“We live in uncertain times. Currently, armed conflicts are raging in our corner of the world. Terrorism, cyber attacks and disinformation campaigns are being used to undermine and influence us.” This is the beginning of an information bulletin that the Swedish Government is distributing this week to five million homes. The guide is titled “In case of crisis or war” and on its first page it makes a strong warning: “Military threat levels are increasing. “We must be prepared for the worst possible scenario: an armed attack against Sweden.”
In the midst of growing tension with Russia, Sweden is not the only Nordic country that is reminding its population how to prepare in the event of a war scenario on its territory. In Finland the recommendations to be followed under a state of emergency or attack have been compiled in a Web page that the government published last Monday, which reads “Finland has always been prepared for the worst possible threat, war.” Norway too has distributed a serial which lists a list of items citizens should have at home in the “worst case scenario in which acts of war could affect the country.” On the list, it is recommended to have candles, canned food, medicines and iodine pills in case a nuclear accident occurs. For his part, in Denmark last summer the defense minister appealed to the population to store water and other survival items with the goal that citizens can be self-sufficient for at least three days.
These guides and recommendations disseminated in the four Nordic countries cover all types of emergencies, from snow storms, to extended power outages, floods and pandemics, and do not refer only to war situations. Nor do they cite a specific enemy in any case, but since the start of the war in Ukraine, which led first Finland and then Sweden to join NATO, the Nordic countries fear the effects of a hybrid war that causes sabotage, cyberattacks and other threats launched from Russia.
In Sweden, it is not the first time that the Civil Protection and Emergency Authority (MSB) sends an information bulletin reminding the basic notions of self-protection. The last time it did so was six years ago, but the serial has its origins in the years of the Cold War, when the country followed a policy of international neutrality. However, unlike the guide distributed in 2018, this time there is a renewed message that stands out: “If Sweden is attacked, we will never surrender. “Any suggestion otherwise is false.”
The Minister of Defense, Carl-Oskar Bohlin, already warned of this more severe tone in the warnings when he stated a month ago that, in a global context in which security and threats towards the Nordic country had changed, “the information that was “It had to give to Swedish homes and it also had to reflect those changes.” At the beginning of the year, Bohlin had already pointed out for the first time that “There could be a war in Sweden.”
“These messages are a small alarm clock. “It is also about psychological defense, since Sweden is not an island outside international politics,” explained Håkan Gunneriussonprofessor of military sciences at the Mittuniversitetet center, in a recent interview on Swedish public television. The new 32-page bulletin, illustrated with drawings of war planes and families fleeing their homes, also provides information on how citizens can participate in the so-called “Collective Defense System.” It is recommended, for example, to join volunteer defense organizations, take first aid courses, donate blood, or talk to neighbors about how to be more prepared. “If Sweden is attacked, we must all do our part to defend independence and our democracy. Resilience is built every day,” adds the information distributed by the government.
In Finland, due to its extensive eastern border with Russia and its war experience against the Soviet Union, it has always maintained a high citizen defense and preparedness system in cases of emergencies. “Preparation is a civic skill in the current world situation. When people know how to act in emergency situations, society’s resilience is better founded in cases of crisis,” said the general director of rescue services, Kimmo Kohvakka.
In the new online guide published this week by the government, a list of situations is listed, including epidemics, cybersecurity attacks, forest fires, interruptions in digital payment systems, acts of terrorism, water outages and many other threats. The guide is also available to download in PDF format and the recommendations to follow in each case can be read in Finnish, Swedish and English. Unlike in Sweden, the guide is only available on the Internet and will not be distributed in homes, since “it would be too expensive and the printed version would be more difficult to update,” according to the head of communications at the Ministry of the Interior, Eriikka Koistinen.
Not alarm but provide security
In Norway, the government began distributing 2.2 million copies of the crisis preparedness guide in early November. The person in charge of the Directorate of Social Security and Emergency Preparedness (DSB), Elisabeth Sørbøe Aarsæther He called the serial “a shopping list,” in which advice and guidelines are given to deal with various possible scenarios. Faced with opinions that these guides could cause alarmism among the population, Aarsæther assured that “people should not be nervous, the information provides security.”
Professor at the University of Tromsø, Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv, believes that the distribution of the leaflets to have a more prepared civilian population is justified. “The armed forces are responsible for the military defense of the country, but the threat landscape has changed a lot and now points towards non-military objectives, that is, within civil society, so citizens increasingly have a more important role. in the security of the state,” he explained in a column published in the newspaper Aftenposten.
The Emergency Management agency in Denmark had not issued any type of recommendation or advisory for crisis preparedness since the 1960s. For this reason, the announcement by Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen in the summer asking citizens to “be prepared to be able to manage a crisis for three days” caused a great impact. In the recommendations that can be read on the emergency websitethe authority asks to store bottled water, canned food, and a battery-powered radio in each home to follow official information in the event that the internet or electricity system goes down. Rasmus Dahlbergchief researcher at the Social Security Center of the Danish Defense Academy, assured in an interview with public radio DR, that “there is a great desire, very legitimate among the Danish population, to obtain information from the authorities about the preparation for emergencies that is real, reasoned and balanced. In this way oneself can contribute to making society more robust in the face of threats.”
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