More action needed

I have no idea how this will turn out like. But I want to get my thoughts out of my head to paper or a screen and share it with you on forums. We’ll see what I have to say.

It’s about when things are not what they seem like, when things have been put up side down:
Politics, Religion, weapons, war, peace, leaders, people, Muslim world, Christian world, religion of peace, evil, bad, good, economy, wealth, army ≠ killing, slaughter, death, army = high morals, peace, democracy, helping people, war = peace and peace movement = freedom haters and naive.

First I would like to say that nowadays there are a lot of referring to the Muslim world and the Christian world. I do not like that split but to make me geographically understood I will be using “countries with Muslim majority and “countries with Christian majority”.

A couple of years ago there was a TV documentary about the finances of the Swedish churches. What they found was they had invested in both the weapon industry and the porn industry. The result was that the banks started with ethical funds. Not so long ago the media did a follow up. The Swedish church said they had stopped buying into funds where there where porn industry but with the weapon industry it wasn’t so easy; now they maybe had investments in subcontractor to the weapon industry. They also followed up on the ethical funds and it was the same there too. There really was not 100% weapon free. What have happed since then I do not know yet.

The weapon industry is huge. The export industry last year in Sweden was more then the years before. Why, the war against Iraq of course and the major buyer of things needed in weapons was the U.S. Some people were outraged because it is against Swedish law to sell weapons to a country in a war conflict. Name lists were being filled but money and good relations with the US was more important then the Swedish law. Very hypocritical really, we do not engage in wars but we sure can produce and sell weapons to countries in war. Money comes before law that’s it but no politician dares to tell it.

Sweden belongs to what can be referred to as a country where the majority are Christians. And therefore according to some people these days “a country of peace”. Really this is a country where we either by investments or taxes are funding the weapon industry. We have blood on our hands. And it is almost imposable to not be part of it. How can one pray at dinner for peace when one have investments in the weapon industry?

Is this a special case for Sweden? Of course not, most of the countries where there are a majority of Christians are also the countries where weapons are made.
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Weapon Fares
Between the first Gulf War and this one, there had been about 6 weapons fares in Kuwait every year. Weapon companies, from countries where the majority are Christians, where selling weapons to invited leaders from the countries where the majority are Muslims.

Before the war against Iraq there was a huge weapons fare in Jordan. Just a month or two before it started. Weapon companies, from countries where the majority are Christians, where selling weapons to invited leaders from the countries where the majority are Muslims. They were selling weapons to soon to become a war zoon area. Very strange way of promoting peace?!!!

Aren’t there really already enough weapons in the countries where the majority are Muslims? What are the countries where the majority are Christians thinking?

Imagine if these fairs had been about human rights, freedom of speech and democracy?

This hypocrisy that we have in the countries where the majority are Christians is never really talked about in ordinary media or by our politicians.

However they do talk a lot about how we work to promote peace in the countries where the majority are Muslims. And once in a while refer to an apartment in Gaza or a bunker in Mazar –i- Sharif where some “terrorists” maybe making weapons; instead of referring to our huge weapon industry arsenal were we all know that millions of weapons are being made then sold and millions of people are working. Hummm…..

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Mines in northern Iraq
A couple of weeks ago I read an article about the mines in northern Iraq. They interviewed an Iraqi Kurd and he was so angry. Sure he wanted Saddam on trial, but he also wanted those who have made these mines on trial, he wanted the weapon company names known to all and the countries they came from.

These mines he was referring to where apparently the worst sort. Made in Italy and the U.S. Very difficult to detect and almost impossible to make them safe.

I wonder why anyone chooses to make such horrible weapons, and get away with it, that is evil, pure evil. And then to sell it to a well know unelected leader who have no respect for neither human rights nor his people. How is that promoting peace?

The UK economy
It wasn’t so long ago a reporter in The Guardian wrote something about how much the UK economy was dependent on Saudi Arabia buying weapons from them. And I think that we can say that the economy in countries where the majority are Christians have been depending a lot on selling weapons to countries where the majority are Muslims. But that is of course something many politicians can’t talk about either.

So what should be done? Maybe it is time for serious demands that ordinary media together with us dig deep into the weapon industry and see what we find. What do you think?