The New Stockholm Syndrome

by Gary Fouse

Sweden, even by European standards, is a curious country. I have visited the country three times and for 20 or so years have dabbled at learning the language. Scandinavia is (or was) a fantastic region in Europe, beautiful, clean and orderly. That has all changed now at least in the larger cities. While Denmark and Norway are also struggling with the massive influx of migrants and refuge seekers from the Middle East and North Africa, Sweden has the worst problem of all of them. It is mostly their own doing. Long having considered themselves a liberal paradise full of welfare and social benefits, Sweden decided it was too homogeneous and in need of immigrants from the third world. The results have been disastrous as thousands upon thousands of unassimilated migrants and now asylum-seekers have poured in and made the streets unsafe.

Every student of history knows that Sweden sat out World War II. Rather than invade Sweden, Hitler decided to use it. The Swedes allowed the German military to transit their territory to and from occupied Norway-which the Norwegians have never forgotten. True, Swedish diplomats like Folke Bernadotte and Raoul Wallenberg distinguished themselves by saving lives in the closing months of the war, and Sweden received smuggled Danish Jews saving them from Hitler’s death camps, but Swedish neutrality is still a subject of debate among Swedes.

During the post war era, Sweden developed itself into a liberal welfare society while taking shots at the US for its perceived human rights failures and involvement in the Vietnam war. The country became a place of refuge for US military deserters and draft dodgers. Prime Minister Olaf Palme was a fierce critic of the US. He was assassinated while still in office in broad daylight without any bodyguards. Today, his killer has still yet to be caught or even identified.

Many of the Danish Jews who landed in Sweden during the war settled in their port of disembarkation, Malmö, the third largest city in the country and right across the straight from Copenhagen. Today, that once vibrant community is dwindling due to the hostile environment caused by the Muslim immigrant community, which now makes up about 25% of the city’s population and is largely concentrated in the Rosengård section, a notorious “no-go” zone where crime and riots have taken over. The city’s ex-mayor Ilmar Reepalu, a fierce Israel critic, was openly antagonistic to the Jews of his city because of  his perception that they were not critical of Israel. He invited them to leave if they were not happy. And leave they have. The same is true of Stockholm and Gothenburg. Just this week, a young Swedish Jew from Gothenburg wrote an open letter to the foreign minister, Margot Wallström, explaining why he was emigrating to Israel. There are now an estimated 15,000 Jews left in Sweden. Wallström, like most in the Swedish government, is openly hostile to Israel. In fact, aside from the government, Sweden has more NGOs dedicated to working against the Jewish state than any other European country.

Meanwhile, Sweden is now known as the rape capital of Europe, a fact driven home again days ago when three armed Middle Easterners were arrested in the act of gang raping a young Swedish woman and live-streaming it on Facebook for three hours.

Like most other European countries, Sweden tries to keep its citizens ignorant about just who is making the country so unsafe. They try to keep the identity of rapists and murderers secret lest the natives develop negative attitudes toward the foreigners-as if they already haven’t. Newspapers and police describe the perpetrators as “youth”.

Up to this point, the current Swedish government has yet to learn its lesson about what is happening to its country. While they have gained the “diversity” they wanted, it has been at great cost in public safety and increased welfare costs. Though there has been a small tightening up of admittance procedures, the problem persists.

The only glimmer of hope seems to lie in the Sweden Democrats party under the leadership of Jimmie Åkesson, a young and charismatic politician who is part of the new wave of conservative leaders trying to put a stop to the madness that prevails in Europe. Whether they can take power in traditionally liberal Sweden remains to be seen.

It is easy to feel sorry for the Swedish people, but on the other hand, it is a clear case of the chickens coming home to roost. They are knowingly trading their productive Jewish community (mostly from Malmö, the city that once gave them refuge) in exchange for a rapidly growing community of the same people who are driving the Jews out-restive and unassimilated Muslims, who have no regard for the society they chose to immigrate to. So to Sweden I say, “Enjoy the trade-off”. For me, I wonder why I ever bothered to try and learn the language.