defense Archives • SwedeInternational

13 Jan. – security in Sälen

security concerns taken up in Sälen
pic: navyskipper.blogspot.com

Way up north in the town of Sälen, northwest of Mora och near the border with Norway, the who’s who of Swedish military and defense, various ministers, party representatives, experts and a sprinkling of ambassadors are gathered at the yearly conference called Folk och Försvar, Society and Defense, to discuss issues pertinent to Sweden’s military security and defense matters. The military’s commander in chief Micael Bydén (ÖB in Swedish, överbefälhavare) spoke today, SvD reports.

“We live in a time in which global development demands both immediate alertness and long-term endurance” Bydén said in his speech. The Middle East, an aggressive Russia, China’s increasing influence, the USA’s shifting priorities, brexit, and the climate effects on conflict are some of the issues that Sweden faces. “A rule-based world order is under duress, and several traditional patterns of cooperation have been weakened or are being challenged.”

The cost of Sweden’s military forces is under continual pressure. “Sweden is in a geographically sensitive area, and with the background of a worsened security situation, Sweden’s defense must be further developed” stated Bydén – and political parties agree with him. Just how much should be spent is the crux of the matter.

At the conference yesterday, Moderate party leader Ulf Kristersson announced that for the Moderate party to sign off on the agreement between the Social Democrats, Center, Liberal and Green party last August, another 9 billion kronor is needed for the measures that were agreed upon. This would raise the military appropriation to 93 billion kronor in 2025, about 1.5% of Sweden’s gross domestic product, according to DN.

Peter Hultqvist, minister for defense, said he wasn’t completely opposed to the Moderate bid. More negotiations will take place later this year.

A new poll from DN/Ipsos shows that people’s trust in Sweden’s defenses remains low at 51%. Only 18% of respondents say that they have a lot of trust in the military’s capability to defend Sweden in case of an attack. In a related question, people were also asked whether or not Sweden should join Nato. The results shows small changes since the question was asked in 2014: The number of people saying no to Nato membership sank from 47% to 38%. However the number of people saying yes to Nato also decreased, from 35% to 30%. You guessed it, the number of people who don’t know, or are uncertain, increased from 20% to 32%.

As Micael Bydén implied, it’s an uncertain world.

20 sep. – another collaborative effort

Sweden joined another defense initiative today. If you’re starting to wonder if you only dreamed that Sweden had a policy of not allying itself militarily with anyone, it’s understandable. After all, that is the rhetoric. But the reality has always been a little more hidden. Well, subtle. Maybe just more complicated.

Today’s announcement was that Sweden is signing on to the French initiative called EI2, European Intervention Initiative. EII was the first go around, EI2 is the second incarnation. Svenska Dagbladet boned it out for its readers ():

This was all originally Macron’s idea. His proposal was a common strategic culture, working towards a common defense budget, a common rapid response task force and a common action policy, including a humanitarian one. “To face new threats, Europe needs a strong defense,” the French Defense Ministry tweeted. “With the European Intervention Initiative, 10 European countries are committed to its protection” (). Sweden and Norway make 12.

As Norway’s inclusion hints at, the initiative lies outside of EU, and it is not meant to affect NATO in any way. Minister for Defense Peter Hultqvist adds that EI2 is a collaboration on risk assessment and threat analysis, experiences, and analysis of possible scenarios. “We want to use this as a platform with which to avoid crises in Europe and in the countries who participate” (http://bit.ly/SvDEI2). In other words, no Swedish forces are committed anywhere with EI2. We’re only just talking.

As SvD notes, the list of countries with whom Sweden cooperates tangent with the military isn’t that short. Finland and Great Britain were both recent defense cooperation signatories, and Sweden is signed up to materially support the UN and the EU. Sweden cooperates with NATO and is a member of Nordefco, a defense collaboration between us and Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway.

Yes, Sweden is officially militarily alliance-free. But we talk to people. We collaborate and we cooperate. We act in solidarity with people, and have promised to help people around us. And if the rubber hits the road here in Sweden, we hope that other countries will cooperate, collaborate, act in solidarity, and help us out too.

31 aug. – bankrolling the army

Ever wonder where your taxes go? Sweden’s expenses run to about 990 billion kronor a year (this, and following numbers, are courtesy of the Finance Department at regeringen.se). The largest expense, 111 billion, goes out to the municipalities who use it for their expenses. Economic help for families and children, people who are sick and people with disabilities together comes to about 194 billion kronor. As far as expense posts go, defense comes in 8th at about 54 billion kronor, just after (and less than) Communications and telecommunications. It’s sobering at this moment to consider the state of Sweden’s train infrastructure, or the security of our digital networks, the main components of Communications, and then think that Sweden’s armed forces receive less.

The additional 20 billion kronor going to the Department for Defence, that the government and its support parties have agreed upon, is a welcome shot in the arm. But it is not exactly clear where the money is going to come from. The hot rumour is a new bank tax, something the Left Party has been pushing for quite a while – they wanted the revenue to go to health care not the military, but apparently “whatever”. Left Party economic spokesperson Ulla Andersson was openly amused that “their” tax was now going to become reality thanks to the traditionally tax-unfriendly Center and Liberal parties.

The Moderate party spokesperson, Elisabeth Svantesson, was more critical, meaning that higher taxes, on banks or otherwise, shouldn’t be the very first measure taken when expenses rise. Instead, she says, the Green Party’s “free year” and/or the Social Democrat’s “family week” could be cut instead. The Christian Democrats, on the other hand, are reserving judgement. They have previously even suggested a bank tax, but one that is based on taxing banks’ risk-taking products and ventures and not just taxing the entire business ().

What they mean by that and how that would actually work is anyone’s guess. What is certain, although no one in the government is saying it, is that however the tax is formed, banks will pass on the expense to their customers (. Banks made approximately 100 billion kronor last year (compare to budget numbers in first paragraph) which makes them an easy target for ire and jealousy. Although one could hope for a more cool-headed approach from our elected representatives, a bank tax sells well to many people. The check, though, will likely eventually land in fewer bank hires, reduced hours, and fewer free bank services, trends that are already in the making.

Taxes are all about paying, whether or not the bank does it first or whether we all do it in a lump sum every May. If it’s going to contribute to making Sweden’s defense more reliable than say, the trains running on time, it could be worth it.

Tues. 6/8 – say cheese

A man from Göteborg was on trial today for having taken photos of various access-restricted and prohibited objects and areas throughout Sweden, and for collecting information on military-related complexes and facilities. Why? Curiosity and interest, he says. Not a chance, says the prosecutor.

The man is being charged with trespassing – not the mild variety, like if you accidentally wandered over onto military grounds while picking blueberries-kind of trespassing, but the serious kind – like sneaking under fences and taking pictures of military sites on behalf of foreign states-kind of trespassing.

There is no evidence that he actually passed on any photos or information to foreign states, but it appears that the prosecution is taking no chances.

In many instances, politicians are charged with what is called signalpolitik, or, sending a political signal – usually a new regulation or law that means to impart a message. One example might be plane tax (flygskatt) or subsidising the purchase of an electric bicycle: “We take the environment seriously” is the message, even if the method is of questionable validity. In this case, the message might be “Hey. We might not have a huge defensive capability, but what we do have, we want people to know that we take it seriously.”

No word yet on the outcome of the trial.