Tag: Hultqvist

No defense budget agreement at all

military disarray continues
pic: thelocal.se

June 16th was the third, and last, date the government and opposition parties were to get it together and agree on the defense budget. Today, Minister for Defense Peter Hultqvist made an offer of no new money at all to Sweden’s national defense. The negotiations were shortly thereafter declared stone cold dead.

With no new funds, only about 40% of the need for reinforcements and additions to troops, ammo, carriers, training – the works – will be met, if that, according to SvD. This on top of the security crisis spoken of and worried about at top levels throughout Sweden and the rest of the world. We’ve just seen first hand how well Sweden’s crisis management works (Minister for the Interior, Michael Damberg is responsible for Sweden’s civil defense after all). Now the army will have its capacity cut from under them as well.

Christian Democrats, Moderates, Sweden Democrats, the Liberal party and even the Center party have all worked to increase monies to defense. The Social Democrats have only their usual associates the Green and Left parties at its side. The Left, for its part, is not opposed to a strong military, and can see a need to increase its capabilities if only to keep Sweden from being the easy target it looks like not being in NATO. Even the Green party says it wants a strong civil defense (though it otherwise writes that democracy and diplomacy are its foremost weapons). Since leading Social Democrat Björn von Sydow was the main writer of the original contract that significantly increased the military budget way back when the topic was first brought up and before Hultqvist reneged on it, even the Social Democrats could be split over backtracking on defense promises. However, most Social Democrats don’t really want to see an increased military budget, so saying “split” could be an exaggeration.

After the Swedish summer vacation, the government will have to put forth its own military budget plan. The opposition will do the same. Right now, the opposition has the numbers on its side, but the military will have to sit and twiddle its thumbs until autumn – and hope that Sweden’s security doesn’t face any challenges in the meantime. We still probably only have a week.

11 Jan. – Sweden’s leadership responds to the Iranian admission of guilt

Sweden responds to Iran’s admission
pic: se.depositphotos.com

“Horrible and terrible” was Prime Minister Stefan Löfven’s response to Iran’s admission of guilt for shooting down the Ukrainian passenger plane. “That a civilian plane has been shot down, regardless if it was a mistake or not, is an action that must be condemned, and that Iran must take full responsibility for, also in regards to the affected parties.” Löfven again also conveyed his condolences to the victims’ families. “Here in Sweden, and throughout the world, people grieve the victims of the plane crash outside Tehran the 8th of January. I feel strongly for all those who lost someone dear to them.”

“I see that they have now taken their responsibility, now that the proof was, apparently, overwhelming” noted Ann Linde, Minister for Foreign Affairs, on Twitter.

Minister for Defense, Peter Hultqvist, also commented on P1 that it would not be enough that Iran conduct a thorough and transparent investigation – the country also has a responsibility to those who have been affected. “It’s too early to say exactly what that will come to mean […] there will be a reckoning at a later stage.” Hultqvist emphasized that Iran was completely responsible for what happened.

In related news, Hultqvist remained positive to Swedish troops remaining in nearby Iraq as long as they had a mandate from the Iraqi government to do so.

20 sep. – another collaborative effort

pic: amazon.com

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.

Wed. 24/7 – Sweden in straits

scenes we don’t want to see
pic: newyorker.com

The Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk finally got in touch with the crew of its ship, Stena Impero, which was taken over by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz last week. The 23-man crew, who are of Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino origin, report that they are in good physical health, though under a lot of psychological stress.

The Swedish government may also be under a certain amount of stress as pressure grows for them to take a stand as to whether or not they will partake in a collaborative security effort in the Strait of Hormuz, helping to guarantee the safe transit of ships through one of the busiest and most economically important seaways in the world.

Jeremy Hunt, the UK’s Foreign Minister, has floated the idea of a common European (not NATO) defense of the seaway, to which Denmark, France, Italy and the Netherlands have responded positively. Here, the Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström’s spokesperson says Sweden hasn’t been formally asked to participate. By this, they are able to avoid committing to a yes, or a no. It doesn’t help the UK’s case that they are essentially asking for help in defending the unharrassed passage of oil tankers. Oil tankers don’t exactly have a lot of likes in Sweden. As the Swedish government is a coalition that includes the Swedish Green Party, it likely doesn’t jibe well.

The larger issue is of course to what degree Sweden is willing to stand up in some sort of military cooperation with its neighbours. Just recently, Sweden signed an agreement to look into the posiblility of developing fighter jets together with Great Britain (). But, in case you didn’t get it the first time, it was an agreement just to look into the possibility of working together. Aligning itself militarily with one part or another isn’t something Sweden does easily.

Everyone knows Peter Hultqvist, Minister for Defense, and Margot Wallström don’t row the same boat, and this recent non-request by the UK falls under the purview of the Foreign Ministry when it comes to a dialog.