Sweden Doesn’t Live in a World of Ideas

Anyone who has ever lived in a student dorm knows that that it is easy to contribute as little as possible to the community. In the end, some poor soul who has had enough has to clean up after everybody else.

In Europe we rely on American taxpayers to continue to finance our security while we shrink our own defenses. Sweden is not alone in its inability to keep its own doorstep clean. The idea that we are still looking at territorial defense strikes many people as anachronistic and offensive. “But unfortunately it is the case,” said Edward Lucas, The Economist’s international editor, at Monday’s conference on security around the Nordic-Baltic region organized by think tank Stockholm Free World Forum. He went on to state that naiveté is widespread and there is an unwillingness to believe in the reality of a threat. The reasoning is that there is no need for hard security in Europe, thus defense budgets are absurdly low and we expect the U.S. to be prepared to start World War III on our behalf.

However, America’s attention is shifting away from Europe and toward the Pacific Ocean. This means that Sweden and Europe must begin to take responsibility for their own security. At the same conference, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks opined that never have unarmed, rich countries been able to survive for very long beside authoritarian and militarized countries. At some point the balance of power changes. Do we wait for the challenge without being prepared for it?

Sweden’s policy of neutrality and very limited military capability is a threat to stability in the Baltic region, believes Major General Karlis Neretnieks, member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. It is so true that it hurts a little. In Sweden we are used to conflict as something that afflicts others. This is why Sweden has acquired expensive operational defenses: Humanitarian interventions and efforts that in Afghanistan were commendable. However, our country is still within the Nordic sphere, not in the world of ideas. Last Easter, when Russian planes practiced military exercises against a Swedish target, it was a brusque reminder that dreams of world peace have led us to lose touch with reality. It’s time to stop soaring among the clouds and set our feet down on Swedish soil again.

Russia is not only becoming armed but also increasing repression internally. The exaggerated punishment of feminist group Pussy Riot is only one example. More political prisoners currently sit in the nation’s prisons than in the decades that have passed since Gorbachev opened the Gulag camps. Homosexuals are assaulted and the most basic freedoms are threatened; even if Russia calls itself a democracy, it is an authoritarian regime. The country is governed by men with a background in the security services, and their paranoid world view characterizes the state’s approach to both its own people and the outside world. Mass media pumps out anti-Western propaganda and those working for human rights are officially designated “foreign agents” and traitors. This is the current situation.

A recurring theme at the Stockholm Free World Forum conference, which also arises when talking to diplomats who negotiate with Russia, is that the country’s leaders only understand power politics. Any concession or compromise is seen as a sign of weakness.

No, Russia is not likely to invade either the Baltic or Nordic countries, but this is not the only way that military force can be used. Those who lack military capacity will be considered insignificant and bullied, and thus lose diplomatic influence. As the Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks said about Russia’s soft power, “You don’t notice that you lose your freedom, piece by piece, inch by inch. It’s not in one day. You simply lose it and you wake up in the morning and you are not free anymore again.”