GlobLog - February 2006
A direct link to each entry is obtained by using the button below the entry.

16:13 - IRAQIS: IT WAS WORTH IT: 

Yes, we know that the American planning for the Iraq occupation was terrible, we know that the torture scandal has eroded trust, and we know that there is a real risk of civil war. But did you know that despite everything, 77 percent of Iraqis (almost all Shias and Kurds, almost no Sunnis) think that the war was worth it, to get rid of the tyrant?

Brookings asked "Thinking about any hardships you might have suffered since the U.S.-Britain invasion, do you personally think that ousting Saddam Hussein was worth it?"

 (via Stockholm Spectator)

12:28 - CNE SENIOR FELLOW: 

This Friday 400 free market-activists, businessmen, politicians, diplomats, journalists and academics met at CNE’s Capitalist Ball in Brussels. As the main speaker, I explained why capitalism deserves a party. At the same time, we announced that I have found a new platform to work more on European and international issues - the growing network of free-marketeers around the continent, joined not by language or geography, but by ideas and visions. Here is the press release:

Press release Friday 24th February 2006:

Globalization expert Johan Norberg joins the Centre for the New Europe

The Centre for the New Europe (CNE), Europe´s leading Brussels based free market think tank, tonight announced at the Capitalist Ball that Swedish author and globalization expert, Mr. Johan Norberg has become a CNE Senior Fellow.

CNE’s President, Mr Mattias Bengtsson, said:

– I’m extremely happy that Johan Norberg has decided to join CNE’s growing network of voices. Johan is not only an internationally recognised expert on globalization and development. He is also one of the best communicators in the world when it comes to explain the virtues of individual, economic and political liberty.

– Johan and I worked together for many years in Sweden, and now I look forward to continue our exciting and creative co-operation on the European scene, Mr. Bengtsson concluded.

Mr. Johan Norberg said:

– I regard the Centre for the New Europe as an excellent platform for my work on some of the most important issues facing Europe and the rest of the world. CNE is a prominent advocate for the kind of Europe I strive for – an open Europe based on capitalism, dynamic change, free trade and social tolerance.

For more information: CNE President Mr. Mattias Bengtsson, +32 2 506 40 00 or mattias.bengtsson@cne.org

08:51 - TRANS EUROPA EXPRESS: 

I just delivered the final script to my next book to Timbro, a manifesto on human creativity and entrepreneurship, so it will probably be published in Swedish in April.

To celebrate this I have now gone to Heidelberg to see Sophie Zelmani live - Sweden´s best and most melancholy singer/songwriter. I am a bit obsessed by her magic music, but she plays far too little in Sweden. So if the mountain will not come to Mohammed, Mohammed will go to the mountain... (If it´s ok to say that nowadays.)

And it´s part of a longer European journey by train, which includes a couple of days in London where I will talk about people´s attitudes to big companies and what to do about them. But most of all, I am going to CNE´s Capitalist Ball in Brussels tonight, "One of the most bizarre events on the Brussels calendar", but one which represent a growing influence, according to The Economist.

01:43 - MORE DANGEROUS THAN A POLISH PLUMBER: 

"A year ago the French police arrested the German maestro Volker Hartung after a celebrated concert at Strasbourg’s Palais de la Musique. The reason why the French police arrested him was suspicions from French trade unions that he employed East European musicians without permit to work in the EU."

- Fredrik Erixon about the European struggle against labour immigration.

03:49 - IRVING QUESTIONS OF THE DAY: 

On the subject of David Irving, one of my readers asks these good questions:

"Question 1: That Irving is jailed for what he has said in a speech years ago, not even in Austria, is very bad news. How are we supposed to convince Muslims that we can say whatever we want about Muhammad if we – Europeans – throw people in jail for their speeches? That such speeches are disgusting is irrelevant, since anyone can argue that any speech is disgusting to him, of course.

Question 2: Will the Austrians put Abu Mazen to jail next time he visits their country? After all, it seems that his PHD dissertation was quite revisionist."

- Jean

14:14 - WHY THE RIGHT/LEFT-AXIS IS MEANINGLESS: 

"I like more and more of what The Guardian, this left-wing liberal British newspaper has to say; and its Sunday sister, The Observer. Perhaps I am really left-wing after all, a socialist, as was the aforementioned artist and statesman [Hitler]. He too would probably have liked The Guardian in its present colours. I have never felt comfortable with the right-wing tag applied to me by less discerning elements of the journaille."

- The holocaust denier David Irving (via Stockholm Spectator)

09:55 - EUROPE IS DE-GLOBALISING: 

In my DI-column today, I warn that Europe is experiencing a process of de-globalisation in a globalised world. The reason is that services make up an increasingly bigger part of our economy (which is a good thing in itself), and since they are more local and trade in services is much more regulated than trade in manufactured goods, it means that an increasing share of our GDP is not tradable or open for competition.

And unfortunately, the EU´s SDINO (service directive in name only) won´t help us.

This is one reason why a European will be half as rich as an American in 20 years´ time, according to the OECD. Most of America´s productivity growth comes from a service sector in a big and open market.

13:45 - NEO-CON SELF-CRITICISM: 

Some interesting self-criticism from self-described neo-conservative Andrew Sullivan, after he read Francis Fukuyama´s article on the same subject.

Personally I think that the biggest neo-con mistake was to overestimate the competence of government. I think we can (and should) have both the attitude that we should try to introduce democracy in all cultures all over the world, and that we shouldn´t be too optimistic about how successfully that gigantic task can be performed by governments that can´t fix our health care and schools.

22:40 - DAGENS PANGLOSS: 

"Jag ser det som en investering i framtiden."

- Lars Ohly i kvällens partiledardebatt om att 1,5 miljoner svenskar inte har ett jobb att gå till.

(Kontext: Han låtsades att alla studerade eller var föräldralediga.)

11:02 - DET HANDLAR INTE OM DANIELSSON, DET HANDLAR OM PERSSON: 

Nu gör även DN en Aftonbladet och hittar ett svepskäl att publicera en bild på statssekreterare Lars Danielsson med en nära medarbetare. Och det blir alltmer uppenbart att pressen tror något eller vet något om var Danielsson egentligen befann sig på annandagen, som resten av landet inte har fått höra. Johan Ingerö skriver om ryktena.

Man ska vara försiktig med skvaller, men om det faktiskt är så att regeringen och Göran Persson har mörklagt och ljugit för folket och för KU i en tid av nationell kris och sorg för att skydda att någon försummat jobbet pga andra intressen, då är detta en skandal som kan anta hisnande proportioner. En sån där som börjar med små, pinsamma lögner som växer till stora, politiska lögner och slutar som substantiella avsnitt i historieböckerna.

11:09 - I CAN´T WAIT TO READ HIS BOOK: 

One of the consistent free market/small government conservatives in the US, Bruce Bartlett, has repeatedly criticised president Bush´s spending and trade policies. As a result, NYT reports, Bartlett has now been fired from the conservative think-tank National Center for Policy Analysis.

I bet on two outcomes: the NCPA loses a lot of credibility as an independent institute and Bartlett´s new book, Impostor : How George W Bush bakrupted America and betrayed the Reagan legacy, will be a bestseller. (Thanks Mattias)

10:13 - (S)TATEN: 

Enpartistaten.se är en bra ny site som granskar överheten och dess maktmissbruk. Och att den redan är inflytelserik visas av att Byggnads omedelbart ändrar texten på en komprometterande hemsida när den länkas därifrån.

Högkvarteret rapporterar för övrigt om det senaste exemplet de kan ta upp: Tilldelningen av tillstånd att sända fri-tv i marknätet är tydligen klar. Favoriten TV4 blir utan och - hoppsan - de åtråvärda licenserna fördelas bland Göran Perssons middagssällskap på Harpsund, som om det rörde sig om en silverbricka med snittar.

10:07 - KLASSIKER: 

Ett av Perssons svar i KU i går förtjänar att bli klassiskt. Han sade att tidsskillnaden mellan Sverige och Thailand gjorde det svårt att hantera krisen. Som om skadade och försvunna lade sig ned och sov när det mörknade, så att man kunde hjälpa dem först i gryningen...

14:14 - THERE IS STILL SOME SPRING IN THE ARAB AIR: 

It only takes a couple of thousand angry people on the Arab streets to make many Westerners doubt the whole possibility of reform and democratisation in the Middle East. But before you despair, just look at the news section of the latest edition of the Arab Reform Bulletin from Carnegie. Here is my summary:

Palestine: Democratically elected parliament to convene.

Egypt: Municipal election postponed two years after strong opposition gains in parliament.

Iraq: Final election results

Kuwait: Parliament for the first time removes the Emir and confirms another.

United Arab Emirates: Half of the members of the (pseudo-) parliament will be elected for the first time.

Yemen: New technocrat government ahead of presidential elections.

Bahrain: Opposition will participate in next parliamentary elections.

Syria: Prominent political prisoner released and forms liberal party.

Jordan: Stricter rules on party formation, but  possible expansion of media freedoms and political participation.

Of course much of this is just window dressing, but the lesson from history is that small openings often create demand for more. Something is changing. Imagine such a list of news from the Middle East just five or ten years ago!

23:00 - CONSISTENTLY MEDIEVAL: 

"Muslims’ protests can be even worse than these notorious rallies abroad over the scandalous cartoons ... The parade should not be allowed, and if they still come out into the streets, then they should be bashed."

- Having learned that the West reacts with fear when threatened with violence, chief Russian Mufti Talgat Tajuddin tries the same thing to stop a gay pride parade in Russia.(via Sullivan)

18:55 - ABOUT BAD NEIGHBOURS: 

Instead of informing Muslim representatives in the Middle East about freedom of the press, and why threats and collective punishments are wrong, the priority of the Swedish foreign ministry has been to inform them that the cartoons weren´t published in Sweden, but in Denmark (and by implication that they should threaten and boycott Danes rather than Swedes).

After this cowardly treason against Sweden´s democratic values, a snooty Swedish prime minister said that his Danish colleague Anders Fogh Rasmussen had underestimated the whole situation by not meeting ambassadors.

In Der Spiegel, Fogh Rasmussen responds. Don´t miss the last line.

"SPIEGEL: Haven´t you also made mistakes?

Fogh Rasmussen: I do not think that we could have done anything differently. Even now there is still a rumor that the government refused to meet with a delegation of 11 Islamic ambassadors. That´s not true. Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller met with them way back in November. This is normal. However, the ambassadors demanded that I take legal action against the paper. And I advised them that a democratic Danish government could not and would not do that.

SPIEGEL: Then why did your Swedish colleague Goran Persson criticize you and say he would have never underestimated such a situation?

Fogh Rasmussen: First, he is not in my situation. Second, I would never get involved in any domestic issue in Sweden. And third, I am especially honored to be attacked by the Swedish Social Democrats -- it is a sign that our policies are the correct ones."

(Thanks Janerik)

10:20 - HUR PERUANSK FOLKDANS FÖRSTÖR INTEGRATIONEN: 

"Om jag åker till Hälsingland och kollar in hälsingehambon – ökar min förståelse för Bollnäsborna? Skulle jag få en djupare insikt i Göran Perssons själsliv om jag fick se honom kränga på sig Vingåkersdräkten och sedan skutta runt? Varför skulle svenskars förståelse för turkisk kultur öka därför att amatördansgrupper hoppar runt i gallerior? Snälla, förklara det för mig."

- Boris Benulic vill avskaffa Mångkulturåret och satsa på Vilhelm Moberg i stället. Metro idag (tack Birgitta).

08:35 - RUBRIKSÄTTARE PÅ BARRIKADEN: 

När Europafacken demonstrerar mot ett liberalt tjänstedirektiv kan det formuleras som att de demonstrerar mot den fria rörligheten eller mot rätten att arbeta fritt i andra länder eller - om man är ett försiktigt, objektivt nyhetsmedium - som att de mobiliserar mot en fri tjänstemarknad eller helt enkelt mot tjänstedirektivet.

Men så här formulerar DN Ekonomi det i dag (pappersupplagan):

Rubrik omslag: "Europafacken mobiliserar mot lönedumpning"

Rubrik på artikeln: "30 000 i Strasbourg sa nej till sänkta löner"

00:59 - REACTIONS FROM SOME AMERICAN MUSLIMS: 

"You can´t give the state too much power. It´s better to fight hate not through laws but education and community organizing and activism."

- Junaid Ahmad, student active in national Muslim organizations, opposes censorship.

"Which would make the prophet sadder - the libel of his character by Danish non-Muslim cartoonists or the actions of his followers that are so out of keeping with his own example, actions that would seem to prove that the cartoonists´ depictions are not so far from truth?"

- Pamela K Taylor, director of the Islamic Writers Alliance.

"Prophet Muhammad is offended every day when somebody blows themselves up in a marketplace in Iraq. He´s offended whenever somebody is beheaded. Prophet Muhammad would have opposed the burning of these embassies, or calls to kill Danes or other people"

- Imam Mohamed Magid, executive director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society.

From Jackson Sun (Thanks Håkan)

19:57 - NO VALENTINES DAY GIFTS FOR AHMADINEJAD: 

"Tehran, locked in a game of nuclear brinkmanship with the West, likes to say that it will rally the world’s weak against the rich and powerful West. But it appears few are ready to follow. Respondents around the world rank Iran last in a list of seven countries. In 24 of the 33 countries where people were surveyed, a majority or plurality of respondents said Iran has a negative influence in the world."

- Foreign Policy

19:28 - AND HE´S A FINE ACTOR TOO: 

"I want a smaller government, I want less government intrusion, I want them to stop pissing on my money and your money, the tax dollars that we give 50 per cent of or 40 per cent of every year, and I want them to be fiscally responsible, and I want these goddamn lobbyists out of Washington ... I hate government. I´m apolitical."

- Bruce Willis (via Sullivan)

18:48 - DAGENS BODSTRÖM: 

HAX noterar denna blivande klassiker från Thomas Bodström, där han förklarar varför även tidningsredaktioner ska kunna buggas:

"Annars skulle det kunna få till följd att människor som ägnar sig åt människohandel och bedriver en bordell bestämmer sig för att starta en tidning och kalla bordellen för tidningsredaktion för att värja sig mot buggning."

Jag som trodde att människohandel förutsatte en viss diskretion, som är svår att upprätthålla om man ger ut en tidning om sin verksamhet... 

15:11 - AXIS OF CENSORS: 

"It is the pressure from the Muslims I hope for most."

- The Christian Democrat MP Tuve Skånberg builds an alliance to stop Swedes from criticising religion publicly, and proves that this is not a clash of civilisations, but a clash between secularism and religious fundamentalists of all sorts. (In Dagens Nyheter today)

And it is not out of a general respect for minorities, Dick Erixon shows that Skånberg at the same time fights for the right to insult homosexuals.

14:54 - WE PREFER EMPLOYMENT TO EMPLOYMENT SECURITY: 

64 percent of Swedes between 16 and 29 years - and a majority of the whole population as well - want to abolish LAS (employment security regulations) for the young.

14:50 - VOLTAIRE UPDATED: 

“I disagree with what you say and even if you are threatened with death I will not defend very strongly your right to say it.”

- The Economist sums up the response of Western governments to the cartoon controversy.

14:45 - MEANWHILE AT SVD: 

Stockholm Spectator observes a strange coincidence.

12:51 - DAGENS DIKT: 

Hos Haja.nu

10:53 - NEVER CONFUSE THE LOUDEST WITH THE MAJORITY: 

Lars Dencik has called the protests against the Mohammed drawings "the biggest demonstration in world history". But how many are really protesting? Thomas Gür puts it in perspective:

5 000 people protested in Cairo (a city of 14 million people), a couple of thousand in Istanbul (13 million) and at most the demonstrations in 14 other Turkish cities gathered a few thousand people. 70 people stormed the Danish embassy in Jakarta (18 million), and a handful of people in Beirut and Damascus.

It´s nowhere near the one million Lebanese who demonstrated against Syrian occupation last year. The number of cartoon protestors so far are fewer than the number of Swedes who will go to the Depeche Mode concert in Stockholm next month.

And we must also remember this to put it in perspective:

1) Would theses people be as angry if they saw the real cartoons, and not just the three really offensive fakes that Danish imams has managed to spread around the Muslim world?

2) The protests are not just about cartoons. If they were, why didn´t they take place when an Egyptian paper published the same drawings five months before? (Thanks Lasse and Fraser)

16:25 - FREIVALDS IGEN: 

Först förnekar Laila Freivalds i Ekot kunskap om hur UD uppmanar till stängning av hemsidor:

"Det vet jag inget närmare om ... Jag vet inte vad alla tjänstemän gör."

Något senare i samma intervju vet hon plötsligt att det har gått helt rätt till:

"UD och Säpo har bara informerat internetföretaget där hemsidan ligger om vad den här publiceringen innebär för svenska intressen. Och efter det har internetföretaget Levonline självständigt fattat beslutet att stänga ner hemsidan"

Och till TT förklarar hon hur det bör gå till:

"Om någon stänger ned sin sida eller en tidning beslutar att göra på det ena eller andra sättet så är det deras eget beslut, grundat förhoppningsvis på den information de har fått" (min markering)

Har vi hört det förr?

15:00 - THE SWEDISH GOVERNMENT UNDERMINES FREE SPEECH: 

When I was in China I was told that a cunning form of censorship was common. Government representatives just called publishers and told them that something wasn´t politically correct, so they should avoid it, or else... It´s a way to stop an open debate secretly.

We don´t have full information yet, but is seems like that is precisely what has just happened in Sweden. The tiny racist party Sverigedemokraterna published a picture of Mohammed in its web magazine. This led the Swedish foreign ministry, led by foreign minister Laila Freivalds, and the intelligence agency SÄPO to contact their internet provider, Levonline, and apparently tell them that this is not suitable. Last night, the web magazine was closed down. "We think that this was the best decision after we were contacted by the Foreign Ministry and Säpo", a representative of Levonline says to Dagens Nyheter.

I am actually a bit shocked. Of course, internet providers should not be forced to publish anything, but if they stop it after pressure from the foreign ministry, this means that:

1)  The Swedish government is practising censorship without legal legitimacy.

2) The Swedish government is putting lives at risk, by showing that threats on Swedes and Danes lead to a change of Swedish policy. Extremists learn that violence works.

3) The Swedish government is turning the most unlikely people, a tiny selection of bigoted Swedish racists, into martyrs for free speech. I can´t say that I should not defend their right to speak just because I hate their ideas - freedom of speech does not mean anything if it is only meant for our friends.

Stockholm Spectator publishes one of the drawings from Jyllands-Posten and turn themselves in to SÄPO. And they encourage other bloggers to do the same. That is a good idea to stop the Islamo-fascists from abolishing our rights, and to stop the Swedish fascists from being seen as the only defenders of free speech. So here is my contribution:

Readers can report me to the police at the following address: sakerhetspolisen@sakerhetspolisen.se and you can report me to the foreign ministry here.

(I chose that particular picture inspired by Sophia Blomqvist, the China comparison is explored by Neo.)

23:16 - THERE IS NO GOD: 

Moses, Jesus and Mohammed just faked it.

I just thought I should write that at least once before UN´s general secretary Kofi Annan manages to turn insults of "religions and their prophets" into a crime against human rights, which he now says that he wants (in English).

By the way, should this really be called a "human right"? Is it really protecting humans? Isn´t it more like a "divine right"? Unless, of course, it´s thought of as the general rule that you should never be allowed to do anything that offends anybody else. 

But if that´s the case, Mr Annan just violated my human rights in a most serious way.

11:14 - WHY MODERATE MUSLIMS MIGHT BE THE SECOND VICTIM: 

When we treat the aggressive fundamentalists as representative of Islam, and don´t dare to challenge their ideas, the real victims are the moderate and the secular Muslims in Europe, who are threatened by extremists and not seen by us.

In Expressen, Salam Karam writes about how outspoken Swedish Muslims are forced to live with death threats.

10:35 - ULVSKOGS POÄNG: 

Marita Ulvskog har faktiskt rätt:

Vi har tyvärr viktiga beslutsfattare som hindrar stora investeringar i svenska branscher trots att de vet att dessa skulle kunna växa och skapa mängder av jobb, av det enda skälet att de tycker att det är viktigare att styra valrörelsen.

Det kallas stopplagen, och gör att sjukvården inte blir den svenska framtidsbransch som det skulle kunna bli.

Det handlar om projektion. Som vanligt tror Ulvskog att hela världen styrs av samma futtiga motiv som hon styrs av, och att vinstdrivande företag har råd att vara lika irrationella som socialdemokratin.

03:11 - VÄLKLÄDD INFÖR ANSTÄLLNINGSINTERVJUN: 

"- Hur mycket pengar lägger du på kläder?

 - Mellan 5000 och 6000 kronor i månaden."

Aftonbladet Mode ställer frågor om kläder till Lotta, arbetssökande, Ekerö.

12:46 - WHY MIDDLE EASTERN DEMOCRACY MIGHT BE THE FIRST VICTIM: 

Many think that freedom of expression in Europe will be the victim of the protests over the Mohammed drawings. I, however, think that there is a risk that democracy in the Middle East will suffer first. One of the reasons why we have seen small democratic changes the last years is that the West stopped supporting Arab dictators in the name of stability and at last began to demand reform.

Of course the dictators are mortally afraid of that, and that is why they want to give the West the impression that their people are violent lunatics, and that these extremists would win the elections if they are forced to introduce democracy. That is why the tyrant Bashar al-Assad sends Syrians to Beirut, where they have to ask for the way to the Danish embassy, in order to burn it down.

The risk is that we let us be deceived into moderating the demands for change. Combined with the chaos in Iraq and the success of Hamas in the Palestinian elections this might be a turning point where we become more hesitant and more interested in stability.

Don´t believe them! Don´t forget that it takes time to build democracy. Don´t forget that the extremists are the only strong groups in these countries because the moderates have never been allowed to organise. Don´t forget that often it takes extreme views to protest if you know that there is a risk that wou will be imprisoned and tortured, the majority will stay silent. And don´t forget that most Arab citizens can only hear and act on the distorted information and the hateful messages that their oppressors want them to hear.

Whenever an oppressor tries to threaten us with his people, we should look him in his eyes and tell him that we know that he is more afraid of them than we are.

00:42 - HE WOULD HAVE SOME EXPLAINING TO DO: 

The Swedish prime minister Göran Persson has threatened the Wallenberg companies that if their directors say in public that they want a change of government he might abolish their right to have weighted shares, which gives them control without having the majority of the shares.

Fredric, one of my readers, just reminded me that Persson´s own government flew to Brussels and aggressively defended the system with weighted shares three years ago, when the EU threatened it.

I just came to think about how amusing it would be to hear Persson explain to his EU colleagues that he has changed his mind completely, just because he wants to silence the Swedish debate. Think about it, try the alternatives, and it becomes obvious that everybody would mistake Göran Persson for Don Corleone.

16:19 - ENTREPRENEURSHIP IS EVERYWHERE: 

Did anyone really think that the rules of demand and supply weren´t applicable in Gaza? Ahmed Abu Dayya heard about the drawings of Mohammed, and immediately his store ordered one hundred Danish and Norwegian flags for Palestinians to burn. (Thanks Tobias and Mattias)

10:34 - PROFITS AND PROTESTS: 

In Dagens Industri today I explain why problems for exporters and investors in dictatorships (boycotts because of caricatures, or loss of contracts because of condemnation of human rights abuses for example) should never, ever result in policy changes. That would only encourage more blackmail of that sort.

I also discuss the problems of having to adapt to dictatorships, for example when Google starts a censored Chinese site. Of course I find it problematic but they are better than other search engines, because this is what you get when you google something like "1989" (from Flickr):

The last line can roughly be translated "Because of local laws and policies some results cannot be displayed", which informs the users of the censorship and encourages them to keep looking.

09:47 - WHY SOME FIND BUSH INCONSISTENT: 

"...the link between greenhouse gases and climate change, a view not shared by Bush."

- Bush according to TT.

“I recognise the surface of the Earth is warmer, and that an increase in greenhouse gases caused by humans is contributing to the problem."

- Bush himself, July 2005.

09:39 - EU: LÄTTA BIDRAG, SVÅRA BLANKETTER: 

"- Hur svårt är det att få bidrag?

- Den svåra biten är att få in en ansökan, resten är lättare."

SEB:s Ingela Hemming förklarar hur företag kan få del av någon av EU:s 9 000 olika stödformer, Dagens Industri i dag.

17:57 - THE ELECTROBOOK: 

At last

12:48 - ETT BORGERLIGT FOLK MED EN SOCIALISTISK STAT: 

"I 17 av de 25 riksdagsvalen under perioden 1921-2002 har de borgerliga fått fler röster än s."

- P J Anders Linder ifrågasätter bilden av de socialdemokratiska svenskarna.

10:21 - SWEDEN´S CULTURAL CONSENSUS: 

"[The welfare state] rests on consensus, which is another way of saying a lack of cultural variety. The stronger the consensus, the more room a welfare state has to grow. But as consensus strengthens, so does a certain naïveté, a belief that your own idiosyncratic habits are something that no one else could fail to find irresistibly seductive. Sweden´s biggest immigration problem may be a matter not of crime, unemployment and Islamic radicalism but of something else altogether: that its newcomers understand perfectly well what this system erected in the name of equality is and have decided it doesn´t particularly suit them."

- Christopher Caldwell in an essay on Sweden and immigration, in New York Times Magazine.

09:36 - NÄR ÅSIKTER SKA BESTRAFFAS: 

Under de senaste valrörelserna har svenska företagare knappt vågat knysta om att de vill ha en annan regering. Det är på väg att ändras. Och den gångna veckan tror jag kommer att betraktas som vändpunkten då det går från försiktiga grymtanden till något som sägs rakryggat och tydligt. Detta tack vare Göran Perssons hot mot Ericssons VD Carl-Henrik Svanberg om att rösträttsreglerna i Wallenbergföretagen ändras om inte Svanberg håller tyst om att han är för ett regeringsskifte.

Det låter som att Persson har blandat ihop sig själv med Putin, och det ger förmodligen två resultat: 

1) Näringslivets omhuldade förhoppning att Persson egentligen, innerst inne, är en rationell person som ser till landets intressen (men bara tvingas anpassa sig till vänstern i partiet) faller samman när han öppet visar sig vara så hämningslöst maktfullkomlig.

2) Många direktörer må vara politiskt naiva, men de förstår sig på incitament. De vet att om de ger efter för utpressning och tystnar kommer det mer av den sorten. Nu är det dags att visa självständighet.

17:17 - BEYOND LEFT AND RIGHT: 

"According to [the exit] polls, 17 million voted for John Kerry but did not think the government should do more to solve the country´s problems. And 28 million Bush voters support either gay marriage or civil unions. That´s 45 million who don´t fit the polarized model. They seem to have broadly libertarian attitudes."

- David Boaz, in WSJ, shows that the US doesn´t have the simple republican/democrat polarisation we see on TV.

13:17 - COX & FORKUM: 

Mohammed´s real image problem. (via Neo)

11:48 - LÅT FOLKET TA ÖVER BOLAGEN: 

Peter Wolodarski noterar att den borgerliga alliansen skulle kunna gå till val på 34 000 kronor till varje svensk.

14:24 - A REAL LAND CRUISER: 

For Kenya´s leaders perhaps it´s enough with 57 Mercedes, 42 Land Cruisers, and 3 Range Rovers. NYT shows that for Sudan´s only a $4.5 million yatch on wheels will do. (Thanks Pablo)

10:04 - FIRST THEY CAME FOR EXPRESSIONS YOU FOUND PROVOKING: 

In DN today, editors-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter, Sydsvenska Dagbladet and Aftonbladet say that they don´t think the right to publish drawings of Mohammed have much to do with freedom of expression, since they don´t like them and think that they are consciously provoking.

It´s impossible to read them without thinking of George Orwell´s definition of freedom of expression:

12:53 - LEAVING TENSTA: 

11:06 - THE WAYS OF MARIO: 

Another Johan points out to me that if the Smurfs is the story of the communist society, Super Mario Brothers is the story of the revolution...


  

Super Marxist Brothers?

09:49 - SÖKES: SVENSKA FÖRINTELSEFÖRNEKARE: 

Fria Iranvänner dokumenterar att iranska ambassaden i Stockholm söker svenska vänner.