Before Hassan* arrived in Sweden, he didn’t know anything about the country.
At first, things went relatively well for the Syrian refugee, who moved his family to an apartment in the Skåne region, near Malmö.
Hassan found a job in a factory, while his wife returned to her studies and their four children joined a Swedish school, learning the language and making friends.
Poor Hassan!
Among the things a police career taught me is that a small number—usually single digits—of felons commit most felonies. They’ll draw in other criminals, involve them in their crimes, and when convenient, abandon them to arrest. There is no honor among thieves. And the number of the most prolific felons increases and decreases slightly from place to place, and in relation to the specific type of crime.
In some places, crooks specialize in home or business burglaries. In others, specialization might involve burglarizing vehicles or carjacking.
The Swedish Migration Agency (Migrationsverket) is reportedly struggling to prevent people from using family reunification rules to bring close relatives into the country, despite Sweden’s new ban on cousin marriage.
The law, which came into force on July 1, prohibits marriage between cousins and certain other close relatives. It is intended to combat forced marriage and reduce the health risks associated with children being born to closely related parents.
A veteran Swedish police officer has warned that Islamisation will soon overtake migrant gang violence as the greatest threat facing the country.
Maria Rosander, who has served in the police for 17 years and leads the national-conservative Sweden Democrats in Uppsala County, said tougher criminal laws were beginning to reduce the shootings and bombings that have plagued Sweden for the past decade.
However, she argued that such measures cannot address religious segregation, Islamic radicalisation and the refusal of some migrant communities to assimilate.
The Gripen fighter jet built by Sweden’s Saab has lost whatever open competition the Canadian military has held between it and the F-35. Despite this, the Carney government appears set to announce that it will buy the Gripen.
The leadership of the Royal Canadian Air Force, the leadership at the Department of National Defence, and Defence Minister David McGuinty all back proceeding with the planned purchase of 88 F-35 fighter jets.
Sweden’s parliament has approved a new law allowing authorities to revoke residence permits from ‘badly behaved’ migrants.
The legislation, passed by the Riksdag on Monday, June 15th, enables the Swedish Migration Agency to withdraw both pending and already granted residence permits if a foreigner is deemed to have engaged in misconduct. The new rules will enter into force on July 13th.
Even Sweden is waking up. Canada not so much.
Canada’s planned purchase of the Saab GlobalEye surveillance jet faces significant political and technical hurdles if the aircraft is going to be fully integrated into NORAD.
Much of the success or failure of the effort will depend on convincing the Trump administration and the Pentagon to share a key piece of technology that allows fighter jets and early warning systems to communicate while maintaining stealth.
Experts doubt the United States will allow a high-tech data link used exclusively on F-35 fighters to be installed on either the early warning aircraft or the Gripen-E — if Canada chooses to buy that warplane.
Sweden is set to further tighten its immigration system after parliament approved a government bill that will eliminate the possibility of permanent residence permits for asylum seekers and certain other groups of immigrants.
The legislation, passed on Tuesday, will come into force on July 12th. From that date onward, only temporary residence permits can be issued to those falling under the new rules.
Eleven years ago, the Swedish employment minister visited Canada for advice on how best to integrate immigrants and refugees into the workforce. With Sweden now implementing some of the toughest immigration policies in Europe, Canada might want to return the favour to find out how it all went wrong for the country that prided itself on being the ultimate “humanitarian powerhouse.”
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard recently announced that the Swedish government would be dropping not just the word but the entire concept of “Islamophobia,” out of a preference for freedom of speech.
“We are pushing for the term ‘Islamophobia’ to be replaced with what is called ‘anti-Muslim racism’ or ‘anti-Muslim hatred’ in English,” Stenergard said in response to a question from the Sweden Democrats party. Charges of “racist” or “Islamophobe” are being used worldwide to shut down anyone who questions or criticizes Islam or Islamist doctrines.
Sweden’s decision is long overdue.
Twenty-three innocent bystanders have been killed and 30 others wounded in gang-related shootings in Sweden over the past three years, according to police statistics released on Monday that have laid bare the Nordic country’s struggle to rein in a wave of violent crime rooted in failed migration policy.
The figures have come as Sweden continues to grapple with the legacy of decades of large-scale migration, with the country having received the highest per capita intake of migrants in Europe during the 2015 migration crisis. Swedish police have estimated that around 30,000 people in the country are directly involved with or have ties to gang networks, with newer assessments putting the figure of those connected to organised crime at more than 60,000.
22-year-old Syrian home care worker has been charged with multiple counts of assault, harassment, and unlawful recording involving elderly patients in the city of Örebro, Sweden, according to a report by Swedish outlet Samnytt.
The suspect, identified as Abdulrahman Al Khleef Almasalmeh, is accused of abusing at least 13 elderly individuals while employed in municipal home care services. The case, based on a prosecutor’s indictment, reportedly stems from an investigation involving a total of 15 complainants, including a 99-year-old woman. Two of the victims have since died.
There is a way the U.S. could play hardball with Canada, if the Liberal government of Prime Minister Mark Carney decides it wants to limit its purchase of F-35s in favour of the Gripen.
Critics who favour the Lockheed-Martin stealth fighter have long argued that the Swedish-built Gripen would not be interoperable with American aircraft and the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).
That’s not what you see at the NATO air policing mission in Iceland, where Danish-owned F-35s have been training and operating alongside Swedish JAS-39 Gripens-Cs.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is inching closer to a possible decision to end Canada’s F-35 procurement plans and accept an offer from Sweden’s Saab, instead, with news this week revealing that the Swedish manufacturer is now providing Ottawa with detailed, technical information on what a JAS 39 Gripen fighter deal would actually look like in practice.
Among the topics currently being discussed in Ottawa are timelines for technology transfers, the speed at which a Canadian production line could be established, and how Canada could participate in future export sales of the aircraft.
Sweden is moving forward with plans to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 13 in serious cases as it grapples with a growing number of children recruited into gangs to carry out violent crimes without facing serious legal repercussions.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said the country was in an “emergency situation” and stopping the use of children in criminal networks was a “crucial task” for the government.
But several authorities, including police, prison officials and prosecutors, have opposed the plan, with some worried that it may lead to even younger children becoming offenders.
