[Leica] Chernobyl Legacy - ignorance!

[johan at cig.se (Johan Ericson)]

Dear Mr Small,
this is the absolute most stupid and ignorant statement I read on the LUG so
far. As a former Swedish Air force photographer I had a lot of insight in
our siding with NATO and our quite aggressive stand towards the Soviet ?
when it comes to practical terms.
Some examples that now is no longer any secrets:
Our air force was integrated in NATO command structure.
We stored tons of NATO air fuel on all of our airbases.
All our airfields strips where of NATO-standard (Swedish planes demanded
less distance for take off and landing).
Some of my Wings alternative bases where in West Germany!
We shared intelligence material with USA and NATO on a daily basis.
Our planes and command centrals where packed with USA ?cutting edge?
technology ? stuff you don?t give away to half hearted friends.
Our doctrine where to halt the Soviets until USA had transferred enough
troops to Norway ? I think it was about three days ;-)

And USA is still by far the largest buyer of Swedish military technology.

So please Mr Small ? read your history!

And by the way ? the fallout didn?t harm Sweden.
(You just had to be careful to check how many kilos of wild meat or fish you
eat from some districts ? the very first years after the fallout :-)

I expect some form of excuse from you regarding your statement: ?Couldn't
have happened to a better target,? that is not only based on lack of
knowledge but also reveals a very strange attitude.


Johan Ericson
Uppsala, Sweden

>>Marc James Small wrote:
>>
>>
>>> The bad news for Sweden, a nation of appallingly arrogant insistence
that
>>>it had no dog in the Cold War fight, was that the winds briefly blew from
>>>Chernobyl to Sweden.  Couldn't have happened to a better target.
>>>
>>>
>>Mark, please take this racist garbage off list. Write in on your toilet
>>wall if you must.
>>
>>
>
>
>How is this "racist", Nathan?  It may well be insensitive, but it is hardly
>racist.  I am only stating the obvious:  Sweden sanctimoniously lectured
>the NATO nations for years about how the USSR posed to threat whatsoever to
>the West, that they were leading lights in developing a humane and caring
>society, und so weiter.  It is ironic that a substantial part of the
>fall-out from Chernobyl fell on Sweden.  Even THE ECONOMIST commented to
>that effect at the time it occurred.
>
>Now, again, how is this "racist"?  Or, perhaps, what dictionary are you
>using as your reference book?
>
>Marc
>>