#Nordic Council of Ministers

[internationalwomenday]

Nordic Ministers panel: A Gender Equal Future for Financial Freedom (CSW68 Side Event).

Nordic Ministers panel for gender equality in shaping policies for the empowerment of all women towards economic freedom, exploring strategies to enhance gender equal labor markets, addressing persistent challenges such as the gender pay gap, unequal distribution of care work, and women's economic dependencies.

Watch the Nordic Ministers panel: A Gender Equal Future for Financial Freedom (CSW68 Side Event)

[sciencedayforpeaceanddev]

2nd international symposium on plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region.

Scientific research and studies into plastic pollution have been growing quite fast over the last couple of decades. It is essential that we take full advantage of the best available knowledge when we look for solutions to tackle this global problem. In March 2021, Iceland and the Nordic Council of Ministers hosted a successful First symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region with participants calling for a follow up in the near future.

For these reasons, the Government of Iceland, with the support of the Nordic Council of Ministers, will host a Second International Symposium on Plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region at Harpa, Reykjavík Concert Hall and Conference Center, on 22-23 November 2023. The aim is to gather scientific, Indigenous and local knowledge on plastic pollution and discuss ways and means to reduce the impact of plastics on Arctic ecosystems.

REGISTER The Government of Iceland has already received confirmation from the following organizations and institutions to become partners in the event. These are the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES), the Oslo and Paris Commission (OSPAR), the International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO, the University of the Arctic (UArctic), the International Arctic Science Committee (IASC) the Polar Institute of Wilson Center, GRID-Arendal, the Center for the Ocean and the Arctic, UiT the Arctic University of Norway and the Nature Institute of Greenland. Iceland is interested in extending the collaboration and partnership in the symposium and will welcome additional partners for the event. The symposium is being held with financial support from the Nordic Council of Ministers. The planned symposium will build on the foundation of science of the first symposium and produce information and advice for decision makers. The symposium aims for exchange of views and updates of knowledge from various sources. The symposium will evaluate the present extent and nature of plastic pollution in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions and discuss its impact on ecosystems and communities. The origin of plastic litter, how it is transported to or in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic region and how breakdown processes are affecting the status of pollution will also be addressed.

Finally the symposium will focus on possible mitigation methods and how they can be implemented and provide useful input to the ongoing negotiations on an international agreement on plastic pollution, and to other ongoing relevant international work to support protection of the marine environment. A high-level scientific steering committee has been established to assist in developing the program of the symposium.

Conference themes

Monitoring and assessment of plastic pollution in the Arctic.

Methodological developments to determine macro, micro and nano plastics.         

Sources and transport of plastic in the Arctic and sub-Arctic.

Impacts of marine litter in the Arctic (environmental, economic and social).

Arctic challenges and solutions for improved waste management.

Tackling plastic pollution: international collaboration, policies, best practices and novel developments from around the world.

Marine litter, particularly when made of plastic, is one of the more challenging problems affecting the marine environment globally. Plastics account for 72% of all marine litter in the world ocean.

Register to participate to the 2nd international symposium on plastics in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic Region.

[dostoyevsky-official]

this a view of someone who's ignored european developments since 2007, opting for a rosy, outdated view of european politics, i.e. the exact type of american committing the exact type of mistake i'm warning about.

to address this point by point: not only has inflation been a global issue, but the US has consistently enjoyed the lowest inflation of any developed economy. american CPI has remained below the british, polish, and eurozone average numbers. european economies have to deal with fallout from the russian invasion of ukraine that the us can ignore: notably, in energy prices, as the US became self-sufficient in energy (and never imported any from russia to begin with, something squeezing the german economy). america is also not hosting millions of ukrainian refugees.

when discussing european instutions—and "europe" in general—one has to be more specific. do you mean the overarching institutions of the EU, criticized for a democratic deficit that many have pinpointed as one source for euro-skepticism and the rise of the far right? the EU Council, widely ignored and headed by charles michel, an incompetent, blatant nepobaby appointment whom everyone grinds their teeth over? the EU parliament, recently filled with a fresh batch of far-right hooligans, which functions more or less as a rubber stamp for the commission? the EU commission itself, headed by VdL, the latest in a string of failed local politician commissioners (who remembers the alcoholic swindler juncker?) masquerading as technocrats? the ECB, which smothers the monetary (and through the maastricht criteria, the fiscal) policy of eurozone members, thereby fueling resentment, far-right movements, and economic disparity? and all of this held hostage by the veto of one orban or fico, —or the german supreme court, when it decides it's had enough with public investment. those institutions, which remain so opaque that even educated americans—and europeans—aren't entirely aware of their function?

or do we mean the institutions of individual countries, ranging from undemocratic autocracies like hungary to the fief of the jupiter king, who called elections in june, lost them, refused to nominate a prime minister from the winning coalition, didn't name any for over a month, and then appointed a rightwing politician from a party that scored dead last, sidestepping his own centrist party? the UK, where sir keir is handing out five years in jail time to climate protesters, raising tuition fees, relying on private investment companies, and through rachel reeves' plan to fix the alleged budget hole left by hunt before further investment, again enacting austerity? this is all front-page headline news from the last half year.

european countries indeed have cheaper healthcare costs, better pensions, and other public goods that the united states does not. when considering "quality of life," remember, however, that most european countries have unemployment rates considered astronomic in america, especially for under-35s:

to focus again and again on european social democracy is to ignore that it has been steadily eroded since the end of the cold war and especially since the great recession by neoliberal political forces that crush the left and open the door for the far right. in the most blatant example, beside's macron's legislative politricks, the IMF-ECB-EC troika cut off euro cash liquidity flow to greece when syriza was trying to undo austerity under varoufakis. the greek collapse consigned a generation to economic failure, killed seniors, and curtailed possibilities for the youth. this erosion happened even in the nordic model, long imagined by americans as nothing short of a utopia:

In part due to the scrapping of wealth and inheritance taxes and a lower corporate tax than both the U.S. and European averages, Sweden has one of the most unequal distributions of wealth in the world today: on a level with Bahrain and Oman, and worse than the United States. Perhaps most dispiriting for Sanders, Sweden also now hosts the highest proportion of billionaires per capita in the world. Many of the country’s trademark social services are now provided by private firms. Its private schools even benefit from the same level of state subsidy as public schools—a voucher system far more radical than anything in the United States and that Democratic politicians would be crucified for advocating. Both here and there, right-leaning commentators in 2020 decried Sanders’s portrait as little more than what Johan Norberg, Swedish author of The Capitalist Manifesto, has called a 1970s “pipedream.” On this, Swedish observers on the left gloomily agree: despite official rhetoric, the “Nordic welfare model” is now more nostalgic myth than reality. (x)

to problematize further, there's an unadressed first world perspective: who's getting the good quality of life, why are the main economies of the EU so wealthy, and how does the EU continue to enrich itself? there are certainly many living outdoors today, drowning in the mediterranean, or dying of exposure in białowieża. fortress europe is a crime against humanity—and it doesn't beat back the far right. it weakens civic and human rights, undermines legal oversight, and criminalizes humanitarian engagement, allowing an authoritarian creep.

you shouldn't understand the political and the historical as a snapshot in time, but as a moving train. this is the state of europe today. all of the above is necessarily a simplification and an abbreviation, but there's a trajectory you can begin to trace out: given all of the above, where do you think europe is headed?

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this EcoWatch story:

More than 40 scientists have written an open letter warning of a potential “tipping point” for the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in the Arctic.

The letter to the Nordic Council of Ministers encourages countries in the region to prevent global heating from causing AMOC’s collapse, which could lead to sudden changes in weather patterns and damage to ecosystems.

“Science increasingly confirms that the Arctic region is a ‘ground zero’ for tipping point risks and climate regulation across the planet. In this region, the Greenland Ice Sheet, the Barents sea ice, the boreal permafrost systems, the subpolar gyre deep-water formation and the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) are all vulnerable to major, interconnected nonlinear changes,” the scientists said in the letter. “The AMOC, the dominant mechanism of northward heat transport in the North Atlantic, determines life conditions for all people in the Arctic region and beyond and is increasingly at risk of passing a tipping point.”

AMOC is an ocean current system that brings warm water to the North Atlantic, giving Europe its mild climate, reported Reuters.

AMOC’s collapse would raise sea levels in the Atlantic, make the Northern Hemisphere cooler, reduce precipitation in North America and Europe and change monsoon patterns in Africa and South America, the United Kingdom’s Met Office said, as reported by Reuters.

“If Britain and Ireland become like northern Norway, (that) has tremendous consequences. Our finding is that this is not a low probability,” said signatory of the letter professor Peter Ditlevsen of the University of Copenhagen, as Reuters reported. “This is not something you easily adapt to.”

[allthegeopolitics]

Norway has urged the United Nations Security Council to grant Palestine full membership status, saying the Nordic country will vote in favor when the General Assembly votes on the issue, Anadolu Agency reports. “Norway has made it very clear that it supports Palestine’s application for full membership status in the UN, and that Norway will vote in favor the day the General Assembly holds a vote on the application,” Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a statement issued late Friday. The announcement comes after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Friday (May 10) calling for the reevaluation of Palestine’s UN membership bid and the grant of additional rights. The US, Israel, Hungary, Argentina, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, and Papua New Guinea all voted against it.

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[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Bernard Lane

Published: Aug 13, 2023

Denmark has taken a step towards caution in gender care by offering a form of counselling rather than medical treatments to the main patient group of teenagers with no childhood history of distress in their birth sex.

Official acknowledgment of a change in treatment policy was given on May 31 by the Liberal Party Health Minister Sophie Løhde during parliamentary debate of an unsuccessful resolution seeking a total ban on medical transition of minors.

Ms Løhde said that medical treatment at the Danish central gender clinic in Copenhagen—the Sexology Clinic—would only be offered “if the child or young person has had gender dysphoria since childhood.”

“If the gender dysphoria has started in connection with puberty, the young person may, among other things, be referred to a process of reflection or clarification,” she said.

“This process is often finalised without medical treatment, as the indication for treatment is not considered present.”

The dominant patient profile internationally is adolescent-onset dysphoria, chiefly affecting females, but the (limited and contested) evidence base for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors mostly derives from past studies of classic early childhood-onset dysphoria typically among males.

Gender distress that appears at or after the onset of puberty, often following online immersion and transgender identity declarations among school friends, is commonly referred to as Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD) following the 2018 preliminary study of American public health researcher Dr. Lisa Littman.

Dr. Littman’s work is well known in Nordic countries. Sweden’s National Board of Health and Welfare last year referenced her 2021 detransitioners study and declared that the very low rate of treatment regret claimed by youth gender clinics “no longer stands unchallenged”.

Sweden and Finland are the most advanced in the post-2019 Nordic shift to caution, while health authorities in Norway are under pressure after the country’s independent healthcare investigation agency declared in March that medicalised gender change for young people was “experimental” and should be confined to clinical trials.

Systematic reviews of the evidence base undertaken in Finland and Sweden showed it to be weak (as did reviews in the United Kingdom).

“[Although in Denmark’s parliament] the issue of gender reassignment for children and other identity policy topics seems strongly divided into blocs, we feel that this is by no means the case in the general population, when the seriousness of the matter finally dawns on people. Many simply did not know that this was happening”—Danish Rainbow Council post, 2 March 2023

Denmark’s point of difference is that the call for an end to medical transition of minors is being spearheaded by a mainstream LGBT group, the Danish Rainbow Council, launched in 2022 under the leadership of transsexual Marcus Dib Jensen. The organisation is pledged to child safeguarding and recognition of gender dysphoria as a mental disorder, while opposing the extremes of gender ideology.

In May’s parliamentary debate, Minister Løhde faced pointed questions on gender medicine from politicians Mette Thiesen and Mikkel Bjørn, both members of the populist Danish People’s Party.

The minister presented the treatment policy change as an evolution influenced by developments in the field and clinical judgment. She was not specific about which medical treatment was being withheld from patients with adolescent-onset dysphoria (or ROGD), nor the timing of the policy change.

She noted that the Sexology Clinic had “become more reluctant to offer hormone treatment” to young people.

“This reluctance manifests itself particularly regarding young people with gender dysphoria that arises in connection with puberty.

“I think it is a positive thing that there is [such] a response to research and experience… both in Denmark, but also abroad, which we must follow closely. And this knowledge and experience lead to adjustments in the current treatment options.”

The group LGBT+ Danmark, whose slogan is “Global Queer Solidarity” and which campaigns for “better gender-confirming treatment”, told GCN that the minister’s remarks referred not to a change in general treatment guidelines but to “an adjustment in the practice” of the Sexology Clinic last year.

GCN put questions to the clinic and to Denmark’s health ministry.

Big change

A recent commentary article on the minister’s remarks posted by the Danish Rainbow Council’s deputy chairman Jesper W. Rasmussen said:

“It is important to understand how significant it is that as many as 80 per cent of the children who previously underwent gender reassignment surgery will now, in the minister’s own words, no longer be able to undergo this controversial, irreversible treatment. “Since [the minister’s comments], we have received several emails from relieved parents of ROGD children, and in the coming months we will keep a close eye on whether these children continue to be free from hormonal sex reassignment. “We will do this by regularly requesting access to the treatment statistics from the Sexology Clinic [at the specialist hospital Rigshospitalet].”

The resolution for a total ban, put up in March by the populist New Right party after all other members of parliament had ignored apolitical appeals from the rainbow council, was not expected to pass in the government-controlled chamber.

But the council argued that the result was significant because public debate had been unleashed and the authorities were put under pressure.

The council suspected that the de-medicalisation of adolescent-onset (or ROGD) cases had been enacted without formal announcement in 2022, thereby explaining a sharp decline that year in the number of minors undergoing hormonal treatment.

Roughly 80 per cent of the 341 minors who had undergone medicalised gender change from 2015 to 2022 were believed to be in the ROGD category, the council said.

Since 2015, when Ms Løhde was also health minister, minors have been able to undergo irreversible medical gender reassignment without parental consent from the age of 15.

“A top [American] pediatric psychiatry organization has nixed at least three panels with leading European psychologists about Europe’s move away from chemical interventions for children with gender dysphoria, raising questions about the politicization of American medicine and underscoring a clinical divide between the United States and much of the world”—Aaron Sibarium, news report, The Washington Free Beacon, 11 August 2023

Future unknown

In 2021, Sexology Clinic consultant Dr. Mette Ewers Haahr gave an interview to the Dagbladet Information media outlet in which she acknowledged “a lack of research” relevant to today’s mostly teenage female patients and her concerns about why these girls wanted to change gender.

“We see that treatment helps young people in the short term. But we lack knowledge about what happens in ten and 20 years. Or when they want to have children. What happens when they fall in love and start to have an active sex life?” Dr. Haahr said.

“Transgender young people assigned female have, for the most part, no active sex life. Not even with themselves. How will their sex life develop and does this affect their perception of their gender? We have sometimes seen in young people that gender and sex life interact and change together.”

Dr. Haahr’s comments about the weak evidence base prompted the rainbow council to ask why the authorities had allowed such a confident regimen of paediatric transition to begin in 2015.

“As adults, we must dare to step up and say stop this madness. We castrate and sterilise children and physically destroy their otherwise healthy bodies to alleviate a psychological discomfort that is usually temporary and, if not, can be treated with a sex change on the other side of puberty,” the council’s June 2 comment said.

No surgery on minors

In May’s parliamentary debate, Minister Løhde also said that under new referral guidelines, it would no longer be permissible to offer transgender surgery such as mastectomy to children under age 18—“an option that, by the way, has never been used in Denmark.”

She said the country’s “entire guidance on health care for individuals with gender identity issues” was being reviewed.

GCN asked the Danish Health Authority if a systematic review of the evidence base would be undertaken.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: “We are in the process of updating the existing guideline and we will consult leading experts in that revision.”

In a post on a Danish study dealing with trans identity and suicide attempts, the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine (SEGM) said:

“It remains to be seen whether the Danish Health Authority will take a cautious approach to the treatment of gender-dysphoric youth like the growing number of their European counterparts, or whether Denmark will choose to align with the current direction supported by a number of U.S. medical societies that assert that medical gender transition should be widely available for all youths who desire it.”

Copenhagen psychotherapist and former teacher Lotte Ingerslev, who writes the blog Transgender: the Fine Print and is a member of SEGM, told GCN that the Danish health minister’s May 31 remarks were “very, very important.”

She said the minister had represented this policy shift “as simply a result of the doctors ‘following the evidence’, and not a complete and utter break with their previous approach.”

Ms Ingerslev said this appeared to be a government tactic for “evading responsibility for the utter disregard for children’s bodies and lives.”

Nonetheless, she said the policy change meant “that teenagers will no longer be able to expect to get hormones as a quick fix for their loneliness, autism or inner homophobia.”

But she said these concessions to caution by the government and the Sexology Clinic were not enough and “the transing of children needs to be stopped completely.”

“Otherwise, the general public, schools, day-care centres and parents of gender-non-conforming children get a message from the state saying that gender-non-conformity is a sign that a child is ‘trans’, which goes against all evidence,” she said.

Opt-out females

In her 2021 media interview, the Sexology Clinic’s Dr. Haahr wondered aloud about why female patients are disproportionately represented in gender clinic caseloads.

She worried that for some girls, transition was more about “opting out of the feminine than opting into the masculine”, and more to do with physical discomfort than a different gender identity.

“When the birth-assigned girls reach puberty and their bodies change, some of them start to have these thoughts. Maybe the outside world has started to react differently to them because their bodies are suddenly sexualised,” Dr. Haahr said.

“They may not get as much speaking time, they’re belittled if they take up too much space, and certain girl things are expected of them that they can’t identify with. And then they feel really, really bad about their feminine bodies.

“Unlike the children [with early-onset dysphoria], who have experienced themselves as a different gender for as long as they can remember, we see that some of the [teenage] girls… have only had these thoughts for six months and are determined that they need body modification treatment. And then it becomes really difficult to figure out what it’s all about and what the right thing to do is.”

She said she paid particular attention to whether these girls had suffered traumatic experiences such as bullying, assault or sexual abuse.

“Abuse during adolescence and childhood can lead to alienation from one’s body. That’s where we need to be extra vigilant.”

She said today’s teenage female patients sometimes used formulaic language seemingly not their own when explaining why they wished to transition—it was like “listening to them read from a Facebook manual”.

She defended Dr. Littman’s 2018 ROGD study, which generated an international backlash from “gender-affirming” clinicians and trans activists, as well as pressure for the journal to issue a “correction” which in fact left the Littman hypothesis unchanged.

Dr. Haahr’s gender clinic colleague, chief physician Astrid Højgaard dismissed the ROGD hypothesis and objected that right-wing groups were enthusiastic about the idea of trans social contagion.

But Dr Haahr said: “It is not my impression that Littman has done the research to appease the right wing or because she is transphobic, but because she thought the phenomenon should be studied.

“I think that if we can’t talk about this very large increase in the number of birth-assigned girls seeking to change their bodies during puberty, then it’s going to be a problem for all transgender people in the future.”

[usafphantom2]

With NATO membership imminent, Sweden and the US sign a new defense cooperation agreement

Fernando Valduga By Fernando Valduga 08/12/2023 - 00:07in Military

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and Swedish defense minister Pal Jonson signed a bilateral Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on December 5, strengthening military ties between the two nations, which will allow bilateral exercises and new joint acquisitions and will further pave the way for Sweden's integration into NATO.

The agreement “will allow greater defense cooperation, such as the legal status of U.S. military personnel, access to areas of deployment and the pre-positioning of military material,” said Pentagon spokesman Brig. General Patrick S. Ryder told reporters: "The DCA also creates the necessary conditions for U.S. military support when requested and is therefore an agreement of great importance for both countries." More details were not provided immediately.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Sweden and Finland, who have long been neutral, applied to join NATO and, although Finland has been admitted to the alliance, Sweden's accession awaits the approval of Turkey and Hungary.

Jonson, speaking on December 5 with the Atlantic Council, refused to provide a schedule on when he expects the final obstacles to Sweden's accession to be eliminated, only saying that this will be "soon".

B-1 bombers first landed in Sweden in 2023.

“Turkey has granted Swedish guest status, saying that it is not if we are going to become members, but when... and we hope that this will be resolved as soon as possible,” Jonson said.

About the DCA between the US and Sweden, Jonson said: “This will make our close partnership even closer. It will create better conditions for U.S. forces, both to use Swedish territory as a preparation and base area, as well as for exercise, and it is also a deterrent. Therefore, the DCA will be a new cornerstone in our bilateral cooperation."

He later said that the U.S. military presence in Sweden “is important” for NATO integration and that the DCA will guide U.S. investment in the region.

Jonson's observations focused on how Sweden will integrate its armed forces into NATO and argued that Stockholm is already highly aligned, both operationally and technically, with NATO standards.

As an example, he cited last year's "Silver Arrow" exercise with the U.S., saying that it was Sweden's largest exercise in 25 years and highlighted the need to pay attention to logistics and maintenance, and the ability to "fight for a long time".

He noted that the Nordic countries of Norway, Finland and Denmark already work together militarily and all now have DCA with the U.S., which should accelerate and improve NATO interoperability in the Scandinavian region.

Sweden was one of the first members of the Partnership for Peace (PFP) - sometimes called "NATO Light" - created during the Clinton administration to establish a path for NATO membership for other European countries and for the former Warsaw Pact nations. The PFP has defined a series of steps, from joint exercises to common equipment and training standards, necessary for membership, and Sweden fully embraced all of them, Jonson said, and sent its troops to serve alongside NATO forces in Afghanistan, Kosovo and Libya.

“We are linked to NATO's regional plans,” he said, and Sweden offers not only state-of-the-art land, air and naval forces and grassroots opportunities, but also experience in Russian intelligence issues.

"Intelligence is also an asset that I think we can bring to the table, to the alliance," Jonson said. "Sweden has a lot of Russian experience. We have strong capabilities in our intelligence communities. We have sensors that can work on our submarines and also on our surface fighters and also on aerial sensors."

T-7A jet developed by Boeing in partnership with Saab.

Sweden, despite having a population of only 10 million inhabitants, also has a defense industry capable of building armored vehicles, submarines, corvets and combat and command and control aircraft, and is manufacturing 155 mm ammunition for Ukraine, along with Denmark and Norway. The SAAB JAS39 Gripen is a frequent competitor to the U.S. F-16 and F-35 in international competitions, and its GlobalEye airborne alert and control system often faces Boeing's E-7 Wedgetail. SAAB is a partner of Boeing in USAF's T-7A Red Hawk advanced trainer, and Sweden's Gripen fighters carry US-made AIM-120 AMRAAM missiles and are powered by GE Aerospace F414 engines.

Sweden is “fully in favor” of NATO's objectives that each member devote two percent of its gross domestic product to defense and 20 percent of that amount to new equipment and research and development, Jonson said.

“Sweden doubled its defense budgets by 2024 compared to what we were in 2020,” he said. "In five years, we have doubled [expenditures]... and next year we will reach 2.1 percent of GDP and we also have an upward trajectory."

In addition, Jonson said that Sweden spends “actually 56% when it comes to acquisitions. Therefore, we obtained a very good score in terms of investments and also in innovation."

NATO membership will give Sweden greater security to deter a possible aggression by Russia, which continues to wage war against Ukraine, and Jonson said that Sweden also wants to do its part to prevent Russia from a series of new attacks.

"If Russia succeeds in this war, I fear that other countries neighboring Russia, such as Moldova and Georgia, will feel increasing pressure and that there will also be increasing pressure on the Alliance. Therefore, be sure that the United States has a partner in Sweden who shares the unity of purpose of supporting Ukraine for as long as necessary,” he said.

Russia outlined plans to regroup from losses in Ukraine and “return with a greater force” in 2026, Jonson added, which will require vigilance and will not diminish support for Kiev from NATO and the European Union. There is a “window of opportunity” for NATO to maintain the pressure to ensure a desirable outcome in the war, he added.

Most of the Swedish electorate – 65-70 percent – supports NATO membership, Jonson said, and 88 percent of the seats in parliament were won “by those who want to join,” Jonson said. They recognize that Russia's aggression is an immediate danger and requires an "evolution" in thought.

“Sweden is no longer being defended within Sweden,” he said.

Tags: Military AviationFlygvapnet - Swedish Air ForceJAS39 GripenNATO - North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationsaabUSAF - United States Air Force / U.S. Air Force

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Fernando Valduga

Fernando Valduga

Aviation photographer and pilot since 1992, has participated in several events and air operations, such as Cruzex, AirVenture, Dayton Airshow and FIDAE. He has work published in specialized aviation magazines in Brazil and abroad. Uses Canon equipment during his photographic work in the world of aviation.

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[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 12/8/2023 | The Libertarian Institute

Here is your daily roundup of today's news:

News Roundup 12/8/2023

by Kyle Anzalone

Venezuela

The US military said Thursday that it would conduct flight operations in Guyana amid tensions between the Caribbean nation and its neighbor Venezuela over the disputed Guayana Esequiba region. AWC

Russia

Ukrainian and Eastern European Officials Travel to Lobby Congress for More Military. The HillAWC

White House Announces New $175 Million Weapons Package for Ukraine. Press ReleaseAWC

The US and Sweden have signed a Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) that will grant the US military access to bases across the Nordic country as Stockholm has abandoned its centuries-old policy of neutrality. AWC

Senate Republicans blocked a motion to advance a massive $111 billion spending package that includes military aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan over a partisan dispute on border issues. AWC

Israel

Top UN Chief Says Gaza Situation “Apocalyptic.” Guardian

US Officials Say Israel Will Continue Major Military Operations in Gaza into 2024. CNN

White House Interns Pen Letter Demanding Gaza Ceasefire and Call Israeli Actions Against Palestinians a “Genocide.” MEE

Despite the soaring civilian deaths in Gaza, the Biden administration is not considering using any of the leverage it has over Israel to get the Israeli military to change its tactics, Reuters reported on Tuesday. AWC

The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Friday to discuss the Israeli onslaught in Gaza after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter for the first time during his tenure, which started in 2017. AWC

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Wednesday that Hezbollah must be pushed back from the Israeli border, and if it’s not achieved through diplomatic means, Israel will take military action. AWC

Joint Investigation Finds Israeli Tank Shell Killed Journalist in Lebanon. WashPoThe Institute

Egypt Warns Israel Driving Palestinians Into Sinai Will “Rupture” Ties. Axios

US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer said Thursday that the Biden administration has not set a deadline on Israel’s war in Gaza and reiterated US opposition to a ceasefire. AWC

Yemen

US Navy Claims to Shoot Down Another Houthi Drone. VOA

Saudi Arabia Is Requesting the US Show Restraint Responding to Houthi Attacks in Red Sea. Jerusalem Post

US Places Sanctions on Houthis in Response to Attacks in Red Sea. VOA

Israel Claims to Shoot Down Yemeni Ballistic Missile. Haaretz

The Biden administration has asked Israel not to respond to recent attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. AWC

Read More

[duchessofvastergotland]

26th April 2023 // Crown Princess Victoria attended the conference Nordic Food Waste Summit in Stockholm. The conference, which was organized by the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Swedish Food Agency, brought together experts, politicians, authorities, companies and civil society to increase cooperation in the Nordic region and to bring about immediate measures to reduce food waste. In the Nordic countries, approximately 3.5 million tonnes of edible food is thrown away annually.

[swldx]

Radio Romania Int. 0428 2 Nov 2024

9510Khz 0358 2 NOV 2024 - RADIO ROMANIA INT. (ROMANIA) in ENGLISH from GALBENI. SINPO = 55445. English, @0358z RRI int. QRM=VoA music via Vatican. @0400z VoA s/off and RRI news jingle fb ID (Western NA service) by male announcer. News @0401z read by female announcer. § The Romanian Ministry of Defence (MApN) welcomed Tuesday, October 29, Norway's initiative to support Romania in the acquisition of an advanced Patriot surface-to-air missile system. The Norwegian government's decision to contribute NOK 1.4 billion (approximately USD 127 million) to this purchase was announced at the Nordic Council Session held in Reykjavik this week. Romania also acquired 32 F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft from Norway, and a new batch of three arrived in the country last week. The rest are to be delivered by the end of 2025. § A Romanian on the missing person list in the Spain flood has been identified as dead, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Friday evening. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through the Romanian Consulate in Castellón de la Plana and the Romanian Embassy in Madrid, is verifying information concerning the other Romanian citizens reported missing. As of the latest data released, 16 Romanians remain unaccounted for. § The election campaign for the parliamentary elections of December 1st officially got under way today. Romanian voters will elect 466 MPs, 330 in the Chamber of Deputies and 136 in the Senate. The election campaign will come to an end on 30th November. Romanian citizens residing abroad will be able to cast their ballots either through postal voting or in person at one of the polling stations set up abroad. The Romanian foreign ministry submitted to the Permanent Electoral Authority its proposals for the 950 polling stations to be set up abroad for the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections. The election campaign for the presidential elections began a week ago. The first round will take place on 24th November, and the second round on 8th December. In June, Romania also saw European and local elections. § Radio Romania today celebrates 96 years of uninterrupted service. With over 3 million listeners a day, the public radio station must reinvent itself and make itself more attractive to younger audiences, said the director general of the Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation, Răzvan-Ioan Dincă. Radio Romania broadcast its first programme at 5 pm on 1st November 1928. In recognition of its decisive role in the country’s history, in December 2019 Parliament declared 1st November National Radio Day in Romania. To mark this occasion, the Radio Concert Hall is tonight hosting an anniversary concert conducted by the celebrated Romanian conductor Cristian Mandeal. § The Romanian minister for the economy, entrepreneurship and tourism Ştefan-Radu Oprea and the Turkish trade minister Omer Bolat are today chairing the second session of the Romania-Turkey Economic and Commercial Committee. According to the Romanian ministry, the event will focus on developing economic ties and consolidating the strategic partnership between the two countries. On 31st December 2021, commercial exchanges between Romania and Turkey amounted to 8.342 billion dollars, with exports accounting for 3.103 billion dollars and imports for 5.238 billion dollars. Trade exchanges grew by more than 30% compared with the same period last year. @0406z Report read by male announcer that on Nov 1 RRI celebrates 96 years of uninterrupted service. The parliament just passed a law that Nov 1 will now be "National Radio Day" in Romania. 100' (30m) of Kev-Flex wire feeding "Magic Wand" antenna hanging in backyard tree w/MFJ-1020C active antenna (used as a preamplifier/preselector), JRC NRD-535D. 300kW, beamAz 300°, bearing 37°. Received at Plymouth, MN, United States, 8292KM from transmitter at Galbeni. Local time: 2258.

[fardell24b]

Aurora National Profile expanded

Nation

Official Name: Samveldi Aurora (Commonwealth of Aurora)

Common Name: Aurora

Type of Government: Constitutional Monarchy

Head of State: Queen Astrid VI (House of Haraldson)

Head of Government: Prime Minister Peter Marcillius

Lower House: Althing

Upper House: Council of Advisors

Flag: A white Nordic Cross in front of yellow symbolising the dawn above and green symbolising the land below.

Capital and Largest City: Urbs Aeterna

Languages: Modern Auroran (Romance with Norse loanwords): 61%, Auroric (Nordic): 22%,  Southern Auroran (Romance); 10% , Auroralic (Atlantic non Indo-European indigenous languages) 4%, Other 2%

Religion: Christianity 46% (Church of Aurora; 20%, Other Lutheran; 11%, Catholic; 8%, Pentecostal; 3%, Baptist; 3%, Other 1%), Atheist/Agnostic; 25%, Norse Paganism; 12%, Islam; 8%, Native Auroran Paganism 4%, Judaism; 2%, Other 1%

Ethnicities: Auroran (Intermixed ancestries): 68%; Auroralic (Mainly indigenous ancestry): 15%; Auroric (Mainly Norse ancestry): 14%; Jewish: 2%, Other: 1%

Population: 56 million

[internationalwomenday]

Paving the Way for a Gender-Equal Economy (CSW68 Side Event).

Experts and activists on concrete policy solutions for women's economic empowerment.

Women's labor market participation and economic independence are cornerstones in any gender-equal society. Join our Nordic and international experts in unlocking concrete policy solutions to equal pay, shared parental leave, and subsidized child-care that support women's economic empowerment. Discover how the Nordics have shaped a path that supports economic gender equality and how policies promoting gender equality are a good business case – for the individual and for society.

Concept Note

Watch the Nordic Experts panel: Paving the Way for a Gender-Equal Economy (CSW68 Side Event)!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 10.23 (after 1950)

1955 – Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm defeats former emperor Bảo Đại in a referendum and founds the Republic of Vietnam. 1955 – The people of the Saar region vote in a referendum to unite with West Germany instead of France. 1956 – Secret police shoot several anti-communist protesters, igniting the Hungarian Revolution. 1958 – Canada's Springhill mining disaster kills seventy-five miners, while ninety-nine others are rescued. 1958 – Belgian artist Peyo's comic characters, the Smurfs, make their debut in Spirou magazine. 1965 – Vietnam War: The 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, launches an operation seeking to destroy Communist forces during the siege of Plei Me. 1970 – Gary Gabelich sets a land speed record in a rocket-powered automobile called the Blue Flame, fueled with natural gas. 1972 – Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker, a US bombing campaign against North Vietnam in response to its Easter Offensive, ends after five months. 1982 – A gunfight breaks out between police officers and members of a religious cult in Arizona. The shootout leaves two cultists dead and dozens of cultists and police officers injured. 1983 – Lebanese Civil War: The U.S. Marines Corps barracks in Beirut is hit by a truck bomb, killing 241 U.S. military personnel. A French Army barracks in Lebanon is also hit that same morning, killing 58 troops. 1989 – The Hungarian Republic officially replaces the communist Hungarian People's Republic. 1989 – Bankruptcy of Wärtsilä Marine, the biggest bankruptcy in the Nordic countries up until then. 1989 – An explosion at the Houston Chemical Complex in Pasadena, Texas, which registered a 3.5 on the Richter magnitude scale, kills 23 and injures 314. 1991 – Signing of the Paris Peace Accords which ends the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. 1993 – The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb prematurely detonates in Belfast, killing the bomber and nine civilians. 1995 – Yolanda Saldívar is found guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of popular Latin singer Selena. 1998 – Israel and the Palestinian Authority sign the Wye River Memorandum. 2001 – Apple Computer releases the iPod. 2002 – Second Chechen War: Chechen separatist terrorists seize the House of Culture theater in Moscow and take approximately 700 theater-goers hostage. 2004 – A powerful earthquake and its aftershocks hit Niigata Prefecture in northern Japan, killing 35 people, injuring 2,200, and leaving 85,000 homeless or evacuated. 2007 – A storm causes the Mexican Kab 101 oil platform to collide with a wellhead, leading to the death and drowning of 22 people during rescue operations after evacuation of the platform. 2007 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-120, with Pamela Melroy becoming the second female space shuttle commander. 2011 – A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake strikes Van Province, Turkey, killing 582 people and injuring thousands. 2011 – The Libyan National Transitional Council deems the Libyan Civil War over. 2015 – The lowest sea-level pressure in the Western Hemisphere, and the highest reliably-measured non-tornadic sustained winds, are recorded in Hurricane Patricia, which strikes Mexico hours later, killing at least 13 and causing over $280 million in damages. 2017 – War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi. 2020 – Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to a ceasefire. 2022 – Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China. 2022 – Myanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence Organisation officials, in the Hpakant massacre.

[kaffemeddopp]

Please, don't leave the Nordic Council of Ministers Greenland. Our current conservative Swedish government are arrogant dicks and don't speak for all of us. It would be terrible if their dickishness costs the entire council Greenland's voice. Don't let the dicks win.

[aqurette]

Why Mette Frederiksen Should Be Next EU Council President

“The Danish prime minister’s understanding of Russia’s neo-revisionist threat means that she is well-placed to build confidence across the EU-27 as it confronts a rapidly evolving security situation,” Hugo Blewett-Mundy writes in EU Observer. “What’s more, Frederiksen’s strong record as a consensus-builder may serve as a catalyst for Scholz, Macron, and Tusk to see eye-to-eye when European cohesion is needed more than ever.” I’m not sure Frederiksen is right for the job, but it would be nice with someone from the Nordic countries on that position. http://aqurette.blog/T4YYQd

[mariacallous]

Ukraine, NATO and the EU were the focus of the Hungarian prime minister’s annual press conference in Budapest. Thursday’s event lasted nearly two hours in front of a select group of local and foreign press.

On Ukraine, Viktor Orban claimed that his opposition to offering the country EU membership stemmed from a desire to help it via more immediate means. “If we would like to help Ukraine, we should provide something realistic,” he said.

He claimed that “membership is not realistic for long, long, long years,” given the country’s situation. Instead “a strategic partnership” between the EU and Ukraine would, he asserted, deliver results which were “immediate” and deliver benefits “most important to Ukrainians and support them in that way”.

He called the beginning of accession talks “a nice gesture of politics but in reality [it] does not help Ukrainians at all”. During last week’s European Council meeting, Orban intentionally left the room shortly before the vote on opening accession negotiations with Ukraine to avoid breaking the unanimity.

The Hungarian prime minister was challenged on his description of calling Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a “military operation” and not a war while sitting alongside Vladimir Putin at a summit in Beijing in November.

Defending his choice of words, an apparent echo of the Kremlin’s propaganda, Orban said he described it such because “Russia has not qualified what it is doing as a war” without general mobilisation. Asked if he thought it appropriate to use that form of words while sitting next to the president of the aggressor state, he retorted “I would be happy to use it now”.

Talking about Fidesz’s European party policy, Orban dismissed speculation his party would look to overcome its isolation in the European Parliament by joining the far-right Identity and Democracy grouping following the European elections in June 2024.

“Initial talks are taking place with the [European Conservatives and Reformists], led by the Italian Prime Minister [Georgia Meloni],” he told journalists. ECR includes ultra-conservative parties like Poland’s Law and Justice and Meloni’s Brothers of Italy. Both enjoy close ties to Fidesz, which has been politically homeless in Europe’s legislature after withdrawing from the moderate‐conservative European People’s Party (EPP) in March 2021.

Orban also spoke of ambitions to break the longstanding grand coalition between the EPP and Social Democrats (S + D) by leveraging an expected rise in support for far-right and eurosceptic parties. “We want to put pressure on the moderate right not to look to the left for cooperation, but to the right to create a new form of policy,” he said.

On Hungary’s continuing obstruction of Sweden’s NATO membership, Orban denied suggestions his stance stemmed from a desire to please the Turkish president, who has also been stalling on ratification. Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Hungary on Monday, the second such visit this year.

“There is no Turkish-Hungarian agreement… the two countries are making decisions independently of each other,” Orban said. Rather, he claimed, resistance came not from the executive, who can only “offer promised dates” in the legislative timetable, but from within Fidesz’s parliamentary caucus, who “are not very much in favour of this decision”.

He recalled how Finland has joined other EU states in legal action against Hungary’s “Child Protection Law” (widely condemned as stigmatising the LGBT community) the day after Hungarian MPs had ratified the Nordic country’s NATO membership in 2022.