Friday, February 27, 2009

Terrorism in Sweden - Arson in Södertälje

Last night, four grocery stores were set on fire. They suspect mordbrand. Arson. (On a lighter note, mordbrand is another one of those words that I like to translate directly to English. Murder fire.) Three of them were gutted while one was slightly damaged thanks to some quick thinking grocery store personnel. Of the stores, two were Willy’s, one was an Ica, and the fourth was Tempo. Luckily, it seems that no one was hurt. The fires were all set in the middle of the night. Possibly with the help of timed fire bombs.

The fires were set in Södertälje, a city I have written about in the past because of their impressive record of taking in refugees.

As of now, there are no official suspects. But that hasn’t stopped speculation. The fact that Säpo, Sweden’s version of the heavy duty security police, was called in kind of ramped up that speculation. A force of 40-50 police are working on the case. The threatening letters that some grocery stores received a couple of weeks ago has also raised some eyebrows.

Turns out there are some people who believe this was an anti-American attack carried out by a group calling itself Global Intifada. The group claimed responsibility for a couple of fires just last December that were started in grocery stores. They have also been plastering the town of Södertälje with leaflets calling for people to throw Molotov cocktails into stores carrying American products.

Of course, that includes a damn lot of stores in Sweden. Many of which are in no way associated with the US aside from a few American products being for sale. Many of which employ no Americans at all. Many of which provide the Swedish people with everything they need. Obviously it makes sense to target these stores. Idiots.

So anti-American terrorism is alive and well even in Sweden. Which is disgusting. And a shame. But maybe not horribly surprising. The hatred some people have for America knows no borders. Even Sweden, priding itself on its strategic neutrality, isn’t safe from these sorts of terrorist attacks. I have yet to see Swedish media refer to this as a terrorist group. They are referred to as leftist extremists. It’s a very Swedish nomenclature. I’ll call them terrorists. It’s a very American nomenclature. Because I’m American.

I guess I wouldn’t make a very good terrorist or arsonist. Maybe I think too much. But if you want to make a statement against the US wouldn’t it be more effective to target places that have incredibly strong connections to the US? Not just some store that sells American products along with products from the rest of the world. Silly terrorists.

I talked to my mom last night about this briefly. She jokingly said in passing that she thought everyone loved the US now that Obama was president. Especially Sweden. Apparently his grace period is over.

Welcome to Sweden. Where anti-Americanism seems to be becoming more brazen.

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20 comments:

  1. I agree. It is terrorism. A group of bored, spoiled middle class youngsters who think they are politically aware feel desperate to make a stand against capitalism and against Issrael and USA. They probably wear Levi's... What they failed to see, was that people now have to do their grocery shopping in the EXPENSIVE shops. Their logic is amazing! Compare the "sin" of eating a Jaffa orange or drinking a can of Coke with making a whole bunch of people unemployed by burning their workplaces...

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  2. I hope that this illustrate the fact that much of this anti-American attitude krap is based on propaganda purposefully spread around the world. It is to encourage negative thinking and a goal of many terrorist groups such as Al-Quaida who blame the US for its modern life and media. For allowing women to live as they do, and for the destruction of tradition. This kind of prejudicial and widely accepted ill-will towards any place or people is dangerous and destructive. It is not progressive, modern, or positive.

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  3. These leftist extremists are always the ones blowing stuffs up in Sweden. Just look at the riots in Rosengård, Malmö a while ago. Everyone though that it was angry Muslim immigrants or maybe streetsgangs fighting and blowing things up. But it was acctualy leftist extremists who were throwing pipebombs at Gas stations that were the biggest problem. They dont even live there, only poor immigrants live there. Many of them was acctualy very afraid since the bombs reminded them of the war they fleed from in the first place.
    Even though it was the youths in Rosengård who started the riot the leftist extremists was the one that was causing the biggest damage. Idiots.

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  4. According to their website (http://www.motkraft.net/gi/)they will have large a party in the 22 of August in Kungsträdgården. I dont really know if they acctualy will have a party or if they'll blow something up. I do agree with you, it is terrorism.

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  5. @Miss. Vitriol - I think you’re right on. Their logic blows my mind. Because it just isn’t logical. What they’ve done is just caused much more pain and suffering for Swedes than they have for any Americans.

    @m8surf – it is amazing how these sorts of actions and attitudes continue to gain traction. I think you sum it up perfectly in your final sentence. No good comes out of it. The question is how far it has to go.

    @anonymous – Its funny you should mention that. I have heard a police officer from Malmö say the exact same things. Its not the people who live there, but these group of spoiled “leftists” who come in and just want to rise up against some perceived wrong. He said, just as you, that it is this group of people that escalates things to violence and destruction. Frightening how that can happen.

    @anonymous – awesome. I’m sure that will go over well in the middle of Stockholm.

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  6. Just so you all know, the Obama grace period ISN'T over. It's still alive and well stateside. On as side note, I find it a little funny that the swedish media labels them as 'leftist extremists' when that's kind of how the media here labels Obama and his people. At least Fox News does, which as you all know is fair and balanced.

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  7. Quite pathetic of them to attempt to harm. And that's what those in charge (of anything) should be saying.

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  8. "Welcome to Sweden. Where anti-Americanism seems to be becoming more brazen."

    You're boring as hell.

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  9. @the good doctor - glad to hear the grace period lives on.

    youre right about identifying different groups with different terms. like left wing extremists. I suppose it all neds up being very relative. I think Fox News's head might blow up if they spent too much time in Sweden.

    @isle - absolutely agreed. I just dont really get it.

    @james - "You're boring as hell."

    You're an ass. But we all have our flaws.

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  10. First off !
    They escape to this wonderful country that opens up to them, gives them places to stay, and money.

    What do they do? Blow up the grocery stores

    It is so disrespectful to the Swedish people and their country.

    I wish the Swedes would kick them out because they do not want to be Swedish, they want to make it like home......................a warzone

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  11. it is disrespectful to the swedish people and the country, but it is very possible that this is being done by a group of middle class swedish people in their twenties.

    to suggest that the bombings are the work of immigrants to sweden is to find yourself on a slippery slope.

    whoever did it though, the end result is the same. actions that are disrespectful, dangerous, and really counter productive.

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  12. I think it's funny that just one person realized that this is disrespectful to Sweden.

    When it comes to America and the modern life and media, I think that most of the people in the world doesn't really like what the economy looks like, and we all have the same thing to blame, Wall Street and the Bush economy.

    Although, Sweden is a socialist country, and saying that Obama is leftist extreme is wrong, because Obama isn't extreme in any way when it comes to politics.

    I think this was disrespectful to me as a Swedish citizen and this blog post was really stupid, because you didn't see the right problem, Sweden was attacked, not USA.

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  13. @s. - its almost like you didnt really understand the post.

    first, this is a blog about my views as a swedish american in sweden. so a lot of it is somewhat centered on america. and sweden. and the relationship between the two.

    so when the newspapers start reporting that these attacks might be anti-american, I take notice.

    also, I love that the worlds economic problems are somehow bushs fault. thats ridiculous and asinine and belies a lack of understanding of what went into the economic meltdown. you have basically shifted all responsibility, from individual to that of each country, to one man.

    the obama thing is a tongue in cheek joke. fox news is known to be somewhat conservative in the us. the good doctor was playing off of that. joke. haha.

    and finally, in terms of not seeing the problem, I wrote the following lines: "Of course, that includes a damn lot of stores in Sweden. Many of which are in no way associated with the US aside from a few American products being for sale. Many of which employ no Americans at all. Many of which provide the Swedish people with everything they need. Obviously it makes sense to target these stores. Idiots."

    all focus on the fact that it is Sweden that is taking the brunt of something that is supposed to be targeting the US.

    you'll also notice in the comments that I mention just how disrespectful it is. how ridiculous it is that this group decided to target sweden and just cause pain and suffering for the swedish people.

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  14. It is all about "doing something" for them.
    That what they do is idiotic, it is unimportant. It is the act that is important, not the consequences.

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  15. "to suggest that the bombings are the work of immigrants to sweden is to find yourself on a slippery slope." Honsestly? We take in tens of thousands of muslims from the middle east every year, they then get stuffed in the suburbs like Södertälje (stockholm) or Rosengård (Malmö). I would say many of them might be pretty angry at the US. And then these things happen in places where the government put them(Instead of trying to integrate them to the society, although it's pretty much impossible when you bring in much more than the country can support. There are no jobs for them or anything.) Sure, there is a chance that a group of swedes living in this place is angry at the US.. Probably a 0.2% chance, by my own estimates as a person who can think.

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  16. Seriously. Nobody is talking about this problem because they're scared of being called racist. So we just ignore it? These people are not evil but if you put them in the outskirts of the city in "ghettos" it will just be a mini-version of the middle east. And their society is COMPLETELY different then ours, so what did the guy responsible for this think?

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  17. That it is terrorism is obvious, there´s no need to point that out, it´s more important to point out that those who did it are left extremists. Many swedish journalists take left extiemism more lightly than right extremism since they were far left themselfs in their youth. Also, it´s important to emphasize that "Global intifada" are not muslims, as the name might suggest. Anonymous idiots who think they are: look it up on wikipedia.

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  18. extropolitica – I suppose you’re right. Unfortunate that they can’t find something better to do.

    @anonymous – yes. Honestly. Because until someone actually proves who this was done by, suggesting that it was some sort of immigrant group can only lead to bad things. If you want to have a discussion about immigration, then that’s fine. But to suggest that this was done by immigrants without any proof is ridiculous.

    The thing is, I agree that immigration in this country needs to be discussed. That Sweden is taking in way too many people and that at some point a country can only absorb so many without problems arising. Maybe this is the manifestation of that. But until there is proof that this wasn’t committed by some idiot left wing Swede who, as extropolitica said, wants to “do something,” I’m going to reserve judgement.

    @anoynmous – that may be. And you bring up good points about the marginalization of immigrants in Sweden. But again, no one is sure yet who actually pulled this nonsense.

    @Pelle – that’s something I never really thought about. But very interesting. It would make sense if a journalist was at one point a leftist extremist, or at least a sympathizer, that that may color your views and your writings later on. Unfortunate, but I suppose all journalism is in some way colored by the experience of the writer.

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  19. Trying to think about what one might find in a Swedish supermarket that is actually made in the U.S... I can only think of two items, both from California's Central Valley (fruits & nuts of California): Raisins and almonds. Look at any box of raisins, in any store. It will say Kingsburg, or Selma, or Fresno, California. California produces some 75 - 90% of the world production of both almonds and raisins...

    Coca-Cola, Pepsi and similar products are usually locally made in each country. Of course, a share of the proceeds will go to the corporate mothership but that's another story.

    Terrorism? Perhaps, but very local and very stupid. Probably some kids looking for their 15 minutes of fame. Pathetic.

    Word verification: "puniz" Yes that's what I hope they get.

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  20. thats a good point. a lot of the products that are known as american are produced locally.

    but to figure that out, they would have had to do some thinking. and setting grocery stores on fire doesnt suggest all that much thinknig was going on.

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