Cold War is Good for Business: US Contractors Rejoice at the New Red Scare

©  Getty Images / PhotoQuest; © REUTERS

US politicians and media peddling scary stories about Russia and China may have a more pedestrian motive than defending 'American values and way of life' – a return to the halcyon days of the Cold War and the Pentagon gravy train.

If there's one thing mainstream Democrats and Republicans agree upon, it's that Russia and China are the new global threat, ready to pounce at the first sign of a week spot in American defenses to topple the benevolent US dominance of the globe.

If there's another – never on the record, of course – it's that war is good for business. Not actual war, what the Pentagon calls 'kinetic military action', as that would be destructive. 

Actually, I don't think the word 'destructive' is a concern to the military industrial complex. There must be real kinetic military action in order to keep the inventory of death moving.

The ideal conditions for the political class in Washington is the bygone Cold War, when it could funnel billions of dollars in taxpayer money to defense contractors, with these corporations repaying the largesse with hefty contributions to politicians.

With a military budget of $717 billion in 2019 – which is about four times that of China and 15 times that of Russia ( I have my doubts about that) – Washington war hawks are still lamenting how the "underfunded" US military could lose the next war against either. There's only one way to avoid that – spend more.

F-35: Pie in the Sky

As the US aggressively asserted the right to intervene anywhere around the world, Russia and China began rebuilding their air forces and augmenting them with new-generation warplanes. For the US Air Force and the aerospace industry, this was like the answer to three decades of prayer.

Lockheed finally had the justification for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, which produced the first prototype in 2006. There were only two tiny little problems with the F-35: nobody could get the plane to actually work as intended, and it was incredibly expensive. The total lifetime program cost was estimated at $1.5 trillion in 2015 dollars, the bulk of which would be for "operations and sustainment."

The most expensive Pentagon project to date is plagued by some of the most expensive problems – but while Lockheed Martin could not make the F-35 actually work as advertised, it did manage to spread its production over 45 US states, ensuring the program is almost impossible to kill politically. Powerful Republican senators have thrown their weight behind the F-35, warning the Pentagon against taking funding away from it in favor of a simpler F15X update proposed by Boeing.

Lucrative digital battlegrounds

The looming shadow of the 'Russian hacker', infiltrating (not really) American political parties and power grids, has spurred the push for cyber security – and the contracts to go with it.

Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI), a program that seeks to provide the US military with secure cloud services, has attracted big tech with its $10 billion contract – which Amazon now seems increasingly likely to win, thanks to its reported inroads with the US administration. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was unapologetic, saying the US is a "great country" that "needs to be defended." Executives at the other two big-name contenders – Microsoft and Google – were equally enthusiastic, with the Microsoft president vowing to give all the tech the company creates to the "ethical and honorable" US military.

Rank-and-file employees, however, were up in arms. Those at Microsoft penned an open letter saying they had joined the company hoping the tech they create would not "cause harm or human suffering." Employee outcry at Google caused it to drop JEDI altogether, despite company leadership's enthusiastic support.

Artificial Intelligence

The for-profit patriotism at Amazon and Microsoft is bound to be rewarded with even more contracts in the coming years, because the Pentagon believes it has some catching up to do with Russia and China when it comes to artificial intelligence. The DoD's first AI strategy, while loose on wording, clearly outlines who the main adversaries are.

The known investment figures are relatively minor so far – as far as Washington's gargantuan defense budgets go. For example, in July 2018, IT consulting company Booz Allen Hamilton was awarded an $885 million to work on AI programs over the next five years, and the Pentagon requested $93 million in 2019 for Project Maven – which aims to develop algorithms for automatic analysis of drone footage. Google was working on that one, but now says it won't renew the contract due to disastrous employee backlash – even though backing out means losing on potentially bigger IT-related defense contracts to come.

With Trump just recently ordering a boost in AI development for the sake of American dominance, those contracts are certain to keep rolling in in the foreseeable future.

Naval friction

The US answer to Russia venturing into the Arctic was to reestablish the 2nd Fleet – created in 1950 as a Cold War-era check on Soviet activity in the Atlantic and disbanded by the Obama administration in 2011 to cut expenses. Apparently, no expense is too much when the threat of Russian submarines is – according to 2nd Fleet chief Vice Adm. Andrew Lewis – "real," and Russians seek to tap the resources the US wanted for itself and its allies.

The US Navy also needs to keep up its "freedom of navigation operation" at the Chinese shores, and "rebuilding" the fleet is one of Trump's staple defense promises. As an example of the accelerated – and rewarding – build-up, the Navy signed a contract worth a whopping $14.9 billion with shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls for two Ford-class aircraft carriers. In another throwback to the good old days, this is the first time since the 1980s more than one of these has been commissioned simultaneously.

A Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear powered aicraft carrier under construction ©  Reuters / Ricky Thompson / US Navy

The two ships will replace aging ones, keeping the number of active dedicated carriers in the US service at 11 – while China has two, and Russia one.

The final frontier

Another Trump staple, the Space Force, is shaping up to be a fount of profit for the enterprising contractor, though the new branch of the US military is still in the early stages of its creation.

While no deals have been made with the Space Force specifically in mind, there is profit to be had in it for companies like Lockheed Martin. In 2018, Lockheed was contracted to create three satellites that can survive counter-space weaponry, for $2.9 billion – and as America's "adversaries are training forces and developing technology to undermine our security in space," as Trump put it, more of that is bound to come.

Military Industrial Complex (Deep State)

Way back in 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower – who commanded US forces in Europe during WWII – warned in his farewell speech about the dangers of a "military-industrial complex" dictating government priorities and foreign policy. 

He spoke from experience: the 'Red Scare' of the 1950s had already driven the US into an arms race based on the 'bomber gap' and 'missile gap' favoring the USSR – both of which turned out to be entirely imaginary.

"We were doing things we didn't need to do. We were building things we didn't need to build. We were harboring fears we didn't need to harbor," President Lyndon Johnson told a gathering in 1967.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

As I have been saying for several years now, the military industrial complex has a vested interest in maintaining a state of war, or, at least, a threat of war on one or more fronts, in order to keep their destructive inventory moving, and in order to fund the creation of even more deadly forms of weaponry. 

This is the main factor contributing to America's financial resurgence in the last couple years. It is, however, ultimately dangerous and destructive, and it is an astonishing waste of money that could be used so easily elsewhere to make the world a better place, rather than a more frightening one. 

For instance, if American resources were spent wisely in Central and South America, there wouldn't have to be a half million children in Brazil prostituting themselves because it's the only way they can get something to eat. Improved economies in Central America might reduce the power of criminal gangs that run the streets of their cities. It would also greatly reduce the number of migrants trying to make their way into the USA making a wall unnecessary.

I suspect that Jesus Christ is not amused by the astonishing amount of time, money and energy being used for the sole purpose of making wealthy people wealthier. I also believe there will be a reckoning.

Brussels Cries ‘Conspiracy’ Over Hungary’s Ads Showing Smiling Soros Behind EU Immigration Agenda

At least Brussels has the right word even if it is wrongly applied

Detail of Hungarian government poster depicting George Soros and Jean-Claude Juncker

©  Facebook / Magyarország Kormánya

A new media campaign by the Hungarian government accuses globalist billionaire George Soros and the EU of pushing open-borders policies. Brussels indignantly dismissed the campaign as a conspiracy theory and fake news.

Billboards with the images of Soros and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker tell Hungarians that Brussels officials “are launching experimental immigration projects with African countries; want to introduce mandatory settlement quotas; want to reduce financial assistance for countries opposed to migration,” that last part specifically referring to Hungary.

Further accusations appeared on the government of Hungary’s Facebook page, which says the EU wants to impose settlement quotas, weaken EU members’ border protections and make immigration easier.

The EU Commission rushed to outright dismiss the ad campaign, calling it a conspiracy and “fake news,” without going into detail in addressing Budapest’s concerns.

“It is shocking that such a ludicrous conspiracy theory has reached the mainstream to the extent it has. There is no conspiracy, Hungarians deserve facts, not fiction,” spokesman Margaritis Schinas told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday. The facts, according to Schinas, are that the EU has “zero plans” for humanitarian visas, while member states get to decide on the level of legal migration.

On the other hand, Brussels has repeatedly clashed with Budapest over Hungary’s immigration policy – or rather, its refusal to support the open-borders approach ushered in by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2015. Time and again Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has rejected EU demands to admit migrants, building a fence with Serbia and even EU member Croatia in order to secure his country’s border.

Last week, Orban proposed a program of subsidizing Hungarian birthrates, arguing that “We need Hungarian children” rather than immigrants.

Meanwhile, Soros has openly advocated immigration as the solution to Europe’s dwindling birthrates, and berated Hungary and other “populist” members for endangering the survival of the EU, comparing it to the Soviet Union circa 1991.

Soros immigration advocacy is mostly in favour of Muslims fleeing Muslim countries because most of them are not fit to live in. So, Soros, Merkel, and the EU invite them to Europe which will go a lot farther toward destroying the EU than closing Hungary's borders could ever come close to. Globalization will completely destroy European culture.

With elections for the European Parliament scheduled for May, Orban’s Fidesz party does not hide the desire to have the anti-migration bloc become a majority.

euronews✔

@euronews

 #RawPolitics | “Our target is after the European Parliament elections the anti-migration approach will be the majority in all [of] Europe.”

Hungary’s foreign minister has insisted that citizens of the country living elsewhere in the European Union are “not migrants”.

However, government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs denied that the latest campaign is related to the upcoming election, saying it was aimed solely at informing Hungarians.

C'mon Zoltan, everything is about the elections!

Juncker, his vice-president Frans Timmermans, and EU commissioner in charge of Brexit Guy Verhofstadt pointed to the campaign as yet another reason to expel Fidesz from the European People’s Party (EPP) bloc, currently the majority in the supranational body.

“I don't think the conservatives in Hungary represent Christian democratic values in any way,” Juncker said on Tuesday. “There is no overlap at all between Mr. Orban and me ... so I am of the opinion that his place is not in the European People's Party."

Guy Verhofstadt✔

@guyverhofstadt

 This is a disgrace. What will the @EPP do now, @ManfredWeber? After a shameful campaign against @judithineuropa and myself, Orbán now slanders the EPP President of @EU_Commission. #ExpelFideszhttps://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-launches-campaign-targeting-jean-claude-juncker-george-soros/ …

Hungary launches campaign targeting Jean-Claude Juncker

Commission president, along with Hungarian-American George Soros, are focus of new anti-Brussels drive.

This is not the first time Orban has accused the Hungarian-born Soros of seeking to undermine Budapest’s policies. One such billboard campaign, in July 2017, was even accused of anti-Semitism. This prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step in, with a statement that criticism of Soros is legitimate and not anti-Semitic.

Last summer, Hungary passed the 'Stop Soros' law, outlawing aid to illegal immigrants and cracking down on pro-immigration NGOs that were by and large funded by the billionaire. As a result of the law, Soros’s Open Society Foundation packed up its operations in Hungary, and the Central European University he funded moved to Austria.

There goes Austria!

Italian Senate Blocks Criminal Case Against Deputy PM Salvini

By Danielle Haynes

Prosecutors sought to charge Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini with kidnapping.

File Photo by Massimo Percossi/EPA-EFE

(UPI) -- An Italian Senate committee voted Tuesday not to allow a criminal case against Matteo Salvini, interior minister and deputy prime minister, for preventing migrants from disembarking from a docked rescue ship over the summer.

The immunity committee declined prosecutors' request to bring charges against Salvini for kidnapping. Officials in Catania sought to prosecute him for refusing to allow the migrants from disembarking from the Diciotti rescue ship for five days in August.

The far-right League Party leader called for immunity against the charges, saying he was working in the best interests of Italians when he issued the order to prevent the ship from docking.

"I would have accepted any response, aware of the fact that what I'm doing and we're doing we do so [for] the benefit of our country," Salvini said.

"For me, first comes the defense of borders and the security of my people and so I worked calmly yesterday and I work calmly today."

Eventually, the Catholic church, Ireland and Albania agreed to receive the mostly Eritrean passengers.

Coalition partner Luigi Di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement, offered support to Salvini and said his order was on behalf of the government as a whole.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Five Star Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli were also put under investigation for rejecting the migrants.

This case was either a political or ideological abuse of the Italian justice system in order to stop Salvini from doing what he was elected to do. I'm glad the Senate Committee stood up for him and would hate to think of what might have happened had they not. 

Egyptian YouTuber Ignites Internet Firestorm after Leaving Islam, Denouncing ‘Racism’ In It

Then, after losing all his followers, changed his mind

FILE PHOTO: Al Azhar mosque, Cairo © Reuters / Amr Abdallah Dalsh

Social media fallout has followed Shady Srour’s Facebook post where the Egyptian YouTube star announced he was leaving Islam, citing how the “racism and cruelty” of its adherents had almost led him to suicide.

“I left Islam because of racism and cruelty in the hearts of people who are supposed to believe in God but in fact, they are a bunch of insincere hypocrites,” 24-year-old Srour wrote in a post on Friday, blaming his former religion for the excessive cyberbullying which almost cost him his life late last year.

Over the weekend, the status generated over 100,000 comments and was shared across social media, with most reactions divided between staunch support and harsh opposition.

The most popular comment on the status came from another victim of bullying, TV presenter Sherif Madkour, who wrote that Srour didn’t truly understand Islam, advising him to “ignore people with shallow minds, be yourself and trust your beliefs,” adding “God be with you.”

Srour eventually backpedaled from his comments in a YouTube video where he made it clear that the bullies he had called out were not true Muslims, and that Islam itself hadn’t played a role in the hatred he had experienced.

No, I think you were right the first time!

aya 🇹🇳
@prsnlaya
 Shady Srour is one of the middle east's most prominent youtubers. Even my little cousins follow his content. He announced leaving islam and in one day his entire fanbase turned against him

Hence, the backtracking

However, he also expressed surprise at how his post had generated a massive number of threats from hard-liners enraged by the comedian’s decision to publicly insult their religion.

سارّة أسامة
@SaraOsamaYassin
 It’s not like Shady Srour, or whoever else got cyber bullied will change after people massively mock them, except for the worse. Cyber bullying is a crime. You directly or indirectly participate in an irreversible damage in the victim’s life. Please, stop.

Last October, Srour posted a video claiming that extensive cyber-bullying had left him considering suicide. That post immediately went viral, some believing it showcased the dangers of online bullying, while others accused Srour of attention-seeking. His post on Friday was his first public comment on the incident since.

With nearly 4.5 million followers and hundreds of millions of views, Srour is one of YouTube’s top earners in the region. His case has highlighted a growing trend of Egyptians turning against Islam, many suggesting the religion has played a role in the social chaos plaguing the country.

Mainstream News Networks Refuse to Cover Senate’s ‘No Russia Collusion’ Report

The massive demonization of Russia by western countries

is beginning to unravel

but not if Mainstream Media can help it

AFP/Brendan Smialowski

The same networks that spent 2,202 minutes of collective airtime to push the Russia Collusion Media-Hoax are refusing to cover the Senate Intelligence Committee bipartisan report, which found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Media Research Center (MRC) did the research and found that between January 21, 2017, and February 10, 2019, “ABC’s World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, and the NBC Nightly News [spent] 2,202 minutes on the Russia investigation [, which] accounted for nearly 19 percent of all Trump-related reporting [, and now] none of those three shows have even mentioned the investigation since NBC’s report came out on February 12.”

The same is true elsewhere on the left-wing networks.

“Neither CBS This Morning nor NBC’s Today have even acknowledged this new information from Senate investigators since the news broke on February 12,” MRC reports. “ABC’s Good Morning America briefly touched on it in a news brief totaling less than one minute on February 13.”

What’s especially fascinating is that NBC’s Ken Dilanian broke the original news of the Senate report, and NBC is still refusing to cover the story.

The reasons for this are quite obvious: the media know a reckoning is on the horizon, and they are buying time in the hopes of finding a way to wriggle out of it.

Anyone with even a lick of sense knew from the beginning that the Russia Collusion Media-Hoax was a hoax. Not only is the whole idea of it preposterous; everything involving Russia and the Trump campaign points to the opposite of a conspiracy. Look at the Trump Tower meeting. If there was a conspiracy between Trump and the Kremlin, why was Rob Goldstone, a British publicist, needed as an intermediary to set up the meeting?

If there was all this collusion between Trump and Putin, why was Michael Cohen left to send proposals to blind email addresses regarding the proposed Trump Tower deal in Moscow?

Even the stuff we are told is the most “sinister” proof of collusion points in the opposite direction.

But that is not what the media have been telling us for the last two years.

Rather, again and again and again, they have promised that Watergate is right around the corner, that the other shoe is about to drop (and please ignore the fact that the first shoe has yet to drop); have told us not to worry because the aberrational nightmare, the virus in the system, the national mistake that is President Trump is about to be removed.

For two years the media have been selling the Resistance a bill of goods and have gone so far as to manufacture a mountain of fake news to keep these suckers on the hook.

So, no, they are not going to cover a bipartisan report that debunks their hoax, especially one as detailed as this one, that involved two years, 200 interviews, and a gazillion documents.

MSM is not interested in the truth, only in pushing their agendas.

Italian Interior Minister Faces Kidnap Charges for Refusing Migrant Ship

By Nicholas Sakelaris

The Five Star Movement will vote Monday whether its leader and interior minister Matteo Salvini should stand trial on kidnapping charges. 

(UPI) -- Italian interior minister and senator Matteo Salvini could lose his legal immunity if his own party decides Monday he should face trial on kidnapping charges.

The kidnapping accusations stem from an order Salvini gave in August to hold 150 migrants aboard an Italian coast guard ship for five days. His party, the League, is part of the populist Five Star Movement, an anti-establishment group that seeks to root out corruption in Italy.

The Five Star Movement was set for an online vote among members Monday to see if Salvini should stand trial. Italy's full Senate would have to vote to lift his immunity, as his position exempts him from prosecution.

The Five Star Movement has asked its members to support Salvini, saying his actions were signed off by the government collectively.

"It is an unprecedented case because never in the past has the judiciary asked parliament to authorize a trial for a minister who had acted in the performance of his duties," the group posted on its website.

Salvini has defended himself against the potential charges and has even seen his popularity rise despite the controversy.

"They can do whatever they want," Salvini said, referring to his party. "What I did, I did to defend the safety of citizens, and if necessary I'd do it again."

The online poll asks if Salvini was justified in the decision last summer. A "no" vote favors prosecuting Salvini while a "yes" vote rejects a trial.

The ship was docked at the Catania port for five days while Salvini sought help from other European Union countries who could take in the mostly Eritrean passengers. Eventually, the Catholic church, Ireland and Albania agreed to receive the migrants.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Five Star transport minister Danilo Toninelli were also put under investigation this week for rejecting the migrants.

Obviously this is politically motivated and there should be consequences for abuse of the judicial system. Refusing to allow illegal migrants to vacate a ship in port is something that happens all the time. It happened to thousands of Jews in WWII all over the world.

Politically Uber-Correct Sweden Prosecuting Pensioners, Welcoming ISIS

by Judith Bergman, Gatestone Institute

Perhaps the Council of Europe considers Åberg's successful efforts of turning in fellow Swedes to the police for perceived thought crimes an example that other European countries should emulate?

The pensioner explained during questioning, "I was angry when I read about how it worked with immigrants and how they avoid punishment for everything they do. They get acquitted, though they steal and do other things. It is unfair that those who commit gross crimes can go free...." The pensioner said that she would not have written what she did, had she known that it was illegal. She evidently labored under the misconception that she was still living in a democracy. In January, she was sentenced to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner ($443). She lives on a monthly pension of only 7,000 Swedish kroner ($775).

Swedish authorities clearly cannot -- or will not -- prosecute or convict the jihadists whom they so generously welcome to the country; yet they have no qualms charging and prosecuting harmless elderly pensioners. One might add that a culture that respects the human rights of returning ISIS fighters more than that of the elderly women who are afraid of them, is all but done.

While the Swedish Security Service is assuring the public that it will do "even more" to limit the growth of

terrorist environments in Sweden, the Swedish government is exacerbating the problem by welcoming

returning ISIS jihadist fighters back into the country. (Image source: iStock)

"Violence-promoting Islamist extremism currently constitutes the biggest threat to Sweden," according to a January 15 press release from the Swedish Security Service (Säpo). "The level of the terror threat remains elevated, a three on a five-point scale. This means that a terrorist act is likely to occur," said Klas Friberg, head of Säpo.

"In order to meet the threat from terrorism, the Security Service will in future work even more strategically to limit the growth of extremist environments. It may be about dealing with [omhänderta] persons who constitute a security threat or, in cooperation with other authorities, working harder to ensure that these individuals are prosecuted for other crimes - or have their opportunities cut."

While Säpo is assuring the Swedish public that it will do "even more" to limit the growth of terrorist environments in Sweden, the Swedish government is exacerbating the problem by welcoming returning ISIS fighters back into the country. Approximately 300 people left Sweden to fight for ISIS and it is estimated that approximately 150 Swedish ISIS fighters have returned to Sweden. Approximately 50 of those who didn't return were killed.

The head of Säpo, in January, had described returning ISIS fighters as "broken people who have been traumatized by their experiences" and said that Swedish society has to "play a big role in re-integrating them". 

Swedish law does not allow the security services to take all necessary measures against returning ISIS fighters, even though a relatively new law, meant to address the problem of terrorists in Sweden, was adopted in 2016. The law does not allow authorities, for example, to seize or search the mobile phones and computers of returning ISIS fighters, unless there is a concrete suspicion of a crime, according to Fredrik Hallström, deputy head of Säpo's unit for "ideologically motivated actors." Furthermore, according to Hallström, the authorities do not know whether the returning fighters constitute a danger or not to Swedish citizens: "It is also difficult to answer because the assessments we make can change".

Many of the ISIS fighters took their families, including small children, with them when they joined ISIS. A Swedish-speaking family who had travelled to join ISIS had made a home movie, recently aired by the Swedish media, about their life of jihad. In one scene, the mother is practicing her shooting, while father helpfully explains to the children, "Now we will look at mommy when she is doing jihad". The home movie also shows the wife shooting off her gun while gleefully exclaiming, "That was cool!" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God is the greatest").

In another scene, the father can be seen getting ready to go out and kill, while telling his young son and his toddler daughter about how he stole a walkie-talkie from an "infidel" whom he had shot through the head and killed. The little boy explains to the father how to best use the ammunition for his assault rifle and asks to come along, but the mother tells him that his father still thinks he is "too young". The narrator of the film explains that many children of such ISIS families have returned to Sweden with their families and attend Swedish kindergartens and schools. The family in the movie is one of them. Swedish local authorities, however, do not know how many children have returned. According to a poll that Swedish Television channel SVT conducted among Swedish municipalities, Swedish municipalities are only aware of 16 adults and 10 children, out of 150 returnees.

Already in June 2017, the head of Säpo at the time, Anders Thornberg, told Swedish media that the country was experiencing a "historical" challenge in having to deal with thousands of "radical Islamists in Sweden". (As late as 2010, there were 200 jihadists in Sweden, according to Säpo). Thornberg also mentioned that his organization was receiving around 6,000 intelligence tips a month concerning terrorism and extremism, compared to an average of 2,000 a month in 2012.

Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, Swedes only feel more and more insecure in their own country. Four out of 10 women are afraid to walk outside freely, according to the new National Safety Report, published by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Brottsförebyggande Rådet or Brå).

"Almost a quarter of the population chooses a different route or another mode of transport as a result of anxiety about crime and one-fifth avoid being active on the Internet due to concerns about threats and harassment," according to Brå.

"Among women aged 20–24, 42 percent state that they often opted for another route or another mode of transport, because they felt insecure and worried about being subjected to crime. The corresponding proportion among men in the same age group is 16 percent... The degree of activity on the internet can also be affected by concerns about being subjected to crime. About every fifth person, regardless of gender, states that during the past year he has often refrained from posting anything on the Internet out of concern for becoming exposed to threats or harassment".

"Social media is an increasingly important forum for public discussion. If a fifth of the population feel that they do not dare to express themselves on the net for fear of being subjected to crime," said Maria Söderström from Brå, "then it can be a democratic problem".

Fear of threats and harassment is not all that is causing Swedes to feel that expressing themselves on the internet is something to avoid. Many who have voiced "wrong" opinions on the internet have been charged by Swedish authorities for "incitement against an ethnic group" -- a crime punishable under Swedish law. The "democratic problem" that Söderström describes, therefore, is twofold: the fear of threats and harassment from others, and the fear of prosecution from the state.

Big Brother Aberg

The organization believed to be largely responsible for these charges, at least since 2017, is "Näthatsgranskaren" ("The Web Hate Investigator"), a private organization founded in January 2017 by a former police officer, Tomas Åberg, who apparently took it upon himself to identify and report to the authorities Swedish individuals whom he and his organization decide are committing thought crimes and "inciting hatred" against foreigners. Åberg recently boasted that he had filed 1,218 reports with the police in 2017-2018 alone and that out of 214 charges, there had been 144 judgments. "Many are [still] awaiting charges" he wrote on Twitter.

Last November, the Information Society Group, an organization under the Council of Europe, invited Åberg to be a keynote speaker at its regional conference, "Addressing hate speech in the media: the role of regulatory authorities and the judiciary," in Zagreb. The conference examined "how hate discourse is regulated in different member States of the Council of Europe focusing on the specific role and work of national regulatory authorities, the judiciary and media self-regulatory bodies". Perhaps the Council of Europe considers Åberg's successful efforts at turning in fellow Swedes to the police for perceived thought crimes an example that other European countries should emulate?

Swedish taxpayers contributed 1.5 million SEK ($165,000) to Åberg's efforts in 2017 and 2018. Most of it, according to the Swedish news outlet Fria Tider, apparently goes towards paying Åberg's salary.

In November, Åberg's efforts led to the conviction of a 70-year-old woman for writing the following post, as a comment on an article about the violence of Muslim men against women, in a Facebook group, 'Stand up for Sweden': "Aren't we in Sweden or have we transformed the country into a damn Muslim monster?" The woman was then called in for questioning at a police station -- this would be the same Swedish police that does not have enough resources to investigate rape cases. There, she explained:

"I have been provoked by various headlines and by 'Cold Facts' [investigative journalism TV program] that they have burned and beaten their wives. I am wondering if it will be like that in Sweden, too, and it makes me upset"... I am opposed to them being nasty against women. We have so many Muslims coming. I must have meant that they are abusing women".

For an elderly woman to be concerned about the physical safety of women in Sweden, the government of which in 2016 declared itself "feminist" is, it seems, unacceptable to Swedish authorities. While returned ISIS fighters who might have raped, pillaged, tortured and murdered to their heart's delight are welcomed back to Sweden and can go on with their lives -- or plot terrorism against Swedes -- elderly Swedish women may not utter a word about their fear of such men or indeed their ideology. Chief Prosecutor Lars Göransson at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Gävle chose to prosecute the 70-year-old for "incitement against an ethnic group". In November, the woman was found guilty and sentenced to a fine of 4,800 SEK ($530).

Another result of Åberg's efforts was the January conviction of a 78-year-old woman who was charged for having written on Facebook, among other things, that Muslims are "bearded" and "ghosts". The woman became upset when she read about immigrants who commit serious crimes against the elderly and get away with low or no punishment. After Åberg had reported the woman, who apparently is poor and suffers from ill-health after a stroke and a lung disease, the prosecutor chose to charge the pensioner for six posts that she had written on Facebook. Among them the following: "Yes, all Muslims should be expelled from the country, we do not want them here. A lot of bearded men who scare the children".

The pensioner explained during questioning:

"I was angry when I read about how it worked with immigrants and how they avoid punishment for everything they do. They get acquitted, though they steal and do other things. It is unfair that those who commit gross crimes can go free. People knock down older people and take money from them".

The pensioner said that she would not have written what she did, had she known that it was illegal. She evidently labored under the misconception that she was still living in a democracy. In January, she was sentenced to a fine of 4,000 Swedish kroner ($443). The woman lives from a monthly pension of only 7,000 Swedish kroner ($775).

"Even an indirect reference to nicknames or other offensive terms about race or immigrants in general is covered by the law against incitement against an ethnic group and is punishable," wrote Judge Jon Jonasson in his judgment.

Swedish authorities clearly cannot -- or will not -- prosecute or convict the jihadists whom they so generously welcome to the country; yet they have no qualms charging and prosecuting harmless elderly pensioners. One might add that a culture that respects the human rights of returning ISIS fighters more than that of the elderly women who are afraid of them, is all but done.

Judith Bergman, a columnist, lawyer and political analyst, is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Gatestone Institute.