The priorities of Mr. Carl Bildt

The foreign secretary of Sweden, Mr. Carl Bildt is closing down a number of embassies due to decreased funding to the foreign ministry. Mr. Bildt prioritizes the embassy in Burkina Faso over the embassies in Ireland and Luxembourg. Before Mr. Bildt was appointed foreign secretary, he was on the board of directors of Lundin Oil AB between 2000 and 2006 , the company is part of the Lundin Group of companies. Lundin Oil has been criticized by NGOs and the UN for it's involvement in oil extraction in Sudan where government troops committed atrocities against civilians when securing areas of interest to the company.

Swedish exports to Burkina Faso amounted to 66.8 million SEK in 2008, during the first six months of 2009, Swedish exports amounted to merely 26.7 million, this is a 30% drop of exports compared with the previous period in 2008. No figures are available for 2009 and 2010. Meanwhile Sweden's export total to Ireland in 2009 was 4.5 billion. The Swedish exports to Ireland also increased by 7% during the first six months in 2010 compared with the same period in 2009. This in spite of Ireland's financial problems.

Besides a few minor development projects Sweden does not seem to have any other interests to protect in Burkina Faso. Of course a Canadian company belonging to the Lundin Group, NGEx Resources, is active in the country but surely that could not have affected Mr. Bildt's decision making?

According to the Irish National Tourism Development Authority Swedish visitors to Ireland in 2009 amounted to 59 000. I have not been able to find any visitor statistics on the number of Swedish visitors to Burkina Faso, but let's just say it is not a well known charter destination for Swedish tourists.

Is Carl Bildt's planned closure of the Swedish embassy in Ireland really in the best interest of the Swedish voters and tax payers? And has the foreign secretary cut all his ties with the Lundin Group?

Cherry popper - How will the aftermath of Sweden's first suicide bombing play out?

There is a first for everything, the first time you have sex, your first reefer, your first hangover. If you liked the sensation, you want to experience it again. If you didn't, you take precautions so as to not having to experience whatever it was that caused you discomfort again. For instance, if you like sex but not STDs, you put on a condom.

Speaking of firsts, as nation Sweden just had it's suicide bombing-cherry popped. Yesterday we experienced our first serious terrorist attack in many years and our first Islamist suicide attack ever. A suicide bomber targeting civilians blew himself up in central Stockholm. Fortunately the bomber only managed to set off one of the pipe bombs in his suicide vest and thus only managed to kill himself while slightly wounding two others.

A car filled with propane tanks was also set alight nearby. The Swedish right-wing blog Politiskt Inkorrekt identifies the car's owner as Taimour Abdulwahab from Tranås, Sweden. An email containing threats in Arabic and Swedish against Swedish civilians in general and Lars Vilks in particular was reportedly received by the Swedish Security Police ten minutes before the attack.

Based upon my previous experience (my suicide bombing cherry was popped quite some time ago) with the aftermath of Islamist terror attacks, I predict the following reaction within Sweden's Muslim community:

a) Outright support for the attack.

b) Denial, people will claim that the attack was carried out by the CIA or the Jews.

c) Condemnation.

Many Muslims will privately condemn the attack but will not be willing to do so openly since attacks such as these are considered as an act of Jihad by many Muslims, and Jihad is a basic tenet of Islam. Others will condemn the attacks in discussions with non-Muslims, or say that the CIA or Mossad were behind them, while privately supporting them.

Swedish politicians, who, with the exception of the Sweden Democrats, steadfastly refuse to see the increasing number of Muslims in Sweden as a problem, will try to trivialize the attack and quite possibly try to link the attack to "islamophobia". Or will our elected officials surprise me by taking the necessary precautions?