Former UN Ambassador Pierre Schori is highly critical of Sweden’s path to NATO membership and believes the whole process has been deeply humiliating.
– The country gave in to pressure from Erdogan and kowtowed to him, he says.
Most indications are that Sweden will soon be a member of the US-led military alliance NATO, but although the powers that be, lobbyists and the establishment media have been happy to push the process forward, describing it as a “security imperative” for Sweden, not everyone is so enthusiastic.
Pierre Schori, former Social Democratic minister for development cooperation and migration and former UN ambassador, is an opponent of Sweden’s NATO membership and believes that Sweden has not only left behind an era of non-alignment, but has also humiliated itself towards Turkey and promised far too much.
– It is terrible that we are going to start selling weapons to Turkey so that they can fight the Kurds who have been fighting ISIS. It is completely insane and there is nothing that obliges us to do this in order to be part of NATO, he says on Bonnier-owned TV4.
– They gave in to pressure from Erdogan and kowtowed to him. Overall, it has been a humiliating process that we have gone through here.
“They scare children”
Schori argues that Sweden already has security guarantees from the US and that statements about the alleged threat from Russia have been greatly exaggerated.
– One can also ask: do we think Putin wants to invade Sweden? Does Sweden also need to be in NATO for there to be peace? Not at all. Putin has visited a Poltava in Ukraine and he has no intention to invade Sweden, nobody really believes that.
– But we are told by the military-political complex in Sälen that we can be invaded. They scare children and make adults hoard. That’s completely wrong, he says.
But Mikael Odenberg, the former Moderate Party defense minister, says the deal with Turkey is “reasonable” and points out that it had “broad political support.”
– It has been a long journey. I dare say that Sweden will be a member of NATO by the end of February, he predicts.
Pierre Schori has previously been accused of spying on Sweden on behalf of the Russian security services, including by author Anders Jallai.
