America isn't the only nation dealing with a violent crime problem that's plaguing cities and rural communities. In Sweden, things have become so bad other European nations are now reportedly looking at them "with horror." Shootings have skyrocketed, giving Sweden the dishonorable distinction of having the highest per-capita number of fatal shootings among 22 European nations.
But that's not the worst of it.
Bombings have become a frequent occurrence over the last several years—nearly 500, in fact, since 2018.
What could be the root cause of these troubles? Sweden took in more immigrants per capita during the 2015 migration wave than any other country, many from countries like Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. The result, as Swedish writer and editor Paulina Neuding explains, has been disastrous.
It may be shocking for Americans to learn that in Sweden—the land of IKEA, Spotify and Greta Thunberg—all of this is going on. Perhaps the reason you don’t know about it is because of the uncomfortable reality of how we got here.
Among shooting suspects, 85 percent are first- or second-generation immigrants, according to the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, as immigrant neighborhoods have become hotbeds for gang crime. National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg has described the violence as “an entirely different kind of brutality than we’ve seen before” and his deputy, Mats Löfving, says that 40 criminal clans now operate throughout the country. Spreading fear are “humiliation robberies,” targeting children and youth, in which victims are subjected to degrading treatment by assailants, such as being urinated upon. Just this week, four men were sentenced for robbing, beating and urinating on an 18-year-old, who was also filmed by his tormentors.
All of which is why, for the first time ever, crime emerged as a top priority among voters ahead of this past weekend’s general election. Swedes made their concerns plain on Sunday, when they awarded the country’s most strident anti-immigration party more than 20 percent of the vote. (Common Sense)
How this happened, Neuding explains, is because the country's liberals were in "denial."
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In response to Sweden’s increasing problems with gang violence and social unrest in immigrant suburbs, the government’s strategy for many years was to deny how serious the situation had become. In the meantime, those people who noticed the problem—many of whom were working class—and spoke out about their diminished safety were accused of racism by leading politicians, the mainstream press, and the cultural elites. Only one political party did not: the SD. And in election after election, they gained more and more popular support.
This is a story of what happens when the people who run things want to avoid confronting the consequences of their actions. (Common Sense)
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Fox News's Tucker Carlson had Legal philosopher Eva Vlaardingerbroek on his show Thursday evening to discuss the issue further.
"Anyone at this point who refuses to make the link between migration and the rise that we're seeing in crime in Sweden either lives in an ivory tower or has an interest in trying to cover up the truth," she said. "We're not just talking about lethal gun violence here, we're talking about gang wars that are being fought out in the streets of Sweden, explosions, knife crime...and soaring numbers of rapes as well. The effects aren't small at all."
