No wonder Pierre Schori feels uncomfortable on the right side of history – the Alting

#Pierre #Schori #feels #uncomfortable #side #history #Alting

Suddenly he was there again, like a ghost from a bygone era. From a chapter in Swedish foreign policy that most believed – and many hoped – was closed forever.

Pierre Schori, the last survivor of the social democracy’s self-proclaimed “moral great power”. The one that was in fact anything but moral, with its extensive support for all kinds of shady regimes and movements in what was then called the Third World.

It was a time when Sweden adhered to no less than two foreign policy doctrines: an official one, with allegedly unshakable neutrality between the then two superpowers.

“NATO’s seventeenth member state”

And another, unofficial – and top secret for the Swedish people – with close Swedish cooperation with NATO in whose headquarters Sweden was jokingly referred to as “NATO’s seventeenth member country”.

Then, when the number of NATO countries amounted to sixteen.

Rather than a “moral great power”, it was about double standards at the highest level.

Rather than a “moral great power”, it was about double standards at the highest level.

In recent times, Pierre Schori has appeared here and there. A bit strange, one might think, given that the foreign policy and worldview he represents has long been considered passé.

No, an 85-year-old hibernating neutrality and revolution romantic is perhaps not the most obvious or spirited candidate for a debate show. Especially not when it came to defense, a matter that never interested Schori in the slightest.

When your name flew across the earth…

But the fact that S-marked Daniel Suhonen brought the old socialist as a co-host in his TV program with Svenska Dagbladet’s political editor-in-chief, Tove Lifvendahl, as co-host, was perhaps not so ill-conceived after all.

Because instead it became a useful reminder of the dubious foreign policy that spread Sweden’s – and Olof Palme’s – name around the world in the 70s and 80s.

And could thus be compared to today’s situation, when Sweden finally hangs out in the right circles and finally takes full responsibility for its own, and its friends’, security with the upcoming NATO membership.

Because, as Lifvendahl’s assistant, Mikael Tornving, so rightly pointed out, NATO is fundamentally about solidarity; about both helping our neighbors and getting help in return.

And solidarity is usually a buzz word on the left.

Toothless paper tiger

But Schori did not pick up on that particular track, from whose mouth, on the other hand, many other, more or less substanceless and pompous formulations flowed.

Sweden has, he claimed, for example, been referred to as “a positive force through neutrality” by Henry Kissinger and Joe Biden. Well, Kissinger was wrong many times over the years and Biden’s powers of observation may not always be top notch.

That Schori, being the fervent anti-Americanist that he is, would bring up the EU was hardly unexpected. Despite the fact that he, like everyone else, is learning to realize that the EU is a toothless paper tiger in a defense context.

Equally expected was the now ritual whining that the NATO process would have led to the Swedes being “run over” instead of “convinced”. As if his dear party for years not only closed every opportunity for NATO debate, but also mocked and personally opposed us who for decades pushed the issue of Swedish membership.

There must be, Schori declared further, “there must be countries that work for peace!”. So exactly what Sweden is doing now, through membership in the defense alliance that has kept the West out of war for the past 75 years.

What peace?

But, one might wonder, what kind of peace would Sweden actually have helped to create during the non-aligned years? No, exactly that. Not a single one. Not even the own Swedish that the top-secret NATO contacts provided us with.

It is understandable that Pierre Schori is upset now that Sweden is finally on the right side of history. And no longer have our best friends in Cuba and Nicaragua.