Swedish-Israeli relations
Terry Senum

I am half Norwegian-Swedish born in Canada. My grandparents came from Sweden. I am concerned about the crisis in Lebanon and Gaza but getting back to peace table as far as I am concerned is out of the question. Even my Muslim friend who came from Lebanon agrees. This war will take some time to resolve. I used to be a Muslim myself afew years ago. This war is about the destruction of Israel by Hezbollah. Let the Israelis and Palestinians fight it out. The G 8 Ministers and the UN can do very little to resolve the situation. Sweden should continue diplomatic relations with Israel and cut ties with the PA, and the terrorist organizations bent on destroying Israel. I am a christian.I love the Jewish people(God's chosen people. we are to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Sweden is supposed to be a peaceful loving country and have good relations with democratic governments around the world not with Communist countries eg: N.Korea etc which is a menace to the world re: nuclear weapons. SHAME! Skam mot Sverige>>

Lebanon and Palestine elected governments
stick to the facts

> Sweden is supposed to be a peaceful loving country and have
> good relations with democratic governments around the
> world not with Communist countries.

You seem to have missed some major facts:

Lebanon is a country with a long democratic tradition, interrupted briefly by the Israeli stimulation of civil war in the 1980s. Since 2000, it has been a regular democracy, with a diversity of political parties, free elections etc.

Palestine is trying to be a democracy, as much as Israel will allow it to. In the last election, Hamas won a massive victory. The West has refused to acknowledge the result of these elections.

The other thing is that democracy and communism are not in contradiction with one another: both capitalism and communism encourage dictatorships. Some democratic countries/states are dominated by communist parties - because people prefer the communist party to other parties (e.g. West Bengal, Kerala). And some dictatorships are non-communist.

Of course, both capitalist democracies and communist democracies are inconsistent with human rights, since both capitalism and communism are failed systems.

Welcome to the real world!