Sweden is warned to ‘brace for war’

Civil Defence minister tells citizens to ‘get moving’ and prepare for the end of 210 years of peace as country bids to join NATO in face of Russia tensions

 

Minister urged Swedish citizens to ask themselves ‘who are you if war comes?’. This comes as Zelensky said allies should ‘finish’ Putin to avoid destruction of Ukraine.

Sweden’s civil defence minister has warned his country could soon face the prospect of war and urged citizens to join voluntary defence organisations in preparation for a potential armed conflict.

In a rousing speech that took note of his country’s hotly anticipated accession to NATO this year and ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine, Carl-Oskar Bohlin called on ordinary citizens to ask themselves “Who are you if war comes?”.

Speaking at Sweden’s annual Folk och Försvar (Society and Defence) conference in Sälen in the beginning of January, the minister said: “It is human to want to view life as you wish it was, rather than as it actually is.

For a nation for whom peace has been a pleasant companion for almost 210 years, the idea that it is an immovable constant is conveniently close at hand. But taking comfort in this conclusion has become more dangerous than it has been for a very long time”.

Sweden has not been involved in an armed conflict since a brief war with neighbour Norway in 1814 as the latter sought to establish its own constitution and parliament. it stayed neutral during WW2.

“There could be war in Sweden. The world is facing a security outlook with greater risks than at any time since the end of the Second World War,” the civil defence minister continued.

“Are you a private person? Have you considered whether you have time to join a voluntary defence organisation? If not: get moving!” he declared.

This comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Vladimir Putin would not stop at Ukraine and would attack other neighbours unless allies joined forces to stop him.

“He (Putin) won’t finish this (war), until we all finish him together,” Zelensky said during a news conference in Vilnius, adding “Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova may be next” if Ukraine did not withstand Russia’s onslaught.

Bohlin did not claim that the prospect of war is imminent in Sweden in his weekend speech. But he stressed the current state of the world and rising tensions between East and West necessitated a response at all levels to ensure Swedish society would be prepared for any future conflict.

Using Ukraine’s valiant and effective defence of Kyiv in the early days of the war in March 2022 as an example, Bohlin said his nation must fast-track its efforts to bring about civil preparedness and become a war-ready society.

“Putin didn’t understand that he was kicking down that door within every Ukrainian in 2014. By the time of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian people had – individually and collectively – been formulating their response.

The Russian attacking forces faced the unified force of the entire Ukrainian society. This kind of effort can only come about quickly enough if the vast majority are aware of the situation and understand what is at stake.

Societal resilience requires exactly that: situational awareness. Awareness needs to be translated into practical action. Measures that actually raise the threshold.

Everyone has to understand that in the situation we find ourselves in, time may be our most precious non-renewable resource. If there is something that keeps me awake at night, it is the feeling that events are moving too slowly,” he said.

Bohlin went on to directly address everyone from local government officials to citizens and encouraged them to take steps to prepare themselves.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do!”, I sometimes hear. Let me respond with a few questions.

“Are you a senior official in an emergency preparedness authority? Good, then have you built your war organisation and defined which activities need to be maintained and which do not? Have you ensured compliance with protective security and necessary access to alternative command locations?

Are you a municipal commissioner? Good, then have you secured the war organisation, refuge points, the emergency water plan and the redundancy supply of foodstuffs, heating and electricity for health and social care?

Are you an employee? Good, then have you asked your employer what your role would be in your workplace’s war organisation?

Are you a private person? Good, then have you taken responsibility for your home preparedness? Have you considered whether you have time to join a voluntary defence organisation?”

Each address was ended with a simple call to action – “Get moving!”.

“If you haven’t started, you are behind – if you don’t know how, you can either ask someone who has started, or get answers from the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency. It’s as simple as that,” Bohlin concluded.

Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson issued a similar warning recently, arguing that conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East showed that “the world has become more dangerous than it was just a year ago”. “An armed attack against Sweden cannot be ruled out,” Jonson said.

“War can also come to us. These serious times require clarity of vision, capacity to act and persistence – clarity of vision to understand that Russia’s goal remains the eradication of a free Ukraine and creation of a Europe in which ‘might is right’ with buffer states and spheres of interest.”

While the warnings come amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing threat to other European nations, Sweden has already had its share of domestic issues that have fractured the stability of the country in recent years.

In September, Sweden’s national police chief said that wars between gangs in the country had brought an “unprecedented” wave of violence.

“There have recently been murders and explosions on an unprecedented scale,” police chief Anders Thornberg told a press conference. He emphasised that the perpetrators were often from abroad, but he didn’t mention any nationalities.

In August, the country was forced to heighten its terror level to four on a scale of five following fury from the Muslim world to Koran burnings that took place over the summer, shortly after it was forced to beef up its border controls.

The level was increased from elevated, where it had been since 2016, to high, the head of the Swedish Security Police Charlotte von Essen told reporters. “The reason for this decision is the deteriorated situation with regard to attack threats to Sweden, and the assessment that the threat will remain for a long time,” she said.

Von Essen stressed that the decision to raise the threat level was not based on a “single incident”, but rather a “collective assessment”.

In July, Iraqi protesters stormed the Swedish embassy in Baghdad twice, starting fires within the compound on the second occasion.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Sweden and Finland, two states who had remained neutral for decades, to submit applications to join NATO in May 2022, months after Putin’s forces put boots on the ground.

But Turkey, a member of the security bloc, has delayed ratifying Sweden’s application for more than a year, accusing the country of being too lenient toward groups that Ankara regards as threats to its security, including Kurdish militants and members of a network that Ankara blames for a failed coup in 2016.

However, Turkey’s foreign affairs committee in December finally gave its consent to Sweden’s bid to join NATO, drawing the Nordic country closer to membership in the Western military alliance.

Sweden’s accession protocol will now need to be approved in the general assembly for the last stage of the legislative process in Turkey.

Though no date has been set, it is expected to be approved within a matter of weeks. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should then sign it into law, concluding a process that frustrated some of Ankara’s allies and tested its Western ties.

Turkish lawmakers said that Stockholm needed to take further steps to clamp down on the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an armed group that has been designated a “terrorist organisation” by Turkey, the EU and the US.

Some members fled Turkish persecution in the late 1980s and subsequent crises in the Middle East.

Sweden extradited a Kurdish refugee to Turkey in December, amid pressure to meet demands in return for NATO membership.

Erdogan last month (December 2023) linked ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership to the US Congress’ approval of a Turkish request to purchase 40 new F-16 fighter jets and kits to modernise Turkey’s existing fleet.

While NATO member Hungary has also not ratified Sweden’s membership, Turkey is seen as the main roadblock to adding the Scandinavian nation to the military alliance and bolstering its defences in the Baltic Sea region.

Meanwhile, Zelensky recently landed in Lithuania as part of an unannounced trip to the Baltic states to drum up more support for the conflict. The three Baltic states – all former Soviet republics which are now EU and NATO members – are among Ukraine’s staunchest allies.

“Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are our reliable friends and principled partners. I arrived in Vilnius before going to Tallinn and Riga,” Zelensky said on virtual communication platform X, formerly Twitter.

“Security, EU and NATO integration, cooperation on electronic warfare and drones, and further coordination of European support are all on the agenda,” he said. The Baltic tour marks Zelensky’s first official trip abroad this year.

In Lithuania, a key donor to Ukraine, Zelensky will hold talks with the president, prime minister and the speaker of parliament, and meet with the Ukrainian community.

The visit comes as other Kyiv allies waver on fresh aid, nearly two years into Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine has come under intense Russian shelling in recent weeks, retaliating with strikes on Russia’s border city of Belgorod.

Zelensky has urged allies to keep military support flowing and held in-person talks with officials from the United States, Germany and Norway last month.

But an EU aid package worth 50 billion euros ($55 billion) has been stuck in Brussels following a veto by Hungary, while the US decided not to send additional aid to Ukraine. “The assistance that we provided has now ground to a halt,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

 

yogaesoteric
January 15, 2024

 

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