Anti-emergency preparedness and "buy a Kalashnikov and get ten grenades for free" in Sweden!
Sweden have lately gone into somewhat of a preparedness and survivalist-mentality with headlines in newspapers telling people what to stockpile and that it's important to be prepared "should the lights happen to go out".
I know what you think, this rhymes bad with the environment movement! You're not alone in thinking this. The Swedish state feels so strongly about the issue and also thinks Sweden is so safe that no preparedness shouldn't ever be needed and even takes steps to prevent people from being prepared.
Who'd want one of those hand-crafted old ones, that aren't even that efficient when you can have the white beauty on the right?!
The new additions to rules about emissions now makes it incredibly hard, if not impossible, to have an old wooden stove in the kitchen, in case the lights should go out or you just want to get a break from the new technology and super-efficient stoves.
Okay, I have to be fair, it's not the wooden stove itself that's been prohibited from use but rather that they have too bad emissions to effect ratio to be allowed. If you want to install one you can't get an answer beforehand, if it's allowed or not, you just have to test it afterwards, and if it doesn't hold up to the new rules (which it won't) you will have to take it out again.
We will just have to do with our new and improved weapons-market!
After a recent grenade "attack" in a Swedish subway station in Stockholm, where and elderly man picked up a live hand grenade from the ground before it exploded, killing him immediately and hurting a woman. According to the police the grenade is of Yugoslavian origin and is primarily used by criminals.
Apparently someone had taken out the grenade pin and threw the grenade at someone or something else in the city square without it triggering the explosion. When the man grabbed it from the ground, that was all that was needed for it to go off.
If you've been following news about Sweden lately you know that grenades from the Balkans are not news to us. A problem with those grenades is that they're often unreliable since they've been exposed to moisture and are generally very old. According to policeman Lars Bröms we've been so flooded by grenades that the black market arms dealers now give ten of them away for free if you happen to be in the market for a Kalashnikov.
Links:
The one about the wooden stoves (Google Translated)
The one about the grenades (Also Google Translated)