'US Won’t Decide Our Policies' – Sweden On Palestinian State Recognition

[branford]

20. I stand corrected (the RT article was very poorly written).

However, my point remains the same. The US issued a polite, mild and essentially dismissive rebuke of Sweden's actions that amounted to little more than nothing is terms of actually affecting the dynamics of the Israeli / Palestinian dispute. The American people overall care less about Sweden's government's opinion about anything than does the State Department.

Sweden's actions also still appear more designed for its domestic audience than actual foreign policy. The Foreign Minister's quick note that Sweden still wished to "continue constructive dialogue with the US" is a clear acknowledgement that they didn't want to push too hard in order to maintain some relevance and not be completely ignored by the parties with actual power and influence. Politically, the new Swedish government probably realized that if they made demands and a lot of real noise, then were ignored or worse, such humiliation and weakness would not play well at home in the long-term and during the next election. Such is the wonders of equivocation and populism in a democracy.

As the United States, Canada, Australia, the only two real military powers in Europe, Britain and France, much of the Sunni Arab world, Iran, Turkey and others bombing ISIS in Syria and Iraq, the civil war still raging in Syria, negotiations concerning Iran's nuclear program going nowhere fast, with Egypt very hostile to Hamas, and US popular and Congressional opinion firmly pro-Israel, no less with elections looming, I would imagine that much of the word simply hopes for the semblance of quiet between the Israelis and Palestinians, with no one willing to invest political capital at this time for ever more elusive peace.