By Jonathan Michael Feldman, March 14, 2022

The article, “Dags att bita i det sura äpplet,” written by Mats Åberg advocating Swedish NATO membership in Dagens Arena, published March 14, 2022, is quite unfortunate. It ignores numerous facts and realities. First, it follows the logic of the “magical mantra” in which any Swedish move is “defensive” and any Russian move is “offensive.” While Sweden is allowed to respond to Russian military moves that are hostile, Sweden can simply ignore its moves towards Russia that are hostile (including military operations involving Sweden near the Russian border), see: https://www.globalteachin.com/…/the-nato-logic-that…) Second, while NATO is allowed to have “spheres of interest” in Europe, in Libya (leading to a disasterous conflict), or in Yugoslavia (another case where NATO escallated conflict), somehow Russia is not. Third, the reference to Georgia and Russia’s role there similarly misleading. A 1,100-page report by EU investigators “say Georgia fired the first shots in the August 2008 conflictwhen it launched an attack on the breakaway region of South Ossetia, which the team deemed ‘unjustifiable’under international law,” with both Georgia and Russia atfault (see: Leo Cendrowicz, “Both Sides to Blame for the Georgia-Russia War,” Time, September 30, 2009). One could go on, because the article is so biased and poorly researched with arguments formed by one-sided impressions. Let me conclude with a few obvious problems. First, if Trump gets re-eleced how valuable will NATO’s security guarantees be? Second, why can’t this author realize that Sweden is not simply an angelic nation facing a fierce state and has its own baggage? “Swedish military intelligence provided the United States with information about potential bombing targets in Bagdad ahead [of] a 2003 attack on the Iraqi capital, despite the Swedish government’s opposition to the US invasion” according to US military documents (see: https://www.thelocal.se/20120903/42972/). Hundreds of Swedish weapons were used in the Iraq War, including the AT4 weapon which Sweden later sent to Ukraine (see: https://www.thelocal.se/20101024/29796/). Remember: The conflict in Iraq led to the death of hundreds of thousands of persons, more than 200,000 civilian deaths according to the Watson Institute. A more balanced approach to what’s going on appears with leading international realtions scholars who, for better or worse, happen to be located in the United States: https://www.newyorker.com/…/why-john-mearsheimer-blames….