New foreign policy of Sweden; Pro-US, Pro-market, Anti-socialism

I guess some people on this site may be upset with me because of my less than enthusiastic view of the new Swedish government. So I think I will let it - in this case Mr Bildt - speak with his own words:

From Dagens Nyheter:

Carl Bildt har varit kritisk mot bojkotten av den palestinska Hamasledda regeringen, och förra veckan var han en av undertecknarna av ett internationellt upprop i denna fråga.

- Läget har sedan dess försämrats. I går träffade jag i korthet EU:s utrikestalesman Javier Solana och diskuterade de utmaningar vi står inför och de är massiva, säger Bildt som tycker att EU bör hålla en högre profil i Mellanöstern, "och kan Sverige bidra till detta ska vi göra det".

My translation: "Carl Bildt has been critical of the boycott of the Palestinian Hamas led government, and last week he was one of the signatories of an international call for action (on this question). "

"Since then the situation has worsened. I met Javier Solana, the foreign affairs spokesman and discussed the massive challenges that confront us, says Bildt, who thinks EU should show a high profile in the Middle East, "and Sweden can help making it so".

"Carl Bildt has been critical of the boycott of the Palestinian Hamas led government, and last week he was one of the signatories of an international call for action (on this question). "

This doesn't mean Bildt is in support of terrorism, nor Hamas.

One must remember Bildt has personal experience from carrying out diplomatic missions in politcal contexts similar to the one of the Israelian/Palestine one. Firstly, I'm thinking about Kosovo.

If we compare to the situation some 8-10 years ago, Kosovo has calmed down a lot and this is, to a large extent, because of the US, the EU, the UN - and Carl Bildt in person.

Concerning Israel/Palestine, a vast majority of the Swedes believe both Jews and Arabs have a right to exist in the particular area and therefore very few Swedes believe in things like diplomatic boycots against the representatives of these ethnic groups, regardless of what atrocities they are guilty of.
This doesn't mean Sweden supports terrorism.

Sweden talks to and negotiates with Palestine officials just like the US talks to and negotiates with regimes like Iran and North Korea. Furthermore, I'm pretty convinced Sweden has been pretty harsh against Hamas, although this has taken place behind locked doors..

Remember;

Every time when Likud has been in charge in Israel, Sweden has recogonized that particular government, despite the fact that Likud assassinated Folke Bernadotte - one of the most senseless and stupid things israelians have ever done!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folke_Bernadotte

Luckily enough, the majority of the Israelians are not like these people and the majority of the palestines are not like Hamas, just like a majority of the germans are not nazis.

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