(summarised from Svenska Dagbladet, one of the main newspapers in Sweden)
In 1990 Sweden was still the major Scandinavian military power and could mobilise almost 800,000 men in 24 hours (about 10% of the population). By 2007 they'll be down to at most 31,500 men, however only six months after ordering the call-in of soldiers. Sweden will have 35 generals, and 36 cannons. By contrast, Finland has now 28 generals and 1,000 cannons. Almost 10% of Swedish soldiers will be assigned to "international" efforts (i.e. the UN and EU).
Personal notes: In 1989 I was serving in the Swedish Army. The enemy was very clearly the Soviet Union, we spent all of our tactical and strategic classes on the Red Army (we were counting on NATO support through Norway, and studying the WW II Finnish resistance to Soviet invasion). The fall of the Berlin Wall was a very tense moment. There were major Soviet troop movements in the Baltic States. We were in the field 20 minutes after hearing the news, not allowed to talk to our families for a whole week. Now the country might just as well have an answer phone announcing unconditional surrender. As an anecdote, a (drunk) naval officer confessed to me that the only reason they hadn't sunk a Soviet submarine in Swedish waters was that (social-democrat) politicians repeatedly ordered them not to.
I'm not surprised, but very disappointed. I don't live there anymore, so I can shrug, not weep.
You, Americans and other Coalition partners, cannot count on Sweden for anything, no matter which party leads the country, no matter what enemy arises. Sweden for decades had a good military, and excellent equipment, proud of being able to counter-attack and quickly reject any (communist) enemy setting foot anywhere in-land or on the coast -- but no more. Thirty thousand soldiers is insufficient to defend the country. |