Skandinavia

There is a reason why there are lots of picturesque small farms in Norway - crazy duty demanded by the Farmers Lobby to save, yes, those picturesque small farms from the giant Agro-companies in the EU.
Yes, this is true, I think. Though these farms are dying a slow death due to changes in legislation and subsidies. Another reason why the countryside, provinces and smaller cities in general have fared better in Norway than e.g. Sweden is that Norway used to have a policy of decentralisation, where it was supposed to be possible to live a decent life outside of the bigger cities, even up in the cold north. All this is changing as the society has become less egalitarian, more competition-oriented, than before, thanks to a slow political shift to the right over a period of several decades now.

Re: the import customs duty, my axe to grind is to do with the bureaucracy, delays and customs duty that private individuals are subjected to when they try to buy even relatively small items from abroad.
 
You'd think Norwegians would fully embrace their winters these days, considering that, thanks to climate change, the earth is now experiencing many more extremely hot days than ever before. With spring and summer starting earlier and lasting longer, Norwegian winters may eventually last about a week. :sigh:
 
Stenstorp, Borås and Tranemo - someone is sabotaging/damaging Sweden's telecommunications (TV, radio, telephone and internet) masts.
The Police and "Security Services" including the military are very interested in what's going on. Russians. IS, criminals (someone has also stolen police equipment too)
There's even talk of hybrid warfare - Hybrid warfare - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - as yesterday radar systems went down stopping flights in and out of Stockholm, Gothenburg and Linköpings airports, then later Sweden's emergency telephone system (like USA's 911) didn't work for 15 minutes.
English
Second telecommunication mast sabotaged in Sweden
Security stepped up after radio mast sabotage
Sabotage of Telecoms Masts Reignites Swedish Security Fears | Jakarta Globe
Swedish
Misstänkt mastsabotage utanför Falköping - DN.SE
Bilderna som visar säkerhetsluckan bakom sabotaget mot jättemasten
It's the Russians! Terrorforskare: Ryssland kan ligga bakom sabotaget
Hybrid warfare in Sweden Spionprofessorn: Det här kan vara hybridkrigföring
5 previous instances of mast sabotage going back to 1988 Fler tidigare attentat – sågade ner militär mast
 
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Well, well, well one might say.
1) The Russians say you've been watching too many James Bond movies -
Russia mocks Sweden over 'James Bond' conspiracies
2) Update after big meeting - Swedish authorities in crisis talks over telecom 'sabotage'
3) the details of the sabotage - Second telecommunication mast sabotaged in Sweden
4) "the bomb" - was an "organite" Orgonite - Crystal Energy Healing - Orgonise Yourself - Energy Healing with Orgonite and Crystals A piece of New Age junk :rolleyes: If you want to make some yourself see - 5) Mast at Tranemo had a cabel cut and removed at the beginning of May but was only reported to the Police after the other mast at Häglared east of Borås half collapsed. Sounds like so called "copper thieves" - people who steal copper cable to sell to buy drugs.
6) the 3 metre high mast at Stenstorp on top of a water tower was apparently blown down by the wind :rolleyes:
(timeline - in Swedish - Tidslinje: Fyra incidenter på fem dagar - Nyheter (Ekot) )
So we're left with the mast at Häglared east of Borås having the nuts removed from the bolts that supported the wires that held up the top of the mast. see http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/image/22830039/364/normal/f92b84069102d/mast+borås-2.jpg and http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/image/22830136/364/normal/3d3dbfb6d1f77/mast-borås-7.jpg and http://gfx.aftonbladet-cdn.se/image/22830040/364/normal/3e7a39c02dd77/mast+borås-3.jpg
 
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Sweden and terrorists ...
Teaching student jailed over Sweden terror plot
Aydin Sevigin was arrested in February, suspected of having tried to build a bomb. Police found six bottles of aceton, duct tape, a mobile phone and bullets during a search of his home. A receipt for Christmas tree lights and surveillance footage showing him buying a pressure cooker from Ikea were also part of the case.

The 20-year-old, who grew up in the well-off suburb Danderyd north of Stockholm, denied the claims, but refused to explain why he bought the ingredients, which can be used to build bombs.

"My opinion is that he acquired, stored and collected liquids and objects to make and then blow up a suicide bomb in order to become a martyr. The criminal act being prepared could seriously have hurt Sweden," prosecutor Ewamari Häggkvist said ahead of the verdict.

Attunda District Court, north of Stockholm, sentenced him to five years in jail on Thursday morning for "preparing to commit a terror crime".
also today -
Man facing court under Sweden's new terror laws
Sweden's new anti-terror laws are being tested for the first time. The trial of a 25-year-old man got under way on Thursday.

A 25-year-old man is on trial at Attunda District Court suspected of planning to travel to Syria to join the terror group al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked jihadist group which claims to be behind a series of bombings in the Middle Eastern country.

He was arrested at Stockhom's Arlanda airport on April 13th, returning from a day-trip to Turkey. According to the charges, he is suspected of intending to commit terror crimes in Syria.

He denies the charges, his defence team told the court on Thursday.

"He admits that he started a journey, but the purpose was not to commit terror crimes, but to take part in humanitarian work in Syria," said his lawyer Henrik Olsson Lilja.
 
Fem länder strider för att befria Utö - DN.SE
NATO Allies begin naval exercise BALTOPS in the Baltic Sea
NATO Allies begin naval exercise BALTOPS in the Baltic Sea
The exercise will feature anti-submarine warfare, air defence, intercepting suspect vessels and amphibious landings. A total of 49 ships, 61 aircraft, one submarine, and a combined amphibious landing force of 700 U.S. Finnish and Swedish troops will participate in the drills. Fourteen NATO Allies are joined this year by NATO partners Finland, Georgia and Sweden. Overall, 5,600 troops will be involved.

"This exercise represents an important opportunity for our forces, as allies and partners, to enhance our ability to work together and strengthen capabilities required to maintain regional security," said Vice Admiral James Foggo III, the Commander of Naval Striking and Support Forces NATO. He added: "this exercise will be conducted in a truly joint environment, and I look forward to working with and learning from so many different nations and services".

While BALTOPS is a United States-led exercise, Vice Admiral Foggo and his NATO staff are responsible for executing this year's exercise. Participants include Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The annual BALTOPS exercise is not held in response to any specific threat. The exercise has been held since 1971, and is now in its 43rd year. BALTOPS is one of several major multinational exercises this month which also includes exercise Noble Jump - the first deployment test for NATO's new quick reaction force - which will take place in Poland from 9-19 June.

Aggressive Agenda: NATO BALTOPS Drills Aimed at 'Isolating Russia'

(Expect more then usual Rusian "holidaymakers" during the exercise ... whatever happened to neutral Sweden?)
 
Chicken farms use up ground water - people not happy about it in drought effected SE Sweden. On the island of Öland 25% of the water usage goes to chickens. As Guldfågeln (Om oss - GuldFågeln AB ) are the big employer in the area - some 500 employees on Öland - and even sponsor and have the local football stadium named efter them (Guldfågeln Arena ) - it's a conflict for the locals.
Torka på Öland – Vattenkris riktar ögon mot Guldfågeln
Guldfågeln använder en fjärdedel av Ölands vatten - P4 Kalmar
The local authorities a few years ago even paid for a new water treatment plant (cost 48 million Swedish Krowns) just for Guldfågeln ...
Guldfågeln är beroende av rent vatten - Barometern
Some idea of the size of Guldfågeln's business
"At the Guldfågeln chicken processing plant in Sweden, more
than 86,000 chickens arrive each day from neighbouring farms
to be transformed into the company’s various product lines."
"Guldfågeln has a comprehensive environmental policy and
operates as a carbon-neutral business. For example, in Mörbylånga each year 2,000 to 2,500 tonnes of feathers must be disposed of, but instead of being incinerated using fossil fuels
they are ground down and transported to Cementa’s nearby factory at Degerhamn in southern Öland for combustion. It is a double gain for the environment."
https://library.e.abb.com/public/93383856fe1bd67ac1257dcc004a9fcc/ROB0297EN_guldfageln.pdf
(Glad I'm vegan ... usch!)
 
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The BBC has broadcast a program suggesting that much of yoga as practiced in the 20th and 21st centuries may have derived from Scandinavia.

The Secret History of Yoga

Fri 17 June 2016, 11:00

As UN International Yoga Day approaches, Mukti Jain Campion sets out to explore the roots of modern yoga practice.

Like millions of people across the world, Mukti attends regular yoga classes and enjoys its many physical and mental benefits while believing it to be the "timeless Indian discipline" so often described in yoga books.

But recent research challenges this common assumption. Could modern yoga classes, as now taught all around the world, actually be the product of 19th century Scandinavian gymnastics as much as ancient Indian philosophy?
 
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Norway might send troops to Syria to support anti-ISIS operations
The Norwegian government said it might send special forces soldiers to Syria, to help with counter-Islamic State (ISIS) efforts in that country, after its parliament authorized it to do so on Wednesday.

“Local forces [fighting ISIS] are making more progress than we could have expected. It is therefore more on the agenda that coalition forces should be able to train, advise and give operational support on Syrian territory in their battle against IS,” said Norway’s defense minister, Ine Eriksen Soreide, in a statement.

Norway also wants to send at least 60 soldiers to Jordan to help train anti-ISIS Syrian fighters. It already has 120 soldiers in the Kurdistan Region where they are training Iraqi and Kurdish forces who are fighting ISIS.

On the ground in Syria the US-led anti-ISIS coalition is supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in their fight against ISIS by providing it with training and close air support.

American and French special forces are already on the ground training and advising the SDF in their ongoing offensives against ISIS.
Stortinget gir grønt lys for norsk nærvær i Syria
 
On your drought/chicken story, was the idea behind the water treatment plant to "free up" ground water for use by the populace through having the company use the water from the water treatment plant? Where does the water to be treated come from? Is it salt water that has to be desalinated? Or just dirty fresh water?

What can be done to cope with the drought? Other than build more water treatment plants? And switch away from animal agriculture?
 
Kommunen bygger nytt åt Guldfågeln - Barometern from 2010.
Reningsverk ger 100 nya jobb - Ölandsbladet from 2011
30 miljoner satsas för nya jobb - Ölandsbladet from 2012
Only in Sweden ... Guldfågeln had problems with the waste fresh (ground) water from the chicken processing - so bad they were threatened with stopping the plant by the authorities. As Guldfågeln wanted to expand they had to find a solution to the waste water, so they promised the politicians 200-300 new jobs in return for a new waste water treatment plant. (at the same time Guldfågeln gave 20 million Swedish Crowns to the local soccer team - umm)

According to Guldfågeln the water is used for removing feathers, processing the meat (check how much water is in chicken parts next time you're in a supermarket) and cleaning (lot of fat I would imagine to clean away).

Latest idea is a desalination plant to produce enough fresh water to cover Guldfågeln's needs, but Guldfågeln probably won't invest any money in it (taxpayers pay in other words), but are willing to re-negotiate water tarrifs (so kind!).

The drought - or rather disappearing ground water - has been described as the result of climate change (it fits predicted patterns) - increased use plus less rain. There have been warning signs for mnay years but now it's at an all time low.
see in English Gotland and Öland could face severe water shortage - Radio Sweden
 
Only in Sweden ... Guldfågeln had problems with the waste fresh (ground) water from the chicken processing - so bad they were threatened with stopping the plant by the authorities. As Guldfågeln wanted to expand they had to find a solution to the waste water, so they promised the politicians 200-300 new jobs in return for a new waste water treatment plant. (at the same time Guldfågeln gave 20 million Swedish Crowns to the local soccer team - umm) ...


The drought - or rather disappearing ground water - has been described as the result of climate change (it fits predicted patterns) - increased use plus less rain. There have been warning signs for mnay years but now it's at an all time low.
see in English Gotland and Öland could face severe water shortage - Radio Sweden

Thank you. Very informative.