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* Stores have reported a surge in sales of items such as emergency radios and jerry cans while a support hotline has received more calls from children
* The war-preparation call has prompted ridicule from a Russian politician, who says Swedish military officers ‘almost dream of war’
Realism or fear mongering? Calls from Sweden’s government and military urging Swedes to be ready for war have triggered panic buying, frightened children and a fierce debate in the Nordic country.
While Sweden has contributed troops to international peacekeeping missions, the country has not been directly involved in an armed conflict since the Napoleonic era.
The realities of war are therefore foreign to most Swedes
“There could be war in Sweden,” Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin told an annual defence conference on Sunday, warning Swedes against complacency.
Days later, the sentiment was echoed by the commander of Sweden’s armed forces Micael Byden, who showed pictures of burnt-out and bombed houses from Ukraine.
“Do you believe that this could be Sweden?,” Byden asked the audience, later explaining that the question was not a rhetorical one.
- https://www.scmp.com/news/world/euro...cares-children
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