Sweden boycotts air force drills due to Israel's participation

[lovuian]

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/710209.html

Sweden called off its participation in international air force exercises to take place in Italy next month because of the involvement of the Israel Air Forces in the drills.

Sweden was supposed to send nine aircraft to Italy for Volcanex 2006.

"Israel is not currently acting in the name of peace, and therefore, it should not take part in the demonstration," senior officials in Stockholm said.
more...

Whoah???

[cliss]

1. Interesting -

I believe all the Scandinavian countries are saying this. Sometime last year, Sweden called for a boycott of Israel. I think there were a few other incidents, can't remember them.

[Robbien]

2. The Israel Lobby is going to go nuts

Is this the first time a non-Arab country not toed the US/Israel line?

[Poll_Blind]

3. No the rest of the world introduces resolutions in the UN....

...to call attention to their abhorrence of Israel's behavior but they are promptly vetoed by the US. It's one of those "level playing field" things GB I talked about. Nothing wrong with a level playing field, as long as you own the field.

PB

[ooglymoogly]

5. and make the rules nt

[meganmonkey]

6. No, the US has, by far, the biggest blinders on

in the world when it comes to Israel's right-wing policies...:shrug:

[Name removed]

4. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[bunny planet]

7. Uh oh, look for the Swedes to be the new French

in the right wing MSM.

[Flagg]

9. I wouldn't mind

I'm getting tired of the all anti-French extravaganza.

Can you imagine the uproar if it had been France ?

[saigon68]

10. Yes I am too

[onenote]

8. I'm curious as to what other countries are participating

For example, if these were exercises being conducted by the European Air Group, then the UK is a charter member. Is the UK "currently acting in the name of peace" in Iraq?

onenote

edited to add text

[Stockholm]

11. The participants in the excersize are all members of Partnership for Peace

The Partnership for Peace (PFP) is based on bilateral relations between the Nato and individual participating countries, focusing chiefly on practical cooperation. In particular, PFP activities help Partners build forces capable of participating in peacekeeping operations alongside NATO troops.

more http://www.nato.int/issues/eap/index.html

Here are the members:

http://www.nato.int/pfp/sig-cntr.htm

It is as close to Nato as Sweden are willing to go. Otherwise the only military cooperation Sweden are committed to (publicly at least) are EU or UN lead operations.