BY NIALL McCRAE
The nations of Scandinavia, until recently, were idealised as modern, progressive places to live. Their highly educated populace embraced liberal values and eschewed ethnocentric patriotism to open their doors to immigrants, particularly Muslims. They had nothing but token armies, which pursued diversity and equality policies.
Pacifism no more: Sweden and Finland, after decades of neutrality, joined NATO. Their ‘woke’ female leaders seem to relish their new role in sabre-rattling with Vladimir Putin. Their citizens face enlistment for potential war, and that means women too.
A year ago Danish defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen announced that ‘more robust conscription, including full gender equality, must contribute to solving defence challenges, national mobilisation and manning our armed forces.’ Perhaps he should check his language – ‘manning’ is hardly gender-neutral.
Why Scandinavia to get the ball rolling on Western militarisation?
Of course, these countries are next door to Russia. But another reason could be that unlike Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Great Britain, the Swedes and their neighbours are not associated with imperialism or fascism (okay, let’s forget the Vikings). Thus they present a positive image for boosting defence and protecting progressive European culture.
A second reason could be that Scandinavia is technologically advanced. Remember that Sweden was allowed to get through covid-19 without lockdown, as epidemiologist Anders Tegnell was lauded for a common-sense approach. But perhaps such licence was because Sweden was already well on its way to the Great Reset. The ‘new normal’ was promoted by young Swedes making purchases or entering offices using microchip hand implants. Digital identity is in widespread use.
Scandinavian conscription will soon be followed across Europe.
To calm the horses, however, the British government states that there are no current plans in this direction. But the seed has been sown in the public psyche by mainstream media. Currently, the Daily Telegraph has billboards with messages about how Putin is likely to invade the Baltic states next, and contesting the idea that being proud of your country is prejudice – subtle primers for conscription and jingoism?
Two weeks ago, amidst the contrived moral panic over the television drama ‘Adolescence’, I suggested that the real purpose of this propaganda was to get people thinking about young male energy and aggression, and how this could be channelled positively. Numerous letters were sent to newspapers calling for a return to National Service.
Our fathers and grandfathers who did National Service in the 1950s may not be good guides, though. They did their two or three years at a time of post-war peace. They got to see the world and learned useful skills. Nowadays our leaders are drumbeating for war. As in the First World War, the younger generations are at risk of becoming cannon fodder.
Not that decisions are really made by Keir Starmer and Westminster, although the British government appears to be taking a lead role in escalating the conflict with Russia. Global forces are taking us on a momentum, and as with covid-19 and Net Zero there seem to be no stops on the military express.
Retired officers writing to the Daily Telegraph scoff at the prospect of pampered youth making a fighting force – they won’t know which way to point a rifle! But the push for war is perhaps not necessarily to defeat Russia and have everyone home for Christmas. The carnage on the Western Front a century ago was so effective for killing millions of men that the underlying message of Richard Attenborough’s O What a Lovely War was a deliberate cull of the population. The First World War erupted coincidentally at the height of eugenics, and the same ideology prevails today, albeit with a ‘green’ disguise.
How would war be waged?
Despite technological progress, the war in Ukraine is not dissimilar to that fought in the mud of Flanders. Men are pounded in their trenches by explosive projectiles, and any ventures ‘over the top’ are deadly. Mostly they crouch in their lines of earth, through the bitter winter, Spring floods and summer heat. Perhaps a million, disproportionately Ukrainians, have perished in this war of attrition.
The British public is equivocal on conscription. The majority is asleep to what’s really happening in the world, getting their limited information from social media news feeds or the BBC.
In my opinion conscription is not a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’. And I predict sooner rather than later. Recruiting sergeants will exploit any lingering patriotism, while the younger generations will be enticed to fight for diversity and equality.
After decades of relative peace and comfort in the West, there is much naivete about the realities of armed service. Often I hear the utterance that people won’t accept conscription because they won’t fight for Starmer or King Charles. Do they not understand that conscripts are not given a choice?
Niall McCrae is the author of ‘Green in Tooth and Claw: the Misanthropic Mission of Climate Alarm’ (2024).