Sweden: More Signs The World"s Biggest Housing Bubble Is Cracking

We like to highlight that although Sweden’s property bubble is not the longest running (that accolade goes to Australia at 55 years), it is probably the world’s biggest, even though it gets relatively little coverage in the mainstream financial media.

A month ago, we noted that SEB’s housing price indicator suffered its second biggest ever drop, falling by 39 points, only lagging a steeper fall from ten years earlier. This month the indicator, which shows the balance between households forecasting rising or falling prices, fell into negative territory, dropping to -5 from +11 in November. Households expecting prices to rise has almost halved from 66% In October, to 43% in November and 36% this month. The percentage of households expecting prices to fall has risen from 16% in October, to 32% in November and 41% this month.

After the housing price indicator was published, the Swedish krona fell as much as 0.7% versus the Euro to 10.0118, its lowest level since 5 December 2017.

Not surprisingly, the focal point of Sweden’s property boom has been Stockholm, where the decline in the housing price indicator in December 2017 was precipitous. According to Bloomberg.

SEB says sharp drop in home-price expectations in Stockholm was main culprit behind the decline in its Swedish home-price indicator, with the indicator falling to -42 in the Swedish capital in Dec. from -6 in Nov. That means the Stockholm indicator is now close to the record low of -47 that was reached in Dec. 2008, at the height of the global financial crisis.

(SEB) says 63% of households in Stockholm now expect prices to decline in the coming year while only 21% expect an increase; that’s “a dramatic shift compared with only two months’ ago,”

Given the disproportionate rate of decline in December in Stockholm, SEB was minded to ask whether special factors are at work “rather than general drivers such as fears over rising interest rates or a weak business cycle”. Indeed, aside from south-eastern Sweden, the outlook in all other regions remains positive. With regard to Stockholm, the bank notes that a large increase in new supply of expensive residential property and what it terms “very negative media reporting” have had an impact. Whether that’s a fair assessment, or whether it’s realist reporting of a monumental asset bubble is a moot point. What is indisputable is that the number of Swedish homes for sale has surged in November 2017 compared with the same month last year.

SEB is still undecided on whether Stockholm is a leading indicator for Sweden in general, as Bloomberg notes.

Differences between regions are “unusually high and some of the factors that currently weigh on Stockholm could turn out to be of a more temporary nature, especially given a continued lack of housing, low rates and the strong labor market”

The official HOX/Valueguard house price data for November 2017 will be published on 14 December. Last month, the weakness in SEB’s housing price indicator preceded clear evidence of a decline in Swedish house prices and the likely end to the housing bubble. Average house prices for Sweden fell 3.0% in October versus the previous month, with Stockholm prices down 3.7%. SEB expects “continued small sequential declines and as regards Stockholm also year-on-year” when the data is published on Thursday.

Ahead of the data, some analysts are expecting a “November Noir” with the month-on-month decline comparable with or even worse than what was seen in October 2017. Previewing the announcement, Bloomberg explains.

Anyone with a stake in Sweden’s property market should make space for Thursday in their calendar. That’s when they’ll get fresh clues as to whether they are facing a temporary blip or the start of a full-blown crash…There are indications that the monthly drop will be as big - if not bigger - than October’s, when prices fell 3 percent, the steepest decline since the global financial crisis of 2008.

Nordea Bank AB expects a “November Noir,” with home prices declining 3 percent on a monthly basis and 1 percent on an annual basis. Property-listings website Booli, which is owned by mortgage lender SBAB, said on December 7 that the average selling price for Swedish apartments last month fell 3 percent from the same period a year earlier, led by a 7 percent drop in Stockholm.

While we wouldn’t like to second guess the outcome of Thursday’s data, we would strongly disagree that the fall in prices is already “close to the bottom”. Bloomberg found an analyst with an upbeat view.

All told, there may still be a glimmer of hope. “Looking only at developments over the past two weeks, prices have remained largely stable, both in the country as a whole and in Stockholm,” Nordea’s Andreas Wallstrom said on December 5. “This could be a tentative signal that we are close to the bottom and that our forecast of largely stable prices ahead is on track.”

What we are finding harder to fathom are the schizophrenic views of the normally glum looking Riksbank Governor, Stefan Ingves, who has presided over Sweden’s property boom for more than a decade. Bloomberg reports him arguing that a slowdown is “not a big concern”, which contrasts sharply the grave warning he gave to the Financial Times in October 2016.

But despite a lack of drama so far, Mr Ingves remains worried about a bad ending due to risks over financial stability.

He said: “It remains an issue because we are mismanaging our housing market. Our housing market isn’t under control, in my view.” The ratio of household debt to disposable income in Sweden is one of the highest in the world at more than 180 per cent and the Riksbank estimates it will continue to rise in the coming years.

We have more sympathy with the latter.
 

Welcome To The Hell Hole That Is Brussels

Authored by Drieu Godefridi via The Gatestone Institute,

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  Last month alone in Brussels, there were three separate outbreaks of rioting and looting on a major scale.

  
  


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  If you penetrate the thick cloud of professional indignation to scrutinize the reality of the "capital of Europe", what you see in many respects is actually a hell hole, one where socialism, Islamism, riots and looting are the new normal.

  
  

When then-candidate Donald Trump noted in January 2016 that, thanks to mass immigration, Brussels was turning into a hell hole, Belgian and European politicians presented a united front at the (media) barricades: How dare he say such a thing? Brussels, capital of the European Union, the very quintessence of the post-modern world, the avant-garde of the coming new "global civilization," a hell hole? Of course assimilating newcomers is not always easy, and there may be friction from time to time. But never mind, they said: Trump is a buffoon, and anyway, he has zero chance of getting elected. Such were the thoughts of those avid readers of The New York Times International Edition and regular watchers of CNN International.

However, Donald Trump, in his unmistakable, brash style, was quite simply right: Brussels is rapidly descending into chaos and anarchy. Exactly two months after that dramatic Trumpism, Brussels was eviscerated by a horrific Islamic terror attack that left 32 people dead. And that was only the tip of the monstrous iceberg that has built up over three decades of mass immigration and socialist madness.

Last month alone in Brussels, there were three separate outbreaks of rioting and looting on a major scale.

First, there was the qualification of the Moroccan team to the soccer World Cup: between 300 and 500 "youths" of foreign origin took to the streets of Brussels to "celebrate" the event in their own way, looting dozens of shops in the historical center of Brussels, wreaking havoc in the deserted avenues of the "capital of civilization" and, during their riot, injuring 22 police officers.

Riot police, backed by a water cannon, attempt to push back rioters in the center of Brussels, Belgium, on November 12. Hundreds of "youths" of foreign origin "celebrated" the World Cup qualification of Morocco"s soccer team by rioting and injuring 22 police officers. (Image source: Ruptly video screenshot)

Three days later, a social media rap music star nicknamed "Vargasss 92," who is a French citizen of foreign origin, decided to organize another unauthorized "celebration" in the center of Brussels, which quickly turned into another riot. Again, shops were destroyed and people assaulted for no other reason than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Short clips of the event streamed onto the social networks, showing the world (and Belgians) the true face of Brussels without the politicians" makeover. No wonder the European political elite hate social media from the depths of their hearts; they prefer the sanitized (and, in both France and francophone Belgium, heavily subsidized) traditional press.

Finally, on November 25, the socialist authorities in charge of the City of Brussels had the bright idea of authorizing a demonstration against slavery in Libya, which quickly descended into yet another riot: shops were destroyed, cars set on fire, 71 people arrested.

This lawlessness, with not even the remotest political justification, is the new normal in Brussels. Politicians may not like that fact, which is the result of their lamentable failure, but it is nonetheless a massive and unavoidable fact. The new Brussels is characterized by riots and looting by people of foreign origin, as well as the ongoing heavily-armed military presence in the streets of Brussels, in place since March 22, 2016, the day that European Islamists murdered 32 and wounded 340 people in the worst-ever terrorist attack in Belgium.

One may wonder why these fine Belgian soldiers patrolling the streets do nothing to stop the rioters. For the simple reason that it is outside of their remit; should a soldier actually hurt a looter, he would probably be publicly chastised, pilloried by the media, put on trial and dishonorably discharged.

It would be funny if it were not so serious. After the first two recent riots, Belgian state television (RTBF) organized a debate with politicians and pundits from Brussels. Among the participants was Senator Alain Destexhe, from the center-right Reformist Movement (the party of Belgium"s Prime Minister).

Destexhe is an interesting figure in Belgian politics. In French-speaking Belgium, he has been among the few to say publicly that the mass-immigration Belgians are inflicting upon themselves is unsustainable, that Islam may not be such a peaceful religion, and that school classes in which 90% of the children are of foreign origin, who do not speak French or Dutch at home, are not a recipe for success. Such may be taken as a given in much of the Western world, but in the French-speaking part of Belgium, heavily influenced by the French worldview, he was considered right-wing, if not an extremist, a racist, and other such niceties the Left often utters.

When, during this debate, Destexhe tried to make his point -- that there is a connection between the non-integration of many people of foreign origin in Brussels and the decades-long high level of immigration -- the moderator literally yelled at him that "Migration is not the subject, Monsieur Destexhe! MIGRATION IS NOT THE SUBJECT, STOP!", before giving the word to a "slam poet", a young woman who explained that the problem was that women wearing the Islamic veil (such as herself) do not feel welcome in Brussels. The audience was then instructed to applaud her. Also on the set was a Green Party politician who affirmed that "nobody knows the origin of the rioters." Hint: they were, in their own idiosyncratic way, "celebrating" Morocco"s victory. A great moment of Belgian surrealism? No, just a typical political "debate" in French-speaking Belgium, except that normally Destexhe is not invited.

The picture would not be complete without mentioning that the very night that the first riot began, November 11, an association called MRAX (Mouvement contre le racisme, l"antisémitisme et la xénophobie) published on its Facebook page an appeal to report any case of "police provocation" or "police violence". The results of the riot? 22 police officers hurt, zero arrests. MRAX is not only a bunch of leftist Islamist sympathizers, they are heavily financed by taxpayers. Are movements from the right also financed by taxpayers? Simply put: No. In Brussels, the unemployment rate is a staggering 16.9%, a mind-boggling 90% of those on welfare have foreign origins, and although taxes are among the highest in the world, the public coffers are nonetheless bleeding. A sad snapshot of yet another socialist failure.

But there is hope. Brussels is not only Molenbeek and rioting, it has a robust tradition of entrepreneurship, and Belgium"s federal government, particularly its Flemish component, is extremely conscious of the challenges that need facing. But nothing is going to change if people do not recognize that in many respects Brussels has, from the opulent conservative and "bourgeois" city that it was 25 years ago, morphed into a hell hole.

Ironically, what Brussels now obviously needs is another Donald Trump.

Lisbon"s Red Hot Property Market - Poor Madonna Can"t Even Find A House

We’ve written a lot about property bubbles in recent weeks – how the bubbles in London and Sydney are bursting, Hong Kong’s has just seen the record price paid per square foot (Twice in the same day) and Monaco is building into the Mediterranean Sea to satisfy the huge demand from frustrated millionaires. A bit like Monaco, one of the problems for Lisbon’s house buyers is that central Lisbon is relatively small. According to Bloomberg.

In central Lisbon’s property market, sellers are kings. The Portuguese capital’s real estate boom is entering a new phase as a shortage of prime property in the city center is prompting some buyers to bid above the asking price for the last available units.

“There’s a big gap between supply and demand,” said Luis Tilli, a real estate agent at Lisbon-based HomeLovers, which is selling a three-bedroom, 236 square meter (2,540 square feet) refurbished duplex in the historic quarter of Chiado for 2 million euros ($2.38 million). “It’s reached a point where some investors offer to pay above the asking price just so they can close a deal.”

“There are a very limited number of buildings located in the center of Lisbon to purchase,” said Jose Cardoso Botelho, head of Vanguard Properties, a real estate firm controlled by French-Swiss investor Claude Berda that’s bought 10 buildings in Lisbon since it began investing in the city last year. “We’ve started looking for building plots on the outskirts of the city now, but it hasn’t been easy.”

For most people are concerned, Lisbon has probably slipped under the housing bubble radar. As Bloomberg explains, however, the foundations for the current bubble date back to 2012.

Lisbon’s property market revival began after the previous government eased long-held rent controls and started offering residence permits in 2012 to non-European property buyers, mostly from China. Portugal’s tax-friendly regime for foreign residents and a tourism boom that led to the conversion of hundreds of buildings into short-term rental apartments and hotels have also helped fuel demand.

The last time we wrote about Lisbon property was in November 2014 in “Dear Portugal, Meet Your New Landlord – China". As we noted back then.

…at a property auction in Lisbon, Portugal last month, about 90% of the bidders for the government-owned apartments and stores on offer were Chinese. They ended up acquiring more than two-thirds of the 45 properties, with one money-launderer investor noting "Lisbon is cheap if you compare it with other cities”.

 

1-in-4 homes bought by foreigners in America in 2014 were by Chinese and Portugal is already at 1-in-5.

While prices have risen by more than a third during the last five years, there is a classic squeeze taking place in Lisbon’s historic centre.

Home prices in the city rose 35 percent from 2012 to 2016, when they reached the highest since at least 2007, according to Confidencial Imobiliario, which collects data on the real estate sector. In Lisbon’s historic center, property prices increased 26 percent in the first half of 2017 while the number of deals fell 34 percent from the same period a year earlier, a sign of a shortage of housing stock.

“It’s the first time that Lisbon has a shortage of homes to satisfy investor demand,” said Lima. “Home buyers need to realize it’s impossible for everyone to live in Avenida da Liberdade,” he said, referring to a boulevard in Lisbon lined with gardens, ornately tiled sidewalks and luxury shops that’s considered the local Champs-Elysees.

Average home prices in the central historic neighborhoods of Baixa, Chiado and Avenida da Liberdade were at 6,367 euros per square meter in the first quarter, according to a study by property appraiser and consulting company Prime Yield.

The country is expected to attract a record 3 billion euros in property investment this year, mostly from foreigners. That’s up from 1.3 billion euros in 2016, according to broker CBRE Group Inc.

The shortage of prime Lisbon property is so acute that Madonna struggled to find a property when she decided to move to the Portuguese capital to support her son’s adopted son’s career ambitions. David Banda has been picked to play in the junior squad of Portugal’s most famous club, Benfica. Bloomberg continues.

Fueling the demand are the likes of rock star Madonna, the latest of a handful of celebrities to show an interest in a city that’s often compared to San Francisco because of its steep hills, trams and red suspension bridge. But central Lisbon’s housing stock is much smaller than in other European cities such as Madrid, London and Paris, and it’s quickly running out, according to Luis Lima, head of Portugal’s Real Estate Professionals and Brokers Association.

Even the “queen of pop” has showed some frustration in her quest to find a home in the southern European city. In June, the 59-year-old Madonna visited a hilltop palace in Lisbon as part of her search for a home in the city, according to Sotheby’s International Realty. Four months later she shared a picture of herself riding a horse on a beach with a caption on her Instagram account that read: “Can’t find a house in Lisbon but damn… sure can find a horse!”

It’s the same story we hear in London, Sydney, Auckland, Vancouver and many more. Local people are priced out of the market and efforts by politicians to reverse the trend have generally been futile, as the Bloomberg piece makes clear.

As housing stocks dwindle and prices rise, Lisbon residents are finding themselves being priced out of the real estate market in the city center…The Lisbon City Council plans to offer affordable housing to low- and middle-income residents in the city center, where a growing number of units have been snapped up by foreign investors. Under the plan, as many as 7,000 new homes with monthly rents between 250 euros and 450 euros will be made available. “We must stop the exodus from the city center of residents who can’t afford the rising real estate and rental prices,” said Romao Lavadinho, president of the Association for Lisbon Tenants. “There are parents moving in with their children and children moving back into their parents’ home.”

Even stringent Chinese capital controls haven’t slowed down Lisbon property prices…perhaps only the bursting of the central bankers bubble can achieve that?

Lira Plunges As Mystery Gold Trader Exposes "Secret" Turkish Deal To Evade Washington"s "Economic Jihad"

We detailed below that TRY was selling off on US accusations that the Turkish economic minister of taking bribes.

 

Citi"s FX desk explains why Turkish markets are watching the US trial of a banker so closely.

The basics: The US government has accused Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla of helping Iran evade US sanctions.

 

Turkey’s former economy minister, Zafer Caglayan, and two other banking executives, have been charged in absentia but Atilla is the only one on trial.

 

Why it matters: It"s about the implications this has for US/Turkey diplomatic relations. Bloomberg has a good explainer here: ‘The focus will be on whether [Zarrab] implicates Turkey’s banking system or the highest levels of its government.’ The worst case scenario would hypothetically be where the trial results in diplomatic penalties to Turkey and its banks.

 

An October 30 document submitted to the court by federal prosecutors in New York said that the US “anticipates that the evidence introduced at trial will show that Turkish government and banking officials were integral to the sanctions evasion scheme.” Still, it’s too early to tell, and we watch the wires closely for the latest developments.

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As we detailed earlier, while long forgotten for some, in the summer of 2014, we reported in detail on what appeared to be the biggest, most bizarre money-laundering scheme ever, involving Turkey trading "200 tons of secret gold" with Iran...

The topic of Turkey"s Oil-for-Gold "deals" has not been far from our thoughts over the last few years (here, here, and here) but as Bloomberg reports, after accessing a report leaked on March 14 of a network that spanned Turkey, China, Dubai and Iran, the plot reveals "one of the most complex illicit finance schemes [prosecutors] have seen." It included the classic money-laundering techniques of over-invoicing and false invoicing (exactly as in the case of the Chinese commodity financing scandal underway) but the secret government plan to juice Turkey"s exports goes much deeper; and if you think that the exposure of this scheme is slowing Turkey"s manipulation, think again. Turkey’s trade balance continues to fluctuate unpredictably as gold stocks flow out of the country in bursts.  “Turkey’s going to continue it,” the Turkish economy minister said. “If those casting aspersions on the gold trade are searching for immorality, they should take a look in the mirror.”

 

We first started noticing major "odd" exports of gold from Turkey to Iran in May 2012. But in 2013, with a plunging currency, surging inflation, slowing growth, and specter of rapid QE-driven hot money outflows leaving his nation desperate; Zafer Caglayan, the minister in charge of Turkey"s $800 billion economy decided that the only way to ensure success in the looming election... was to cheat...

 

Read more here...

A farcical domestic investigation was undertaken and while the judges and officials who probed the money laundering scheme were either fired or reassigned, the findings in their report were leaked.

The leaked document that Erodgan tried so hard to hide, prepared by the Turkish National Police, shows that investigators probed the activities of a cast of characters that was both powerful and dependent upon each other for favors. There have been some arrests (but no politicians).

The first was Sarraf, the Iranian businessman, who changed his name from Reza Zarrab after he took Turkish citizenship in 2007.

 

He and Erdogan were photographed on stage together at one public function, and met at a wedding in Ankara.

 

After Sarraf was arrested in December, Erdogan told reporters that his gold-dealing had “contributed to the country.”

Then, three years later, Bloomberg reports that Zarrab - the gold trader accused of helping Iran evade sanctions - invoked the name of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as part of a scheme that U.S. prosecutors say was supported by Turkey’s government, according to court documents.

U.S. prosecutors in New York have gathered taped conversations and other records that suggest the trader may have sought support from Erdogan.

 

The Turkish president hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing, and it’s possible that the trader falsely invoked Erdogan’s name to influence others.

 

The people charged in the case are captured in the recorded conversations, which were introduced in a filing in federal court in Manhattan.

 

The documents introduced in the sanctions and money-laundering case against the Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, could further complicate the relationship between the U.S. and Turkey, a majority-Muslim country long considered a crucial ally in the region.

And now, the day that Turkish President Erdogan has been most fearful of has arrived, despite his best efforts to block it. Erdogan tried to pressure U.S. officials during the Barack Obama and Donald Trump administrations to drop the prosecution of the trader and has complained in public comments that prosecutors were trying to extract a confession from Zarrab and turn him into an informant. He also claimed President Trump apologized for the prosecution in a phone call.

“Erdogan clearly has a strong personal interest in Zarrab’s case, as he has raised it at the highest levels of both the Obama and Trump administrations,” said Amanda Sloat, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institute and former State Department official overseeing U.S.-Turkey relations.

 

“U.S. judicial proceedings could also hurt the Turkish economy. Since much of Erdogan’s popularity resulted from his successful economic reforms, his domestic political support would be undermined by a downturn.”

AP reports that a U.S. prosecutor says Turkish gold trader Reza Zarrab has pleaded guilty to charges and will reveal at a New York trial how he helped Iran evade U.S. sanctions in an "economic jihad."

Assistant U.S. Attorney David Denton said Tuesday that Zarrab will be a key witness against Turkish banker Mehmet Hakan Atilla.

 

The prosecutor said the scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran since 2011 enabled billions of dollars to be moved and threatened U.S. security.

 

Defense attorney Victor Rocco attacked Zarrab"s credibility in his opening statement, saying the case was really about Zarrab"s crimes.

 

He said Zarrab made a deal to get out of jail free, possibly joining the U.S. witness protection program so he and his family can live in the United States.

This sparked a plunge near record lows for the Lira (and sent bond yields spiking to record highs)...

Turkish officials remain furious, claiming that the U.S. trial is a "play" staged with the help of a U.S.-based cleric.

Mahir Unal, a deputy chairman of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan"s ruling party, on Tuesday also described the case as a "political" one lacking legal basis.

 

Unal renewed a Turkish government claim that U.S. judicial officials were cooperating with cleric Fethullah Gulen"s network against Turkey.

 

He said: "We know who staged this play and what its aim is."

Ultimately, the case is a test of U.S.-Turkish relations, already at one of the lowest points in the countries’ longstanding alliance, with analysts questioning how close the charges might get to Erdogan himself... and by the look of today"s opening statements, and the responses from Turkey, they are worried!

Bloomberg answers: What are the implications for the Turkey-U.S. relationship?

The U.S. “anticipates that the evidence introduced at trial will show that Turkish government and banking officials were integral to the sanctions evasion scheme,” according to an Oct. 30 document submitted to the court by federal prosecutors in New York. Embarrassing revelations of corruption or criminal activity are sure to further stress ties, already at their worst in recent history. Turkey blames Fethullah Gulen, an elderly Muslim cleric who’s been based in the U.S. since 1999, for the 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan. President Donald Trump’s first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, is said to be under investigation for allegedly plotting to seize Gulen and deliver him to Turkish officials. Further complicating the situation, Turkey hired two close allies Trump -- former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey -- to try to broker a resolution of the case that’s reaching trial.

"For The Sake Of Allah": Swedish Radio Station Hijacked To Play ISIS Recruiting Song

Earlier this year, President Trump took a beating in the mainstream media for blasting Europe"s, and more specifically Sweden"s, disastrous immigration policies...

Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2017

 Of course, since that feud erupted, the MSM has been repeatedly embarrassed by a series of violent attacks perpetrated by Muslim migrants on Swedish citizens.  Here are just a few examples:

• Sweden Truck Terrorist Arrested; Bomb Found Inside Truck


• Swedish Cop Posts Epic Facebook Rant On Immigrant Crime; Ignites Nationwide Firestorm


• Swedish Police "Cannot Cope" With Huge Numbers Of Rapes Since Migrants Arrived


• U.S. Journalist Investigating "Migrant Crime" In Sweden Has To Leave Under "Police Escort" For His Own Safety


• Leaked Police Report Exposes 23 Muslim-Controlled "No Go Zones" In Sweden: Plagued With Violence, Sexual Assaults, & Gun Crimes


• Postal Service Suspended In Swedish "No-Go" Zone Because It"s "Not Safe"

Now, the latest evidence suggesting that the migrant population in Sweden might have motivations beyond their simple, peaceful relocation from the Middle East comes via a radio station in Malmo.  As The Local pointed out earlier today, Malmo residents who flipped their radio dials to Mix Megapol earlier this morning were greeted with a rather alarming "ISIS recruiting" mix tape rather than the station"s normal "hits from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s."  The terrorist recruiting mix tape was apparently played for a full 30 minutes after an "unknown offender" managed to hijack the radio station.

Malmö residents who tuned into popular radio station Mix Megapol at around 8.30am on Friday suddenly found themselves listening to Isis recruitment song "For the sake of Allah".

 

The song was played after the radio station"s local airwaves were hijacked by an unknown offender, Bauer Media, which owns the station, confirmed after 24Malmö.se first reported the incident.

 

"We will report this incident to the police and to the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority," marketing director Jakob Gravestam said in a press release.

 

He confirmed to 24Malmö.se that the three-minute song – with lyrics trying to tempt Westerners into joining Isis with promises about maidens waiting in paradise for fighters – was played for around 30 minutes.

As you may recall, earlier this year in April, Sweden fell victim to a deadly terrorist attack after a 39-year-old migrant from Uzbekistan plowed a beer delivery truck into a market in Central Sweden.  The attack killed 4 people and seriously injured a dozen others. 

Since then, many Swedes have called for the implementation of "geo-fences" in urban areas that would give the police the ability to remotely disable large trucks and/or an outright ban on trucks altogether.

Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth hopes to introduce the "geo-fences" in urban areas next year and which use technology that can digitally stop large vehicles  or reduce their speed.

 

Since then, Swedish authorities have worked to increase security against these kind of attacks, including the implementation of more physical barriers in pedestrianized areas, increased video surveillance and tightened security at large public events.

 

On Drottninggatan, the street targeted in April"s attack, authorities have already doubled the number of concrete lions which are in place to stop vehicles driving down the pedestrianized streets.

 

"Security on our pedestrianized streets has been improved. Directly after the terror attack we put out more stone lions, and we have also ordered heavier versions which are coming next year," said Daniel Halldén, Stockholm"s transport commissioner.

 

The heavier lions will weigh three times as much as those currently in place, at three tonnes each, and will be placed in a way so that vehicles cannot drive straight ahead but are forced to turn, preventing them from being able to increase their speed.

Of course, rather than ban trucks, knives, rocks, paper clips, etc., Sweden could also consider a more rigorous vetting program for the migrants that seem to be responsible for a fairly high percentage of these types of attacks...though that would probably be culturally insensitive...so maybe not.

Norway"s Oil Sector Faces Existential Crisis

Authored by Tsvetana Paraskova via OilPrice.com,

Oil companies have recently focused on frontier exploration drilling in the Barents Sea offshore in Norway, neglecting the powerhouse of the Norwegian oil industry, the North Sea.

Exploration activity in the North Sea - the most mature area of Western Europe’s biggest oil producer - is at an 11-year low this year, which is a concern for the industry’s regulator, the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD).

“That worries me,” NPD Director General Bente Nyland told Bloomberg in a recent interview, voicing the industry concern that without new oil discoveries, especially in mature areas with well-connected infrastructure, the decline in Norway’s oil production would be even bigger than expected.

Following a continual decline between 2001 and 2013, Norway’s crude oil production rose last year for the third year running, but according to the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD), oil production this year would be nearly half the volume from the peak in 2000-2001.

Two huge fields discovered in 2010 and 2011, Johan Sverdrup in the North Sea, and Johan Castberg in the Barents Sea, are expected to start operations in 2019 and 2022, respectively, and will lift Norway’s oil production in the early 2020s compared to expected declines in 2018 and 2019.

But after 2025, production and activity are expected to significantly drop off unless there are new discoveries, according to oil major Statoil.

Norway’s Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, and NPD say:

“Production from new fields that come on stream will compensate for the decline in production from ageing fields. However, in the longer term, the level of production will depend on new discoveries being made, the development of discoveries, and the implementation of improved recovery projects on existing fields.”

Encouraged by recently opened areas and potentially huge yet-to-be-discovered resources, oil companies launched a record exploration drilling campaign in Norway’s Barents Sea this year. But the drilling campaign was a flop, and even the most promising wildcat yielded no oil.

Companies are vowing to return next year for more exploration in the frontier regions, but they’ve been neglecting the North Sea—the most mature area where Norway’s petroleum history began, and which made the country one of the world’s richest.

The North Sea is still the powerhouse of Norway’s oil with 62 fields in production as of the end of 2016, compared to 16 fields in production in the Norwegian Sea and two fields—Snøhvit and Goliat­—in the Barents Sea.  

This year oil companies drilled a record number of wells in the Barents Sea, which is thought to hold 49 percent of Norway’s undiscovered resources, while the North Sea has 24 percent of undiscovered oil and gas, and the Norwegian Sea 27 percent.

The North Sea’s huge fields have pumped oil and gas for decades and are now maturing. Therefore, Norway needs to add more resources in the North Sea before some of the existing infrastructure, including platforms, is folded and decommissioned, according to NPD’s Nyland.

In an overview of the Norwegian Continental Shelf for 2016, Nyland pointed to “a great deal of uncertainty associated with exploration activity going forward.”

“It is very important to maintain exploration activity at a high level in order to maintain stable production in the future,” she said.  

The Barents Sea was a large part of exploration activity this year, but results were underwhelming.

“Exploration drilling in the Barents Sea in 2017 and 2018 will help clarify future opportunities in the Barents Sea and the Norwegian continental shelf,” Statoil says, but its chief executive Eldar Saetre also points out that the industry needs to heed what NPD’s Nyland has been saying about neglecting the North Sea.

 

“If we continue to see a trend where we’re not making bigger discoveries, we will have to search more in mature areas,” Saetre told Bloomberg in an interview. “This is an important issue,” he added.

As juicy as it sounds, the Barents Sea holds nearly half of Norway’s undiscovered resources, but the North Sea has the developed infrastructure to link new discoveries to existing fields and make even smaller new finds commercially viable when linked to producing areas. So, returning to the old stomping grounds may ultimately pay off.

Friedman: Almost All Countries In Europe Have Border Issues

Authored by George Friedman via MauldinEconomics.com,

For centuries, Europe has fought wars over borders. In the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, Europe’s borders shifted wildly. As empires fragmented, new nations arose and wars were waged.

After 1945 and the beginning of the Cold War, a new principle emerged on the Continent. The borders that existed at the end of World War II were deemed sacrosanct—not to be changed.

Europeans knew that border disputes had been one of the reasons of the two world wars and that even raising the legitimacy of post-war borders risked igniting passions that led to violence.

Similarly, untouchable were the existing spheres of influence on the Continent. There was the East and the West, and neither would mess with the other.

Thus, when the Soviets crushed independence movements in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, the United States refrained from any military action (not that there were many options). When Yugoslavia chose a pro-Western neutrality over membership in the Warsaw Pact, the Soviets didn’t intervene.

But in the early 1990s, everything changed.

Border Issues Arise, Again

In 1991–1992, two things happened.

First came the fall of the Soviet Union; then came the signing of the Maastricht Treaty and the creation of the European Union. Border issues began to drive events again.

The border of the Soviet Union collapsed, and a multitude of countries popped up to reclaim their past. There were many questions about borders that were mumbled about.

But for Eastern European countries, other problems took precedence: establishing national sovereignty, finding their place in a Europe that they longed to join, and building a new life for their people. They let the border issue drop—for the most part.

Yugoslavia and the Caucasus were exceptions that drove home the lesson of European borders. There, outside the framework of the EU and of little consequence to others, more than 100,000 people died.

Compare this to the Velvet Divorce of the Czechs and Slovaks, which took place within the context of future European states and left no one dead.

After this, and with Yugoslavia and the Caucasus in mind, the European Union tried to reinstate the principle that borders were sacrosanct. It provided what it had promised—peace and prosperity—and treated borders as anachronistic. No one was supposed to care where the lines were drawn. But there was a problem.

The Europeans Union’s Oversight

The European Union had affirmed the principle of national self-determination while avoiding the question of what a nation actually was. A nation was, under the bloc’s definition, any political entity that was in place when the EU was formed. There was little consideration after that.

This is why Catalonia is so important, along with Scotland. The Scots rejected a divorce by a startlingly narrow vote. One would have expected 90% of Scots to want to remain in the United Kingdom. Slightly more than 55% wanted to.

This means secessionists are within striking distance of secession—which would not only divide Scotland from England, but would also maintain the divide among the Scots.

Add to this another critical element. Catalonia has been part of Spain for a long time, but it has considered itself a unique nation apart for an even longer time. Spain will not legalize an independence vote.

The underlying questions are the ones the Europeans tried to bury, particularly after Yugoslavia: What is a nation, and what rights does it have? Both Scotland and Catalonia are nations. Do they therefore have a right to national determination or have they lost that right?

And what are the consequences if the Catalans disagree?

No Solution

This is not the only such issue festering in Europe.

Hungary was partitioned between Romania and Slovakia. Does it have a right to reclaim these lands? Belgium was a British invention binding the Dutch and French in an unhappy marriage. Can they divorce? Lviv used to be a very Polish city, and now it is part of Ukraine. Can western Ukraine secede and its people rejoin the countries they were citizens of before 1945?

The European Union promised universal prosperity if everyone suspended the question of borders and ignored their identities. It was a good bargain. But times have changed, and economic problems make borders much more important.

Europe, of course, has no solution to the problem.

That we would be talking about an independent Scotland and Catalonia in 2017 would seem preposterous. No economist would see it as a rational discussion.

Nations matter because Europe is merely a continent, and the EU is merely a treaty. It is a useful entity, and being useful is the only thing that justifies it. If it loses its utility, it loses its legitimacy. And that would also mean that the boundaries it has set would wither and die.

Almost all current nations in Europe have border issues and some parts that want to be independent. Most are quiet at the moment. But they are watching Scotland and Catalonia. And they know where border issues in Europe lead.

*  *  *

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NATO General Threatens "Consequences" For Turkey Buying Russian Air Defense System

Authored by Jason Ditz via AntiWar.com,

In looking to upgrade their air defense system, Turkey had a choice: buying the advanced Russian S-400 systems, or more expensive, US-made alternatives. Turkey chose to buy Russian, and NATO isn’t happy.

While NATO was initially just complaining the S-400 was incompatible with their own systems, top NATO General Petr Pavel told reporters this week that Turkey is likely to be punished by the alliance for not buying American.

“The principal of sovereignty obviously exists in acquisition of defense equipment, but the same way that nations are sovereign in making their decision, they are also sovereign in facing the consequences of that decision,” Pavel insisted.

Pavel dismissed reporter questions about the Turkish government’s recent anti-democracy moves, insisting nobody is perfect.

“When it comes to democratic deficits, show me one single nation that is perfect. No one is perfect,” Pavel said.

 

“No one challenges the role of Turkey as an important ally at the very difficult crossroads of challenges to the alliance.”

Apparently the same leeway does not apply for the question of buying American weapons.

The missile deal with Russia “is a clear sign that Turkey is disappointed in the U.S. and Europe,” said Konstantin Makienko, an analyst at the Center for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies, a Moscow think-tank.

 

“But until the advance is paid and the assembly begins, we can’t be sure of anything.”

Russia’s S-400, and its predecessor the S-300, have been praised as advanced, cost-effective alternatives to American anti-aircraft systems.

The US is used to having a virtual monopoly on this market, by ensuring that no one buys Russian without facing some very public criticism.

Almost 1,400 Companies Have Left Catalonia Since October 2

A total of 1,394 companies moved their headquarters from Catalonia to other regions of Spain between 2 and 23 October, according to data from the Association of Commercial Registrars of Spain. On Monday, a total of 92 companies emerged, after recording highs at the end of last week.

As El Economista reports, the vast majority (1,255) of the companies that left Catalonia had their headquarters in the province of Barcelona, ??while 25 left Gerona, 57 moved from Lleida and 57 did so from Tarragona.

In the period between 2 and 9 October, the number of companies leaving Catalonia was 219 entities, while this figure rose to 551 companies until day 11, to 700 companies until October 16, to 805 until day 17, 917 until Wednesday 18, 1,185 until Thursday 19 and 1,302 until Friday 20. With the departures of Monday 23, there are already 1,394 companies.

The days with the greatest number of transfers of headquarters of Catalonia were 19 of October, with 268; on October 9, with 212 outgoing entities, and on October 10, with 177 companies. After the rebound experienced from day 16 (68 transfers), when the trend was that each day increased the number of exits, to the maximum of 19 (268 transfers), on Friday decreased the number of companies that changed their registered office outside of the community (117), a decline that continued this week (92 on Monday).

Without taking into account weekends or holidays, every 15 minutes and a half leaves a company from Catalonia.

The opposite way

For its part, a total of 55 companies from outside Catalonia moved their headquarters to the region between 2 and 23 October, 48 of them to the province of Barcelona.

*  *  *

We wonder how that ratio will change after today...

Lira Tumbles After US Reportedly Refuses Visa For Turkish Minister Delegation

The Lira is down over 1% following Bloomberg reports from CNN TURK that Washington has declined to issue a visa to a delegation from Turkey"s Justice Ministry.

#SONDAK?KA: ABD, Türk Adalet Bakanl??? heyetine vize vermedi https://t.co/9pfeJqDSQD pic.twitter.com/PFlSjgxszn

— CNN Türk (@cnnturk) October 24, 2017

There was a last-minute development in visa tensions between Turkey and the United States. The US did not give a visa to the officials of the Justice Ministry who would be in contact with Washington.

The group included the following names:

• Aytekin Sakarya (General Director of Criminal Affairs of the Ministry of Justice)


• Mehmet Çkmen (General Director of Laws)


• Orhan Cuni (General Director of Criminal Affairs General Directorate of Alternative Solutions Department)


• Merve Ozcan (Tetkik Hakimi)


• Prof.Dr. Mustafa Serdar Özbek (Ba?kent University Faculty of Law)

The US has announced that the visas have not been approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs due to visa restrictions.

The reaction was immediate...

 

 

This is the latest escalation in the US/Turkey Visa battle that started 3 weeks ago.

Madrid Gives Catalonia 5 Day Ultimatum To Clarify If It Declared Independence

With Spain’s prime minister having opened earlier in the day the path for Madrid to use a constitutional “nuclear option” to suspend Catalonia’s autonomy, demanding that the regional government makes clear whether it considers itself independent, moments ago Spain"s Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy gave Catalan President Carles Puigdemont a five day ultimatum to clarify whether he actually declared the region"s independence in his speech devoted to the highly controversial referendum, and another 3 to "rectify it."

Spain’s leader said that it’s important for Catalonia’s leader to get his answer right on whether he declared independence or not. Rajoy, addressing Spain’s parliament, says that that Catalan president Carles Puigdemont “just needs to say he didn’t declare independence.”

The latest development comes after Rajoy said earlier on Wednesday that the cabinet of ministers asked for clarification on the issue of autonomous region"s independence.  As reported earlier, Rajoy decided to take the first step towards triggering Article 155 of the Spanish constitution, which would give Madrid previously unused powers to take control of Catalonia’s regional government, after an emergency cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

Rajoy said his formal request for clarity was “necessary when activating Article 155” and would dictate the next steps in the crisis to “offer certainty to the citizens”.

Using Article 155 to suspend Catalan autonomy would deepen the constitutional crisis in Spain since Catalonia held a contested referendum on independence on October 1. Spain’s government says Catalonia’s independence drive is unconstitutional.

The prime minister also said that the "illegal referendum"  has failed, adding that Catalan authorities lack the legitimacy to propose a unilateral declaration of independence. He underlined that the vote undermines our democracy, Spanish unity and the Statute of Catalonia.

Meanwhile, as AP reports, there were signs that the government was trying to take some steps to de-escalate the situation. Pedro Sanchez, the head of the opposition socialists, said on Wednesday that his party and the ruling centre-right PP party had agreed to talks to renegotiate laws governing regional autonomy.

He said there would be six months of talks on reforming the constitution, followed by a debate in parliament, adding that his party wanted a constitutional reform to “allow for Catalonia to remain a part of Spain”.

Also on Wednesday, Puidgemont told CNN his regional government is prepared to have talks on independence without preconditions with Spain. To date, Carles Puigdemont has repeatedly said that the right to self-determination must be on the table in any talks. Spain, in turn, says it can’t discuss an independence referendum as it goes against the constitution.

Puigdemont said Wednesday that Spain and Catalonia should “have no prior conditions to sit down and talk.”

Separately, European Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis said that Catalonia’s separatist authorities have appealed to Brussels to help mediate with Madrid but Mr Rajoy has not sought EU help.

“The commission is following closely the situation in Spain, and reiterates its earlier call for full respect of the Spanish constitutional order,” he said. “We are supporting the efforts to overcome division and fragmentation, to ensure unity and respect of the Spanish constitution.”

Late on Tuesday, Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont asked for the mandate to declare independence from Spain, saying millions of voters supported the idea. However, he said that the effect of the independence declaration was suspended to continue talks with Madrid.  Alfonso Dastis, Spain’s foreign minister, said Puigdemont’s speech amounted to a “trick to say one thing and do the opposite”, without giving further details of the government’s plans.

WTF Headline Of The Day: Austria's Burka Ban Leads To Arrest Of Man Dressed As Shark

Authored by Mac Slavo via SHTFplan.com,

A man dressed as a shark was arrested in Austria and officials cited the countries Burka ban.

The man was working as a mascot for a McShark electronics store in Vienna when the arrest occurred.

New restrictions came into effect in Austria at the beginning of the month banning the wearing of the full Islamic veil and other items concealing the face in public places and buildings.

This ban extends to medical masks and scarves as well, making the shark costume an obvious “no-go.” The restrictions are aimed at “ensuring the cohesion of society in an open society,” according to officials, and violations will be punished with a fine of up to €150. Even though the wording of the law was meant to be religiously-neutral, there is still a grey area in which Austrians appear to be exploiting in order to make a point.

When the police saw the young man in the shark costume, he was asked to remove it. The employee protested saying he was “just doing his job,” so the police arrested him and slapped him with a fine.  Apparently, the man in the shark suit was reported to police by a member of the public who wanted to make a point of the new piece of legislation. The McShark electronics company is now reviewing its policy on using mascots to ensure they comply with the new law.

The advertising agency Warda Network, who was at the McShark opening, wrote on its Facebook page:

“Today we were at the McShark store opening and our shark mascot received a fine from the Vienna police because of the new ban on face-coverings. Life is not easy.”

Elsewhere in the Austrian capital, a cyclist was said to have been arrested and fined for wearing a scarf over her face, according to local media.

According to the Daily Mail, in passing the new legislation, officials in Vienna said:

“Acceptance and respect of Austrian values are basic conditions for successful cohabitation between the majority Austrian population and people from third countries living in Austria.”

The new laws also apply to visitors, even though many tourists in the country are from Arab nations.

Other measures which went into effect on October 1 include immigrants being forced to sign an “integration contract” and compulsory courses in the German language and “values.”

Turkish Lira Crashes 4%, Biggest Drop Since "Failed Coup" Following Visa Suspension Drama

With tensions between Turkey and the US escalating dramatically and unexpectedly in the past few days, when first Turkish police on Wednesday arrested a local employee of the US embassy in Istanbul and charged him with espionage and an attempt to overthrow the government, which was following on Sunday afternoon by the US embassy in Turkey announcing that "effective immediately" it has
"suspended all non-immigrant visa services at all U.S. diplomatic facilities in Turkey"...

Statement from the U.S. Mission to Turkey pic.twitter.com/RjTU3BfSXZ

— US Embassy Turkey (@USEmbassyTurkey) October 8, 2017

... only to see a identical Turkish tit to the US tat, when the Turkish embassy in Washington tweeted that it too suspended non-immigrant visa services for U.S. Citizens, echoing almost verbatim the US statement, to wit, "Recent events have forced Turkish Government to reassess the commitment of the Government of the United States to the security of Turkish Mission facilities and personnel. In order to minimize the number of visitors to our Embassy and Consulates while this assessment proceeds, effective immediately we have suspended all non-immigrant visa service at all Turkish diplomatic facilities in the U.S."

Statement from the Turkish Mission to the U.S., October 8, 2017 pic.twitter.com/4i0BwInOCj

— TurkishEmbassyDC (@TurkishEmbassy) October 8, 2017

... the market got nervous, and in early - and illiquid - FX trading, the TRY has tumbled to as low as 3.8533 per dollar, a level last seen in January, a drop of as much as 4%, the biggest slide since the fake attempted coup attempt in the summer of 2016.

This is the currency seventh consecutive decline, after dropping 0.8% Friday amid concern Fed tightening would hurt EM currencies, and should it persist may finally have an adverse impact on other EM currencies, not to mention various other local Turkish asset classes when markets reopen in a few hours.

Catalan Police Ordered To Close And Occupy Polling Stations To Stop Vote Going Ahead

The Catalan Police (Mossos) have been ordered by the Public Prosecutor"s Office to close and occupy all premises that will or might be used as polling stations in the region to prevent them from being used for Sunday"s independence referendum vote, suspended by the Constitutional Court.

The Public Prosecutor"s Office confirmed to The Spain Report on Wednesday morning that the document and the orders it contains were genuine.

Officers must close and cordon off the centres until 9 p.m. on Sunday evening and make it clear that the police cordon is not to be broken, warning people they are liable to criminal prosecution if they do so.

They have been ordered to remove anyone already in the polling stations, and seize any items being used for the vote, "especially ballot boxes, computers, ballot papers and election documents and propaganda".

 

They may repeat the removals and seizures if people try to break the police line during the day.

The cordons and closures must be in place by Saturday, September 30.

Mossos officers must report any infractions of the polling station orders, and may request local police, National Police and Civil Guard back up if they believe they need it.

The Catalan Police must also prevent people designated as polling officers from being able to access the premises designated as polling stations, which is due to happen from 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Finally, the Mossos have been told to prevent the vote taking place anywhere within 100 metres of the designated premises, "including on public streets".

Catalan Police chiefs are worried about the public order and manpower requirements stemming from the order, Spanish media reported.

The prosecutor says that despite efforts by the central government to disable the logistical preparation for the vote, Catalan leaders are insisting some kind of vote will take place on Sunday.

Also on Wednesday morning, the Catalan First Minister unilaterally called a meeting of the Catalan Security Council, a regional policing body. That move was rejected by the Home Office two days ago.

A meeting of senior police chiefs in the region is taking place this morning. The prosecutor"s office in Catalonia told The Spain Report that the polling station issue would likely be on the agenda.

Finally, one comment on this report caught our eye and seemed to clarify much of what is occurrring...

Paul Craig Roberts: "Behold, A Pale Horse, And Its Rider Is Washington"

Authored by Paul Craig Roberts,

Two of America’s most populous states, Texas and Florida, are in hurricane ruins, and Washington is fomenting more wars.

The US national debt is now over $20 trillion, and Washington is fomenting more wars.

The entire world is helping Washington foment wars - including two targeted countries themselves - Russia and China - both of which are helping Washington foment more wars. Believe it or not, both Russia and China voted with Washington on the UN Security Council to impose more and harsher sanctions on North Korea, a country guilty of nothing but a desire to have the means to protect itself from the US and not become yet another Washington victim like Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Serbia, and Ukraine overthrown in a US coup and now poverty-stricken.

I once thought that Russia and China were checks on Washington’s unilateralism, but apparently not.

Both governments have been knuckled under by Washington and both voted to punish North Korea for striving to be sufficiently armed to protect its sovereignty from Washington.

Why are Russia and China repeating their same mistake that they made when they supported Washington’s no-fly UN resolution for Libya, a resolution that Washington and NATO stood on its head when they launched air attacks that helped the CIA organized “jihadists” overthrow Libya’s progressive government and murder Gaddafi?

Russia knows that it is surrounded by US nuclear and military bases. So does China. The question is: have Russia and China capitulated out of fear? Or is their cooperation with Washington a ruse while they prepare their own strike on Washington, or are the two misguided governments trying to cooperate with Washington a la sanctions so as to avoid having to confront a US military attack on North Korea?

It requires much competence to confront evil, and there is probably more evil in Washington than there is competence in Russia and China, two countries interested in being rich to an extent that it might cost them their sovereignty and existence.

When you see such potentially powerful countries as Russia and China collapse under Washington’s pressure in the UN Security Council, it makes you wonder if the various analyses of Washington’s many weaknesses are real, and if they are real, if Russia and China are aware of them.

How does one go about explaining why two countries, whose sovereignty is in the way of Washington’s world hegemony, help their known enemy bully yet another small country, especially one in their orbit of influence? How can Russia complain of sanctions against Russia based on nothing but Washington’s propaganda when Russia supports sanctions against North Korea based on Washington’s propaganda?

Russia and China have nothing to fear from North Korean nuclear weapons. Indeed, no one does except a country that attacks North Korea. What is the explanation for Russia and China lining up with Washington’s foreign policy against North Korea when Russia and China know that Washington’s foreign policy is hostile to Russia and China?

Just the other day Washington announced that it was increasing its navy warships in the South China Sea to make sure China doesn’t think the South China Sea is Chinese, instead of American, territorial waters.

Just the other day more election interfering charges were leveled against Russia.

This time Facebook was the mechanism by which Russia stole the US presidential election.

These positions taken by Washington are absurd.

Yet, they are becoming the reality. The frightening development is that the entire world, the entirely of the UN and Security Council are now captured by Washington in The Matrix. It seems that not even Russia and China can any longer see their own national interest.

Russia and China are working hand-in-hand with Washington toward their own demise.

It is becoming biblical.

Expats Don't Want To Live In The US & UK Anymore

Few anticipated that the UK would vote to leave the UK. Even fewer expected that President Donald Trump would defeat Hillary Clinton in November’s US presidential election.

So unsurprisingly, members of the internationalist class of workers who populate urban centers like New York City and London – and who have the most to lose from nationalist economic and immigration policies - now perceive the US and Britain as less friendly to foreigners, not to mention less politically stable, according to a survey of 13,000 expatriates of 166 nationalities that was cited by Bloomberg.

The respondents said that quality of life in both countries is declining by other measures, including the affordability of child care and health care. However, we don’t think one can easily blame that on the election.

The UK ranks 54, down 21 places from last year’s survey, after its June 2016 vote to leave the European Union. Before the referendum, 77 percent of expats had a favorable opinion of the nation’s political stability. That’s down to 47 percent this year.  The survey was conducted in February and March, before the most recent British election. Just half of expats say the UK has a good attitude toward foreign residents, compared to 67 percent worldwide.

Expats in Britain have also soured on its economy. The weak pound and higher inflation put the UK 59th for personal finance. Almost two-thirds of its expats have an unfavorable opinion of its cost of living, with 69 percent unhappy with the affordability of housing. Three out of five expats also don’t appreciate the weather in the UK.

The US has seen a commensurate decline in public opinion. Just 36 percent of expats have a positive view of America’s political stability, down from 68 percent in last year’s survey. Overall, it ranks 43 of 65, down 17 places from last year.

Overall, the U.S. is ranked 43rd of 65 contenders, 17 places lower than last year. But its reputation was already falling before the election results came in. As recently as 2014’s survey, the US was No. 5. One bright spot is that 69 percent of expats have a favorable view of the American economy.

Some 72 percent of expats in the US say health care is unaffordable; the world’s largest economy ranks 50 by measures of health and well-being. Its transportation infrastructure was rated “very good” by just 15 percent of the expats, less than half of the global average. Meanwhile, the US ranks last for affordability of child care and 39 out of 45 countries ranked for education affordability.

Despite all the talk about President Donald Trump stoking resentment against immigrants, expats still view the US as a welcoming country. Though that perception is beginning to shift...

“Three years ago, 84 percent of expats rated the U.S. positively on “friendly attitude to foreign residents,” and just 5 percent negatively. By 2017, the negative ratings had tripled, and the positive ratings had dropped 16 points.”

Many smaller economies outranked larger developed countries. Ironically, the top-ranked country in 2017 was Bahrain. We wonder: Would Bahrain’s sizable population of Asian “foreign workers” feel the same?

“The top-ranked country in 2017 is Bahrain, given high marks by its expats as a place to work and raise a family and for making foreigners feel welcome. It vastly outranks Persian Gulf neighbors such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, which ranked in the bottom 10 of the 65 countries in the survey.”

While the US and UK have both experienced a reputational hit, surprisingly it was Australia that saw the largest drop of any national present in the rankings, sliding from tenth most expat-friendly country to 34th. Meanwhile, Greece ranked dead last, despite its warm climate and beautiful beaches.

“Greece was at the very bottom of the list, weighed down by the country’s economic problems. Australia, which ranked in the top 10 last year, dropped more than any other country, to 34th place. Expats’ ratings of jobs, career prospects, work hours and work-life balance all dropped.”

In another twist, China ranked as one of the expats’ favorite places, despite the severe pollution and the quality and cost of health care and education. Two-thirds of respondents said they were happy with their careers, though the country ranked 55 out of 65 for overall quality of life. Elsewhere in Asia, Taiwan, which topped last year"s list, slipped to fourth place, while Singapore climbed into the top 10. Hong Kong languished at 39, up from 44 last year.

The survey was conducted by InterNations, a Munich-based network of 2.8 million expats. The survey includes interviews with executives, skilled workers, students and retirees who live outside the country where they grew up. There are about 50 million expats worldwide, according to market research by Finaccord, and the number is expected to hit 60 million over the next five years.

The Fake News Media Of Sweden

Authored by Nima Gholam Ali Pour via The Gatestone Institute,

• In most democratic countries, the media should be critical of those who hold power. In Sweden, however, the media criticize those who criticize the authorities. Criticism is not aimed at the people who hold power, but against private citizens who, according to the journalists, have the "wrong" ideas.


• TV4 and all other media refused to report that it was Muslims who interrupted the prime minister because they wanted to force Islamic values on Swedish workplaces. When the Swedish media reported on the event, the public were not told that these "hijab activists" had links with Islamist organizations. Rather, it was reported as if they were completely unknown Muslim girls who only wanted to wear their veils.


• The Swedish media are politicized to the extent that they act as a propaganda machine. Through their lies, they have created possibilities for "post-truth politics". Instead of being neutral, the mainstream Swedish media have lied to uphold certain "politically correct" values. One wonders what lifestyle and political stability Sweden will have when no one can know the truth about what is really going on.

In February 2017, after U.S. President Donald Trump"s statements about events in Sweden, the journalist Tim Pool travelled to Sweden to report on their accuracy. What Tim Pool concluded is now available for everyone to watch on YouTube, but what is really interesting is how the Swedish public broadcasting media described him.

On Radio Sweden"s website, one of the station"s employees, Ann Törnkvist, wrote an op-ed in which Pool and the style of journalism he represents are described as "a threat to democracy".

Why is Pool "a threat to democracy" in Sweden? He reported negatively about an urban area in Stockholm, Rinkeby, where more than 90% of the population has a foreign background. When Pool visited Rinkeby, he had to be escorted out by police. Journalists are often threatened in Rinkeby. Before this incident, in an interview with Radio Sweden, Pool had described Rosengård, an area in the Swedish city of Malmö heavily populated by immigrants, as "nice, beautiful, safe". After Pool"s negative but accurate report about Rinkeby, however, he began to be described as an unserious journalist by many in the Swedish media, and finally was labeled the "threat to democracy."

One might think that this was a one-time event in a country whose journalists were defensive. But the fact is that Swedish journalists are deeply politicized.

In most democratic countries, media are, or should be, critical of those who hold power. In Sweden, the media criticize those who criticizes those who hold power.

In March 2017, the public broadcasting company Sveriges Television revealed the name of a person who runs the Facebook page Rädda vården ("Save Healthcare"). The person turned out to be an assistant nurse, and was posting anonymously only because he had been critical of the hospital where he worked. Swedish hospitals are run by the local county councils, and thus when someone criticizes the healthcare system in Sweden, it is primarily politicians who are criticized. Sveriges Television explained on its website why it revealed the identity of the private individuals behind Facebook:

"These hidden powers of influence abandon and break the open public debate and free conversation. Who are they? What do they want and why? As their impact increases, the need to examine them also grows."

It is strange that Sveriges Television believes that an assistant nurse who wants to tell how politicians neglect public hospitals, is breaking "the open public debate and free conversation". This was not the only time that the mainstream Swedish media exposed private citizens who were criticizing those who hold power. In December 2013, one of Sweden"s largest and most established newspapers, Expressen, announced that it intended to disclose the names of people who commented on various Swedish blogs:

"Expressen has partnered with Researchgruppen. The group has found a way, according to their own description, without any kind of unlawful intrusion, to associate the usernames that the anonymous commentators on the hate websites are using to the email addresses from which comments were sent. After that, the email addresses have been cross-checked with registries and authorities to identify the persons behind them."

The term "hate websites" (hatsajterna) is what that the mainstream media uses to describe some of the blogs that are critical of Islam or migration.

It is one thing to be critical of bloggers who you may consider have racist opinions. But exposing the people who have written in comments sections of various blogs in one of Sweden"s biggest newspapers is strange and terrifying.

Researchgruppen has clear links to Antifascistisk Aktion (Antifascist Action), a group which, according to the Swedish government, consists of violent left-wing extremists. For their efforts to expose private individuals in the comments section, Researchgruppen received the Guldspaden, a prestigious journalistic award in Sweden.

Jim Olsson was one individual exposed in Expressen simply because he wrote something in a blog"s comments section. A 67-year-old docent in physical chemistry, Olsson received a home-visit from Expressen with a camera and microphone present. A private citizen with no connection to any political party or organization, he exposed by Sweden"s media because he had written the following in the comments section:

"The Swedish asylum system rewards swindlers with a permanent residence permit. There are, of course, swindlers flooding Sweden."

The Swedish newspaper Expressen accessed databases of website commenters, targeted critics of immigration, and confronted them at home. The above screenshot is taken from a video on the Expressen website, published under the headline "Jim Olsson writes on hate sites."

Another private individual, Patrik Gillsvik, with no political links, was exposed and fired from his job because, in a blog"s comments section, he wrote:

"I would like to join the structural prejudices of the majority in society and state that gypsies are inventive and witty entrepreneurs who can enrich our culture -- yes, and then they steal like ravens, of course!"

Although the statement can be criticized for being unacceptably racist, what is unique is that the mainstream media in a Western democracy can expose private individuals because they wrote something in a blog"s comments section. Criticism is not aimed at the people who hold power, but against private citizens who according to the journalists have the "wrong" ideas.

Moreover, each of these private citizens, who have had their lives ruined because they wrote something distasteful in a comments section, serves as a warning, so that others will not dare to make the mistake of posting something politically incorrect on a blog.

It is shocking that in a democracy, the media acts this way, but that is how Swedish -- and, increasingly, other Western media -- operate these days.

In addition to punishing private individuals who, according to the them, communicate "wrong" ideas, the media celebrate and support people who have the "right" ideas. On May 1, 2017, Sweden"s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven was interrupted by a number of hijab-wearing activists who were protesting a verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union that employers are entitled to prohibit staff from wearing a hijab. Given that Sweden"s prime minister cannot directly influence the Court, and that one should not interrupt the country"s prime minister when he speaks, one would think that these "hijab activists" might be criticized in the media.

TV4, a national TV-channel and one of the first media outlets to report this incident, refused to say that those who interrupted the prime minister were wearing the Islamic veil. The title of TV4"s clip was "Demonstrators Interrupted Löfven speech". The sub-headline read as follows: "Female protesters screamed out their anger against the prime minister and wondered where the feminist government was."

From the text, it is not clear that these activists demonstrated against the verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union; that all activists wore a hijab, or that they screamed, "Stand up for Muslim women"s rights!" However, information that these activists were wearing hijabs and protesting the verdict of the Court of Justice of the European Union was on their Facebook page and YouTube. Nevertheless, TV4 and all other media refused to report that those who interrupted the prime minister were Muslims who were interrupting the prime minister because they seemingly wanted to force Islamic values on the Swedish workplace.

The day after their protest, in an interview with Radio Sweden, these activists had the opportunity to explain why they protested -- but were not asked any critical questions. The next day, an Expressen columnist, Maria Rydhagen, compared one of the hijab-activists glowingly with one of the founders of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Axel Danielsson. Rydhagen wrote the following about Jasmin Nur Ismail:

"Then, on Monday, the protest of the girls was perceived as only an incident. But imagine if it was the start of something big? Perhaps history was being written, there and then? Imagine if Jasmin Nur is the Axel Danielsson of 2017. Hero and rebel. In that case: Was it not a pity to remove her with the help of the police?"

As the media refused to write anything negative about the protest against the prime minister, this author began to investigate the matter. It took half an hour to find out several important things which were never mentioned by the Swedish mainstream media. Jasmin Nur Ismail had written about the incident on her Facebook page shortly after the protest. Who was behind the protest was not a secret.

The demonstration had been organized by the Hayat Women"s Movement and a network called, "The Right to Our Bodies". The Hayat Women"s Movement was founded by Aftab Soltani, who in March 2017 was one of the speakers at a much-criticized annual Islamic event in Sweden, Muslimska Familjedagarna (Muslim Family Days). The event was blamed by both the left and the right for inviting hate preachers, anti-Semites and Muslim radicals as speakers. Another speaker at this Islamic event in March 2017 was Jasmin Nur Ismail, a heroine of the Swedish media. Muslimska Familjedagarna was organized by the Islamist Ibn Rushd Educational Association, the Islamic Association of Sweden (Islamiska Förbundet i Sverige) and Sweden"s Young Muslims (Sveriges Unga Muslimer).

Jasmin Nur Ismail, hailed as a heroine in Expressen, is a public figure. Southern Sweden"s largest newspaper, Sydsvenskan, described her in an October 2016 article as an "activist, anti-racist and writer". According to Sydsvenskan, Jasmin Nur Ismail"s political role-model is Malcolm X. During the Swedish Forum for Human Rights in 2016, Jasmin Nur Ismail was, in a panel discussion, the representative for Malmö"s Young Muslims -- in turn, a subdivision of an Islamist organization, Sweden"s Young Muslims.

Swedish newspapers did not write a single word that the person and organizations behind the protest against Sweden"s prime minister had links with Islamist organizations. When the Swedish media reported about the event, the public were told that these hijab-activists were completely unknown Muslim girls who only wanted to wear their veils.

Mainstream Swedish media outlets simply do not report some things. When the largest mosque in Scandinavia was opened in Sweden"s third largest city, Malmö, the news about this was first published in the Qatar News Agency and The Peninsula on May 3, 2017. The reason that Qatar"s media wrote about it was because Qatar financed a large part of the mosque. On May 5, an article about this mosque was published in Breitbart. On May 6, one day after Breitbart reported the news and three days after the Qatari media reported the news, the Swedish terrorist expert Magnus Ranstorp sent a tweet about this mosque, but he linked it to the Qatari media. At this time, there are still no Swedish media outlets that have reported anything about the largest mosque in Scandinavia.

On May 8, the Swedish blog Jihad i Malmö wrote about the mosque and its Qatari financing. On May 9, the Swedish blog Pettersson gör skillnad wrote about the mosque. At the same time, the Norwegian author and activist Hege Storhaug, who is critical of Islam, wrote about the mosque and noted that the Swedish media had not yet written about it:

"I had expected that the Swedish media at the very least would mention the opening of Scandinavia"s largest mosque with positive words. But no, not a word in Swedish mainstream media, as far as I have noticed. You have to go to the English version of Arabic media to get some limited information, like Qatar News Agency."

By the time I tweeted about it on May 10, the mainstream Swedish media still had not widely reported it. On May 15, I wrote an article on it for the news website Situation Malmö, run by the Sweden Democrats party branch in Malmö. With one hour"s research, I managed, through what the mosque had published on Facebook, to discover that one of the leading Social Democrat politicians in Malmö, Frida Trollmyr, a municipal commissioner with responsibility for culture, recreation and health, had been at the mosque"s opening. Representatives of the Qatari government also attended, but the mainstream Swedish media still had not reported anything about it.

On May 17, two weeks after the Qatari media had written about the opening of Scandinavia"s largest mosque in Malmö, 12 days after Breitbart had written about the event, and two days after my article, the Sydsvenskan newspaper wrote about the mosque opening. You could not read the article, however, if you had not paid for "premium membership" to this newspaper.

One can see this omission as an unfortunate coincidence, but it is strange when Breitbart succeeds in communicating more information about Malmö than southern Sweden"s largest newspaper, which is headquartered in Malmö. Why would the Swedish media not write about the mosque? It was certainly not a secret. There was no explanation from the Swedish media or anyone else. Yet, these same media outlets did not hesitate to expose the names of private citizens who wrote inappropriate opinions on a public comments page.

There are journalists in Sweden who change their views as soon as the government changes its opinion. Göran Greider, a journalist and editor, active in the public debate in Sweden for more than 30 years, wrote the following in August 2015, about migration policy:

"The European governments who say no to increasing the number of refugees received not only show a shameful lack of solidarity. They are also silent when they decline to rejuvenate their populations."

In November 2015, only three months later, when the Swedish government was forced to change its migration policy because of the migration crisis, Göran Greider wrote:

"But even the left, including many Social Democrats and members of the Green Party, have sometimes been characterized by an unwillingness to discuss the great challenges that receiving refugees, in the quantity we have seen lately, implies for a society. No one wants to be a nationalist. No one wants to be accused of running the errands of Sweden Democrats, or racism. But in this way, people on the left, who are so broadly for bringing in refugees, have often locked themselves out of a realistic discussion."

There is nothing wrong in reconsidering one"s opinion. But it has become common for Swedish journalists frequently to have opinions that favor certain political parties -- often the Social Democrats, the Left Party and the Green Party. The issue is not even about values. People who work for the mainstream Swedish media are ready to reconsider their values so long as it helps certain parties to stay in power. This is far from what is presumably the media"s main task in a democracy.

How is it that no newspaper is rebelling against this order? It would be a good business proposition; such a media outlet could gain financial benefits. Sweden"s political establishment is, after all, not popular. Well, we can look at the example of someone who tried. In February 2017, a financier, Mats Qviberg, bought a free daily newspaper, Metro, usually distributed in subways and buses in Sweden. In May, he gave an interview to the newspaper Nyheter Idag, considered by the Swedish establishment to be "right-wing" or "populist". In his interview, Qviberg gave a slight playful hint that Metro might in some way cooperate with Nyheter Idag.

The consequence of the playful statement was that the Green Party in Stockholm County Council threatened that Stockholm County would stop handing out Metro in Stockholm"s subways. A columnist stopped writing for the paper. Other media outlets started to wonder out loud if Metro were becoming a racist platform. Before the month of May was over, Qviberg had sold his shares in Metro. That politicians would punish a newspaper owner who had "wrong" views did not surprise anyone in Sweden; the situation was not worth mentioning. In Sweden, even owners of newspapers are supposed to follow the political order.

In June 2017, the leader of the Sweden Democrats (SD), Jimmie Åkesson, spoke in Järva, a district in Stockholm dominated by immigrants. The Sweden Democrats is a social-conservative party in the Swedish parliament; it supports, among other matters, a restrictive migration policy. While Åkesson was speaking, there were protests against him; and among the protesters were various placards. A photograph of Radio Sweden"s van showed an anti-SD placard inside it. On it, one could read "Jimmie = Racist". The explanation from Radio Sweden was:

"Someone put a sign on Ekot"s (a Radio Sweden news program) car in Järva on Sunday evening. It was taken down and put into the car and then thrown away on the way from there."

You can have a discussion about why Radio Sweden spends its time discarding placards that left-wing protesters use. Is that what journalist are supposed to do when they are covering a story? In the end, however, it does not matter. The people"s confidence in the mainstream media in Sweden is being eroded as we write.

A new study from Institutet för Mediestudier shows that 54% agree, or partly agree, that the Swedish media are not telling the whole truth about problems in society linked to migration. Instead of the media accepting that they are biased and starting to change their ways, the media continue to attack citizens who appear critical.

In June 2017, the editorial writer of the daily Aftonbladet, Anders Lindberg, wrote an editorial titled, "Hitler Did Not Trust the Media Either," in which he equated the critics of the Swedish media with Nazis. Anders Lindberg, after working 10 years for the Social Democrats, resigned as the Communications Ombudsman for the Social Democrats in 2010, to start working as an editorial writer for Aftonbladet. He is so well-known for what his critics view as unusual versions of the truth that he has the privilege of writing for Sweden"s largest newspaper. In 2015, he described the issue of organized begging, a visible problem in northern Europe, as "legends and folklore". Today there is no party that denies that organized begging is a real problem.

I often have difficulty explaining to many of my American friends and colleagues how the Swedish media work. Often, there may be clear examples of anti-Semitism and other unsavory behavior. The first question I always get is: Why is the media not writing about this? The answer is simple. The Swedish media are politicized to the extent that they act as a propaganda machine. It is not a propaganda machine in the traditional sense of the word, with an official Ministry of Propaganda. But in Sweden, many journalists and editors are either old established political party employees, as Anders Lindberg, or simply ideologically indoctrinated and therefore extremely biased. The Swedish propaganda machine punishes those who have the "wrong" opinions and celebrates those who have the "right" opinions.

What happened to Tim Pool was a part of how media works in Sweden. As long as he said the "right" things, the Swedish media gave a positive picture of him. When he started to have the "wrong" opinion, the propaganda machine started doing its work and Pool became "a threat to democracy".

There are, of course, more examples that show how sick the Swedish debate- and media-climate has become. In such a negative environment, there are many casualties. The first casualty is, obviously, the truth. When people start to understand that the mainstream media are lying, they turn to alternative media. Alternative media outlets, however, also usually have political agendas. A democracy cannot survive well only on biased media. A democracy desperately needs mainstream media outlets that inform its citizens and criticize people who hold power. That is something Sweden does not have today.

A large portion of the Swedish population are apparently aware of this and do not trust the media. Through its lies, the Swedish media have created possibilities for "post-truth politics" in Sweden. Instead of being a neutral party, the mainstream Swedish media have lied to uphold certain "politically correct" values. The result is an atmosphere where many people believe that everything that the media says has a political agenda. When the mainstream media in Sweden lie shamelessly, where can one go to find the truth? One wonders what lifestyle and political stability Sweden will have when no one can know the truth about what is really going on.