As a countryman of Sweden, I think it's sad that we've been playing lapdog throughout history. Germany during WW2, and now the US. The article refers to much less publicized occurances, but there's also lesser stories (but important signaling) like the piratebay court cases farce.
Is Russia up next as our masters, when they want to secure their fiber pipeline?
It's in cases like this that I wish that the EU was something better than what it is. If they want to enforce such federal level supremacy, why let the US pressure individual states?
As another Swede, 100% agree. For another example, look into how Sweden treated Raoul Wallenberg who courageously saved 100 000 Jews in Budapest during WW2. I can highly recommend this book: https://www.amazon.com/Wallenberg-Marton/dp/B005X8V19S/
Sweden is great in lots of ways, but that attitude in combination with Sweden's often holier-than-thou attitude towards other countries is really hypocritical.
PS. As an aside, I remember when I studied mathematics in Stockholm a few years ago and there were FRA posters for cryptography internships on the wall. It seemed intriguing, if it wasn't for the employer. DS.
The EU discourse is complicated, but in short: US interests and EU finances do not currently allow Europeans to develop a voice independent of NATO; and without a shared defense policy independent of US, there is little space for a shared foreign policy that can push back on this sort of topics. Ironically, what could change this state of things is the antagonistic US/UK isolationism currently on the rise.
I doubt that such cooperation is actually the result of (at least overt) pressure (and couldn't find anything in the article implying it). I think it may be the result of some more subtle mechanisms.
First among them is simply that there's nothing wrong with the data collection in the first place, and that the US/NSA is on your side. I'm rather uninformed about Swedish politics, but a generally positive view of the US is shared almost universally among the European elite. Many have studied in the US, binge-watched The West Wing, or simply see the positive role the US has played in Europe over the last 70 years. The only exceptions I can think of are France and some left-of-left-of-center parties.
Secondly, for someone working on or leading such efforts it's tremendously flattering to be noticed by the NSA. It may seem strange to think such basic emotions could influence policy, but I'm absolutely certain that there are people, from the actual programmers up to and including ministers, who love being invited to whatever the NSA version of WWDC is, and that they can influence policy.
I don't quite understand this lapdog argument. For obvious geopolitical reasons, Russia is an existential threat to Sweden (and Finland, where I'm from, as well as many others of its neighbours) and seeking support from other major powers - the USA, and European integration - is quite natural because USA is not an existential threat to Sweden specifically. (EU is perhaps a little bit more so, particularly with some of the highly idealistic policies it has been up to).
In WW2, what should Sweden have done? Looking from the place that lies between you and Russia, I think the Swedish policy was the wisest it can adopt and it succeeded very well: keep out of the war, keep up the defenses, do not antagonize anyone enough to test those defenses. And I appreciate the support Sweden gave to my country which was actually at war against the clear threat to Sweden, USSR, and and the endgame, against the has-been threat of Germany during Lapland war.
Regarding Sweden and WW II: If Sweden shouldn't have been a "lapdog" -- which side of the war should it have joined? With Norway or with Finland? Not a simple choice, neither now nor at the time.
And regarding USA today:
Check the democratic peace theory -- democracies don't fight wars with each others. (Not even USA. :-) ) So it is arguably in the Swedish interest to help all democracies be as strong and informed as ever possible.
That said, I doubt the reason Sweden is such a handmaid to US interests was so philosophical, of course. Every country do realpolitik and lies shamelessly about it. We don't know what the US paid (hopefully not just bribes to Swedish politicians, old hatt/mössa style... :-) ).
Edit: These comments really jumps up/down in votes. :-)
I find the pressure Sweden was exposed to by the US to ram this legislation through making us literally spy on our neighbors appalling.
Sweden was at the time threatened with being delisted from a US preferential trade list if it did not comply.
As a result of bowing down to the US, Sweden is now complicit in the crimes of the US. The global spying, the drone killings it leads to, the increased pressure Russia finds itself under (and has to act out against).
It's pretty disheartening to know that the Swedish press won't touch this with a 10-foot pole; they're busy digging/drumming up the "good ole" Russian Scare from the 60s/70s right now amidst the sabre-rattling coming, frankly, largely from the West.
EDIT: The link covers an incident where one of FRA's planes were shot down in 1952. Everything were successfully covered up for more than 50 years, and a lot of the reports are still unavailable. The FRA _really_ likes to not talk about themselves, more so than many other intelligence agencies.
The FRA claims that the now 65 year old reports could still pose a threat to current operations.
>> sabre-rattling coming, frankly, largely from the West
Uh, the Western democracies have started to do wars in Europe for territory? :-)
After Soviet fell, the NATO forces (and the neutral countries) in Europe melted away; the US/Canadian units in Germany went home and so on. This changed after Russia started to rebuild and do wars.
Edit: This was about the new "sabre rattling". Long, long after the Balkan horrible tragedies. (And I'd really argue if the "West" rattled any sabers there, but it isn't relevant anyway.)
FRA made a deal with an entity called Krigsarkivet, a Swedish national archive for military history, to store data they collect in and around Sweden. For like, future research. Naturally they couldn't store this data within the Krigsarkivet's existing archives, so K had to open an archive on FRA's premises. Because this was for future research, the deal was that they were, you know, just to store the data and be done with it. Of course, that's not what happened at all. Instead, they're actively maintaining the archive, meaning that they're effectively using the "for future research" K archive as their own XKeyScore.
The most interesting point to me here is the Carl Bildt Internet freedom part.
> When Bildt was asked at a forum on Internet freedom in 2013 how he reconciled these two views, he explained that Sweden was doing surveillance for a good purpose. “There is a difference between good states and somewhat less good states,” he said.
I guess the new C-Lion1 cable is the reason why Finland is now changing legalization to allow monitoring, intelligence, snooping, espionage and offensive action. Basically looking to have NSA like capabilities legally and hack anyone anywhere, just as US does.
Weekly magazines often appear in doctors offices and in mailboxes of consumer home subscriptions many days before their ascribed "newstand date." (newsweek, time magazine, national geographic, the economist... )
Note the qualifier "ISSUE," which would hint that it's not a daily.
For weeklies, editors probably have their print runs prepped for the publishers a few weeks in advance, with some variable slots left ambiguous for flexibility, in case they want to pre-empt a soft story with significant breaking news.
This piece doesn't seem to be a run up of current events, like the latest Trump tweets or whatever active shooter incident du jour. It's really a research piece that probably took several months to compile, edit and sweeten. Figure the broad strokes and the idea of the article were crafted over the summer, maybe.
Don't they have any editors? "Over the following weeks and months, Snowden’s revelations about the NSA’s global surveillance efforts, and in particular its bulk data collection program, called PRISM," has been known to be wrong for a few years now. This calls the rest of the reporting into question.
[+] [-] croon|9 years ago|reply
As a countryman of Sweden, I think it's sad that we've been playing lapdog throughout history. Germany during WW2, and now the US. The article refers to much less publicized occurances, but there's also lesser stories (but important signaling) like the piratebay court cases farce.
Is Russia up next as our masters, when they want to secure their fiber pipeline?
It's in cases like this that I wish that the EU was something better than what it is. If they want to enforce such federal level supremacy, why let the US pressure individual states?
[+] [-] oskarth|9 years ago|reply
Sweden is great in lots of ways, but that attitude in combination with Sweden's often holier-than-thou attitude towards other countries is really hypocritical.
PS. As an aside, I remember when I studied mathematics in Stockholm a few years ago and there were FRA posters for cryptography internships on the wall. It seemed intriguing, if it wasn't for the employer. DS.
[+] [-] toyg|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eternalban|9 years ago|reply
I wouldn't take it to heart. It's a matter of geography. You were caught between a rock and a hard place.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Poltava
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_East_India_Company
[+] [-] matt4077|9 years ago|reply
First among them is simply that there's nothing wrong with the data collection in the first place, and that the US/NSA is on your side. I'm rather uninformed about Swedish politics, but a generally positive view of the US is shared almost universally among the European elite. Many have studied in the US, binge-watched The West Wing, or simply see the positive role the US has played in Europe over the last 70 years. The only exceptions I can think of are France and some left-of-left-of-center parties.
Secondly, for someone working on or leading such efforts it's tremendously flattering to be noticed by the NSA. It may seem strange to think such basic emotions could influence policy, but I'm absolutely certain that there are people, from the actual programmers up to and including ministers, who love being invited to whatever the NSA version of WWDC is, and that they can influence policy.
[+] [-] ptaipale|9 years ago|reply
In WW2, what should Sweden have done? Looking from the place that lies between you and Russia, I think the Swedish policy was the wisest it can adopt and it succeeded very well: keep out of the war, keep up the defenses, do not antagonize anyone enough to test those defenses. And I appreciate the support Sweden gave to my country which was actually at war against the clear threat to Sweden, USSR, and and the endgame, against the has-been threat of Germany during Lapland war.
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] seppin|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berntb|9 years ago|reply
And regarding USA today:
Check the democratic peace theory -- democracies don't fight wars with each others. (Not even USA. :-) ) So it is arguably in the Swedish interest to help all democracies be as strong and informed as ever possible.
That said, I doubt the reason Sweden is such a handmaid to US interests was so philosophical, of course. Every country do realpolitik and lies shamelessly about it. We don't know what the US paid (hopefully not just bribes to Swedish politicians, old hatt/mössa style... :-) ).
Edit: These comments really jumps up/down in votes. :-)
[+] [-] robert_foss|9 years ago|reply
Sweden was at the time threatened with being delisted from a US preferential trade list if it did not comply.
As a result of bowing down to the US, Sweden is now complicit in the crimes of the US. The global spying, the drone killings it leads to, the increased pressure Russia finds itself under (and has to act out against).
[+] [-] nugator|9 years ago|reply
Sounds a bit biased to my Swedish ears.
[+] [-] moogly|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] widforss|9 years ago|reply
And it is really hard for journalists to write something constructive about the FRA because of the secrecy [1].
[1]: https://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2519&ar...
EDIT: The link covers an incident where one of FRA's planes were shot down in 1952. Everything were successfully covered up for more than 50 years, and a lot of the reports are still unavailable. The FRA _really_ likes to not talk about themselves, more so than many other intelligence agencies.
The FRA claims that the now 65 year old reports could still pose a threat to current operations.
[+] [-] lostlogin|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] krona|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] berntb|9 years ago|reply
Uh, the Western democracies have started to do wars in Europe for territory? :-)
After Soviet fell, the NATO forces (and the neutral countries) in Europe melted away; the US/Canadian units in Germany went home and so on. This changed after Russia started to rebuild and do wars.
Edit: This was about the new "sabre rattling". Long, long after the Balkan horrible tragedies. (And I'd really argue if the "West" rattled any sabers there, but it isn't relevant anyway.)
[+] [-] sslalready|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] schoen|9 years ago|reply
> When Bildt was asked at a forum on Internet freedom in 2013 how he reconciled these two views, he explained that Sweden was doing surveillance for a good purpose. “There is a difference between good states and somewhat less good states,” he said.
I think this is from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stDl6ovmwrE
which really sets out a major set of tensions that all of us working in this area must have felt.
[+] [-] grendelt|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ommunist|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jessaustin|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Sami_Lehtinen|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tormeh|9 years ago|reply
So an EU member helps the US hack the EU? Wow. I mean, why is that even necessary? Why not just forward the emails?
[+] [-] koltaggar|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hallaathrad|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] intarTrode|9 years ago|reply
Note the qualifier "ISSUE," which would hint that it's not a daily.
For weeklies, editors probably have their print runs prepped for the publishers a few weeks in advance, with some variable slots left ambiguous for flexibility, in case they want to pre-empt a soft story with significant breaking news.
This piece doesn't seem to be a run up of current events, like the latest Trump tweets or whatever active shooter incident du jour. It's really a research piece that probably took several months to compile, edit and sweeten. Figure the broad strokes and the idea of the article were crafted over the summer, maybe.
[+] [-] unknown|9 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] lern_too_spel|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Karlozkiller|9 years ago|reply