Oh yeah, good point. I updated the diary with those links,thanks!

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

I should add, I think we should be having some more government war profiteer scandals coming our way too (hopefully...). Its about time this stuff hits the news!

"Once in awhile we get shown the light, in the strangest of places, if we look at it right" - Hunter/Garcia

Thanks...credit for breaking it should go to Expressen, but it's pretty damn outrageous, isn't it? This is Dick Cheney / Halliburton territory.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

It's quite astonishing, isn't it. This bunch campaigned on, oh I don't know, being better than the SDP. But in a mere few months they've made two things abundantly clear:

1. They have no idea how to govern
   
2. They're all a bunch of upper-class twits, the lot of them, who don't give a rat's ass about the Swedish people

It's especially obvious when it comes to Bildt, who seems to be under the impression that he's making an enormous personal sacrifice by serving in the Swedish government, and the Swedish people should be falling head over heels to thank him for it. Maybe the Messiah should return to the private sector if it's such a bother.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

Not at all!

I have no problem at all with selling these public companies as they are not in any way strategic (it's alcohol (Vin&Sprit), air transit (SAS), a bank (SBAB), gambling (Svenska Spel) and such) while they (gov) have been extremely clear that they will not sell the national (and hugely profitable) iron mines (LKAB) and power company (Vattenfall).

Though I have no problem with privatising some of the power - I fail to see why the Swedish people have a national interest in German coal plants and coal mines. Actually selling Swedish power plants (nuke, hydro) to heavy industry would not be a bad idea either, provided that they can't be sold to anyone but the state at a later time. But reregulation of the power market would be ten times better.

Ironically the soc dems have started mumbling about just that, in spite of it is they (with rightwing support) who disastrously deregulated it in the first place and had 10 years to overturn that decision.

By the way, the money from the privatisations will not go to tax cuts but exclusively to paying down the national debt, an extremely good thing as it means money can be loaned later when it's really needed.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

The Harker report, commissioned by the Canadian government, said that the war in southern Sudan would continue as long as oil is pumped.

And still, oil is pumped, more than ever, and the war is finally over.

I have a problem with demonizing the oil companies. They are not bad people who like to do evil things. There just happens to be so that oil is usually found in lands where bad people are in charge (though arguably those in charge are bad because there is oil around... anyway).

What would happen if we banned Lundin Petroleum and Chevron and Exxon from operating in Sudan? Sinopec or someone else who don't care would do it instead. And as oil is a fungible commodity absolutely nothing would change on the ground.

If you want oil you have to deal with these bad people who have oil. But oil companies don't want oil. They want profits. Consumers want oil, and they get insanely pissed off (at OPEC, oil companies, politicians etc) whenever oil gets more expensive or someone talks about a higher gasoline tax.

Consumers are the problem. If you think oil companies operating in nasty places is a bad thing, drive less, fly less, use less plastic, eat locally grown food and so on. But I guess it is far more easy to complain at the evil oil companies than changing life style, even marginally (how hard is it to drive a small car compared to a big, or taking the train whenever possible?).


Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

At the very best Bildt is engaging in Clintonesque parsings as to what exactly constitutes activities in Sudan. Still, having been a member of the board in the company is a bit troublesome.

Could just be press gossip, but PM Reinfeldt and Bildt reportedly don't see eye to eye on many a thing. I'm sure Bildt, having previously been prime minister himself, not being the top dog anymore can cause some friction.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde

1. I don't know yet. The current hubbub seem to be that Bildt said that Lundin Petroleum hasn't got any own activities in Sudan while not mentioning that they indeed had a big share (25-50 % IIRC) in a development consortium in Sudan (southern, not Darfur). Very much in character for him, and it took 6 months for the journalists to manage to understand what he meant.

No papers or anything, not even Expressen, are biting at this story. Either because it is empty, or because they think it might be Bildt trying to make them look silly again, or maybe because they think the public is not interested in Bildt scandals anymore. At the moment I can't say what it is. But I bet that if they do press on, Bildt has another card up his sleeve.*

2. No, I don't think so. The tension between the pm and Bildt seem to be a thing of the past and I think Bildt is happy as foreign minister. He always seemed much more interested in that than in domestic policies.

And allegedly, Bildt is the one who got the pm into the Bilderberg meeting in Ottawa last years, before he even became pm.

Bildt has connections and know many important people in many important places, especially in Moscow, Washington and Bruxelles. Even if he has these potentially embarassing oil shares he is still, actually, a national asset.

* He did make a mistake a way back and the journalists were slavering at him as they really had something real on him. He had said that he had, 1000 (or something) Legg Mason options when he in reality had 1100. Then he just wrote on his blog that he was sorry and had made a n accounting mistake, and I actually am sure he really had.

The journalist were angry that someone would miss options worth tens of thousands of euros but just managed to look like as they hadn't managed to make a few million euros, no one should. So even there he won.

Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.

Also, in re to war profiteering, I seem to recall hearing that Swedish banks (or perhaps one inparticuliar) was/were primarily investing in military/defence and porn, so perhaps this is not so shocking as many in the country may be doing as well.

The bottom line is that there seem to be an awful lot of people who have a financial interest in maintaining the status quo in Sudan. Which unfortunately isn't that surprising, but it's pretty damn sad nevertheless.

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror" - Oscar Wilde