Of course it has problems. Problems are not something you can get rid of, they are just a manifestation of the worst things in your environment (There is always a "worst" of everything, even an utopia). Sweden's problems are almost all the definition of "first world". I'm in Athens now and I miss that country.
Sorry, but to say that Sweden's problems are largely "first world" is incredibly naive.
Sweden is really struggling to find the resources to adequately deal with accepting, feeding, and housing all the refugees streaming in. Hardly a frist-world problem.
Sweden's security services are under immense pressure to identify, monitor, and stop any terror threats from within, and do it under strict privacy laws. Hardly a first-world problem.
Sweden's social welfare system cannot possible sustain all of the support given internally and externally to her borders. It was never designed to accomodate and support thousands of refugees who cannot immediately (or ever) pay back into the system.
Isn't that the very definition of a first-world problem? In the rest of the world privacy laws are a joke.
And do all of this under the direction of Sweden's track record of failed integration policies [1]
Easy-peasy indeed...
You do realize Sweden is inviting refugees? Which is just about the opposite to what every other country is doing.
Linking news from 2009 is not exactly a counterpoint to anything. Integration in Sweden may not be perfect but it's one of the rare countries actually trying to have an integration policy other than "go back to where you came from".
The world will look back a few decades from now (hopefully sooner) on the times we closed our doors to the war torn. The times we were all disgustingly xenophobic. The times we treated others as sub-human because of their religion -- remember the last time that happened?
I do want to say this much: in the past decade of living in different european countries, a decade of feeling far more "european" than "french", I've never been as proud of my country and government back home as when they took a stand against terrorism by refusing to change their immigration policies, rather than falling in to the 9/11 "differentophobia" trap.
I want more refugees in my country. I want my country to help people, even if it's at its own detriment. Those attaching absurd conditions such as "we only want catholic refugees" are basically saying "Sure I'll help the ones in need, as long as it doesn't cost me anything". They are the real life definition of slacktivism.
If integration policies fail, then fix the policies. Don't just stop accepting refugees. If your city's homeless policies are failing, should your new policy be "just ship the homeless next door, they'll know what to do with them"?
Anyway, I'm saying all that but you quite clearly misunderstood the parent post and what he meant by an "external problem", so I'll end my rant.
- Bombings and grenades this summer - https://www.rt.com/news/310757-sweden-malmo-blasts-crime/
- A long history of Anti-semitism (not unique to Sweden)
- Anti-Muslim hate-crime (again, not unique to Sweden)
- Anti-Roma (Gypsy) hate-crime - (again...you get the point)
Sweden is not perfect. Malmo is no perfect. No place is perfect. To say so is a lie, or you have your head in the sand.
[1] - http://swedenreport.org/2014/10/29/swedish-police-55-officia...
It was clearly meant as an idiomatic expression.
Why not mention rapes, murders and crimes that aren't targeting a specific group? They're all valid reasons for you to object to the statement that some place is literally perfect.
Your objection is entirely out touch with the parent posts intended meaning.
Just what do you think was the intended meaning when someone calls a city perfect?
That they're(almost always) expressing a sentiment not making a statement of fact.
Can you name many situations where 'perfect' is actually used literally?
That cake was perfect? I think not; you're completely ignoring the non-locally-sourced flour.
I'm not trying to say your point isn't valid it just seemed out of place and tangentially related to the topic.
1. This is a story about Norway gifting Finland a bit of land as a celebration of Finland's full declaration of independence (I think from Russia). Sweden does not factor into it.
2. Scandinavian countries are also inhabited by humans, which means there are all the same "isms" and problems like everywhere else. It is just distributed a little differently.