What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
114 Comments
- Pharoah6905, on 10/12/2007, -0/+43im even more surprised that you can't spell Sweden!
- jadacyrus, on 10/12/2007, -11/+50Uh, Swedish?
- hunden, on 10/12/2007, -3/+36Of course we have a spy agency, what do you think we are?
- CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -10/+36"I don't mean to be a dimwitted uncultured American"
Why stand out from the crowd? ;) - arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Your instinct was right. Swedan doesn't have a spy agency. Sweden does.
- snowfreak, on 10/12/2007, -3/+21Let's get the facts straight:
- Sweden and Switzerland are both neutral, we are not members of NATO or any other alliance
- The Swiss could be considered more neutral because they aren't EU members, and the EU is working to establish a join military organization for peace keeping, supporting UN and KFOR troops in former Yugoslavia and elsewhere.
- Being neutral the more reason you have to have a working intelligence organization since no one else is watching your back. George "Dubya" Bush, your brilliant president, was surprised to hear Sweden even had an army since we're neutral.
We, Sweden, even have the the best fighter jet flying today (the JAS 39, go look it up) and some of the most advanced ships the plans for which we refused to sell or license to the US Navy and its contractors.
So being neutral doesn't mean being harmless, quite the contrary. But our warfaring days are over, things were different in the 1600 -1800s when we were a major warpower in Europe, invading neighboring countries here and there, combatting in continental Europe and fighting naval warfare on the Baltic Sea against the Russian empire. Ok, I admit, it's not without an ounce of pride I write these things. :)
Why doesn't it surprise me the Norwegians are the ones responsible for the Novel Peace Prize and that it was Nobel's explicit will for it to be so? ;) - schwit, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17Misleading. Google Earth is not touched. Images distributed to the public by the Swedish government are touched up prior to distribution.
- chicken101, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18"I'm more surprised that Swedan HAS a spy agency..."
That was sort of a dumb thing to say. Why is that suprising? Just because they don't invade every country they see, doesn't mean they don't have the means to protect themselves- even Switzerland has a reserve army. - jakethecake, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Google earth http://www.realtid.se/ArticlePages/200604/04/20060404110156_Realtid970/googlee.jpg
cloud covering the base - sensor, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15Every country has a spy agency.
- Skyddsman, on 10/12/2007, -8/+19Err. Sweden would not have a spy agency because ________________________. Please fill in the blank.
- Justice101, on 10/12/2007, -0/+11Don't worry, we know your country has an intelligence service Mr. Bond.
- troydoogle7, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12that shifty looking tall blond fellow would easily stick out in the middle east?
What do I win? - monkeymad2, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15No We don't, Shhhh!
- dasch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11Every single country in the world has a spy agency - it's rather foolish to think that the U.S. is the only country that are threatened by terrorism - I myself live in Denmark (Sweden's in any way superior neighbour : ) ), and after the cartoon crisis, I'm predicting there's going to be an even bigger effort to strengthen our intelligence service - and we're a nation of 5 million!
Furthermore, I suspect spying is used a lot more than we might think - remember that time they found bugs from everyone in Kofi Annan's office? - peterpixel, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11What, cos it is a small (compared to US) European country it is a strange idea to have spy agency?
*shakes head* - jakethecake, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11We 'the Swedes' are engaged in the north of Afghanistan, the Balkans, Congo (in the 1960's we had 6 000 men down there) and Liberia. We tend to fight the 'humanitarian fight', that%u2019s why you seldom hear about blown up Swedes and secret spy agencies. Sweden still have the draft, a remnant from the cold war. I did the service after high school and the majority of my classmates too. We do almost no fighting at all, that (was) fine by me :)
- arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -5/+14Because you think Switzerland doesn't have a foreign intelligence agency?
- billshackle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8I haven't read all of the comments but Sweden's relatively short distance to the former Soviet Union might have called for and not forgetting WW2. I am sure the Swedes have had a Spy agency of some sort for many many years.
I didn't know there was as many Swedes on here, guess i was wrong (Trevligt att råkas) bit rusty i hope i haven't insulted my Swedish friends. - Nichevo, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12And our submarine force in the West Edmonton Mall keeps those goldfish in check too!
I wouldn't anger us Canucks though, we'll burn down the Whitehouse again... - mizike, on 10/12/2007, -3/+11bieber:
America WAS the dominant force in Afghanistan during the "kill everything that moves" part of the campaign; now that it's the "attempt to re-build some sort of civilization out of the rubble" stage, the US military has moved onto other things, like sending as many other countries as possible back to the stone age....
i was also going to comment on the submitter; but it looks like his/her ignorance and probable xenophobia have been well covered by others.... - dasch, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10That is right. No, we don't use the absolutely absurd amount of money on our military (even per capita the U.S. tops all others) and we do spend a lot of money on public services (which the U.S. doesn't).
Personally, I think our priorities are more sane ; ) - bmson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8As far as I know, all countries, have a spy agency of some sort.
Even us Icelanders have spy agency.
Most of these agencies investigates "Drug Rings", "people trafficking" and such things. - arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8CedanticPunt: not everybody qualifies for the military service, and that Swiss citizens also have the option to do a "civil service", which is sort of a community-oriented service. Also, according to recent polls, about half the Swiss citizens oppose the mandatory service.
Only reservists are required to have a rifle at home, from what I know. - ChristopherX, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11So you're saying that Sweden and Switzerland ARE different countries? This is too much.
- bchang, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9Canada does have a spy agency. Its called CSIS Canadian Security Intelligence Service. Im not sure why we have one but whatever and our airforce from what i heard is pretty good. We are the dominant force in Afghanistan.
- cyberdork, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Yeah, actually I find it much funnier that in Google Earth there is a bright white cloud EXACTLY above the complex. And maybe that Swedish site only shows a bunch of trees because it uses older maps???
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8It's worth invading for hot swedish babes.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8 No spy agency? How do you think that ABBA and Ace of Base became so popular? It was all set up by the Swedish government who bought all their albums so that they could tour the US and other countries spying on them. It certainly wasn't their MUSIC.
It is just like how we sent David Hesselhoff over to conquer Germany. - kinapuffen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'm actually quite surprised as we here in Sweden have a lot of "people rights". Almost all documents are official (court papers, taxes, income etc, drivers licenses etc.) anyone can request any of these papers and get them shipped to you by mail. I'm not saying that things are not hidden by the goverment but it ussually takes a lot of work for somthing like that to be done. Still I think that if you call up the right goverment agency you can request to know where bases like these are, most of this is official information.
Example 1: You can call up the police station and ask where the police are looking for speeders every day and they have to answer.
The equivalent of the RIAA and MPAA here in Sweden was just ruled not to have the rights to ask for a person's name/adress by supplying an IP because the crime can only give fines. - CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8I've been told (by a friend who lives there) that Switzerland has the largest reserve army in the world. All Swiss men are legally required to own a gun in case of invasion. That's what he said anyway...
- Trenton, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Do not diss the Swedes!
- sanmarcos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intellligence_Agencies
But ignorance is better. - CedanticPunt, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Moomin raids from Finland probably ;)
- sithmat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6My bad, I spelt Sweden wrong, albeit by accident.
N.B. I love Swedes, and I'm just joking around about being surprised. - Raingwc, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5You do realize that a neutral country is not seen as a threat to anyone and that there is no reason to invade it right? :p
- PaulOwen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Far funnier than that is the on the new version of Google Earth, Mount Fuji in Japan has erupted and blackened the landscape. There are even smoke plumes Coming from the red hot lava flows.
Don't believe me? Go and have a look. - arnaudh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I don't mean to go all tin foil hat here, but isn't there in Iceland a communication station over there that is part of the Echelon program?
- bmson, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Don't know, but it could be :O
But I think that we should put or Tinfoil-hats on, just in case. - somenice, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4To quote Rick Mercer "Canada's Army...A jeep and 2 green T-shirts"
- rfoos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3First of all, it's not a "spy agency" that has been censored. It is a facility belonging to the Swedish signal intelligence (FRA). The location of this facility is not a secret, it's in the phonebook! It's just been censored so that it would be more difficult to find out details about it.
And Lantmäteriet (government authority dealing with maps and aerial photos) has admitted to doctoring these photos in Swedish media, when this came up like a week ago. So the theories about these buildings not being there when the photos where taken are wrong. - genericface, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6To the Swedish folks:
I think the American perspective of ALL the nordic countries is that very little money goes to your intelligence, army, and defense. Instead, the impression is that money is directed to your social programs such as schools, male maternity leave, health care.
But also, you need to take the submitters comment as tounge-in-cheek. I'm just glad he didn't do something sensational like "Evil Google Breaks Into Swedish Spy Agency to Take Photos". - jimmyblake, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10I live in another one of those 'tiny European countries' - the United Kingdom - and as far as I am aware both our Secret Service (MI5) and out Foreign Intelligence Service (MI6) are assisting the CIA in anti-terrorism efforts, for which the CIA are badly underskilled (apart from in supporting terrorist activities in other people's backyards).
Partly, I must add, because the British have been fighting Irish terrorism on-and-off since the 1920s, some of which was helpfully sponsored by Amercians through Noraid. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Are you living in 1958? The government does not deny that Area 51 exists.
- Hoekenheef, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5The real question is: What are those Swedes spying on?
- Al.x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3The irony is of course that the military base gets more attention when it's covered up. :)
- mikeman8905, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Canada does have a good air force.
But I'm American, what do I know? I ***** hate stereotypes. - Drahknon, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Every country has secrets: secrets to protect and the secrets of others, so every country has a spy agency. I lived in Ghana for a while, and they had a "top secret" agency of the government despite 1/3 of the country being under tribal government.
- JonGretar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well... genericface. A lot of the nordic countries are quite ready for war at any time. Norway may not spend more money per catita than the US. But they do have like twice more money per person than the US so running things like this on percentage is misleading. Sweden is a MAJOR arms manufacturer. Swedish companies like Saab and Ericsson(yes it's Swedish) are a major innovators in arms technology.
I'm not sure about Sweden and Denmark. But I know that Norway has a mandatory military service. Don't remember how it works but I think it's like if you are 22 and don't have children then you have to join for a year. So it's basically a nation of people ready to shoot a gun if needed. - dlvolk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I think the way many of us Americans see Europe, is that each of its countries is comparable to one of our states. So Sweden having its own spy agency would seem like Minnesota having its own agency.
-
Show 51 - 100 of 114 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is 