A new wave of pro-NATO voices can be heard in the Swedish political discussion and I believe that it is the wrong way to go down for the currently neutral (at least on paper) Sweden. Staying out of NATO is great for the common folks of Sweden, not that great for the war industry and the political elite that seeks to fill their pockets with blood money. Stopping the Government from squeezing out tax money for weapons and conflict on civilians of far away countries is virtious. In this article I seek to outline why. 📋
I am principally against war, especially conflicts set up by a big industrial military complex that seeks to profiteer on death and destruction. Most modern wars are started not out of defense, but out of greed. NATO is an armed alliance that has lots of mixed incentives for starting wars inside its organisation - From Frances involvement in African conflicts to USA/Turkey's power plays in the middle east.Â
For the smaller countries that is members of NATO Â there is a mixed bag of incentives to join. For countries like Iceland it is more or less the small islands only defense (in addition of 4 aircraft's) and in the case of mainland European countries its a sort of way to keep Russia honest, in theory.
As a member nation, especially when you are one of the smaller contributors, you will get dragged into these conflicts halfway across the globe that you are not really directly affected by - Just because of your association with the big boys that play their warfare games. Â
When you remove the choice for people into a centralized power, you detach us from the process and remove our say in the matter completely. We get stuck to pay the bill for wars we didn't really want, for lords we haven't voted in to power and for reasons we do not agree with - That is NATO in a nutshell for me. Â You add a layer to the government that is so far above the heads of regular people that you complicate the mechanics of how the people interact with it. In essence you make the people slaves to the will of the ones in charge, not only in your local parliament but also foreign parliaments.
"If we get attacked, we will have no backup since we are neutral"
Who is this boogie-man that will invade Sweden? Many national security and foreign policy experts in Sweden has pointed out Russia as a possible nation that has an itchy trigger finger. #Russia is used as a scare-tactic in the hopes of  pushing voters on to the NATO-train. But, wouldn't it be more rational to work for a better relationship with Russia if that is the case? Wouldn't further aligning yourself with their 'frenemy' just provoke the Russian bear and sour any existing relationship further?
"When goods don’t cross borders, Soldiers will" -  Frédéric Bastiat Â
Around 40% of Swedens imported oil comes from Russia according to the Bureau of Statistics. Overall, Sweden is a net-importer of Russian goods and services, if we count in monetary value. That is significant for any future conflicts and should be cultivated further via removing any road blocks from the State, so trades get more lucrative. Good trade partners don't shoot at each other. It is easier to talk with someone under a diplomacy umbrella when you have mutual interest in keeping a good tone with each other.