications for Sweden (2005), Dörfer concludes that Sweden is one of the forty nations belonging to the American Empire. He explains how the US's new national security strategy from 2002 – the so-called New national security strategy of 2002, better known as the 'Bush Doctrine', which was initiated under George W. Bush in the year after September 11, 2001 – which defined America's foreign policy based on three principles, namely unilateralism regime-
change and preventive warfare – is the strategy that the empire, and therefore also the relationship with Sweden, is designed according to. Dörfer states in his writing that Sweden's lack of membership in NATO can marginalize the country globally. (15)
Why did the Sweden Democrats change their position on NATO?
Journalist Chris Forsne asks the question, who does Pål Jonson actually work for – Sweden or NATO? With the biographical background and CV, Paul Jonson is in possession of, it is reasonable to believe that he is 'placed' as a result of strategic considerations to benefit the agenda behind Sweden's accession to NATO as much as possible. (16)
Not least, Jonson has been a contributing factor to the fact that the anti-immigrant Swedish party, Sverigedemo Craterna (SD) at the end of 2021 changed its opinion in relation to Sweden's NATO membership, says former defense spokesperson in the SD and NATO membership opponent, Roger Richthoff. This was achieved, among other things, because Jonson pressured the SD to replace the defense policy-experienced Richthoff with the completely inexperienced Pär Söderström. (17)
The question is whether the soon-to-be 1 1/2-year delay of Sweden's application to NATO due to Turkey's and Hungary's demands and the delay will be the stone in the road that gives both Sweden's population and opinion makers time to regret the application.
When Sweden's military commander and several members of the government now call on the Swedes to prepare for war, could it really be because more and more people in Sweden are questioning NATO membership? (18)
In November 2023, according to an opinion poll conducted by the communications company Verian, the number of supporters had fallen by almost 10 percent, while the number of skeptics towards NATO increased accordingly. As author, historian and culture writer Åsa Linderborg, who advocates a referendum in Sweden on the issue, says:
"The question is not whether we will have time to join before the Russians take us, but whether we will have time to become members before we regret it completely." (19)
Maybe because you get time to realize what is really going on? (20)
Text references — Footnotes:
(1) See: People and Defense National Conference 7.-9. January 2024. National Conference 2024 – YouTube og Chris Forsne on People and Defense – The war is total – Environment analysis 76 – SwebbTube
(2:): It is bl.a.: Defense Cooperation Agreement with the United States – Government.se «The US is one of Sweden’s most important security and defence policy partners, bilaterally and within NATO. In May 2016, Sweden and the US signed a Statement of Intent on enhanced bilateral defence cooperation. (se: statement-of-intent-swe_us-20160608_signed.pdf (regeringen.se) ) In 2018, Sweden signed a trilateral Statement of Intent with Finland and the US.» (with: Trilateral Statement of Intent_Page 1 of 3 (defmin.fi) ). See also: SENOFI_SOI.pdf (defmin.fi) See also:Trapped in the Twilight Zone? Sweden between Neutrality and Nato (fiia.fi) Also: The Development of the European Security and Defence Policy – An Assessment of Preferences,Bargains and Outcomes. (foi.se)
(3): With: High time for S to put the opposite language on the shelf (folkbladet.se) og Agreement on defense cooperation with the USA (DCA) – Regeringen.se The agreement has already been approved by Sweden's Minister of Defence, Pål Jonson, and must now be approved by Sweden's Riksdag in 2024. The agreement has not been the subject of any debate or public hearing, what the Swedes call a "referral round". In such cases, the government sends a proposal in the form of a report or memorandum to the various authorities concerned, who are then given a deadline to respond. In other words, the decision on the DCA agreement with the USA has taken place without any democratic debate. What kind of trend are we seeing here in Swedish society?
(4): «High time for S to put the opposite language on the shelf» (folkbladet.se)
(6): Regarding the case surrounding Pål Jonson's personal housing situation gave rise to a debate a few years ago in the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, namely about the reasonableness of the Swedish politician and Riksdag member being able to collect housing allowance at the same time as he has access to an owner-occupied flat in Stockholm, so-called 'bostadsersättning' for the home in Arvika, which is owned by his parents. Since 2017, he has received SEK 40.000 in housing allowance. But he is far from the only member of the Riksdag in Sweden who receives a housing allowance, which they really have no need for with their finances. See, among other thingsMembers of the Riksdag are registered with their parents – receive compensation | SVT News
«I am and have always been written in Arvika» | SVT News
(7): Prominent people such as former US President Bill Clinton, former Defense Secretary Robert Gates, European Commission Speaker José Manuel Durao Barroso and Swedish banker and businessman Marcus Wallenberg have all attended this university.
(8): The College of Europe has roots in The European movement. This is a movement for «the political, economic, military, social, cultural and legal integration of European states» as stated on Swedish wikipedia. Read: A federal state formation af American tilsnit.
(9): Swedish Atlantic Committee – Wikipedia It also states: «is an association independent of party politics, and works to spread knowledge about security policy cooperation between North America and Europe, Europe within NATO and PARTNERSHIP FOR PEACE (PFF), and its importance for Sweden and Sweden's immediate area. ...» See also: Introduction: Sweden between freedom of alliances and security policy integration from Sweden's security policy in transition: Between freedom of military alliances, NATO and ESDP on JSTOR
(10): With: CV Henrik Landerholm – Government.se
(11): With: Invisible right-wing group works for Sweden's NATO affiliation | Proletären (proletaren.se)
(12): With: NDC – Homepage (nato.int)
(13): With: Does Defense Minister Pål Jonson work for NATO? – Chris Forsne in Omvärldsanalys 64 – Swebbtv SVT journalist Chris Forsne talks to presenter Mikael Willgert about the current troubled political situation. On behalf of Sweden, she has carried out a review of Defense Minister Pål Jonson and those who support him. Hun siger til sidst in the quote: «It is difficult to find out whose interests Pål is working for. Is it NATO and American interests or is it Sweden and the Swedish people. These interests really do not coincide.»
(14): Se Ingemar Dorfe – Wikipedia. Carl Bildt about Villages: www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKEOo6eiNws or PÅL JONSON-INGEMAR DÖRFER a MILITARY AFFAIR, at any cost.. – YouTube
(15): With: America’s Grand Strategy: Implications for Sweden (foi.se)
(16): With: Chris Forsne – Pål Jonson-gate, bad journalism and Cecilia Uddén's sex life | ulsanblog (wordpress.com)
(17): With: Pål Jonson behind SD's NATO turnaround – Roger Richthoff in Fjärde Statsmakten 187 – Swebbtv
(18): With: Support for Swedish NATO membership decreases (tv4.se)
(19): What happens if we tell NATO that we screw it up? (aftonbladet.se) See also: Nato, Sweden, the battle against the clock | The class struggle , QOSHE – Those of us who do not want to join Nato are still low. This is how it goes when you risk being labeled a traitor, writes Åsa Linderborg og NATO bigger threat than Putin (aftonbladet.se)
(20): Now Sweden – which has not yet become a member of this 'defense organisation', but is awaiting Turkey and Hungary's approval of admission (written before these countries in January 2024 approved Sweden's admission) is also participating in 'democracy' efforts in Belarus . Sweden's foreign minister declares that Belarus, as an area of Russian interest, is a threat to Sweden (read NATO). We have seen what "democracy efforts" led to in Ukraine. For the current Swedish government's policy in relation to Belarus/Russia see, incidentally: Tobias Billström visits Vilnius to discuss Belarus – Government.seog Government tightens Belarus policy: «Threat to our region» | SVT News
