Free Republic

Almost 100 years after the great Swedish migration to North America, dialect researchers from Gothenburg are heading across the Atlantic in hopes of learning more about the evolution of the Swedish language, The Local’s Karen Holst explains. Wild myths that solve the mysterious birth of language and its dispersal often include floods, catastrophes or punishment by the gods. In Hindu stories it was a tree being humbled, in North American Indian folklore it was a great flood, in east Africa it was starvation-induced madness, in the Amazon it was stolen hummingbird eggs and in aboriginal Australia it was a goddess’...

The Yale Glee Club chose Sweden to kick off a reprise the US singing group's 1928 international tour undertaken to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Contributor Lina Sennevall finds out why. The stately harmonies of the Yale Glee Club filled the halls of the Adolf Fredrik Church in Stockholm on a recent evening. The performance is one of four Swedish concerts the prestigious singing group gave as part of a European tour retracing the steps of the choir’s landmark 1928 tour which helped the group gain recognition as one of the first American singing groups to tour the Scandinavian countries and...

- Perhaps, but Northern Europe didn't get rich by adopting policies resembling what Obama today is doing to the US.

My ancestors have lived close to Russia since the dawn of Mankind. We have lost territory to them, counqured it back and so forth. In 1809, Sweden had to give up Finland to Russia during the Napoleonic Wars. Later on, Finland became sovereign and stood up very well to the test when challenged by Stalin in the wake of WWII. Tiny Finland in fact even ridiculed Stalin and his Soviet warriors in the legendary Winter War. Most often, Stalin is seen as a brutal yet efficient ruler, but Finland, aided by Sweden, really demonstrated to the World how weak and...

I was born in Sweden 41 years ago and since 1988 I work there. Compared to when I begun my career, wages are much higher, prices have not gone up much and taxes are way lower. Recently, our economy has displayed GDP growth figures of 7.3%. Do we Scandinavians set an example for other nations? I think we do. Germany has recently begun listening to what Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden have to say in the area of economic policy and national budget discipline. One fine day, France, Italy, Britain, Japan and the US perhaps will too.. The article: "The...

The Church of Sweden has advised pastors to avoid christening asylum seekers that have converted to Christianity due to the risk of reprisals in the case of repatriation, reported news agency TT. One of the reasons for the recommendation is because it can cause danger and increase risks if a person who has converted to Christianity is later sent back to their home country. Another reason is that the motive for the christening can be questioned by some who suggest that asylum seekers convert to Christianity to increase their chances of staying in Sweden. The issue is being addressed in...

1. I'm convinced several forum members who are impressed by Sweden's Liberal policies on immigration wish to contribute in a constructive manner to this thread:) 2. Which is the biggest shopping mall on Earth? According to Forbes, no mall in the entire US enters the top ten list! (See link below) However, there are many ways to count. If you'd measure them by the number of shops, Emporia would beat number 10 on that list by around 100% even though it will have only half the size. Furthermore, the yearly combined sales of a mall like Emporia, located in an...

No one really knows how to measure such wealth as billionaires as the likes of Kamprad and Gates dispose of. Kamprad's ranked as number 11 by Forbes on their 2011 listing of the World's wealthiest persons, but after recent news of his hidden possessions in the tax haven of Lichtenstein, some experts rank Ingvar Kamprad as number one. In any case, I, being Swedish myself find it interesting that two of the 15 richest men on Earth are Swedish (although I'm not one of them myself) and that small Scandinavia has more of companies listed on the Forbes Global 2000...

There is actually nothing to be afraid of here in life. But most people act like disorganized creatures running around recently having their necks cut off. Prior to Gustavus Adolphus, monarch of tiny Sweden, decided to break the backbone of Catholicism in the 17th century, he told his troops; "Fear not, O little flock, the foe Who madly seeks your overthrow; Dread not his rage and power; What though your courage sometimes faints, His seeming triumph o’er God’s saints Lasts but a little hour. Be of good cheer; your cause belongs To Him who can avenge your wrongs; Leave it...

Around a.d. 1000, Scandinavia was Christianized. This clip could be said to feature how the Christian nation of Sweden was secured. Most historians would say Denmark is an even older Christian nation. The flag of Denmark is commonly considered to be the oldest existing flag on Earth.

Being a four year old toddler, my grandpa robbed me from my mother's knee and taught me the realities of life; "We men work and when work is finished, we'll enjoy grandma's great cooking". My grandma knew how to cook. I'm fortunate. I've enjoyed the greatest childhood any person could dream of. Despite the torture of Swedish Liberal schools. My maternal grandfather owned three summer houses by the age of 30 and managed them all by himself (with a little aid from his family though). His father worked at a factory. My paternal grandfather was just like him. He had...

STOCKHOLM—Sweden's gross domestic product surged in the fourth quarter of 2010, rising the most since records began, easily beating forecasts and offering further support to the Riksbank's plans to raise interest rates during 2011. Economic output in Sweden grew 7.3% in the three months to Dec. 31 compared with the same period in 2009, beating economists' estimates of 6.9%, and expanded 1.2% compared with the third quarter against forecasts of 0.9%, Statistics Sweden said. GDP growth of 7.3% was the biggest quarterly rise year-on-year since Statistics Sweden started measuring such figures in 1970, said Per Ericson, an analyst at the...

Many Americans of today enjoy a high standard of living, but unemployment is on the rise and no signs of economic recovery is in sight (please correct me if you think I'm wrong). In order to make things worse, USA has also elected a certain Liberal named Obama for president. By and by, America, a nation which still is admired by many over here in Europe (I'm Swedish by the way), a nation which once ruled the World, is becoming more and more like a backyard of today's international business scene. Yes, it IS that bad. I live in Gothenburg,...

A year after claims about an exodus of Jews from Malmö made global headlines, many Jewish residents still don't feel safe in southern Sweden, The Local's Karen Holst discovers. The past couple of years have been turbulent for Malmö's Jewish community. A spike in anti-Semitic attacks in 2009 prompted a number of Jews to leave the city altogether, concluding they would never feel accepted there. Controversial comments by the town's long-serving Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu also put Malmö in the spotlight, drawing criticism from within his own party, as well as from influential Jewish organisations aboard. And in December...

A year after claims about an exodus of Jews from Malmö made global headlines, many Jewish residents still don't feel safe in southern Sweden, The Local's Karen Holst discovers. The past couple of years have been turbulent for Malmö's Jewish community. A spike in anti-Semitic attacks in 2009 prompted a number of Jews to leave the city altogether, concluding they would never feel accepted there. Controversial comments by the town's long-serving Social Democratic mayor Ilmar Reepalu also put Malmö in the spotlight, drawing criticism from within his own party, as well as from influential Jewish organisations aboard. And in December...

In case you consider yourself an expert of the economy of Sweden and issues of Economics in general, please skip the following introduction to the article. Otherwise; While goody, self-opinioned, PC Swedish officials are doing no one a favour trying to brand the "New" Swedish Model as a pre-packed, instant solution to each and every challenge any corner of the World might encounter, Liberals like Obama also need to listen more carefully to what Scandinavians actually are wishing to say. American Liberals, Continental Europeans, the British and many others often appraise the Swedish societal concept without actually having much knowledge...

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt has indicated that his government is ready to push ahead with further tax cuts assuming public finances continue to improve. Reinfeldt told Sveriges Television (SVT) on Sunday that he’s open to moving ahead with the fifth stage in the centre-right government’s in-work tax credit programme (jobbskatteavdraget). According to Reinfeldt, the tax reductions could come as soon as January 1st, 2012 as long as the four parties of the centre-right Alliance government can come to an agreement on the issue. “But we believe on the best way to stimulated part time workers and low-wage earners to...

The Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) has turned to antique rolling stock to boost resources battling the snow and to clear a stretch of track in southern Sweden, according to a report by Sveriges Television (SVT). The trains, old DA locomotives normally resident in the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle in northern Sweden, have been dusted off and put back into service to clear the tracks of snow between Mjölby and Alvesta in southern Sweden. Furthermore a 100-year-old snowplough is in place alongside the tracks in nearby Nässjö, ready to be called into action if needed. "These are made of stern...

Norwegian media is painting a gloomy picture of the planned procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. This picture is based on unverified information coming from a meeting at the Pentagon last week and the draft of a report that describes the various opportunities for spending cuts throughout the U.S. economy. Now is the time to look at the facts. During spring and summer of 2010, changes were decided in the US-led multinational F-35 program. These changes place a stronger emphasis on testing before full-scale production begins, and this implies that the development phase be extended by 19 months. Costs...

If we are to believe the wisdom received by early medieval (southern) European scholars, the northernmost parts of the continent prior and after the fall of the Roman Empire was not only cold, barbaric and uninviting. It also was inferior. Pretty much like people of today not having visited Scandinavia and Finland would describe it. In fact, certain Romans and Arabs did actually pay visits to frozen, godforsaken "Thule". What did they meet with? Although they were not all that impressed with certain aspects of Nordic culture, like eating habits, they understood the Vikings had developed forging, warrior code and...