Sweden's Unique Way of Scaring off Russian Submarines

[AnnieBW]

Saw this on TRMS, and laughed my ass off!

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/europe/sweden-russia-gay-sailor-submarine/index.html

In an effort to combat military aggression and homophobia in one fell swoop, it's created the "subsurface sonar system" to greet any Russian submariners who might find themselves lost in Swedish waters.

The animated neon sign shows a man wearing only a sailor's hat and white underpants thrusting his hips, with little love hearts flashing. It bears the message: "Welcome to Sweden" in both Russian and English, with the text "Gay since 1944" -- a reference to the year that Sweden legalized homosexuality -- added in English.

A Morse code message simultaneously calls out: "This way if you are gay."

[SunSeeker]

1. You gotta see the video of the dancing sailor sonar! LOL

[MattSh]

2. This one just screams stupid...

Anything to get in the news. Just like Miley and the Kardashians.

What's worse is the media actually acts like it's news.

[geek tragedy]

3. No, what's stupid is the ugly bigotry pushed by Putin

and his thugocracy.

[Cha]

4. Your post kinda screams IT.. actually. Always trying to cover up Putin's homophobia and Aggression.

[NuclearDem]

6. Aww.

[Codeine]

8. I think somebody needs a big gay hug.

[reorg]

10. You wouldn't know it from the OP

but if you read the CNN article you can see that the action is actually directed against a proposed Swedish "defence" bill:

This defence bill sets a new trend in Swedish defence spending. The government has, for the first time in more than two decades, decided to successively increase the defence spending over the next five years with an 11% increase (2,2 % per year). The total defence spending over the next five years will be 224 billion SEK. (In total, this defence bill added 10,2 billion SEK.)

The key priority is to enhance the warfighting capability of the Armed Forces, as well as to develop a new Total Defence concept which includes both military and civilian defence.

http://www.government.se/sb/d/11743/a/258080

The activists state on their own site:

'In the search for foreign submarines, the Swedish military just had their biggest mobilization for decades. But, they found nothing. Voices are heard for more resources.'

http://www.svenskafreds.se/swedish-peace-organization-launches-a-subsurface-defense-system

Yet we have more proof for the existence of a monster in Loch Ness than for Russian subs in Swedish waters:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_submarine_incidents

[pampango]

5. Here's a pic of Sweden's ""Gay since 1944" underwater anti-submarine defense.

Gotta hand it to the Swedes. Their peace group has come up with a novel way to deal with a homophobic navy - "Only enter these waters if you are gay."

[AnnieBW]

7. Maybe The U.S. Should Put Some Of Those Signs in Voting Booths

To scare off homophobic Republicans!

[reorg]

9. So, is the message in English in reference to the fact

that the submarine hunt in Swedish waters back in the eighties was actually caused by Reagan's dirty little tricks?

As those old enough may remember, these mysterious submarines were not from Russia. The hunt for them, which always failed, was actually meant to embarrass Olof Palme, the Swedish Prime Minister and his policy of peace and detente developed in concert with German Social Democrats Willy Brandt and Egon Bahr.

Just watched an interesting documentary about this on German/French TV channel ARTE the other day. Unfortunately, it is only available in German and French.

German version:

In French: