Why the Stasi came to Sweden

Sweden’s relationship with East Germany in the late 1960s was less straightforward than that of many of its nearest neighbours. Just a short ferry ride from Rostock on the GDR's Baltic coast, the Kingdom of Sweden seemed somehow to stand apart from the ideological rift that divided much of Europe.

[...]

Sweden’s policy of neutrality also meant that the country straddled the faultline of international politics. While many Swedes argued passionately for the country to throw its weight behind the USA and its allies, a concurrent radicalization of left-wing movements gave rise to a groundswell of sympathy for the USSR and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe.

[...]

Tore Forsberg, who spent thirty years working for Swedish security service Säpo, recalls the mood in Sweden at the time."The average man on the street did not grasp that the GDR was a brutal dictatorship.

I think we Swedes have a tendency to be a bit naive," he tells The Local.

"People didn't always differentiate between the GDR and the Federal Republic. The left in Sweden, including many Social Democrats, pushed hard for improved diplomatic relations with the East Germans," he adds.Writing about the 'König' spy affair in the summer of 2000, Sweden's current foreign minister Carl Bildt went a step further."German dictatorships have at various times caused Swedes to show their dedication. There were those who were dedicated to the brown dictatorship quite some time ago, and there were those who were dedicated to the red dictatorship not so very long ago," he wrote.

[...]

"Stockholm in particular became something of a spy playground and was - together with Lisbon and Casablanca - one of the three major spy capitals in this part of the world."

Here's the keynote! What's the difference between "browns" and "reds"? None! They are both totalitarian idologies with a onset of communal thinking- exactly as the biggest menace of [free] society today- islam... And here is the kicker; the "browns" and the "reds" hate eachothers just as much as they embraces islam! I just can't twist my brain around that!

Oh, I do remeber the days when east German "trailer drivers" just "happened" to take a brake outside regiments, powerstations, and other military facilities; allways with a camera- and with a diplomatic passport. And all those "lingonberry pluckers" accidently finding themselfs around military installations... And the Swedish social democratic government knew about it! It was'nt exactly a state secret! But they let it happen willingly!

Otherwise the article is well worth reading- link