HELIKOPTRAR: DÅLIGT SAMHÄLLSSKYDD OCH BRISTANDE BEREDSKAP

Årets storbränder (2018) har på nytt avslöjat ett stort svenskt problem: bristen på helikoptrar inom alla samhällsområden. Vid Estoniakatastrofen fick många sätta livet till på grund av för få helikoptrar vid räddningsinsatserna.

Sedan har det varit 2001 års misstag med den högteknologiska men oprövade helikoptern NH90. Försvarets Materielverk (FMV) hade varnat (s) för att välja den europeiska helikoptern. Ett bättre alternativ hade enligt FMV varit den amerikanska Sikorsky S92, som var beprövad. Regeringen (s) gick emot FMV.

Vid katastrofer i Sverige saknas nästan helt helikoptrar vid de regionala räddningstjänsterna. Helikopterbrist försenar också polisen vid större insatser.

I väpnad konflikt är det särskilt viktigt att soldaterna vet att de snabbt kan evakueras och få vård när de såras i strid. Den svenska helikopterbristen inom försvaret är därmed ett allvarligt hot mot stridsdugligheten och stridsmoralen i svenska förband. I Afghanistan riskerade sårade svenskar få vänta fyra till sex timmar på sjukvård. Svenska helikoptrar saknades helt. Man fick huvudsakligen förlita sig på tyska helikoptrar.

En jämförelse (siffrorna från 2018) ger vid handen att det amerikanska försvaret har flest helikoptrar i världen (5 758). Störst i Europa är Frankrike med 570 helikoptrar. För att få en uppfattning om de svenska bristerna görs här en jämförelse med Danmark och Schweiz. Sverige har ett territorium på ungefär 450 000 kvadratkilometer och det svenska försvaret har 52 helikoptrar. Danmark med en yta om ca 43 000 kvadratkilometer har 35 helikoptrar och Schweiz med ett territorium på cirka 41 200 kvadratkilometer har 42 helikoptrar.

Sjukvårdens ambulanshelikoptrar är ett annat svenskt bristområde. 2015 fanns det inga helikoptrar i Småland, på Öland och i Skåne och Blekinge. I Region Skåne verkar det nu som åtminstone frågan utreds efter en rad påstötningar bland annat från Kristdemokraterna.

Den svenska helikopterbristen har varit ett problem under årtionden. Förbättringar har skett men problemet kvarstår. De svenska politikerna har svårt att förstå problemets omfattning och allvaret i situationen. Det är först vid stora olyckor och svåra brandkatastrofer som problemen uppenbaras. I fredstid kan man få hjälp från andra europeiska länder. För krigsplaneringen framstår det dock som alltmer nödvändigt att Sverige går med i NATO.

DET INTERNATIONELLA MORDBOLAGET

En rad ryska oppositionella medborgare i utlandet har drabbats av mord och mordförsök med giftet novitjok. Fram till början av 1960-talet ingick mord och avrättningar av motståndare till den sovjetiska regimen i Moskva i en världsomspännande strategi.

En lång serie mord och mordförsök mot ukrainska frihetskämpar inleddes 1938. Då var måltavlan Yehven Konovalets, ledare för den ukrainska motståndsorganisationen OUN, som befann sig i exil i nederländska Rotterdam. Mordplanen beordrades av diktatorn Josef Stalin själ. Den sovjetiska hemliga polisen visste att Konovalets var svag för choklad. En bomb placerades i en chokladkartong och överlämnades till den ukrainske motståndsledaren av Pavel Sudoplatov. Konovalets sprängdes till döds och Sudoplatov gjorde karriär i Stalins underrättelsetjänst.

År 1946 kom turen till Oleksandr Shumsky, som var undervisningsminister i den kortvariga självständiga ukrainska regeringen 1917 – 1920. Shumsky hade återvänt till Sovjet från exil. Denna gång användes gift. Shumsky hölls fast av sovjetiska agenter i den tågkupé där han satt och giftet injicerades. Inga spår av giftet påträffades vid obduktionen och dödsorsaken angavs vara slaganfall.

Redan året därefter var måltavlan den ukrainska katolska kyrkans ärkebiskop Teodor Romzha. En vagn han färdades i påkördes av en lastbil. Han överlevde och fördes till sjukhus. En sjuksköterska hanterade giftinjektionen med ett gift som överlämnats av den sovjetiska hemliga polisen.

I mars 1950 hade sovjetiska agenter lyckat spåra upp överbefälhavaren i den ukrainska motståndsarmén UPA, Roman Shukevych. Byn Bilohorshcha, där han befann sig, omringades av sovjetiska säkerhetsstyrkor och Shukevych sköts ner under den eldstrid som följde på inbrytningen i det hus han vistades i.

Det har hävdats att Sovjetunionens Högsta Domstol år 1949 dömde den ukrainske frihetsledaren Stepan Bandera till döden. Då inleddes planeringen av giftmordet på Bandera. Mordet utfördes år 1959 av KGB-agenten Bohdan Stashinsky vid den ukrainska självständighetsrörelsens kontor på Zeppelinstrasse. Mördaren hade en cylinderformad giftpistol inlindad i en tidning. Giftet var denna gång blåsyra som sprejades i ansiktet på Bandera. Inga spår efter giftet påträffades.

År 1957 hade en annan ukrainsk frihetskämpe, Lev Rebet, mördats i bayerska München.

Stashinsky hoppade senare av i Berlin, greps och ställdes inför rätta i dåvarande Västtyskland. Han dömdes till det förvånansvärt korta fängelsestraffet åtta år och släpptes redan efter att ha avtjänat två tredjedelar av den tiden. En av orsakerna till det korta straffet för dubbelmordet var att den tyska domstolen höll ledarna i Kreml huvudansvariga för dådet. Stashinsky ansågs enbart vara en medhjälpare.

Det finns ingen stat i Europa som fått betala ett så högt pris för sin frihet som Ukraina. Miljoner människor dog i svältkatastrofer under 1930- och 1940-talen. Gulag-lägren i Sibirien var fyllda av ukrainska motståndskämpar.

Harvardprofessorn Serhii Plokhy publicerade 2016 boken ”The Man With the Poison Gun”, som numera finns i pocketupplaga. Här finns en ingående skildring av morden på Bandera och Rebet. Ett giftmord på den ukrainske exilpolitikern Jaroslav Stetsko planerades också men utfördes aldrig. Giftet dioxin kom till användning år 2004 mot den ukrainske presidentkandidaten Viktor Yushchenko. Denne överlevde dock och valdes till Ukrainas president.

HOW TO OVERHAUL NATO

National Interest on July 10, 2018 published a kong article by Zalmay Khalilzad on the need for a NATO overhaul. Below excerpts from the article with the main proposals:

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NATO is ill-structured, ill-equipped and ill-financed to deal with the European region’s two major security problems—an aggressive Russia and the spillover of instability and terrorism from the Middle East and North Africa—leaving aside emerging global security challenges. Worse, at times some members can even be said to have enabled the threat. One example being the massive German purchase of Russian gas, which provides Putin with ongoing financing. To deal effectively with these challenges on an equitable and sustained basis among allies, the terms of the partnership must be renegotiated and its common ground redefined. This is in Europe’s best interest too.

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Many of NATO’s members have effectively disarmed since the end of the Cold War, with only eight of NATO’s twenty-eight members even spending the required 2 percent of GDP on defense.

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A reformed NATO must hold members accountable in terms of actual military capabilities they can field. Those who care about NATO should criticize free-riding alliance members, not the efforts of Trump to get the alliance to up its game. At the same time, the Trump administration needs to articulate alliance priorities and the steps needed to adequately address them.

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Specifically, the alliance should collectively take three steps to field an agreed set of defense outputs:

– Develop integrated defense plans within the NATO military committee for dealing with the Russian threat in northeast Europe, and instability and terrorist threats emanating from the Middle East and North Africa, thereby creating a strategy and a division of labor. This will entail a combined planning effort of the major NATO powers and the members living nearest or most directly affected by these threats.

– Agree to specific outputs—forces, weapons systems, operational capabilities, logistics support, and command and control—that each NATO member must develop and maintain at high readiness. This should take into account the capabilities that are needed now but also look to exploit emerging technologies to solve military problems more effectively as these technologies mature.

– Engage in realistic large-scale annual exercises—analogous the Exercise REFORGER of the Cold War—that will serve as a deterrent for would be aggressors, demonstrate resolve and compliance with NATO commitments and identify shortfalls for remediation.

In addition, the United States should candidly inform the European NATO members that the larger share of these agreed upon capabilities must come from them…They must also understand that the American public expects wealthy countries to defend themselves principally on their own, with the United States playing a supporting role on an as-needed basis.

We must deliver the hard message that the future of the U.S. commitment under Article 5 is contingent on European performance.

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This would form the basis of a new global division of labor where America’s European allies assume the primary role for the security of Europe; the United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia would assume the primary role for security in the Western Pacific; and collectively, America and its global and regional allies would share roles in providing for security in the Middle East. Thus, working together, America and its allies would be meeting critical security demands in three critical regions.

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A small tripwire force is inadequate to the task [of stopping Russia]

Among the capabilities that European NATO members would need to develop would include the following:

– An integrated air defense and surface-to-surface strike capability that would create an anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) belt covering the territory of NATO members and extending into adjacent areas of Russia.

– A counter-A2/AD capability that would defeat Russia battle networks and weapons systems, and Moscow’s ability to threaten NATO forward-deployed forces and reinforcements.

– A special operations forces capability sufficient to counter Russia’s sub-conventional operations involving the so-called “little green men.”

– A ground maneuver force that would combine the kind of light infantry that Hezbollah used against Israel’s offensive forces with heavy armor and artillery units that would consolidate territorial control.

As part of the new NATO security construct, the United States should offer to take the following steps:

– Maintain a small, highly capable ground maneuver force in Europe that would partner with a larger European force.

– Maintain a POMCUS capability in Europe, proximate to the locales where it would likely be needed, that would enable a surge of U.S. capability on a rapid basis if needed. Other major NATO powers, such as France, Germany and the UK should also provide POMCUS-style capability.

– Sell to European allies and partners, or license the right to produce, the high-end weapons systems needed to create the required European A2/AD, counter A2/AD, and maneuver force capabilities. Interoperability is vital and should be programmed into the strategy and plans.

– Agree to back up European arsenals of precision-guided munitions with U.S. stockpiles and production capabilities.

– Provide European NATO members with access to U.S. high-fidelity training capabilities and technologies.

– Provide the C4ISR capabilities that would enable integrated NATO operations in the event of conflict.

– Undertake a new look at what would be needed at every step in the escalation ladder—including tactical and intermediate-range nuclear forces—to ensure that Russia would not gain an advantage though escalating to high levels of
conflict. This would be a first step to address any deficiencies in our deterrent.

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…the United States should work through NATO to help enable European members better to address challenges [from the Middle East and North Africa].

– Assist European NATO members in creating stabilization forces capable of brokering political compacts in fragile states, training local security forces, and building key state institutions.

– Work with European NATO members to develop a political-military plan for the stabilization of Libya and play a supporting role to the main European effort, which will likely require deployment of stabilization forces and establishment of a beachhead to deal with the source of refugees embarking across the Mediterranean Sea.

– Develop a counter-terrorism intelligence fusion and operations center that is part of the NATO command structure, thus coordinating the police, internal security and military responses to terrorism.

– Develop an agreed strategy and political-military plan to defeat the remnants of the Islamic State which is a threat to the member states.

To implement this doctrine, the United States should play an active supporting role and develop a three- to five-year timeline and program to create the needed European capabilities.

Zalmay Khalilzad was the Director of Policy Planning in the Department of Defense and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations

Comment: The proposals make good geopolitical sense. On the western end of Mackinder’s World Island Europe must be mainly responsible for its own defense. This should be within NATO. No seperate European defense force is needed. The United States, Japan, South Korea and Australia should take the lead in defending the western Pacific. To protect against the Iranian challenge in the Middle East America would have a leading role. In classical geopolitical terms there are one challenge coming from the interior of Eurasia (Russia). The other challenge comes from the Eurasian marginal lands (for example China and Iran). Spykman had recommended against European integration warned against and warned against any sort of rimland unity. Western and southern Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast and East Asia were the rimlands of most concern to the United States. It is time to go back the classical geopolitical solutions of Mackinder and Spykman. The lack of grand strategy of the United States during the period from 2008 to 2016 has brought the West close to catastrophy.

EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA PART 2

CHIANG KAI-SHEK KUOMINTANG MEMORIALS 1927 – 1949

1927

On March 21 the Communists declared general strike and insurrection in Shanghai.

Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Shanghai on March 26. He did not act then but understood that he could not let the Communists take over Shanghai. He met with industrialists and businessmen and seperately with Green Gang leaders. Chiang offered to take charge of an anticommunist counterattack. Unrealiable troops were sent out of the city.

On April 2 a resolution went through to ”clean” the Kuomintang of unwanted members.

On April 18 Chiang proclaimed a rival Kuomintang government with seat in Nanking. He started consolidating his control over the lower Yangtse region.

There are a number of memorials in Shanghai and Nanking that remind of Chiang and Kuomintang.

1931

Chiang retired in the interest of Kuomintang unity.

1932

The National Government was moved on January 30 from Nanking to Loyang because of the Japanese invasion.

1934

Chiang on February 19 initiated a ”New Life Movement” in Nanking.

1938

An Emergency National Congress of the Kuomintang in Wuchang on April 1 elected Chiang as its tsung tsai (director general).

1940

On September 6 Chungking was proclaimed co-capital of China. There are memorials in Chungking that remind of Chiang and Kuomintang.

1943

On October 10 Chiang was sworn in as chairman of the National Government.

1945

On August 14 Japan surrendered.

1946

On May 5 the National Government was moved back to Nanking.

1949

On January 21 Chiang announced his retirement from the presidency. He left for Hangchow. Vice President Li Tsung-jen was empowered to exercise temporarily presidential powers. Government forces on April 23 evacuated Nanking.

On May 27 Shanghai was evacuated. The office of director general of Kuomintang was established in Taipei. The National Government, having established its seat in Canton, on October 12 moved it to Chungking. On October 13 government troops evacuated Canton. Chungking fell on November 30. On December 7 the National Government moved its seat to Taipei. On December 10 Chiang flew from Chengtu to Taipei.

EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA PART 1

CHIANG KAI-SHEK KUOMINTANG MEMORIALS ON TAIWAN 1950 TO 1975

During the period from 1950 into the 1980s the National Government in Taipei constructed a number of monuments and buildings related to Chinese history since the founding of the Republic of China. Below is listed a number of those along with some buildings of historical interest for visitors to the island republic.

Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall (Guoli Zhongzheng Jiniantang) and the adjoining National Concert Hall and National Theater. The Memorial Hall has a Chiang museum….

Grand Hotel (Yanshan Da Fandian) in Taipei. For more on the relation between the Chiang family and the hotel see Laura Tyson Li, ”Madame Chiang Kai-shek: China’s Eternal First Lady” (2006).

Shilin Guandi was Chiang’s former residence in the Taipei suburb of Shilin built in 1959.

Chiang’s mausoleum in Taoyuan County is the Cihu Mausoleum. It is a temporary resting place. Chiang before he died in 1975 expressed a wish to be buried in his birthplace once China was recovered. In 1961 Chiang established the Project National Glory (PNG) for the recovery of China. Dazi Back Cihu is a former military base and was the command center of the PNG.

The Cihu Memorial Sculpture Park (Liang Jiang Wenyuan Yuanqu ming) was founded in 1997. Here was in 2000 started a collection of Chiang sculptures. There are a large number of bronze and stone statues of Chiang and other Kuomintang leaders. They have been donated from institutions from around the republic.

Chiang had between 27 and 30 guest houses around Taiwan.

CHIANG CHING-KUO KUOMINTANG MEMORIALS IN TAIWAN 1978 TO 1988

Chiang Ching-kuo’s former home in Taipei is the Quihai House (Qihai Yusuo). The residence is located on Beian Road and was home for Chiang’s son for over 20 years. The first floor of the house was mostly used for receiving guests and family gatherings, while the second floor included office space and bedrooms for the former president and his family. The residence was listed as a municipal monument in 2006.

CHINA WORKING TO UNDERMINE TAIWAN

National Interest on July 9, 2018 warned that Taiwan faces an authoritarian threat from China. Professor June Teufel Dreyer called for greater vigilance in the West. Excerpts below:

We’ve been hearing a lot lately about the rise of authoritarian governments. These administrations have been voted into office by their own citizens, sometimes in free and fair elections. Less talked about, however, is a democracy that is endangered by external pressure: Taiwan.

Since the victory of a presidential candidate it didn’t favor—the American and British educated Tsai Ing-wen—Beijing has been relentless in its pressures on this country of 23 million to join the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

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…Chinese pressure forced the World Health Organization to bar Taiwan from its deliberations. A specialized agency of the United Nations, the WHO plays a major role in efforts to curb the spread of infectious diseases from one country to another. In this era of ubiquitous air travel and major population movements, excluding any country for whatever reasons could have severe consequences not only for that country but for the world at large. Likewise, and with similar potential for disaster, China has made sure that Taiwan cannot join international aviation agreements or Interpol.

Four countries—Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe, Panama and Burkina Faso—have broken diplomatic relations with Taiwan, lured by promises of lucrative business deals with China, and also reportedly by bribes to leaders. Beijing has hinted that more will follow. Negotiations with the Vatican, Taiwan’s last remaining European ally, are ongoing. Several countries have been told to remove Taiwan’s trade offices from their capital cities and even to change their names. The name changes are part of a larger effort to “disappear” Taiwan: under pressure from China, the huge Marriott hotel chain changed the name on its website from Taipei, Taiwan, to Taipei, China. Forty foreign airlines were ordered to do the same if they wished to continue flying to Chinese destinations.

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The soft-spoken Tsai, Asia’s first female president, has several times indicated her desire for negotiations with China, but has been spurned, with her overture rejected as“an incomplete test paper.” The price of talks, Beijing made clear, is Tsai’s acknowledgement that Taiwan is part of China—in essence, requiring her to giving away her negotiating position as a precondition for negotiation.

Meanwhile, China has increased its attempts to subvert Taiwan from within. Through the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front Work Department (UFWD), which is responsible for operations that influence the politics of foreign countries to support party policies, Taiwan’s Communist Party and its New Party, which espouse unification with China, are lavishly funded even though they get very few votes. Both are perfectly legal under Taiwan law, although not all of their activities are.

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At the tertiary level, students from Taiwan are offered scholarships at China’s most prestigious universities. Already, according to China’s official press agency, two Taiwanese studying at China’s highest rated institution, Beijing University, have applied to join the CCP, one of them vowing his fervent desire “to become a participant in the mainland’s joint rejuvenation.” The large number of PhDs from Taiwan universities who have not been able to find employment there have been offered jobs in China. In January, Taiwan-born Hsieh Kuo-chun was selected to the top advisory board of the CPPCC, the non-party institutional face of the united front.

Since the bulk of Taiwan’s trade is with China, special attention has been devoted to business people. Those who endorse policies favorable to China receive appointments to PRC organizations and favorable treatment for their investments; those who do not find opportunities cut off.

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The United States, bound by congressional legislation to make sure that any resolution of Taiwan-China differences is peaceful and consonant with the wishes of the people involved, has expressed both concern and reassurance. In May, in a belated but nevertheless welcome acknowledgement of China’s actions, a State Department spokesperson accused China of unilaterally altering the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, thereby “undermining the framework that has enabled peace, stability, and development for decades.” A few months earlier, Congress passed, and President Donald Trump signed, the long-delayed Taiwan Travel Act, which facilitates the exchange of high level officials between Washington and Taipei. An agreement has also been reachedto share information that would allow representatives of Taiwan’s research institutions and its Ministry of Defense’s Armaments Bureau to visit their counterparts in the United States for collaborative projects.

…National Security Adviser John Bolton has said it may be time to rethink the basis of America’s China policy. In the Senate, bipartisan legislation seeks an investigation into Chinese political influence in the United States, which includes efforts to change its policy toward Taiwan. Similar investigations have been taking place in Australia and New Zealand.

June Teufel Dreyer is professor of political science at the University of Miami and a past commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Commission.

Comment: The time is now to rethink US China policy. Taiwan is an important link in the chain of countries that for a long time have aided the United States in checking Chinese strategic actions aiming at greater influence in the Pacific area. In this effort Japan and South Korea should be willing to support US counter efforts in support of Taiwan. It is indeed time to rethink the basis of US China policy.

OLIVER CROMWELL, BOGDAN CHMIELNITSKIJ OCH KARL X GUSTAV

Nedan görs ett försök att presentera något av relationerna mellan Sverige, England och Ukraina på 1650-talet, då Sverige erövrade Skåne, Blekinge och Halland.

I oktober 1654 hade den engelske statschefen (ännu ej lordprotektor) Oliver Cromwell beordrat att en jordglob skulle sättas upp i Whitehall. Den tillverkades av Alexander Rowley, som tog 50 engelska pund för sitt arbete. Statsrådet (Council of State) fann det nödvändigt att införskaffa nya kartor, nya jordglober och även The New Atlas.

Den engelske amiralen Sir Walter Raleigh hade i sin bok History of the World rekommenderat ett engelskt imperium redan under drottning Elisabet I. I början hade protektorn riktat sina ögon mot Västindien i något som kom att kallas Western Design. Men Europa kom snart också att stå i centrum.

I början av sitt styre hade Cromwells motståndare försökt isolera England men i september 1656 fanns det inte mindre än 32 diplomatiska sändebud i London.

De diplomatiska förhållandena mellan England och Sverige var goda under Oliver Cromwells styre i London. Det gick så långt att en av protektoratets främsta poeter, Andrew Marvell, skrev hyllningsdikter till drottning Kristina.

Poeten Marvell (1621 – 1678) var född i Yorkshire och mycket berest. Han var poeten Miltons medhjälpare 1657 – 1660 i politiska ärenden. Milton var tidvis Cromwells utrikespolitiske sekreterare. Från 1659 till sin död representerade Marvell Hull i parlamentet. Under 1663 till 1665 var han på politiskt uppdrag i Danmark, Sverige och Ryssland. Ehuru puritan var han en älskare av konst och hade ett fint samt rikt natursinne.

En hyllningsdikt på latin till drottning Kristina finns bevarad:

“In eandem Reginae Sueciae transmissam
Bellipotens Virgo, septem Regina Trianum.
Christina, Arctoi lucida stella Poli;
Cernis quas meriu dura sub Casside Rugas;
Sicque Senex Armis impiger Ora fero;
Invia Factorum dum per Vestigia nitor,
Exequor & Populi fortia Jussa Manu.
At tibi submittit frontem reverentior Umbra,
Nec sunt hi Vultus Regibus usque truces.”

Av en ren händelse råkar det finnas en hyllning till Oliver Cromwell på samma sida av den upplaga av Marvells dikter jag använt (Se The Poems and Letters of Andrew Marvell, ed. by H.M. Margoliouth, Third Edition, Volume I Poems, (1971).

“In Effigiem Oliveri Cromwell
Haec est quae Inimicos Umbra fugavit,
At sub qua Cives Otia lenta terunt.”

En särskild ambassadör till Sverige, Bulstrode Whitlocke, utnämndes av lordprotektorn i september (Kristina hade abdikerat den 16 juni 1654). Då hade i april i Uppsala en politisk allians och avtal om fri handel slutits mellan England och Sverige. Ett porträtt av den engelske statschefen sändes då till drottning Kristina med anledning av överenskommelsen i Uppsala (var det nu är bevarat, om det finns i behåll, är för mig okänt). Ett brev i versform från Marvell till pastor Nathanael Ingelo (1621? – 1683), som medföljde Whitlocke, finns i arkiven.

I modern tid har de engelsk-svenska förbindelserna under drottning Kristina föga uppmärksammats. Orsaken kan vara den nuvarande kulturpolitiken, som inte främjar ämnet historia vare sig i skolorna eller vid universiteten. Enligt den tidigare doktrinen har inte mycket hänt i historien före 1932.

Om förbindelserna mellan Cromwell och Karl X Gustav finns inte mycket skrivet i modernare tid om man undantar en artikel av mig själv, publicerad i England på 1980-talet. Den behandlar tankarna på en protestantisk international som fanns vid mitten av 1600-talet.

Den engelske lordprotektorn beundrade Karl X Gustav och han betecknade England och Sverige som de två pelare på vilka europeisk protestantism vilade. Av internationalen blev intet och i London nöjde man sig med gratulationer då och då. Karl X Gustav gratulerades till födseln av sonen Karl (den blivande Karl XI). Det brevet var skrivet av poeten Milton i vilket den svenske kungen jämfördes med Filip av Makedonien, Alexanders den stores far. Filip fick beskedet om Alexanders födelse när han just hade besegrat illyrierna. Det gav anledning till en hänvisning till Karls seger över polackerna, som innebar att ”ett horn skurits av från vilddjurets huvud” (en referens till Bibeln).

Våren 1658 debatterades på nytt den protestantiska internationalen men utan resultat. Protektorn avled i augusti 1658. När i september 1657 England sände en medlare till Köpenhamn mellan Sverige och Danmark stod det rätt klart att vad protektorn eftersträvade var en maktbalans i Östersjöområdet.

Vid sin död hade Cromwell haft stora planer på det utrikespolitiska området. Han ville skapa ett ämbetsverk för det protestantiska Europa i England, med en rådgivande församling för protestantisk religon och statssekreterare för Skandinavien, Schweiz, kalvinister, Tyskland men också för Turkiet, England och Västindien (The Western Design).

Hur kommer då den ukrainske hetmanen Bogdan Chmielnitskij in i bilden? Tyvärr kom dennes arkiv att förstöras i samband med den ukrainska revolution, som inleddes 1648 för att kasta av det dåvarande polska oket som vilade på Ukraina. Det sägs att Oliver Cromwell sände ett uppmuntrande brev till den zaporogiske hetmanen där han fick titlar som ”förstöraren av påvliga misstag” och ”påvarnas gissel”. Något sådant brev har aldrig påträffats i engelska arkiv. En polsk källa ( W. Kochowski, Krakow, 19683, Annalum Poloniae ab obitu Vladislai IV. Climacter primus ) talar om att polackerna uppbringat brevet, men att det inte var säkert att det var äkta. Det går också att hänvisa till professor Elie Borshaks ”Early Relations between England and Ukraine”, Slavonic Review, Vol. X.

För övrigt kan nämnas att någon biografi över den engelske lordprotektorn Oliver Cromwell inte har publicerats i Sverige efter andra världskriget och svenska relationer med protektoratet har inte heller stått högt på listan över forskningsområden vid svenska universitet sedan den nya synen på historieämnet infördes.

POLITICAL WARFARE TAIWANESE STYLE

President Chiang Kai-shek once said that the Chinese Communists would be defeated 70 percent by politics and 30 percent by the military. One of the moving spirits in implementing the Fu Hsing Kang idea (political warfare) was President Chiang Ching-kuo, who was director of the Defense Ministry’s Political Warfare Department when the college was founded. Both women and men were enrolled at this unique school.

The College of Political Warfare had an enrollment of about 1,800, including 160 women. Graduates went to the Armed Forces as first lieutenants and served as morale officers and in similar capacities. They also had military training. The school had eight departments: political science, law, journalism, foreign languages, fine arts, music, cinema and drama, and physical education. Equipment was excellent. Applicants had to be high school graduates with the final selection by competitive examination.

The college (now Political Warfare Bureau (PWB) is situated at the base of Tatun Mountain on the Tamsui River in the Taipei area. Each student is required to pursue one solo activity and both radio and television, for example, are taught through actual pratice.

PWB was established at the Whampoa Military Academy as early as in 1924. After retreating to Taiwan , the Kuomintang government reformed the political warfare system in April 1950, and changed the original title, Political Work Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense, to Political Department of the Ministry of National Defense. In May 1951, it was renamed as the General Political Bureau. Later in August 1963, it was finally named the General Political Warfare Department, with several modifications to its organizational structure afterwards. On January 15th, 2000, the National Defense Act and the Organization Act of the Ministry of National Defense (the so called “Dual National Defense Acts”) were passed after the third reading at the Legislative Yuan. On January 29th of the same year, the Dual National Defense Acts were enacted by the President, establishing the legal basis for relevant political warfare system. After the Organizational Act of the Political Warfare Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense went through the legislative process, it was enacted and implemented in conjunction with the Dual National Defense Acts on March 1st, 2002.

The Bureau has been a first level agency under the Ministry of National Defense, commanded by the Minister of National Defense. As the highest commanding organization over political warfare of the national armed forces, it is responsible for the planning and supervision of the political warfare operations in the military. Externally, the focus of the political warfare operation will be on “propaganda and promotion”, “psychological warfare”, and “civilian services”. Internally, the Bureau will make “psychological counseling”, “psychological warfare training”, “military news handling” and “cultivation of soldiers’ spirits and combat abilities” the priority, in hope of achieving the goal of “Winning the Final Victory with Self Reinforcement”.

In the years after 1974, an increasing number of Central American officers went to Taiwan for political warfare training. Taiwanese political warfare manuals became commonplace on the bookshelves of this military personnel and Taiwan began holding military training courses in situ on ideology, counterinsurgency, political warfare and information extraction techniques.

For Further reading see “Political warfare : the missing link in the defence of the West” (1986) by Swedish author Bertil Häggman. The title is registered in the catalogue of the Library of Congress, Washington DC. The booklet was published by the Ukrainian Central Information Service in London, UK, and the Ukrainian Research Institute, Toronto, Canada.