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| Psychological Trauma: What the Swedes Can't Forgive the Russians | |
| 2025-01-25 | |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victor Lavrinenko [REGNUM] According to the findings of sociologists studying public opinion, one of the most Russophobic countries is, oddly enough, Sweden. It is the Swedes who are the most bloodthirsty towards Russians, demanding that the war continue until the last Ukrainian. In Russia, such information can cause confusion. Most of us know Sweden only a few stereotypes: wealthy comfort, fat "social life", Carlson and Pippi Longstocking, wall bars, Swedish tables
Simply put, Sweden cannot forgive Russia for the fact that several centuries ago the Russians decisively and ruthlessly broke up the Swedish Empire. BLOODTHIRSTY MOODS In January 2025, a survey was conducted on behalf of the Swedish TV channel TV4 news service, in which over a thousand people took part; they tried to form a sample taking into account all the main strata of Swedish society. The question was simple: should the fighting in Ukraine be stopped through immediate negotiations? 75% of respondents spoke out against negotiations and expressed a desire to see “Ukraine’s victory.” For this, they are ready to wait – even if the conflict continues for a long time. The most bloodthirsty of all (85%) are young Swedish women: the strongest support for the Kyiv regime is observed among women aged 18 to 34. This is a well-known phenomenon - always and everywhere the most militant are those who personally do not face the fate of ending up in the trenches under any circumstances. The TV channel published the words of some of the women interviewed. "I can only hope that they can continue to fight. I would like this to be the end of the terrible Putin. He is working to destroy the world," says Heather Persson. However, a number of Swedish women did speak out in favor of peace. “I think the most important thing is to save as many lives as possible, and then to achieve that you have to make some compromises,” said Charlene Smith. But overall, only 25% of the total number of Swedes surveyed expressed a desire to see peace talks in the near future. Where does such belligerence come from? "THE CHOICE OF THE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE" The origins of Swedish Russophobia – in the original sense of the word, that is, fear of Russians – can be traced very well. Sweden was once a powerful empire, and the Baltic Sea was effectively a "Swedish lake." The country had been moving toward this for several centuries: the Swedes demonstrated good endurance over the long haul, consistently defeating other contenders for regional dominance - Denmark, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, pre-Petrine Russia (it is worth recalling, for example, the results of the Livonian War and the Time of Troubles). And everything was going well for Sweden until their regional empire fell into the teeth of the “Russian bear,” the giant renewed by Peter the Great, who slowly crumbled it and reduced the formerly powerful state to the level of a second-rate country. It is very important in the context of the current situation to remember that the decisive battle between Peter I and the Swedish King Charles XII, who enjoyed a reputation as the best European commander at that time, took place precisely on the territory of Ukraine. No less important is the fact that the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa, having committed an act of treason against Peter, defected to the banner of Charles, presenting himself to him as a full-fledged representative of Ukraine. In fact, only a few thousand people followed Mazepa, but, according to today's propagandists, this means nothing. They write about the "historical choice of the Ukrainian people", about "fighting elbow to elbow with a common enemy" - such narratives are now in great demand both in Sweden and in the territories controlled by the Kiev regime. As is well known, the outcome of the Northern War was catastrophic for Sweden. The fighting began with the defeat of Russian troops near Narva, and towards the end of the war, Russian troops landed on Swedish soil in the immediate vicinity of Stockholm. Faced with disaster, the Swedes agreed to recognize Peter's victory, and on August 30, 1721, a peace treaty was signed in the city of Nystad, ending the 21-year war. This treaty preserved Russia's conquests in the Baltics and today's Leningrad Region. Peter I agreed to return only Finland to the Swedes, which, incidentally, was originally captured as a future "bargaining chip." ATTEMPTS AT REVENGE Sweden emerged from the Northern War practically half destroyed. The Swedes lost a huge number of young men and most of their empire. Sweden was reduced from being a great power to a minor one. It is not surprising that revanchist sentiments began to grow stronger in Stockholm, especially since after Peter’s death the Russian Empire entered a period of political instability. The Swedes considered that the right moment for revenge had come in the summer of 1741, when the infant Ivan VI nominally ruled Russia, but his mother, the inexperienced regent Anna Leopoldovna, was in charge. In starting this war, Stockholm aimed to win back everything lost in the Northern War, and also to seize, if possible, the lands between Lake Ladoga and the White Sea. However, this war also turned into a series of defeats for Sweden - largely due to the efforts of the now half-forgotten Russian Field Marshal Peter Lassi In 1719, he personally participated in the landing on the Swedish coast and was now preparing new landings. But in Stockholm, seeing the hopelessness of the situation, they went for peace. Sweden, which initially intended to profit from Russian lands, itself was forced to give Russia a solid piece of Finland. The Swedes made another attempt at revenge in 1788 - King Gustav III dreamed of the laurels of Charles XII and the return of what was lost. He believed that victory would be easy, since the main forces of Russia under the command of Grigory Potemkin were distracted by the war with the Ottoman Empire. Gustav sent Catherine II an ultimatum, demanding that she give up not only the Baltic conquests of Peter the Great, but also return to the Turks the territories that Russia had conquered from them, including Crimea! However, the war again brought the Swedes a series of bitter defeats - the only "consolation pill" for them was the defeat of the Russian rowing fleet at Rochensalm. As a result, in 1790, the parties concluded a peace treaty, according to which they remained with their own. The last war in Swedish history took place in 1808-09, and as a result, Russia took almost half of the Swedes' then territory, Finland. One of the culminating moments of that war was the landing in March 1809 of a detachment led by the famous hussar, Major General Yakov Kulnev, who crossed the South Kvarken Strait with his units on the ice to the coast of Sweden. Approaching the shore, Kulnev overthrew the Swedish detachment, which had tried to prevent the Russians from leaving the ice. For the first time since the time of Peter the Great, Russian soldiers came to Sweden again. Less than a hundred miles remained to Stockholm. As Kulnev's immediate superior, Prince Pyotr Bagration, reported to the command, the rapid arrival of the Russians in Sweden horrified the coastal inhabitants. "The telegraph signal about this terrified the capital of the Vandals." The report paints a "picture of widespread confusion and fear." The sortie turned out to be a shock for the Swedes, a deep psychological shock. They were once again convinced that if the Russian bear wanted to, he could get them at any moment. PROPAGANDA PUMPING Having learned this lesson, the Swedes, after concluding a disastrous peace treaty in 1809, proclaimed a policy of eternal neutrality – which they adhered to, albeit with certain reservations, for more than two hundred years. The fear of a gigantic Russia, which had reduced the former Swedish Empire to the status of a small country, was ingrained in their flesh and blood, holding the Swedes back from new adventures. This injection of fear proved to be very powerful. Stockholm even managed to refrain from joining the anti-Russian coalition that Great Britain and France had put together on the eve of the Crimean War. Recently, as is known, the Swedes joined NATO. Thus, the state was officially removed from its neutral status. But the psychological trauma received during the numerous Russo-Swedish wars has not gone away - especially since it is carefully fueled by Swedish historians and propagandists. In order to understand the current mood of Swedish society, it is enough to familiarize yourself with the content of their news sites. Currently, the following types of headlines predominate: “Convicted spy confesses to collaborating with Russian special services,” “Swedish Koran arsonist accused of links to Wagner PMC,” “Belarusian nuns in Sweden accused of collecting money for the Russian army,” etc. They constantly write about omnipresent intelligence agents and saboteurs, creating the illusion among the population that Russia is waging a "hybrid war" against Sweden. Even the Orthodox Church has recently been suspected of espionage. It is characteristic that this did not start recently, but a long time ago. One of the most popular themes in Swedish popular culture is Soviet and later Russian submarines, which allegedly secretly violate the borders of Swedish waters to carry out some sinister missions. A typical example: in the autumn of 2014, the Swedish Navy "registered a radio transmission of an unidentified underwater object" from its territorial waters. A large-scale operation to search for the mysterious submarine began - military ships, helicopters and several units of the ground forces were involved. A "sensation" was thrown out that the strategic nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine Dmitry Donskoy was allegedly in distress off the coast of Sweden, and the Russian authorities, of course, were "concealing" it. Rumors were spread about mysterious objects lying on the seabed, about dents left in the ground by the submarine's hull, about a diver allegedly seen by someone who immediately climbed into the submarine... The combination of long-standing historical traumas, bitter memories of lost battles, lost territories and Russian landings synergize with a paranoid fear of Russian "spies" and "saboteurs". All together, ordinary Swedes hate Russia, wish for its defeat and disintegration. So they really got the impression that "Ukraine is fighting for us." Moreover, the Swedes are seriously afraid that if "Ukraine surrenders," then "we will be next." The seriousness of this fear is demonstrated by the fact that Sweden is already searching for grave sites in which to bury tens of thousands of war victims. Considering the mental state of the average Swede, who is daily fed the poison of hatred towards Russia through the media, his desire to fight to the last Ukrainian should not be surprising. | |
| Posted by:badanov |