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From the Mediterranean to the Pacific, Mr Putin is hailed as an example by nationalists, populists and dictators. “My favourite hero is Putin,” said Rodrigo Duterte, the brutal president of the Philippines. Mr Trump called Mr Putin “a leader far more than our president.” In Italy Beppe Grillo’s Five Star Movement took Mr Putin’s side against the West, and the anti-immigrant Northern League, led by Matteo Salvini, has enthused about his Russia. “No clandestine immigrants, no squeegee merchants and no Roma encampments [in Moscow],” tweeted Mr Salvini during a visit in 2014.

In France Marine Le Pen, whose National Front received a loan from a Russian bank, attacks the European Union and America for being too aggressive towards Russia. In the words of Dimitar Bechev, the author of a forthcoming book on Russia in the Balkans, “Putin enjoys a cult status with all holding a grudge against the West.” Nowhere is that status greater than with the nationalists of America’s “alt-right”. Matthew Heimbach, the founder of the Traditionalist Worker Party and a crusader against “anti-Christian degeneracy”, told the New York Times he sees Mr Putin as “the leader of the free world.”

Per wrote:

“Putin enjoys a cult status with all holding a grudge against the West.” Nowhere is that status greater than with the nationalists of America’s “alt-right”.

Strangelove wrote:

Per wrote:

“Putin enjoys a cult status with all holding a grudge against the West.” Nowhere is that status greater than with the nationalists of America’s “alt-right”.

The so-called “alt-right” is a fictitious entity invented by the evil alt-left…

Strangelove wrote:
Now talk to me about this renewed Swedish conscription... anything to do with Putin?

Sweden has called up all of its army volunteers for the first time in more than four decades in a bid to bolster its military strength.

The country, which has a reputation for neutrality, last went to war more than two centuries ago.

It comes after the Swedish government dispatched brochures to its 4.8 million households on how to prepare for an attack.

The pamphlet, entitled If Crisis or War Comes, is meant to get residents ready for a range of scenarios, including military conflict.

Sweden, which last went to war in 1814 with Norway, has not sent such instructions to its citizens since the days of the Cold War.

Per wrote: ↑Tue Jun 12, 2018 4:59 am That's just the tip of it though.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Sweden cut its military spending drastically, as there were no immediate military threats in the region. The military was also repurposed from mainly national defense to more be a pool for sending troops on UN peace keeping missions.


Military spending as % of GDP

In 2009 the parliament voted overwhelmingly to put the general draft on the shelf. Up till then we had mandatory military service, albeit during the 90's and 00's less than half of the young men eligible actually served, since with all the cuts, the armed forces had a hard time figuring out what to do with all of them.

This was a period of time when it seemed Russia wanted to become part of western civilisation. Just one of the guys, hanging out.
Then clouds started to gather at the horizon....

First there was Georgia... http://nordic.businessinsider.com/russi ... ?r=US&IR=T

... then Crimea... https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/vol ... 5cb420e9d9

... then the Donetsk region... https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/28/worl ... rimea.html

And make no mistake about it; the Russians are not, as they themselves would like to propose, trying to mediate between conflicting groups in their neighbouring nations. They are invading.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderi ... 8e30b7ddb2

You may wonder why Russia does all this despite the anger from the international community, the sanctions, etc, but this is a key factor:

Countries seeking to join NATO cannot have any outstanding territorial disputes.

Putin considers both NATO and EU threats to Russia and he does his best to weaken them. As both Georgia and the Ukraine had started to lean westward, by launching these mini-invasions, tearing off parcels of land, he effectively prevents them from joining NATO, while also making them less attractive as EU members.

Never mind the war crimes.

So, this is why all political parties in Sweden now favour increased military spending.
This is why the general draft takes effect again in 2018 and this is why we have placed a new regiment on th eisland of Gotland, instead of the one we dismantled about a decade ago.

The Russians are no longer to be trusted.

SAKKILUOTO, Finland — Retired to a tiny island in an archipelago between Finland and Sweden, Leo Gastgivar awoke early one morning to visit the outhouse in his bathrobe, only to notice two black speedboats packed with Finnish commandos in camouflage fatigues waiting in the bay near his front door.

After an exchange of awkward greetings, Mr. Gastgivar went inside, collected a pair of binoculars and watched aghast as the commandos raced off toward the island of his nearest neighbor, a mysterious Russian businessman he had never met or even seen.

“I thought: ‘Wow! That is certainly unusual,’” Mr. Gastgivar recalled of the encounter. “Nobody ever visits that place.”

The island, Sakkiluoto, belongs to Pavel Melnikov, a 54-year-old Russian from St. Petersburg, who has dotted the property with security cameras, motion detectors and no-trespassing signs emblazoned with the picture of a fearsome-looking guard in a black balaclava. The island also has nine piers, a helipad, a swimming pool draped in camouflage netting and enough housing — all of it equipped with satellite dishes — to accommodate a small army.

...

Per wrote: ↑Mon Nov 26, 2018 1:29 pm Now shooting at, boarding and seizing Ukrainian ships.