Oxford Internet Institute says that 1/3 of the political "news" shared in Swedish social media before the election on Sunday are deliberatly made up stories. Oxford Internet Institute is a part of the famous university and work on stydying the internet.
The Nordic countries have a long and proud history of having boring elections, but the Swedish election tomorrow looks quite lively. Until a couple of years ago there were basically two attitudes to immigrantion. In the mainstream parties and media the attitude was that immigrantion is good for you and if you say different you're a racist.The editor of one of the largest newspapers said he couldn't think of a single reason against mass imigrantion that isn't racist.
Then there is the party SD who emerged from the neo-nazi movement in the early 90's. They have tried to become more acceptable ever since, but there are often important SD members who say or do something racist.They also state in their party program that ethnic groups have different "essence" from birth. The mainstream parties have boycoted SD and frankly the whole de ate. This election all the parties are also talking about some negative effects from immigrantion, about 35 years after the other countries in the region started doing this.
Last night was the final party leader debate on TV. The SD leader said:" The reason immigrants don't get jobs here is that they don’t fit in in Sweden" (My translation from memory). Naturally there were some reaction to this. One of them was the leader of the SVT's (the public bradcaster, much like BBC) election division who said SVT are rebuking that statement. In other words the state funded TV chanel officially said they are against a party leaders opinion!
According to the Danish and Norwegian public broadcaster leaders said this would never happen in either country, something I agree with. The rebuke fits perfectly into SD's political views and world view. The SVT leader who rebuke the statement has now "been assigned other duties". Polls how they are projecting about 20% of the votes for SD tomorrow, possibly making them the second largest party in parlament. The non-socialist parties can't get a majority without them, but they have traditionally boycoted them anyway.
The political editor/chief who issued the rebuke was, at least officially, removed from the position because she in the past had Liked two anti-SD tweets, one saying SD shouldn't exist. SVT has not retracted the rebuke and SD will boycot SVT until after the election.
The Swedish election isn't over yet, but it looks dramatic. The far right gets about 18% of the votes and the far left gets 8%, both parties gaining a lot. Almost 30% voted for extremists!
The Social Democratic party ruled Sweden pretty much during the cold war. Now they get 25%, their worst result in a hundred years. The Moderate conservatives was the biggest conservative party for even longer than that, now they are fighting the far right (SD) to be the largest non-socialist party.
This is a political eartquake, brought on by decades of not allowing any real debate about their high immigration.
Another example of a far right groundswell, in Liberal Sweden too, is this still a populism movement or voter apathy or simply voters fed up with the erosion of national identity, what's the feeling over in that part of the world number 24? It's hard to gauge from afar.
I think Sweden is a special case. In the other Scandinavian countries we have had an open debate about immigration and integration for decades, while most of the media and all other parties than SD (Sweden Democrats) in Sweden have kept a very tight lid on that discussion. As a result of that attitude the Swedish far right populist party is more to the right and more radical than the populist parties to the right in Denmark and Norway. I suspect many Swedes don't know this and think we the other Scandinavian countries are full of racists.
Sweden has accepted significantly more immigrants than most countries have (compared to the size of the population). Sadly they have not done enough to integrate the newcomers into Swedish society, partly because adressing those problems has been seen as racism. As a result Sweden has many suburbs dominated by immigrants, gang activity and bad economy where the police need more than one car when they enter and the officers wear helmets.
But let's be fair. Denmark and Sweden have accepted many immigrants too. We also have large far-right populist parties and some problems with integrating parts of the immigrant population. The level of crime in Sweden can also be blown out of proportion. The murder rate in Sweden is 1.08 per 100 000 people. In the UK it's 1.20 and in the US it's 5.36 (a number that really puts Trump's "last night in Sweden" speech into perspective.)
The fall of the Swedish social democrat party (Not to be confusedd with the right-wing SD - Sweden Democrats) is dramatic, but far from unique in Europe. The Norwegian Labour Party got more than 40% of the votes in most election after WWII, but in the election last year they got 27.4%. Many feel they have lost some touch with the white working class, but we must remember the social democrat parties in both Sweden and Norway are still the biggest parties by far. The Norwegian Labour party was called "the eagle of the parties" because they soared above the pack because of their popularity, so the drop in election must be puut into context too.
UK politics is amazing at the moment, the Labour party should be
Miles ahead in the polls, yet for months. They have been dogged
With antisemitism accusations, and now one top Labour MP, has
Accused them of racism ! At the same tome the Conservatives
Are pulling each other apart with in fighting and plotting. As for the libDems .......... they are as unimportant as usual.
As for Sweden , most small communities are frightened of large scale
Immigration. If the politicians simply ignore their fears and keep
Calling them bigots, then the far right will continue to grow in power.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Yes I agree, it's become obvious around the world that the populous will only have their fears and concerns for so long until they will act with their votes. It still seems that mainstream politicians are still not listening.
On one of your other points TP, I've often heard it said that in the UK "labour don't win elections, torys lose them"
I dont put much faith in polls but I think under the current regime Labour are struggling, and a protest vote in their direction would be a disaster, the torys are in fighting but over a very important thing, that some of them seem truly passionate about.
I can't believe any other leader of Any political party would
Have let the accusations of antisemitism run for so long.
The simplest thing to do would have been to adopt the
System agreed by all other parties, and that would have been
The end of it. The fact that J Corbyn still tried to add
Amendments to it, at the last hour. Proves he is so caught up
In his own ideology rather than what's good for his Party.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
As for Sweden , most small communities are frightened of large scale
Immigration. If the politicians simply ignore their fears and keep
Calling them bigots, then the far right will continue to grow in power.
True. Fun fact: about 13% of the immigrants in Sweden voted SD.
Interesting Brexit development, Barnier has announced that a trade deal being agreed in November is "realistic"
As a consequence the value of sterling has jumped. Call me suspicious but can this be anything to do with the UK economy performing much better than expected and outperforming the majority of EU members economies? Or are the EU secretly happy with the chequers deal and propping up Theresa May instead of potentially having to deal with the rather more fierce and hard bargaining brexiteers?
I always said, that EU wanted a deal and the UK wanted a deal. So
In the end a deal will happen. It makes sense for both. Same with the
Irish border. Ireland doesn't want a hard boarder, The UK doesn't
Want a hard boarder, the EU doesn't want a hard boarder. So In
The end even this will be sorted out.
"I've been informed that there ARE a couple of QAnon supporters who are fairly regular posters in AJB."
Agreed, there is just too much at stake, particularly for the EU, I don't for one minute think they want a UK that is dealing around the world where ever it wants, because if that worked out well for us, which it most certainly would it would send the message to other EU members that leaving is a viable option. Furthermore all the arguments have been so one sided, as in the UK would have to pay export fees, Ive never once heard anyone say that we would also charge EU members to import into the UK? Which considering the UK imports more than it exports would put us into profit somewhat and massively damage EU businesses who can't as easily find new markets as a free trading UK.
As for Ireland! I think we should just give NI back to Eire, you lot are expensive, troublesome and don't even get on with each other :007)
As for Sweden , most small communities are frightened of large scale
Immigration. If the politicians simply ignore their fears and keep
Calling them bigots, then the far right will continue to grow in power.
True. Fun fact: about 13% of the immigrants in Sweden voted SD.
Far-right SD was the most popular party among Swedish men.
I Wonder if a far right party gets a majority vote is it
Still a far right party. Or because of the popular vote
Is it now a mainstream one?
It depends. If a party is openly racism and uses the Nazi salute, then they are far right even if 80% are voting for them. But there is some grey area here. Would the current US leadership have been considered far right by the 1970's Republican party? Many in America would perhaps call the Swedish social democratic party far left? I guess the larger the party is and the less traditional far-right their opinions and actions are, then the party becomes more mainstream and less far-right.
Mr.Kidd: Mrs. Whistler DID want some pictures of Salisbury Cathedral for the children.
Mr. Wint: How kind of you Mr. Kidd, the children will be so thrilled!
The New York Times claims Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein tried to stage a coup against Trump early in his presidency. He wanted people to wear a wire and get recordings that could help invoke the 25th amendment of the US constitution, which provides for the removal of a president if he is deemed unfit for office. Rosenstein denies this, of course.
Trump's supporters will probably see this as Fake News or Deep State. Despite what many of Trump's supporters say, NYT isn't the type of newsper that just makes up news. They have some sort of source. We know Trump is practically at war with his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. The main reason is that Sessions won't remove Robert Mueller who is investigating ties between the Trump campaign. I didn't write "alleged" claims because we know there were ties by now, the question is how far the ties reached.
The Trump White House is clearly in chaos.
31% of Russia's youth wants to move to another country with more freedom and better economical posibilities. The number is from the official Russian poll institute
Comments
Then there is the party SD who emerged from the neo-nazi movement in the early 90's. They have tried to become more acceptable ever since, but there are often important SD members who say or do something racist.They also state in their party program that ethnic groups have different "essence" from birth. The mainstream parties have boycoted SD and frankly the whole de ate. This election all the parties are also talking about some negative effects from immigrantion, about 35 years after the other countries in the region started doing this.
Last night was the final party leader debate on TV. The SD leader said:" The reason immigrants don't get jobs here is that they don’t fit in in Sweden" (My translation from memory). Naturally there were some reaction to this. One of them was the leader of the SVT's (the public bradcaster, much like BBC) election division who said SVT are rebuking that statement. In other words the state funded TV chanel officially said they are against a party leaders opinion!
According to the Danish and Norwegian public broadcaster leaders said this would never happen in either country, something I agree with. The rebuke fits perfectly into SD's political views and world view. The SVT leader who rebuke the statement has now "been assigned other duties". Polls how they are projecting about 20% of the votes for SD tomorrow, possibly making them the second largest party in parlament. The non-socialist parties can't get a majority without them, but they have traditionally boycoted them anyway.
The Social Democratic party ruled Sweden pretty much during the cold war. Now they get 25%, their worst result in a hundred years. The Moderate conservatives was the biggest conservative party for even longer than that, now they are fighting the far right (SD) to be the largest non-socialist party.
This is a political eartquake, brought on by decades of not allowing any real debate about their high immigration.
Sweden has accepted significantly more immigrants than most countries have (compared to the size of the population). Sadly they have not done enough to integrate the newcomers into Swedish society, partly because adressing those problems has been seen as racism. As a result Sweden has many suburbs dominated by immigrants, gang activity and bad economy where the police need more than one car when they enter and the officers wear helmets.
But let's be fair. Denmark and Sweden have accepted many immigrants too. We also have large far-right populist parties and some problems with integrating parts of the immigrant population. The level of crime in Sweden can also be blown out of proportion. The murder rate in Sweden is 1.08 per 100 000 people. In the UK it's 1.20 and in the US it's 5.36 (a number that really puts Trump's "last night in Sweden" speech into perspective.)
The fall of the Swedish social democrat party (Not to be confusedd with the right-wing SD - Sweden Democrats) is dramatic, but far from unique in Europe. The Norwegian Labour Party got more than 40% of the votes in most election after WWII, but in the election last year they got 27.4%. Many feel they have lost some touch with the white working class, but we must remember the social democrat parties in both Sweden and Norway are still the biggest parties by far. The Norwegian Labour party was called "the eagle of the parties" because they soared above the pack because of their popularity, so the drop in election must be puut into context too.
Miles ahead in the polls, yet for months. They have been dogged
With antisemitism accusations, and now one top Labour MP, has
Accused them of racism ! At the same tome the Conservatives
Are pulling each other apart with in fighting and plotting. As for the libDems .......... they are as unimportant as usual.
As for Sweden , most small communities are frightened of large scale
Immigration. If the politicians simply ignore their fears and keep
Calling them bigots, then the far right will continue to grow in power.
I dont put much faith in polls but I think under the current regime Labour are struggling, and a protest vote in their direction would be a disaster, the torys are in fighting but over a very important thing, that some of them seem truly passionate about.
Have let the accusations of antisemitism run for so long.
The simplest thing to do would have been to adopt the
System agreed by all other parties, and that would have been
The end of it. The fact that J Corbyn still tried to add
Amendments to it, at the last hour. Proves he is so caught up
In his own ideology rather than what's good for his Party.
True. Fun fact: about 13% of the immigrants in Sweden voted SD.
As a consequence the value of sterling has jumped. Call me suspicious but can this be anything to do with the UK economy performing much better than expected and outperforming the majority of EU members economies? Or are the EU secretly happy with the chequers deal and propping up Theresa May instead of potentially having to deal with the rather more fierce and hard bargaining brexiteers?
In the end a deal will happen. It makes sense for both. Same with the
Irish border. Ireland doesn't want a hard boarder, The UK doesn't
Want a hard boarder, the EU doesn't want a hard boarder. So In
The end even this will be sorted out.
As for Ireland! I think we should just give NI back to Eire, you lot are expensive, troublesome and don't even get on with each other
In Scotland
Far-right SD was the most popular party among Swedish men.
Still a far right party. Or because of the popular vote
Is it now a mainstream one?
It depends. If a party is openly racism and uses the Nazi salute, then they are far right even if 80% are voting for them. But there is some grey area here. Would the current US leadership have been considered far right by the 1970's Republican party? Many in America would perhaps call the Swedish social democratic party far left? I guess the larger the party is and the less traditional far-right their opinions and actions are, then the party becomes more mainstream and less far-right.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/17/china-accuses-sweden-of-violating-human-rights-over-treatment-of-tourists
Mr.Kidd: Mrs. Whistler DID want some pictures of Salisbury Cathedral for the children.
Mr. Wint: How kind of you Mr. Kidd, the children will be so thrilled!
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Mr who are you trying to Kidd
Would be the Chinese government.
Trump's supporters will probably see this as Fake News or Deep State. Despite what many of Trump's supporters say, NYT isn't the type of newsper that just makes up news. They have some sort of source. We know Trump is practically at war with his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. The main reason is that Sessions won't remove Robert Mueller who is investigating ties between the Trump campaign. I didn't write "alleged" claims because we know there were ties by now, the question is how far the ties reached.
The Trump White House is clearly in chaos.
Can vote in another. ............ if they want .
To get the "right" result. It's what dictators do