| GlobLog - May 2005 |
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Tuesday, 31/5/2005:
15:47 - EU-24?:
"If the former drivers of the European project proceed, Fortress Europe will prevail. In that case, the next issue should not concern whether new countries should join, but if France should be allowed to remain." - Jacob Arfwedson and Sylvain Charat in Financial Times (Thanks Peter)
15:01 - ANOTHER THING EUROPE HAS DONE FOR US:
The Swedish retail monopoly on drugs is against community law (pdf). So in the future perhaps we will be allowed to buy something against headaches even on weekends when we need it. Read more from Munkhammar.
11:02 - THE NONPARTISAN MAOIST FEMINIST:
This is quite revealing: If Feministiskt Initiativ is to succeed as a political party they need to portray themselves as something more than a bunch of radical leftists. So far they haven´t done very well. At the first press conference, one of the founders was presented as a non-socialist, since she had worked for folkpartiet once upon a time. But when asked what she voted for in the last election, she responded the Left party.
But another of them, Sofia Karlsson, is arguing that the new initiative is and should be a nonpartisan group, which crosses the political spectrum. And she has some credibility, since she has been active in student´s unions and not in post-communist groups.
Her latest article in Genus 2-2005 (not on the web yet) is called "Feminism är inget mysigt teparty" ("Feminism is no cosy tea-party"). Hmm, tea-party...isn´t that vaguely familiar? Oh, yes - "a revolution is not a tea-party" - that is what Mao Tse-tung´s said to give the signal that the revolution is about force and violence. And then he started one the the biggest genocides in human history, which directly murdered about 35 million Chinese.
And it´s not just an ignorant headline. Karlsson concludes her article: "För mig är feminism och systerskap inget mysigt teparty, det är respekt och ilska." ("For me, feminism and sisterhood is not a cosy tea-party, it is respect and anger.")
So out of anger, historical ignorance or whatever, the non-partisan feminist likes to use blood-soaked communist catch phrases. In that case, what can we expect from the radicals in the group? (Thanks Per)
10:10 - UNDERSTANDING COMPARATIVE ADVANTAGE - IT TAKES A CHINESE MINISTER:
"The EU and the US should spend more time developing high-technology than quarelling with us about sweaters, socks and trousers." - The Chinese trade minister Bo Xilai knows where the new European and American jobs will come from.
Monday, 30/5/2005:
21:51 - (CITATIONS)TECKEN PÅ ATT DN TAR STÄLLNING:
Hagwall noterar att DN Kultur sätter citationstecken kring den försiktiga rubriken "Könskriget bygger på omfattande research" men inte kring den betydligt mer kontroversiella rubriken SVT-bluff om kidnappning.
Ska vi tro att det är ett misstag eller försöka se maktstrukturerna och härskarteknikerna bakom?
21:31 - WHAT HAS EUROPE EVER DONE FOR US?:
A small reminder to all ungrateful Europeans out there - including me. (Thanks Ronjja - point taken)
17:11 - MISSING A BIRTHDAY:
Woops, I just missed this blog´s two-year anniversary. How ironic, my first post, from May 22, 2003, was an explanation of why I didn´t approve of the draft constitution for the EU...
12:20 - JOURNALISTISK HEDER I FARA:
Dokument inifrån har nu besvarat Ulrika Kärnborg i Dagens Nyheter. Jag kan inte se annat än att Kärnborg är ute på mycket hal is. Uppenbarligen har hon byggt hela sin artikel på en av de misstänkta kidnapparnas uppgifter, och ignorerat andra källor, alternativt stämplat dem som psykiskt instabila.
Men innan vi sätter ned foten fullständigt, låt oss invänta Kärnborgs svar på onsdag. Då ska det också bli intressant att se vad miljöpartiets språkrör Peter Eriksson säger, som i ett pressmeddelande har dömt ut dokumentären som vinklad, fejkad och oseriös - helt och hållet baserat på Kärnborgs artikel...
09:04 - IF THEY DON´T RESPECT THE PEOPLE, WHY WOULD THE PEOPLE RESPECT THEM?:
And that is why the EU has continued harmonising and integrating in the manner described by Luxembourg’s Prime Minister, Jean-Claude Juncker to Der Spiegel in 1999:
”We decide on something, leave it lying around and wait and see what happens. If no one kicks up a fuss, because most people don’t understand what has been decided, we continue step by step until there is no turning back.”
And that is another reason why the voters protest whenever they get the chance.
08:59 - WE´VE BEEN HERE BEFORE - ALL THE TIME:
"Crisis", "shock", "surprise"... Why all the strong words? Is there really something new and shocking about the French results? As an EU Commission official told Financial Times in 2003:
"When we ask voters a European question, the answer is either no, or yes by only the narrowest of margins... That should be telling us something”
Sunday, 29/5/2005:
22:44 - SURPRISE: FRANCE DID THE RIGHT THING:
According to the reports, France has voted "no" in opposition to liberalism, globalisation, free markets, Turks and Polish plumbers. So they did the right thing for all the wrong reasons. At least that´s better than doing the wrong thing for the wrong reasons. Most of those who voted yes seem to have thought that the constitution would give the EU the possibility to stop liberalism, globalisation, free markets, Turks and Polish plumbers...
No, this is not a crisis for the EU, but it is certainly a crisis for the EU statesmen who use every new treaty and agreement as just another opportunity to hand some more powers and projects to the EU. Why don´t they try something else for a change?
19:28 - VI VET I ALLA FALL ATT ROKS LJUGER:
Det är frustrerande svårt för en utomstående att veta vare sig ut eller in när man på ena sidan har en SVT-dokumentär gjord av någon som är flink med saxen, och en krets utanför som hävdar att allt är tillrättalagt. Det är erfarenheten från Janne Josefssons bravader.
Är Ulrika Kärnborg t ex ett scoop på spåren när hon hävdar att Dokument inifråns "Könskriget" ljög om kidnappningen, eller har hon förstört sin journalistiska heder genom att stämpla en namngiven källa som psykiskt instabil på basis av uppgifter från en part i målet - en av de påstådda kinapparna? Spännande fortsättning följer i morgondagens DN när SVT svarar.
En sak vet vi i alla fall efter att hela intervjun med ROKS-ordföranden Ireen von Wachenfeldt har transkriberats - att hon och ROKS ljuger i det pressmeddelande där de påstår att intervjun förvanskats. Så här påstår de att hon sade:
Evin Rubar (ER): – Det står i er tidning att män är djur. Tycker ROKS det?
Ireen von Wachenfeldt (IW): – Nej, det tycker vi inte. Men om man varit utsatt för upprepade övergrepp från män har jag förståelse för att man kan känna så.
Det påstådda svaret fanns emellertid inte med. Det gjorde däremot detta:
ER: Det står här i er tidning "att kalla en man ett djur är att smickra honom. Han är en maskin, en vandrande dildo, en emotionell parasit." Varför skriver ni så här i eran tidning?
IW: Ja, men är inte det utifrån mäns tankar?
ER: Men det här är ju vad ni skriver om män.
IW: Ja.
ER: Är det så här ni ser på män?
IW: Ja.
[...]
ER: ...att män är djur och maskiner och vandrande dildos, står du för det?
IW: Ja, det står jag för.
ER: Män är djur.
IW: Män är djur...tycker inte du? Tycker inte du det?
Detta har jag fått från I Chydenius fotspår. Men missa inte heller hans varning: Att radikalfeminister nu hängs ut som de könsrasister de är får inte gå ut över de kvinnojourer som gör ett otroligt viktigt arbete för kvinnor som dagligen misshandlas och kränks.
14:43 - MED FRIA FANTASIER KOMMER VI LÄNGRE:
"I känsliga ämnen kommer vi inte långt med fakta."
- Sociologiprofessorn och regeringsgunstlingen Eva Lundgren apropå att inga fakta stöder hennes teori om satanistiska ritualmord.
Saturday, 28/5/2005:
11:59 - THE SWISS ON THE SWEDISH:
In the Swiss weekly Weltwoche, Nina Streeck has a long essay on Sweden, which quotes me at length. It contains an interesting description of the Swedish model as a third way between the US and the European continent - we have relatively open and free markets like the US, but we have a big and costly system of social security and welfare, like the continent. And the openness is the only reason why we have been able to afford those systems for so long, until it starts to undermine the work ethic - which it does now.
The essay also contains an interesting description of me: "ein Kämpfer gegen jeglichen staatlichen Interventionismus...avancierte schnell zum Popstar der jungen Liberalen"...
And speaking of popstars, if anyone miss me at Bloggforum 2.0 today, it´s because I am at a pre-party for the Kent concert. Some things in life are more important than others.
Friday, 27/5/2005:
15:03 - DET ÄR DYRT ATT BLI SKRIVEN PÅ NÄSAN:
"Nyligen upptäckte jag att det statliga Apoteksbolagets avdelning för samhällskontakter har fler anställda än näringslivets tankesmedja Timbro. Det säger något om rådande styrkeförhållanden i samhällsdebatten.En av poängerna med demokrati är att folket talar om hur politiken ska se ut. Men allt oftare är det politikerna som talar om hur vi ska bete oss: vad vi ska tycka, göra och tro. Vi betalar skatt för förmånen att bli skrivna på näsan och tagna i örat."- Per Ericson i Svenska Dagbladet
Thursday, 26/5/2005:
21:09 - WHO IS THE SWEDISH BLOGGER?:
The results from Hans Kullin´s interesting blog survey is now in. And it shows that the average blogger is male, 26-35 years old and spends 6-10 hours a week reading blogs. Politically he is on the center-right, but not by much, so the idea that the typical blogger is a liberal/libertarian seems to be a myth (must be some other reason why we get so much attention...).
Among the average blog reader that connection is stronger. Moderaterna and folkpartiet would get a majority of their own if blog readers were got to decide the elections.
Another interesting fact: 0.8 percent of Swedish bloggers are christian democrats...
16:34 - CLEANER AIR - IN CHINA:
"´The good news is that the atmosphere has become cleaner and more transparent,´ says Andreas Macke, a meteorologist at the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany. The collapse of communist economies in the late 1980s and the subsequent decrease in industrial pollutants released in the area was probably a major factor. Wild and his team did detect continued dimming in some highly polluted areas, such as India, where vast clouds of smog from burning fossil fuels and wildfires darken the sky for long periods each year. But there was a brightening trend in China, despite the country´s booming, fossil-fuel-intensive industry. ´I am surprised,´ says Wild, adding that he can only speculate that the use of clean-air technologies in China may be more widespread and efficient than previously thought." - Nature, 12 May 2005. (Thanks Magnus)
16:23 - REVIEW OF THE SITH:
In smedjan.com today I publish a short Episode III review (in Swedish).
10:53 - THE AFRICA WE RARELY HEAR ABOUT:
“Africa is currently experiencing its best economic performance in many years [an eight-year high of 5.1 per cent growth in 2004]. The continent’s economies are benefiting from global expansion, notably through higher demand for commodities at higher prices; improved domestic macroeconomic management; and the easing of conflicts in many countries. While serious problems persist – including the humanitarian catastrophe in western Sudan, the political hardening in Zimbabwe, and conflicts in Côte d’Ivoire – prospects for much of Africa appear to remain more favourable than they have been for many years… Solid growth is expected to continue in 2005 and 2006 – although at a slightly lower rate of 4.7 per cent in 2005” - OECD´s African Economic Outlook 2004/2005
10:19 - DET HADE INTE ENS BEHÖVT TA EN TIMME:
Varför lät Reinfeldt Persson angripa honom om och om igen angående ersättningsnivåerna genom att aldrig svara på hur sänkta nivåer ger fler jobb? Moderaternas chefekonom Anders Borg förklarar i SvD, på ett sätt som inte direkt stärker bilden av partiets folklighet: "Det var för komplicerat att dra i en tv-debatt".
Han hade kunnat lånat den liberala ekonomen Ingemar Ståhls gamla förklaring, som jag nyss snappade upp på nätet:
1) Hur hög tror ni att arbetslösheten är om ersättningen är 0 %?
2) Hur hög tror ni att arbetslösheten är om ersättningen är 150 %?
3) Hur tror ni att sambandet ser ut däremellan?
Wednesday, 25/5/2005:
17:03 - STAR WARS EMAIL OF THE DAY:
"It´s strange that there is so much more and better technology in the new movies - supposed to tell the story of the past. Of course, it may be that the real message behind the movies was of one that even Lucas wasn´t aware, namely that free enterprise and democracy generates wealth, and that totalitarian regimes destroy it, ergo we should support universal capitalism."
16:19 - EPIC 2014:
I am often asked what will happen to the media landscape in the future. I have no idea. But this eight minute film provides us with a thought-provoking guess. (Thanks Gunnar)
13:52 - WHY THE JEDI ARE WRONG AND THE SEPARATISTS RIGHT:
Tyler Cowen makes an excellent case against the unaccountable and dangerous Jedi Council in the Star Wars movies. I would add another point: The dangers of the extreme altruism of the Jedi Order. They tell you that love for anoher individual is evil, and that you should sacrifice your interests and the ones you love for the greater good. So everybody who chooses love would see themselves forced to turn to dark side.
And Julian Sanchez (via smedjan) asks a good question: Why shouldn´t the separatists be allowed to leave the republic? After all, the official description proves that the republic became corrupt:
"Despite rosy recollections of a greater past, the Republic succumbed into undeniable decay. Its cumbersome bureaucracy slowed down any attempts at reform, and too many of its constituents had grown corrupt and complacent to enact any change. A feeling of disenfranchisement grew in the galaxy, particularly in outlying systems where heavy taxation was not balanced by improved services."
And Sanchez has found a comment from Count Dooku in the shooting script of Episode II, that proves the noble motives behind the separatist´s rebellion (even though Dooku just pretends to share them, of course):
"I´m quite convinced that ten thousand more systems will rally to our cause with your support, gentlemen. And let me remind you of our absolute commitment to capitalism... of the lower taxes, the reduced tariffs, and the eventual abolition of all trade barriers. Signing this treaty will bring you profits beyond your wildest imagination. What we are proposing is completely free trade."
With this in mind, I hink the best line from Episode III is Padme´s:
"Have you ever considered that we may be on the wrong side? [...] What if the democracy we thought we were serving, no longer exists... and the Republic has become the very evil we´ve been fighting to destroy?"
11:35 - MER OM DEBATTEN:
Jag börjar känna mig som 1800-talsliberalen Bastiat, om vilken det sades att han ibland röstade med högern, ibland med vänstern - den enda gemensamma nämnaren var att han alltid röstade med minoriteten. När moderaterna vill ha mindre liberalt systemskifte än på 25 år så går de bättre än på länge, och när moderatledaren anklagar statsministern för att sänka skatterna för de rika och sänka ersättningsnivåer för de sjuka så anses han vinna debatten mot honom.
Jag har fått många synpunkter från läsare som tyckte att Reinfeldt var skicklig. Visst, det var han. Särskilt i början, innan tittarna stängde av. Många menar att Reinfeldt vinner valet. Det är möjligt. Men vilken politik är det i så fall som vinner valet? Reinfeldt talar inte om skapande och företagande, han kramar facket och arbetsrätten och han hävdar att det är orättvist att sänka skatterna mest för de som betalar mest. Det är så man bildar och befäster en opinion som inte kommer att tillåta liberala reformer när man väl kommer i regeringsställning.
Och om jag avläser kroppshållningen rätt så kommer Reinfeldt snart att kompromissa bort de sänkta ersättningsnivåerna också. Varför inte? Moderaterna har ju avvecklat alla andra åsikter som är kontroversiella, och när Persson pressade honom duckade han bara om och om igen i stället för att rakt upp och ned säga: Ja, vi vill att det ska löna sig mer att jobba - och det ska löna sig mindre att inte jobba.
Tuesday, 24/5/2005:
21:20 - DET HADE KUNNAT VARA ETT SSU-MÖTE:
Halva Persson/Reinfeldt-duellen handlade om ersättningsnivåer. Var kommer pengarna ifrån? Vem är det som skapar alla resurser som de båda herrarna lovar bort? Och vad behöver dessa personer - och vad har de rätt till - för förutsättningar? Under den gångna timmen fick vi knappt höra ett ord om skapande, entreprenörskap, företagande eller om globaliseringens möjligheter och utmaningar. Persson och Reinfeldt diskuterade bara om det var kommunerna eller de sjukskrivna som ska få våra surt förvärvade slantar.
Reinfeldt är skicklig på defensiven, t ex på att ta avstånd från systemskiftesidéer och att förklara att de som inte skapar resurser inte alls ska få så mycket mindre av de som gör det. Men han lyckades inte på något sätt lansera ett alternativ till socialdemokratins paradigm. Om inte Maud Olofsson och Lars Leijonborg gör något radikalt kommer detta att bli en traditionell fördelningsvalrörelse, och en sådan vinner Persson överlägset på rutin och retorik - liksom han vann denna debatt.
09:14 - JUST HALF A REVOLUTION:
Unfortunately it seems like others than Ukranian singers consider Che as a role model - it almost looks like some of his fans are represented in the Ukranian government...
Read Anders Åslund´s article in Washington Post (via Munkhammar).
Monday, 23/5/2005:
21:09 - SEVÄRT:
Den andra delen av Dokument inifråns Könskriget var en riktigt ruggig inblick i Roks-extremfeministernas och Margareta Winbergs motvilja mot forskning och akademisk frihet. Läs mer hos Dick Erixon och Kristian Karlsson.
16:20 - THE ECONOMIST WISDOM OF THE DAY:
"Even on the most self-interested calculus, the reality is that [Uzbekistan´s dictator] Mr Karimov is an ally the West is better off without. His help in the war against terror is outweighed by the encouragement he has given to radicals of every stripe in Central Asia and beyond, and by the damage that association with him does to the West´s reputation... He should now be made a pariah, his regime stripped of all forms of aid, and all military assistance withdrawn. When he is overthrown, as sooner or later he will be, whoever succeeds him will have little reason to love the West. But encouraging regime change would be a way to start providing one." - The Economist on a mass murderer the West supports.
16:17 - NEW SWEDISH LIBERAL/LIBERTARIAN WEBZINE:
Captus.nu
07:17 - REBELS WITHOUT A CLUE:
Yesterday I spent some time watching the re-run of the Eurovision Song Contest. I was looking forward to the Ukranian contribution, Greenjolly´s "We won´t stand this - no ...", which is based on the "official" song of the orange revolution (I recommended it here).
Imagine my shock when they sing this song, bringing back memories of how hundreds of thousands Ukrainians risked their lives to overthrow the remnants of a communist dictatorship, and the singer wears a t-shirt with the portrait of a communist murderer - probably because he looks cool and revolutionary.
I´ve rarely seen such an exercise in historical amnesia. Please remember that Che Guevara would not have been on the side of the democratic protesters, he would have been one of the hardline bosses arguing that they should be shot down.
06:53 - HALF THE WRITER I USED TO BE:
For some time my posts here might be fewer and shorter (and I won´t be very good at responding to email). The reason is that there was a stag-party for me on Saturday - a wonderful day filled with fantastic activities and great friends. But I also happened to fall from a horse while galloping, so for the moment my left arm is disabled. And you don´t realise how much you depend on both your hands until you have to get by without one. So for some time everything related to a computer keyboard takes twice the time it used to. But the biggest challenge right now is putting my socks on... ;-)
Friday, 20/5/2005:
15:44 - LINDERBORG AND WIJK DEBUNKED AGAIN AND AGAIN:
Åsa Linderborg and Erik Wijk really went too far with their latest defence of the Iraqi insurgency, and the Swedish blogosphere has ripped their arguments apart the last few days. (See for example Dick Erixon, Nicklas Lunblad, Alicio and Stockholm Spectator here and here) Here is a summary:
- Linderborg and Wijk defend that terrorists murder opponents, with the argument that the American presence is unjust because casualty figures are high in Iraq - which to a great extent is because of the terrorism...
- They ride high on the old 100 000 casualty figure don´t even mention the new UN study with the 24 000 figure.
- They refer to a study to prove that the terrorists don´t attack civilians, because only 4.2% of the attacks were directed towards civilians. They concealed the much more interesting figure - that 63% of the murdered in the attacks were civilians.
- They refer to a New York Times article to show that terrorists do not target civilians, and omitted the paragraph of the article that said that: "Attacks now are aimed more at killing Iraqi civilians and security forces, and have been planned with sinister care and timing to take place outside schools, clinics and police stations when large daytime crowds have gathered."
- There is one source they use as a legitimate authority on the subject that they actually don´t distort, and it happens to be a pro-resistance and deeply anti-Semitic webiste...
10:08 - REVENGE OF GEORGE LUCAS:
What a relief! With Revenge of the Sith, the new Star Wars trilogy is saved from fiasco. It is a powerful tragedy. I feel as if the film rehabilitates my childhood love for Star Wars, which was compromised by the last two films (see my old reviews in Swedish here and here). Furthermore, it contains an important message about how democracies are destroyed when the government is given more power out of fear and longing for security...
And best of all, the total screen time for Jar Jar Binks is something like 20 seconds...
09:06 - DEN HEMLIGA LO-RAPPORTEN:
Johnny Munkhammar hittade den.
Thursday, 19/5/2005:
11:10 - DET BLÅ GULDET:
Den här filmen om vattenprivatisering i Ghana sägs ha varit intressant och mer djuplodande än det vanliga tugget. Jag såg den inte själv, men reprisen går i SVT1 på söndag kl 16.00.
UPPDATERING 11:40: Bengt Nilsson har en trailer för dokumentären på sin hemsida. (Tack Dennis)
09:44 - SANNINGEN - TILL SIST:
"I am becoming sick and tired about lying"- Shells Van de Vijver 2003, som inte längre ställde upp på ledningens falska siffror om oljereserver - en av de företagsskandaler som fick arbetarrörelsen att utmåla näringslivet som korrupt."Mitt samvete klarade inte mer."- LO-utredaren Jan Edling, som lämnar LO efter att ledningen stoppat honom från att avslöja att Sverige inte har 77% sysselsättning, som regeringen påstår, utan bara 60%.
Wednesday, 18/5/2005:
23:37 - IF THEY COULD AT LEAST LISTEN TO THEIR OWN FRIENDS:
"the studies show that civilians are no prioity targets for the resistance movement" - Åsa Linderborg and Erik Wijk explain why we should support the Iraqi insurgency. "The shedding of Muslim blood ... is allowed in order to avoid the greater evil of disrupting jihad... killing of infidels by any method including martyrdom operations has been sanctified by many scholars even if it meant killing innocent Muslims." - The most famous insurgent, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a new audio message.
18:18 - NYA FRIHANDELSFHIENDER:
Attac imploderade ju, men i dag fick Sverige en ny antiglobaliseringsgrupp. Och till den betalar du och jag 150 miljoner kronor om året.
17:18 - LINDERBORG AND WIJK DISTORT THE FIGURES TO DEFEND THE TERRORISTS:
I received a very interesting email about Linderborg´s and Wijk´s article, which shows that they intentionally distort the report they refer to, to give the impression that the terrorists do not aim at civilians:
"Look at the table on page 6 of the CSIS report they refer to, where there is a compilation of attacks and casualties that they refer. She states, correctly, that 77% of the attacks by the insurgents were staged against US forces. What she doesn´t say is more important. If one does the same math with those in the killed or wounded categories a different picture of the "insurgency" emerges. Namely, that despite 77% of attacks there were 573 killed. The remaining 33% of the attacks towards international organizations and, most importantly, Iraqi civilians caused 3,033 deaths. They use the figure that only 4.2% of the attacks were directed towards civilians. This is true based out of a total over 4,000 attacks; however, again, the interesting total is the number of deaths. The 4.2% of attacks resulted in 1,981 Iraqi civilian deaths. It is interesting as to what they think is more important when defending "insurgents"; where their unsuccessful majority of attacks are aimed or where the majority of deaths actually occur and who actually suffers. Is it right to praise intention and hide the result? Or is it so that they refuse to admit what is actually being said by these figures: that the "insurgents" mount attacks against civilians because they do not need to have as many to have much more success."
Linderborg and Wijk also refer to a New York Times article. But look at what they omit:
"Attacks now are aimed more at killing Iraqi civilians and security forces, and have been planned with sinister care and timing to take place outside schools, clinics and police stations when large daytime crowds have gathered."
16:56 - THE TERRORIST´S SWEDISH SUPPORTERS:
Thanks to all of you who emailed me about Åsa Linderborg´s and Erik Wijk´s article in Aftonbladet today, where they repeat the 100 000 casualty figure, and don´t even mention the new UN study. Here are the highlights of their article:
- The article´s subheading is "The real figures of the war".
- They support the terrorist groups beacuse they mainly target American soldiers and Iraqi police recruits.
- Here is their way of acknowledging that these groups also murder civilians: "...some groups are lacking in judgement".
- And here is where they argue in a circle: They say that the cause of the resistance is just, and that it is ok for them to murder a lot of people because the war was awful. And the proof of that is that the casualty figure after the war is really, really high. But since these figures keep rising because of the terrorist attacks, what they are really saying is that the more people the terrorists murder, the more we should support them, because the casualty figure proves that the war was unjust...
16:39 - OFFSHORING IN PERSPECTIVE:
I just gave a lecture on trade and services and offshoring. Here is an interesting figure that puts the anxiety about offshore outsourcing into perspective:
The consultancy Forrester thinks that 3.3 million American service jobs will go abroad in the next 15 years. That sounds like a lot. But that´s no more than 55 000 jobs every quarter. And that figure should be compared to the almost 8 million jobs that are destroyed every quarter as a result of the everyday functioning of the dynamic American market.
Do you want to stop offshoring? You would avoid less than one percent of the layoffs, and would lose the wealth creation and the new jobs that specialisation and competition makes possible.
Tuesday, 17/5/2005:
15:02 - WHEN YOU THOUGHT YOU HAD SEEN EVERYTHING:
Do you want the best proof ever that there is nothing - NOTHING - that goes wrong in the world that cannot be blamed on neo-liberalism and free markets by some journalist somewhere?
BBC blames starvation in North Korea, almost the only totalitarian communist state that is left in the world, on "Market reforms introduced in North Korea in recent years". (Thanks Miguel)
Can you beat that?
10:27 - KÖNSRASISM:
Dokument inifrån visade i söndags att Riksorganisationen för Sveriges kvinnojourer, som skattebetalarnas miljoner öses över, är en radikalfeministisk och närmast fundamentalistisk sekt som menar att de ligger i krig med halva Sveriges befolkning. Det har varit påfallande tyst om programmet i medierna sedan dess. Nu ligger det på nätet, så kan du själv gissa varför.
08:48 - A HEAVYWEIGHT BOOK:
On Friday, Timbro will publish a book that will seriously disturb all the paternalists out there. Their new project has been to socialise our bodies. They claim that the government has to force us, with taxes and regulations, to eat healthy food, so that we don´t get fat and become a burden for the health care system.
Mattias Svensson´s new book Peta inte i maten! (only in Swedish) is an extremely well-written book that completely debunks the claims about the fattening of society, full of easily accesible facts and statistics showing that this is actually not the disaster it is made out to be. I learned so much from every single page: The problem is smaller than the authorities claim, fatness is less unhealthy than they say and it´s not the result of a "sick society", but of a better society - if obesity becomes the "biggest" killer it´s only because we have dealt effectively with the other killers. It was more dangerous being of normal weight 30 years ago, than fat today, and it´s still much worse to have a few kilos too little, than tens of kilos too much.
The book is also an eloquent plea for liberty - if we aren´t allowed to decide what we eat, what kinds of freedom will be left in the long run?
This is a book you can´t miss. It will change the debate and undermine a world view. And welcome to the release party on Friday 17.00 in Stockholm.
Full disclosure I: Mattias is a close friend of mine.
Full disclosure II: He used to weigh over 100 kilos, but lost 20 kilos by eating better and exercising - not by waiting for the government to do something about it.
 
Monday, 16/5/2005:
23:07 - WALLSTRÖM MAKES THINGS WORSE:
On her blog, Margot Wallström has now presented the lamest possible excuse for saying that opposition to EU integration leads to concentration camps. Now she claims that she was only referring to racists and extreme nationalists and therefore her comment was "correct and completely logical".
So in the future, whenever Wallström talks about "those today who want to scrap the supranational idea. They want the European Union to go back to the old purely inter-governmental way of doing things", we should assume that she refers to nazis?
But on the other hand, having a commissioner for communication who cannot communicate isn´t much worse than having a trade commissioner who is opposed to trade.
22:47 - PROGRESS IN KUWAIT:
At last Kuwait´s parliament decided to join Gulf states like Oman, Bahrein and Qatar and give women the right to vote (with 35 in favor and 23 against). Young women and men outside parliament danced and cheered, and one Kuwaiti blogger says that there are fireworks in the sky to celebrate the decision.
Ironically, several Islamist politicans are now in favour of female suffrage, because they think that women are more conservative than men...
18:52 - A SECOND OPINION:
And here is an interesting and partly well-argued essay saying that I am 100 percent wrong in defending Star Trek. He argues that the Federation is now communist and militarist and implements complete government control of the media. At the same time, he observes that the Federation in the original Star Trek series was free-market... (Thanks Björn)
13:08 - FLIPP-FLOPPAREN FREIVALDS:
"– Varför är de inte frihetskämpar eller motståndskämpar eller sådant som vi brukar använda positiva beteckningar på?– Ja, det kan man också mycket väl göra för det är klart att vi måste ha en förståelse för dem som inte accepterar att Irak är ockuperat."Ekots Tomas Ramberg intervjuar utrikesminister Laila Freivalds, hösten 2003. "– I en Eko-intervju fick du frågan om man skulle kunna kalla de som bekämpar ockupationsmakten för frihetskämpar och då säger du: ´Ja, det skulle man kunna göra´.– Nej, det var en allmän diskussion. Det gällde generellt. Det handlade inte om Irak." Lars Adaktusson intervjuar Freivalds i Agenda i går. (Ekot. Tack Roland)
12:45 - FÖRSTA GÅNGEN JAG INSPIRERAR HELLE KLEIN:
"Den svenska bloggvärlden har alltför länge varit ytterligt högerdominerad med nyliberala bloggare som Johan Norberg som den mest kända. Jag är fortfarande tveksam till om bloggen är något för etablerade medier, men det är uppenbart att det är en ny offentlighet som växer fram i rasande takt och jag vill veta mer om denna. Därför blir jag nu en bloggare."- Aftonbladets Helle Klein i sin allra första bloggpost.
11:57 - WHY I LOVE STAR TREK:
Some people find it strange that I love Star Trek - after all it´s a universe where there is no money (at least after the original series) and where entrepreneurs are portrayed as evil Ferengis. And now Marcus, a fellow trekker and classical liberal asks about my views on why we like it so much.
It´s not because of the politics in the Star Trek series, it´s about the sense of life, which is much more important when it comes to films and literature. It´s about adventure, optimism and progress. Many other science fitcion stories are about horrible future worlds, after nuclear terror and with machines that enslave us. But Star Trek is about how mankind explores the universe, finds fascinating new life forms, with whom to make friends and trade, and technology is portrayed as something good for mankind. It´s in favour of individualism, tolerance, globalisation, creativity, technology and progress. If you share those values, it´s difficult not to be in favour of liberalism and capitalism - and it´s difficult not to love Star Trek.
As Star Trek-creator Gene Roddenberry once said:
"Mankind is smart. That´s what Star Trek is about."
Or as Captain James T Kirk once put it:
"Without freedom of choice, there is no creativity. Without creativity, there is no life."
10:09 - IN A WORLD...:
One of my readers, Martin, warns me that the Hitchhiker film is not that good, and sends me this wonderful trailer for Comedian, his favourite among anti-trailer trailers.
Sunday, 15/5/2005:
23:00 - WORTH LINING UP FOR:
Yes" After two hours of what people had to to do every day in communist states to buy meat, I got tickets to the Star Wars opening on Thursday. And I suspect it will be a lot better than the last two ones, which have really undermined my fascination for the Star Wars saga. In relation to the wonderful classic trilogy they are like the new Jeffrey Sachs compared to the old Sachs - less original, more childish and what it lacks in great ideas it makes up for with a lot of spending.
By the way here is a Star Wars based commercial for organic farming. It´s anti-globalist, anti-technology and a bit xenophobic - but it´s quite well done. When will free traders learn to use the same methods to communicate? (via Magnus)
And speaking of science fiction, at last we will now get a good (I think) film version of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. And that also means that we at last get a trailer that sees through the trailer phenomena.
09:17 - AMERICAN HYPOCRISY:
Now it looks like perhaps 500 demonstrators were killed by Uzbek authorities in the latest clashes. Uzbekistan is a ruthless dictatorship, which routinely sends human rights activists to jail and murder political opponents. It has thousands of political prisoners. But still, the US considers it a useful ally in the war on terror. Even though the Americans demand reforms in Uzbekistan, they still praise this repressive state:
”The State Department details its relationship and offers its analysis of Uzbekistan´s government in a background note last updated in February… The note says the United States ´values Uzbekistan as a stable, moderate force in a turbulent region.’” - CNN
Moderate?
02:34 - HOW MANY IRAQIS KILLED BECAUSE OF THE WAR?:
People like Cecilia Uddén and Åsa Lindeborg often say that the Iraq war caused the deaths of almost 100 000 Iraqis. This was based on a study published in Lancet, which really only said that the figure was somewhere between 8 000 and 194 000. This was based on interviews with no more than 1 000 households.
Now a United Nations report has studied the same subject, based on questions to 21 600 households. And it has come up with a more reliable and very different figure:
"The 370-page report said that it was 95 per cent confident that the toll during the war and the first year of occupation was 24,000, but could have been between 18,000 and 29,000. About 12 per cent of those were under 18. The figure is far lower than the 98,000 deaths estimated in The Lancet last October, which said that it had interviewed nearly 1,000 households. But it is far higher than other figures." ( The Times via Stockholm Spectator)
From now on, I would appreciate a little help from you readers. Every time you notice people on Swedish television, radio or news papers repeating the old 100 000 figure, send me an email. I want to see if they are open to new facts or whether they stick to guesses that suit their political preferences better.
Saturday, 14/5/2005:
17:13 - EHNMARK FANTASIZES ABOUT AFRICA AS USUAL:
In Konflikt today, Anders Ehnmark explained that ”market solutions” and ”structural adjustment programs” in Sub-Saharan Africa has meant that these countries followed the simple advise: ”abolish all regulations and let the market handle this” - and he means that this ”has created disasters in Africa”. (Thanks Christian)
How boring and repetitious and wrong. This is what you constantly hear from the anti-capitalists. Can’t they bother to take at least one quick look at the Index of Economic Freedom or some other measure of economic liberalism before they fantasize that Africa is a laissez-faire region?
”sub-Saharan Africa remains the world’s least economically free region. The countries that represent the median score for sub-Saharan Africa—Lesotho and Chad—are ranked 102nd and 103rd, respectively, in the 2005 Index.” (page 6)
And if market solutions are to blame for poverty in Africa, how does Ehnmark explain that countries with most market solutions (Botswana, Uganda, Mauritius) have made the most progress towards economic growth and poverty reduction, whereas those with almost no market solutions (Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Congo) have seen dramatic increases in poverty?
12:24 - CAN A FRENCH SOCIALIST SAVE THE DOHA ROUND?:
The next WTO director-general will be the old EU trade commissioner, the French socialist Pascal Lamy. In a way that’s bad. He has been the highest representative for EU protectionism and for a too broad agenda which has destroyed progress. But that’s also good, because that background might give him the legitimacy to force the EU to change those position, and Lamy is famous for being a good negotiator.
But there are reasons to be pessimistic about the entire round. A deal must be ratified before Bush loses his fast-track authority in July 2007, and since it takes a long time to wrap up negotiations after a breakthrough, this must happen at the WTO meeting in Hong Kong in December.
Let’s remind ourselves what The Economist wrote about Lamy’s optimism in May 2000:
”Pascal Lamy, the EU’s Trade Commissioner, still believes a new round of trade talks will take place this year... But then, Mr Lamy, who says he is still a socialist, is known to believe in lost causes.”
Friday, 13/5/2005:
14:33 - WALLSTRÖM ERASES HER MISTAKES:
EU commissioner Margot Wallström said that the British media lied when it said that she had linked opposition to EU integration with Nazi holocaust. And then she secretly changed the version of her Terezin speech published on the internet to remove the passage where she links the opposition with Nazi concentration camps (supposedly because she didn´t have the time to deliver the full text). So far she hasn´t commented on the affair on her blog.
Financial Times writes:
"The controversial decision to remove passages from the published version is embarrassing for Ms Wallström, a prominent Swedish politician, since she was put in charge of a new communications portfolio in the EU executive partly on the basis of her direct and convincing communications style."
14:18 - HEALTHY AIR:
The 2005 edition of Index of Leading Environmental Indicators has been published. Here are some of the interesting conclusions:
"Air pollution fell again in the United States to its lowest level ever recorded, but hot air over the subject continued to increase. Long-range world population projections fell, for about the 20th year in a row. Bald eagles, whales, some ocean fish stocks, and U.S. forestlands all showed increases in numbers. And the latest federal study found that wetlands in the United States are at last expanding, reversing three centuries of decline."
11:17 - OLLE SVENNING BROTTAS MED VÅR TID:
Aftonbladets Olle Svenning är osäker på om han vill anpassa sig till den nya tiden. Det är jag som är den nya tiden. Svenning har nämligen fått för sig att det är jag som ”tänker åt högerliberalerna". Och därför besöker han denna blogg:
”Den är, märker jag snart, fylld av konventionella högeråsikter. Norberg rekommenderar länkar, tankesmedjor och tidskrifter. Alla ligger långt åt det nyliberala hållet.
Poängen tycks vara att bekräfta bloggbesökarens alla borgerliga föreställningar eller fördomar. En traditionellt antiintellektuell hållning.”
Nyliberalen var alltså nyliberal, så antiintellektuellt.
Efter att i några sekunder ha grubblat över när utrerat nyliberala åsikter blev detsamma som ”konventionella högeråsikter”, börjar jag undra om Svenning kanske har en poäng. Är jag så ensidig? Så jag tittar tillbaka på vad jag har länkat till välvilligt de senaste två veckorna. Då noterar jag att enligt Svenning är New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, LO-tidningen, Reportrar utan gränser, Medborgarnas flyktingombudsman, Levi’s jeans och de tre stora brittiska partierna samtliga ”långt åt det nyliberala hållet”.
Men visst länkar jag också till nyliberala meningsfränder, bl a till tankesmedjan Cato när de angriper Bush, och jag länkar till en medbloggare, som jag kritiserar för sitt försvar av Wallström.
Men att Svenning – som är känd för att ha en mycket egen uppfattning om hur de som inte är meningsfränder ska behandlas – inte har koll på vad jag skriver (eller blandade han ihop bloggposterna med de länkar jag anger på hemsidan?) är inte hans största miss, det är att han inte förstår poängen med polemik i bloggformat:
Bloggare länkar även till dem de kritiserar. När jag angriper t ex Joachim Vogel, Ali Esbati eller Åsa Linderborg länkar jag samtidigt till deras texter så att mina läsare omedelbart kan se om jag har rätt – ”högerliberaler” tänker faktiskt själva, vad Svenning än tror. Om jag kritiserar Svenning för att ha nippriga åsikter så behöver ingen lita på mig blint, utan jag kan omedelbart länka till bevis för det.
Jämför det med Svenning, som inte ens anger adressen till denna blogg. Notera förresten att denna kritik mot bristande utåtblick mot andra än meningsfränderna är författad av en politisk journalist som ständigt slentrianfördömer liberalismen, men alltså har vågat ta en liten hastig titt på min blogg först nu, efter att den har funnits i två år.
Svenning avslutar sin artikel med att lite skämtsamt visa hur det skulle se ut om han själv bloggade. Så här kan man sammanfatta hans politiska tyckande:
Måndag: Högern är dålig.
Tisdag: Högern är dålig.
Onsdag: Högern är dålig.
En traditionellt antiintellektuell hållning.
Thursday, 12/5/2005:
20:23 - AKTUELLT INLEDER KAMPANJ MOT FOLKPARTIET:
"Folkpartiledaren till attack mot förtidspensionärerna" - Aktuellt låter ungefär som ett pressmeddelande från någon gammal s-socialminister, som Lars Engqvist t ex. Läs mer hos HAX.
15:02 - DAGENS E-POST:
"En annan intressant sak som sällan nämns är att Sovjet underhöll den tyska krigsindustrin med nödvändiga råvaror (bl.a. gummi och vissa metaller) i utbyte mot maskindelar. Dessa leveranser pågick fram till och med operation Barbarossa (jag tror sista leveransen var den 19 juni 1941 - två dagar innan anfallet inleddes). Stalin uttalade också sitt stöd för samtliga Nazi-Tysklands anfall fram till Jugoslavien och Grekland, när förhållandet mellan de båda kamraterna började bli mera frostigt..." - Anders
13:17 - WHY THERE ARE NO WORKING POOR: "Most jobs start with wages higher than the minimum wage, which is currently $5.15. A man and his wife, even earning the minimum wage, would earn $21,000 annually. According to the Bureau of Census, in 2003, the poverty threshold for one person was $9,393, for a two-person household it was $12,015, and for a family of four it was $18,810. Taking a minimum-wage job is no great shakes, but it produces an income higher than the Bureau of Census´ poverty threshold. Plus, having a job in the first place increases one´s prospects for a better job." - Walter Williams via Kristian Karlsson, smedjan.com.
11:45 - FREEDOM INCLUDES THE FREEDOM NOT TO CHOOSE:
A point driven home by Levi´s brilliant new anti-metrosexual craze commercial. (via Sullivan)
11:30 - GEOGRAPHICAL JUSTICE:
I was just interviewed about the new global economy, where developing countries participate, and I came to think of this quote from Bill Gates in Thomas Friedman´s new book:
"Bill Gates explains the meaning of this transformation best. Thirty years ago, he tells Friedman, if you had to choose between being born a genius in Mumbai or Shanghai and an average person in Poughkeepsie, you would have chosen Poughkeepsie because your chances of living a prosperous and fulfilled life were much greater there. ´Now,´ Gates says, ´I would rather be a genius born in China than an average guy born in Poughkeepsie.´"
Wednesday, 11/5/2005:
13:38 - DAHLBERG KRITISERAR MIN KRITIK:
I Expressen i dag debatterar jag och Anna Dahlberg hennes Irakbevakning, med anledning av min kritik av en artikel hon skrev, och hennes kritik av min kritik (hängde ni med?). Några saker i hennes replik finns det anledning att kommentera:
”Jag vore tacksam om Johan Norberg slutade förvanska mina texter.
Jag har inte skrivit att valet såg ut som ’ett beställningsjobb från Teheran’. Den meningen är ryckt ur ett helt annat sammanhang som handlade om att USA:s krig mot Afghanistan och Irak ironiskt nog skulle kunna vara hämtade från en iransk önskelista”
När jag läser noga nu ser jag att Dahlberg har rätt, hon skrev att det var störtandet av talibanerna och av Saddam som såg ut som ett beställningsverk. Jag ber om ursäkt för det slarvet. Men på vilket vis är det ”ett helt annat sammanhang”? Hon skriver ju att det är valet som gör att shiamuslimerna kan ”ta över makten i alla Iraks centrala organ, vilket skapar ”den islaminfluerade shiastaten” Irak – just det som Iran skulle ha anledning att glädjas över?
”Det är mycket möjligt att min krönika (25/1) var alltför pessimistisk. Utvecklingen hittills efter valet tyder i bästa fall på det. Men poängen är att det fortfarande är för tidigt att säga något bestämt om Iraks framtid.”
Alldeles riktigt. Det var precis det jag och Sara Svanström skrev:
”Frågan är inte om det fanns plats för farhågor om kaos och inbördeskrig. Självklart fanns det. Det finns det fortfarande.”
Vår fråga var alltså en annan:
”Frågan är varför det inte fanns plats att tala även om förhoppningar och möjligheter, om att Irak hade fått en historisk chans.”
”Norberg tycks ha glömt bort att Irak inför valet badade i självmordsbombares blod och att det var – och är – ett stort bakslag att den sunnimuslimska minoriteten inte deltog. Jag tror faktiskt inte att det går att hitta en enda text före valet, vare sig i svensk eller internationell press, som jublade över sakernas tillstånd.”
Detta ger intrycket av att vi hade efterfrågat jubel. Men det enda alternativet till kompakt svartmålning är inte att jubla.
I sin första artikel skrev Dahlberg att jag inte borde uttala mig om arabvärlden, eftersom jag tillhör ”en höger som aldrig någonsin har brytt sig om vad världens araber tycker”. Jag replikerade att jag som liberal alltid har krävt att araber ska få samma frihet och demokrati som andra folk. Nu svarar hon:
”Slutligen, Norbergs argument är inte mer originella än att man förstår vilken ideologisk högerposition han skriver in sig i. Men om han vill distansera sig från denna enögda höger och engagera sig för arabers frihet också från ockupation (israelisk) är jag den första att välkomna det.”
Aha, det handlade alltså om Israel. För min del handlar arabers frihet om mer än frihet från israelisk ockupation. Det handlar om frihet från auktoritära regimer, t ex om rätten att rösta och tala fritt – friheter som araber har haft Israel, men inte i grannländerna. Men jodå, frihet innebär också frihet från israelisk ockupation. Hur kommer det sig att Dahlberg tror att jag tycker något annat?
Fördelen med guilt by association-argument är att man inte behöver ta reda på vad motståndaren tycker. Det räcker med att angripa andras argument (t ex en enögd högers argument), och låtsas att motståndaren delar dem. Nackdelen är att man då inte längre debatterar med motståndaren.
01:30 - QUOTE OF THE DAY:
"But planning the [Victory celebration] event the Russian president must have picked the wrong year. The whole happening looked more like a celebration in the year of 1945 than 2005. The red square was filled with statutes of Stalin and happy Russians were dancing under huge banners of the disreputable hammer and sickle. The celebration of the defeat of a cruel tyrant with the symbols of another horrible ruler. That is what you can call abuse of history. So why did they all [Bush, Schröder, Chirac etc] go to this awkward party in Moscow? Why did they all happily turn up and accept to march under red flags? Everything without even mentioning the millions of victims caused by communist horror or the problems of democracy and human rights in today´s Russia. The Economist has a good wording for this behaviour; eagerness not to offend. This was exactly the same kind of conduct that allowed Hitler to strengthen his power." - Europea
01:13 - MUNKHAMMAR TO WALLSTRÖM´S DEFENCE:
My colleague and friend Johnny Munkhammar writes that it is not true that EU Commissioner Margot Wallström has said that Euroscepticism risk leading to a new Holocaust, and claims that "Margot Wallströms speech merely states the uncontroversial fact that one ambition with the EU and its predecessors was to secure peace in Europe".
Really? If you take a look at Wallström´s speech (pdf) - the one Munkhammar links to as proof of his interpretation - she says:
"Yet there are those today who want to scrap the supranational idea. They want the European Union to go back to the old purely inter-governmental way of doing things. I say those people should come to Terezin and see where that old road leads."
It is obvious what she meant. Terezin was a Nazi concentration camp, and she held the speech at a commemoration ceremony of the liberation of camp. According to Wallström, that is what an "inter-governmental way of doing things" leads to. So here is the new Wallström-Putin interpretation of the second world war: Inter-governmental cooperation started the war, and Stalin ended it. Yeah right.
Tuesday, 10/5/2005:
20:15 - ALICIO VISAR HUR VINDEN BLÅSER:
I ett inlägg kallat Linderborg & Wijk dit vinden blåser påminner Alicio om att det bara finns en konstant i deras åsikter - USA har fel vad som än händer:
Åsa Linderborg och Erik Wijk strax före valet i Irak:
..."Däremot riskerar det av USA orkestrerade valet - med dess orättvisa och orealistiska förutsättningar - att bidra till söndringen..." (Aftonbladet 27/1)
Men efter att ha sett hur irakierna i massor trotsade hoten från Linderborg & Wijks hyllade "motståndsrörelse" är det nu annat ljud i skällan:
"Det var irakierna som pressade fram valet mot USA:s vilja, vilket Norberg och Svanström förtiger". (Dagens Nyheter 10/5)
(Förresten, om jag hade velat förtiga att valet tidigareleades efter påtryckningar från shiitiska grupper, varför nämnde jag det då i mitt briefing paper, där jag hade mer utrymme?)
17:06 - ETT EXEMPEL TILL OM VI SKRIVER EN NY ARTIKEL II:
I Dagens Nyheter har Åsa Linderborg och Erik Wijk besvarat min och Sara Svanströms DN Debattartikel om Irakrapporteringen.
Läs den, det är sällan man får en sån klockren bekräftelse på sina resonemang. Jag och Sara skrev att nästan alla underskattade irakiernas vilja till demokrati, och att vänstern var mer upptagna av antiamerikanska slagord än av att se det irakiska folkets frihetskamp mot terrorister som hotade mörda varenda väljare.
Mycket riktigt. Linderborg och Wijk vill tala om USA och om kriget, inte om irakierna och valet. Men när de berör det dömer de ut det som odemokratiskt och menar att det var rätt av terrorgrupperna att bekämpa det - annars är det ju fritt fram för USA att "plundra andra länder och och mörda deras befolkning". Men framför allt vill de inskärpa att det inte finns en åtskillnad mellan "onda och goda ockupanter", oavsett om ockupationen är till för att införa demokrati och avbryta massmord eller om den är till för att införa nazism och utföra massmord (de skriver faktiskt så). Därmed dömde de just ut de allierades ockupation av nazi-Tyskland.
Men artikeln är ändå inte helt tom på slagkraft - de kallar mig "bombhöger"...
01:11 - I WONDER WHAT THEY READ:
In September last year, I participated in a study about Swedish public libraries in Sweden, which showed that the average socialist book is four times more common than the average liberal book. On his new, interesting blog, Roland Poirier Martinsson presents a possible reason:
When Swedes who studied to become librarians were asked about their political opinions, 64,5 percent supported the left-wing government bloc, and only 19 percent mentioned one of the opposition parties. If librarians ruled Sweden, the post-communist party would be more than three times bigger than the moderates, centern and the christian democrats combined...
01:02 - WHY THE DRAFT CONSTITUTION WILL FALL:
The EU commissioner Margot Wallström has warned that Eurosceptics and opponents of the proposed constitution risk a return to National Socialism and the Holocaust.
Hasn´t she heard of Godwin´s Law?
Monday, 9/5/2005:
16:24 - BLOGGERS WITHOUT BORDERS:
This is something worth voting for: Reporters without borders ask us to vote for award-winners from among 60 blogs defending freedom of expression - blogs in English, French, Spanish, German, Russian, Arabic and Farsi. (Thanks Roland)
10:51 - FIGHTING FESTUNG SWEDEN:
Every time I despair about the antiliberal and arbitrary Swedish policy towards refugees, I think with about the Citizen´s Refugee Ombudsman Merit Wager with warmth and admiration. With almost no resources but with unlimited energy she criticises and attacks the lack of rule of law and humanity in the process.
Now she has started a blog.
09:01 - LIBERTY´S POET: "This soil we have created for ourselves, By the hard labor of our hands; we´ve changed The giant forest, that was erst the haunt Of savage bears, into a home for man; Extirpated the dragon´s brood, that wont To rise, distent with venom, from the swamps; Rent the thick misty canopy that hung Its blighting vapors on the dreary waste; Blasted the solid rock; o´er the abyss Thrown the firm bridge for the wayfaring man By the possession of a thousand years The soil is ours. And shall an alien lord, Himself a vassal, dare to venture here, On our own hearths insult us,—and attempt To forge the chains of bondage for our hands, And do us shame on our own proper soil? Is there no help against such wrong as this? [Great sensation among the people.] Yes! there´s a limit to the despot´s power! When the oppressed looks round in vain for justice, When his sore burden may no more be borne, With fearless heart he makes appeal to Heaven, And thence brings down his everlasting rights, Which there abide, inalienably his, And indestructible as are the stars. Nature´s primeval state returns again, Where man stands hostile to his fellow-man; And if all other means shall fail his need, One last resource remains—his own good sword. Our dearest treasures call to us for aid Against the oppressor´s violence; we stand For country, home, for wives, for children here!" - Friedrich von Schiller, who died on this day 200 years ago, in one of his great plays about liberty, Wilhelm Tell.
Sunday, 8/5/2005:
22:31 - ETT EXEMPEL TILL OM VI SKRIVER EN NY ARTIKEL:
På sin blogg har Ali Esbati besvarat min och Sara Svanströms DN Debattartikel om Irakrapporteringen. Läs den, det är sällan man får en sån klockren bekräftelse på sina resonemang. Jag och Sara skrev att nästan alla underskattade irakiernas vilja till demokrati, och att vänstern var mer upptagna av antiamerikanska slagord än av att se det irakiska folkets frihetskamp mot terrorister som hotade mörda varenda väljare.
Esbati har fortfarande inte sett denna kamp, han har bara sett "den av kolonialmakten organiserade fars som av PR-skäl kallades val". (Tack David)
18:38 - 60 YEARS SINCE THE WAR ENDED - 66 YEARS SINCE STALIN AND HITLER STARTED IT:
The mass murderer Stalin is popular in Russia, reports say. In the last few days, Putin has again and again given Stalin the credit for Germany´s loss in the second world war. He forgot to mention that it was Stalin who gave Hitler the go-ahead, by creating the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact in August 1939, which divided Europe in two totalitarian spheres. And he forgot that Stalin´s purge of imaginative enemies among his own officers almost destroyed the country´s ability to withstand the German invasion.
14:06 - IS THE LEFT NOTHING BUT A NEGATION?:
I have long suspected this, but haven´t heard it from a leftist until now. Olivlunden, a Swedish left-wing site opposed to anti-Semitism, explains that it is a problem for the left that so many liberals and right-wingers oppose anti-Semitism and defend Israel. Here is the reason why:
"Unfortunately parts of the right do not seem to understand that large parts of the left define their own policy as a negation of the right, and the left therefore becomes more anti-Semitic if the right tries to simplify the issue about anti-Semitism into a question about liberal vs extreme left."
So many leftists just oppose anything liberals and the right propose? Have they never heard about principles, convictions and drawing conclusions from reality, rather than from columnists? It seems like a form of politics driven less by a desire to improve the world, and more by an interest in fighting and restraining groups you dislike for other reasons. They hate liberalism more than they love socialism.
And this is also a second-hander´s view of politics - the person who does not rely on his own judgment, but on the judgment of others. But the big mystery is why leftists would rely on the judgment of the right when they outline their policies. Would they oppose flowers and ice cream if the right was in favour? (via Alicio)
13:42 - AKADEMISK OFRIHET:
"Jag vill framhålla att detta inte är några teoretiska spekulationer och inte heller något akademiskt finlir. Jag har själv för några år sedan fått veta att jag skulle kunna erhålla ett mycket stort forskningsanslag bara jag tog med ett av regeringen då särskilt omhuldat perspektiv på frågan.
En yngre medarbetare till mig fick för några år sedan plötsligt sitt anslag indraget eftersom dennes forskningsresultat inte föll höga vederbörande på läppen. När jag och mina två kolleger som sakkunniga på en professur vid Arbetslivsinstitutet föreslog en annan person än den som Inger Ohlsson ville ha, drog man helt sonika in tjänsten."
- Bo Rothstein i ytterligare en viktig artikel på DN Debatt om politiseringen - socialdemokratiseringen - av universiteten.
Saturday, 7/5/2005:
23:16 - LESS LONELINESS IN MODERN SOCIETY:
I heard about this study earlier this week, but I didn´t read about it until now. 20 percent of Swedish men - about 800 000 men - don´t have a close friend. People I spoke to interpreted it as a sign of growing loneliness in modern society. But the study actually showed the opposite. In 1980, 33 percent of all men said they didn´t have a close friend.
Friday, 6/5/2005:
17:51 - ...OR THE THIRD VICTORY IN A ROW:
Do you remember this cover?
07:04 - THE SEVENTH VICTORY IN A ROW:
It is a reduced majority, but nonetheless Tony Blair has given Labour an historic third term. You could also say, as Simon Jenkins does in The Times (via PJ), that this is the seventh victory in a row for Margaret Thatcher. Thatcher´s fingerprints are all over Blair´s New Labour: A flexible, liberal economy, more choice in public services, standing up to tyrants abroad. And with some of his reforms, such as market incentives in health care and university fees (which Tories still oppose) Blair has gone further than Thatcher did. Unfortunately, he also follows in her footsteps in his lack of interest in civil liberties and the lack of ability to cut public spending on the big middle class programs.
Thursday, 5/5/2005:
21:13 - ARABS ARE WELL-OFF - OUTSIDE ARAB COUNTRIES :
I have argued that stagnation and poverty in Arab countries are not a result of Arab or Muslim culture, but of political and economic oppression. An argument for this explanation is that Arabs in liberal countries do very well. In Financial Times, Moises Naim writes:
"People of Arab descent living in the US are better educated and wealthier than the average American of non-Arab descent. That is one surprising conclusion drawn from data collected by the US Census Bureau in 2000. The census also found that Arab Americans are better educated and wealthier than Americans in general.
Whereas 24 per cent of all Americans hold college degrees, 41 per cent of Arab-Americans are college graduates. The median annual income of an Arab-American family living in the US is $52,300 - 4.6 per cent higher than the figure for all other American families. More than half of such families own their home. Forty-two per cent of people of Arab descent in the US work as managers or professionals, while the overall average is 34 per cent."
18:41 - MATEMATIKKUNSKAPER KLART UNDERREPRESENTERADE HOS AKTUELLT:
"Speaker-rösten (Ingeleif Öhman) säger i inslaget [i Aktuellt 4 maj]:
´Den senaste vågen av attentat i Irak kommer efter att en ny regering valdes i torsdags. Och att attentaten främst riktas mot shiamuslimska eller kurdiska mål, förvånar inte. I den nya regeringen ingår 17 shiamuslimer, 8 kurder, 6 sunnimuslimer och en kristen. Sunnimuslimerna är alltså klart underrepresenterade i förhållande till den sunnimuslimska andelen av befolkningen´.
Iraks nya regering har alltså 32 medlemmar, varav 6 är sunnimuslimer. 6 av totalt 32 = 18,75%. De sunnimuslimska araberna utgör 20% av Iraks befolkning. Är de sunnimuslimska araberna då klart underrepresenterade i den nya regeringen? Faktum är att hade man haft en till medlem så hade de sunnimuslimska araberna utgjort 22% av den nya regeringen (alltså en kraftig överrepresentation med Aktuellt-journalistens terminologi)...
De irakiska sunnimuslimerna valde i stort att bojkotta det val som hölls i januari. Trots det så har de sunnimuslimska araberna fått en rättvis representation i den nya regeringen."
- Bloggen Sømnløsa nætter
11:20 - SOMETHING STRANGE HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY: "Kenya’s President Mwai Kibaki´s wife stormed into the offices of a Kenyan newspaper on Monday night, slapped a cameraman and demanded to see the journalist who had written a story that criticized her recent behavior. In a development that coincided with the World Press Freedom day, the First Lady, Mrs Luck Kibaki, threw caution to the wind and braved the 11pm chill to storm the Nation Centre, which houses the Nation Newspapers Group, where she gave a five-hour dressing down of journalists. ´I´m here to protest and I´m not leaving until I find the reporter who has been writing all these lies,´ Lucy Kibaki said on a televised recording of her screed. But, in her rage, she seemed to have picked the wrong newspaper to complain to, as it was the Nation’s rival, the Standard daily, which published the article angering her." - The African Executive
Wednesday, 4/5/2005:
11:24 - VOGEL MISTAKE 2.0:
In smedjan.com today, Joachim Vogel at SCB responds to the criticism I wrote about here. Now he says that he just happened to show the wrong graph - which is fascinating, not just because he was so certain when he dismissed the critic at the event, and didn´t see the enormous difference between them, but also because he misunderstood the graph he thought he was referring to as well! Read the responses from Rankka and Munkhammar.
And remember that Vogel is supposed to be the leading Swedish statistician about social indicators and the welfare state.
11:02 - BLOGGFORUM 2.0:
I wrote about the first Swedish Bloggforum here - a great event. On 28 May Bloggforum 2.0 will be arranged, bigger and better. I won´t be on the panel this time, but I´ll really try to be there. The only problem is that it collides a bit with preparations for the Kent concert in Stockholm.
By the way, here are the five best songs from Kent´s latest album, Du & jag döden:
1. Klåparen
2. Mannen i den vita hatten (16 år senare)
3. Du är ånga
4. Romeo återvänder ensam
5. Den döda vinkeln
10:50 - THE RISE OF ASIA: "It was almost embarrassing. At the BDI conference on blogging that´s going on a couple blocks from here, someone asked if blogs were a big deal outside the U.S. The panelists barely seemed to know. PubSub founder Bob Wyman had to grab the mike and set the record straight. He said that there were more bloggers in Korea, China and Japan combined than in the rest of the world." - Stephen Baker, Business Week´s Blogspotting.
Tuesday, 3/5/2005:
23:01 - THE WAR ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY: "President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years... The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent." - From the new Cato report The Grand Old Spending Party: How Republicans Became Big Spenders
22:56 - KUWAITI CONTRADICTIONS:
No, Kuwait´s parliament failed to follow the example of Oman, Bahrein and Qatar and blocked suffrage for women today, despite protests from women´s rights groups. This means that Kuwaiti women will not be able to vote or run in elections for at least four years. So now there is a real chance that women will get the right to vote in arch-reactionary Saudi Arabia before they get it in Kuwait - where women already have the freedom of dress and movement and the right to work in any field.
15:09 - VARFÖR LÄR SIG INTE (M) RÄTT SAKER AV LO?:
"LO har rätt i sin kritik mot oss moderater. Vi har varit dåliga på att hjälpa invandrare att komma in på arbetsmarknaden."
- Fredrik Reinfeldt, som inte tycker att Las är ett problem, på DN Debatt, 30 april.
"Las slår hårt mot invandrare"
- Anneli Palm på LO:s enhet för arbetstagares rättigheter i LO-tidningen, 10 januari 2003.
14:05 - TABLOIG:
Suddenly Expressen started blogging. The blogs of PM Nilsson and Per Svensson, two of Sweden´s best journalists, will be especially worth following.
11:45 - WATCHING THE WATCHERS OF THE IRAQ ELECTION:
Imagine that journalists had written that South Africa after apartheid and after the 1994 election would turn into a "nightmare", because the blacks would naturally use their majority to oppress all the others, and the country would slip into chaos. Many would say that this was based on racist prejudices that blacks can´t solve conflicts peacefully, and can´t handle democracy.
That´s how media portrayed Iraqis ahead of the January election. I write about this together with Sara Svanström in an article in Dagens Nyheter today.
Monday, 2/5/2005:
10:58 - FRI TELEVISION (FEATURING LARS ENGQVIST):
"Veckan dominerades för mig av SVT-ledningens tvådagarsmöte där vi bland annat mötte Lars Engqvist under ett par timmar samt skaffade oss ytterligare kunskaper om de nya publiceringsformerna som det blir allt angelägnare för SVT att finnas i... SVT-ledningen ägnade alltså också en väsentlig del av mötet år att lära mer om de nya publiceringsformerna och vilka avvägningar som måste göras resursmässigt dem emellan.
I morgon,måndag, är det dags för nästa etapp i SVT. Fri Television. Då annonserar SVT i många av landets morgontidningar och kommer därmed att nå cirka 5 miljoner människor. Annonsen handlar bland annat om att SVT numera är utmanaren bland tv-bolagen, alternativet i ett alltmer kommersialiserat och likriktat medielandskap. Vi gör tv för tittarna, inte för annonsörerna. Vi berättar vidare om vårt oberoende och om bredden i programmen."
- SVT:s Christina Jutterström presenterar i ett meddelande till medarbetarna den nya kampanjen om att SVT är oberoende av stat och företag, ett par stycken efter att ha beskrivit de senaste direktiven från nye chefen och tidigare vice statsministern Lars Engqvist (s).
09:58 - THE DISCUSSION OF STRUCTURAL CHANGE HAS INCREASED, THOUGH:
Today the OECD Forum 2005 starts in Paris, chaired by Swedish prime minister Göran Persson, where they will discuss government measures that are needed to deal with the increasing pace of structural change in the OECD countries. Therefore, it is worth reminding all the participants and reporters of the relevant data, from a recent OECD report:
Box 2. The rate of structural change has not increasedThe rate of structural change cannot be easily measured, as it involves changes within as well as between firms, industries and regions. Available indicators suggest, however, that the rate of change has not increased in the OECD area. Developments in sectoral employment shares suggest, for instance, that the rate of change has been fairly stable over the past two decades... At the same time, labour adjustments between agriculture (and other primary industries), manufacturing and services have declined. This indicates that structural changes in employment patterns take place to an increasing extent between broad industries within the service sector, as shifts of employment from goods-producing sectors to services have tapered off. As new service industries and categories of employees become exposed to international competition, this pattern is likely to persist. - Trade and Structural Adjustment (pdf), OECD 2005, page 6.
08:54 - EXTREME PARTY MAKEOVER:
I´ve said before that I am tempted to vote for the center party in next year´s Swedish election. After having read an interview with the chairman Maud Olofsson in Captus that temptation grows. She is asked to mention her three political priorities. Ten years ago her predecessor would probably have said something like this:
1) Abolish nuclear energy
2) More subsidies to regions and agriculture
3) Stop building a bridge to Denmark
But Maud Olofsson says:
1) Improve the business climate
2) Reduce taxes
3) Open up Sweden more for people, trade and services from the rest of the world
00:04 - A NEW PRESIDENT FOR A NEW EUROPE:
Brussels suffers from a conspiracy of politeness. To be accepted in the EU system, you should be kind, polite and never challenge the policies too much. I remember when I gave a speech in Brussels about why the Common Agricultural Policy should be abolished, and those who opposed me didn´t say that I was wrong, they said that I was rude and impolite to the EU.
Well, there is one think-tank in Brussels that challenges that dangerous attitude - the free-marketers in Center for the New Europe, who are doing a great job attacking protectionism and regulations. We can expect more from them in the future since they´ve got a new president, my friend and old boss Mattias Bengtsson. He did a great job liberalising attitudes in Sweden as head of Timbro. Now the rest of Europe will undergo the same treatment. Congratulations to CNE and to Mattias!
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