What did I actually work with at The Wistar Institute?

Thought I'd describe what I did in science in a way that a layperson could appreciate.

I began scientific work along side with my medical studies already in the third semester at the Department of Medical Biochemistry of The University of Göteborg. Professor Karl-Anders Karlsson had a very interesting program where his group studied a type of compound, a glycolipid, carbohydrate and fat, that was present in the cell membranes of cells at specific locations, such as the inner functional lining of the large and small bowel. Human blood group antigens A, B and O are examples of such compounds. There is also a lot of them in the brain where they are called gangliosides. The function is still unknown for glycolipids. The objective was to elucidate their function by structurally characterizing them.

My project, which I did under the supervision of Prof. Gunnar C. Hansson, was to compare the expression of glycolipids in normal rat large intestine with that of experimentally induced large intestinal tumors, a collaboration with Prof Hans-Olof Sjögren at the University of Lund who worked as an immunologist on a rat large intestinal tumor model.

Somewhat earlier Milstein and Köhler in Great Britain developed a metod to produce so called monoclonal antibodies that was adapted to the production of monclonal antibodies directed to cell surface molecules of human tumor cells by Hilary Koprowski and Carlo Croce at The Wistar Institute who actually patented this adaptation. Milstein and Köhler got the Nobel Prize 1984 for this methodology.

Antibodies are proteins that are produced by white blood cells of the B type that are directed to pathogens and help our body to cure disease from bacteria and viruses. A monoclonal antibody is produced by immunizing a mouse with an antigen, e.g., a viral protein. B lymphocytes are then taken from the spleen of the mouse and fused with a mouse tumor cell that immortalizes the hybrid which then can be used to produce large quantities of the monoclonal antibody. A rather pure protein that after purification could be used as a drug.

Such monoclonal antibodies directed to cell surface molecules of tumor cells were thought to be possible to use in the treatment of human tumors. One such monoclonal antibody called NS19-9 was discovered to be directed to bind to a ganglioside. I actually participated in a collaboration between Karl-Anders Karlsson and Hilary Koprowski, the Director of The Wistar Institute, defining the binding of NS19-9 with the ganglioside and the structural characterization of the ganglioside.

I got the job at Wistar in January 1984 because of an application for a so called National Institutes of Health Program Project Grant concerning Human Melanoma, a skin tumor originating in so called melanocytes, the cells giving us a sun tan. They had monoclonal antibodies directed to many cell surface molecules that needed to be identified and characterized that they got from immunizing mice with human melanoma cells. The Program Project was a collaboration between Koprowski and the group of Prof. Wallace Clark, a renown Dermatology/Pathologist at the University of Pennsylvania across the street. In addition to the therapeutic issue the grant also importantly dealt with the study of melanoma tumor progression, i.e., how the normal melanocytes became tumorous. I actually discovered that a special type of ganglioside was induced at the stage when cells develop from the so called radial cell growth phase to the vertical growth phase, i.e., when they turn malignant. My wife could later use this result to develop her NIH grant application. Dr. Meenhard Herlyn produced the cells used in the study.

A group meeting once a week for a seminar of results or other information was held by The Human Tumor Antigen Group led by Dr. Koprowski. This group was about 30 people at my arrival. The work went well and the Program Project was received once more with Dr. Meenhard Herlyn as the PI after five years, when I was only a consultant and did mostly other things. The objective of being able to treat human melanoma was met partly. About ten percent of patients responded with one of the monoclonal antibodies that I characterized the ganglioside antigen for, i.e., the ME361. I'm on the patent of this antibody. It is very interesting scientifically that this happened, and as far as I know it how this happened is still unknown, but it was unfortunately not enough for enticing physcians for clinical use of the monoclonal.

The Wistar Institute relied to 75% on money from NIH grants and from 25% of money from patents and licensings. The Institute was second after Stanford in the US on bringing in money on patents per capita. There was not teaching but full time research. The easiest way to describe my work at the Institute is therefore to follow the money. I should also mention that my wife Magalena Blaszczyk-Thurin came to the Institute right after did and we came to collaborate in many ways. She had been at the Institute earlier. We married at the time I became Assistant Professor in the summer of 1985. She was a staff scientist at the time. We specialized a little in the direction of carbohydrate antigen work for me and the biosynthesis of carbohydrate antigens via so called glycosyltransferases for her. Blaszczyk-Thurin eventually generated a NIH grant for the study of large intestinal tumor carbohydrate antigen biosynthesis and its possible involvment in the development of the tumor and also became Assistant Professor.

First I should mention a very interesting and pleasant project involving the structural characterization of the NS19-9 ganglioside saccharide which had been synthetized by a Canadian company Chembiomed Inc. As a graduate group member at the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, I had a Ph.D. student in Biophysics, Bethany Bechtel, in collaboration with a Biophysicist Dr. Joshua Wand.

I came to generate two NIH grants in the direction of AIDS research. One was the testing of a hypothesis I believe I was the first one to have suggested namely that the very heavy glycosylation seen on the main viral HIV protein was increasing the virulens of the virus, i.e., making it more harmful. Viral proteins are recognized by the immune system via the recognition of a series of amino acids called epitope. A protein is in fact a series of amino acids linked in a chain. The many carbohydrate chains attached so such epitopes could potentially inhibit the immune response to the virus and thus cause the disease. This project gave rise to a local research grant that I was the PI on and that Dr. Laszlo Ötvös, also at Wistar, and I successfully worked into a more structurally oriented NIH grant where Dr. Ötvös was Principal Investigator and I was Co-Principal Investigator. Dr. Ötvös became Assistant Professor with this grant.

At the time a large effort was taking place at the NIH where people tried to use so called immunological adjuvant to create a vaccine againt the AIDS virus. It should be remembered that there is still no vaccine for this disease. Prof. Bror Morein at the BMC in Uppsala worked on a very promising adjuvant system, the so called ISCOM system. Dr. Koprowski knew him from his Rabies vaccine work and introduced me to him at the Wistar. I was able to help Dr. Morein with the purification and characterization of this adjuvant preparation, actually derived from the bark of a South American tree. The compounds, so called saponins were of course glycolipids. I got an NIH grant, as one of many of the NIH adjuvant group, with Dr. Morein as a consultant for the purification and charactrization of these compounds. I am on Dr. Moreins patent of the ISCOM system.

The problem here was that there was seemingly fierce competition between American and European companies on projects involving these adjuvants and I had to quit this grant before finishing for diffculties of collaborative nature. There was also a "coup" at The Wistar where Dr. Koprowski, the person that built the Institute up from scratch since 1955, lost out and was demoted as director. This led to large changes in the Institute and the new director Dr. Giovanni Rovera made it into a Molecular Biology oriented Institute rather than the Virology and Cancer place it had been under Dr. Koprowski.

For reason still unkown to me a rather severe harassment against me was initiated around 1991. They used TTDE against me although I was of course without a chance not knowing about it. I really had a tough time. Among other things I was vomited once driving my car with my son in the back seat. I woulld like to say that it is not really possible to make progressive science without knowing about TTDE. It is such an insight that I don't understand why I was not informed by representatives at the Institute. After considering many career moves, I finally settled for the MD path to oncology in Sweden in August 1993. I could not do this in the US because of lacking the internship in Sweden.

More personal information

Europe doesn't exist Presseurop: "Only the European Union – as a collection of laws useful to citizens – is real, argues Dutch philosopher Hermand de Regt. To believe that we can move the Union forward by thinking on the question of Europe’s identity could well be a disastrous mistake."

It is when I read something like this I become American. They are all proud to be Americans. However, I certainly believe there is a European identity. When I worked in Philadelphia at a Research Institute with many Europeans it was very easy to differ the behaviors of the Europeans from the Americans. I'm talking of Germans, Italians, Poles and Swedes. It is very difficult to describe this identity in words, however.

It is funny, and we used to joke about this, and called it the Trans-Atlantic Syndrome, but when we were in the US we became European but well in Europe we reverted to Americans. We enjoyed the culture of both America and Europe. After going through torture and harassment here in Sweden after 1998 I became politically active and also very American. It is necessary to stand up for freedom. However, I also firmly believe in the close collaboration between the US and Europe.

After a couple of years here in Sweden about 1995, I ran out of money. I tried to get on welfare and to look for a job. It is difficult to get a job if you don't have someone recommending you. When I found out that I could not be married while on welfare I tried to divorce. In Linköping they did not let me divorce and they did not give me welfare either. I ended up on welfare in Göteborg instead. But as I have already disclosed, it was not real welfare. I have not cost the Swedish taxpayers anything so far and I used my inheritance to pay back my student loan. It should however be noted that Sweden did not so far let me in. Except as a schizophrenic. My guess is that there is an insurance paying for me if I'm sick. But I don't know this. Apparently I'm doomed to some kind of underground existence. I don't accept this. Being wiped out by Human Destruction Inc. and used as a kind of slave.

In 1995 I actually worked as a nurses aid for two months half time. This was before I knew about TTDE and I now know that someone messed with me when I biked back and force to work. Gave me pain in the back. They also made it hard to remember things useful for working like what the preferences of different patients were. When the personnel started to harass me at work I quit. I simply realized that something was the matter. I wasn't wanted there despite doing a good job. The idea of this job placement was to get used to the health care system before applying for an internship. However, how could I have worked as a physician without knowing of TTDE? Patients can be affected and this is something you must be able to spot.

For me it is morally correct to try to warn fellow human beings for the criminal use of TTDE. I remember when I tried to bring my case to the Court of Göteborg. I was sitting at Arbetsförmedlingen, the work employment agency, and typing it out in portions that I could print the same day because I could not use a disc. Then I walked over Gustav Adolfs Torg to deposit the plaint in portions at the Court. There was no response from the prosecutors office. It's good to have the 250 pages of documentation deposited there in case things will change. It is hard to describe how awful it is to not being able to find any help for my problems. Most of the time I just work on but occasionally I involve myself in elaborations of my situation.

A small presentation of myself

Some people might wonder why I interest myself so much in what happens in the US. One reason is definately that I lived and worked there which among other things resulted in two American children and an American wife Magdalena Blaszczyk-Thurin, Ph.D. My wife was Polish before naturalization. My daughter Kristina just graduated College and my son Alexander is still in College. In my understanding I'm still married. Since I'm prevented from working in Sweden and forced to accept being "sjukskriven", incapable of working due to disease, this means I would be supported by my wife. In sickness and in health. For rich and for poor, etc. You don't get welfare in Sweden with an American wife that has a well paid job.

My father Erik I. Thurin was, he died 2005, also an American since many years. He made his Ph.D. in English at the University of Minnesota on the American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and remarried which means I have an American stepmother Susan Thurin, Ph.D. They both worked at a College in Wisconsin called Stout State University situated in Menomonie, a small place some 1 hours drive from Minneapolis-St. Paul.

I myself came to The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, in 1984 after having spent 2.5 years after Läkarexamen on my Ph.D. in Medical Biochemistry. It was a gamble to leave before completing my Ph.D. but the offer was very challenging. I started as a staff member on a position called Associate Scientist and became Assistant Professor after 1.5 years which in a sense meant that I graduated to a Ph.D level in 1985. Things went very well. I became Associate Professor in 1991.

To make a long story short. In 1991 strange things started to happen. Things went bad and I decided to go to Sweden to finish my M.D. by working for 22 mth as a physician on an internship in 1993. This career move was in theory very good. It would direct my career more towards biology and I would even get paid during this study period. The problem was, as I discovered later, I was in a so called "bubble" and could not really engage with any person for real. Now I also know that I have been learning inhibited all this time. I did manage to pass a test for internship in medicine though after studying for half a year.

After half a year, in January 1994 my sister Ann Kjellberg, Ph.D., and former brother-in-law Anders Thurin, both physicians, decided I was mentally ill and forced me to accept accommodation at the psychiatric rehabilitation ward at Linköping where I lived then. I have learned since then that this is a procedure to contain TTDE problematic people in Sweden. Arrange so that when they start talking about hearing voices they can be diagnosed as schizophrenics. I did not get to know about TTDE until 1998 though. I was studying medicine full time during the stay of three months and then I moved to a student dormitory. That was in essence good bye to my sister.

When I realized that I would never get any internship I started on a different career. I began studying privately for a degree in International Politics and Economy. This is what I in essence is still doing even if the going is slow due to my handicap.

As I told you already, I'm a new kind of prisoner and I now live with my mother Inga-Lena Thurin since 3.5 years. My mother started her career as a midwife but became a headmaster for Vårdskolan in Göteborg. A school that educated nurses aids.

Obama is opening the crown of the Statute of Liberty

At the Pinnacle of Liberty, Feeling a Bit Confined - NYTimes.com: "The statue was restored for its centennial in 1986, and has undergone other restorations since then. The torch, soaring about 306 feet above the foundation, has been closed since 1916, when German saboteurs blew up a munitions depot at the nearby Black Tom Wharf in New Jersey."

Some terrorists shut the statute down because of 9/11 in 2001. Liberty takes the back-seat of security again and again. Today the statue is reopened for Americans and for the people of the world. It was partly opened in 2004.

We see the effect of the 9/11 catastrophe here in Sweden with the FRA law. How much does the open society need to protect itself? Where do you set the limits? In the US they are now apparently so far away from 9/11 that the Statute of Liberty is no longer considered a target. How many years for AfPak to clear?

The trend against closing society might be slowly reversing in the US but what is the situation here in Sweden. Do people talk about freedom? Do they aspire to the same amount of security as the US with out the same amount of threat of terrorism?

Freedom and risk are connected. I used to in-line a few years ago. I used the bicycle path despite not having any brakes. A summer night at 20 m/h having the wind caressing your body is one measurement of freedom. If risk is not so important. What about responsibility then? With in-lining it was always possible to leave the path if it got too crowded. It would hurt but it was a real possibility.

The article I'm citing displays a whiff of ridicule of people wanting to honor freedom at Liberty Island. Is it not possible any longer for The New York Times to talk seriously about freedom? Is it so far away? Are the "siloviks" laughing at you? You want to be part of high society? For us common folks, however, freedom is still important. Some of us don't even know they have been robbed of it.

Happy 4th of July

Here is a 4th of July greeting from The Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

To criminalize a whole youth generation?

So called pirate copying involves the desire to, for no cost, procure music and films for personal consumption. The Pirate Party have apparently benefited from individuals so inclined. For example they got a lot of new members after the verdict on The Pirate Bay case.

Since I have not ever copied any film or any music, I would like to be provocative, for the sake of argument.

Why do we have a whole generation of suspected criminals on our hands? Could it be that their parents and grandparents are equally culpable? They have been doing something criminal as well. They have been utilizing a new technology that officially does not exist--the technology that does not exist (TTDE)--on people that does not know it exists.

Children tend to do what you do, not what you suggest verbally.

Therefore it is possible to see that the Pirates are gaining ground. They have silent benefactors.

Highly inappropriate!

A tale of 2 Norwegian Nobel Prize winners Op-Ed Contributors Jerusalem Post: "Norway recently assumed the chairmanship of an international task force on Holocaust education. Yet the Norwegian government also recently launched a year-long celebration of the life and work of a supporter of the Nazis. The object of this adoration is Knut Hamsun (1859-1952), author of such acclaimed novels as Hunger, Pan and Growth of the Soil, which won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1920. Among the latter book's most ardent fans was Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, who had it translated and published in a special edition for German soldiers during World War II."

The Norwegians are even raising a statue of Hamsun. Hamsun apparently gave his Nobel Prize to Goebbles 1943 as a gift!? Unbelievable!

Kristdemokraterna?

There has been a lot of writings about the Swedish party Kristdemokraterna recently. They are currently engaged in their yearly meeting.

The debate have centered on what the party should stand for. There are concerns for the Alliance if KD would not pass the 4% barrier in the next election for parliament.

I have not solution to this problem but I have a question. Should the party really be called Kristdemokraterna when they never mention anything about religion in the writings I have found?

I'm not for mixing religion with politics but if there is a situation where the party get less votes if they mention God, I think it is time to change the name.

If you can't beat them, join them?

Something happened this spring. Only 30% of Israelis now believe President Obama is pro-Israel. The foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman out of Moldavia, now courts Russia and according to Levy at The New York Times he has the same problem as Putin on dealing with terrorists--double standards from the West in judging methods used.

Europe has not been bad towards Lieberman, they have been ruthless and cold. It is easy to see how Israel might solve its security problem with Iran if it teams up with Russia instead of getting support from the US for an act of aggression against Iran. Ahmadinejad stays and the relationship building with Iran might not work that well, after all, according to Joe Biden this week-end.

Playing the Devil's advocate, with Obama as the Devil, it could be concluded that the friendship with Israel costs a lot. Iraq for example doesn't like Israel and it would be of great importance to better the relationship with its Arabs.

President Obama has recently courted both the Turks and the Egyptians, no great friends of Israel either, countries that are very important for the stability of the Middle East. And the Saudis, which Obama paid a visit to prior to Cairo, do have a lot of oil.

Binyamin Netanyahu's talk yesterday offered a partial agreement with Obama's administration in accepting a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestine. No concessions, however, were made on Jerusalem or the settlements.

Will Jerusalem end up behind a new iron curtain where Israel joins the SCO (Shanghai Cooperation Organization with China and Russia), Iran and Syria. Iraq joins the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. Arabs in Palestine are already dear friends of the EU and might become truer friends of the US.

Up until now Iraq and Israel have been friends of the US but because of this friendship Arabs as well as Iranians have been reserved. Will the unthinkable actually happen: 5.3m Jews in East Juda, Israel, and 5.3m Jews in West Juda, the US? Including increased anti-semitism for the 1.3m Jews in the EU.

Ambres and/or Sture Johansson?

Christer Sturmark has discussed the medium Sture Johansson that lends his voice to Ambres an old egyptian spirit. He is described in Wikipedia also.

I come to think about this since my last post concerned the Technology That Doesn't Exist and the Humanists.

The technology can explain the mystery of this medium. Someone might fool Mr Johansson to believe that he is receiving thoughts from somewhere perfectly well. Presumably as a practical joke.

Most likely, Christer Sturmark is correct in assuming that Ambres is not a supernatural phenomenon.

Human Destruction Inc. (Människoförstörelsebolaget) can for example use this technology to make a person believe he got an idea himself. It can be difficult to feel whether an idea is generated by oneself or is delivered by the technology.

Human Destruction Inc. might thus claim that a person is given information and in reality is not really that smart.

In Vacation Mood

I'm enjoying my vacation. The rain is pouring down and I'm roaming the net.

My last post dealt with the possible consequences of being old in politics. Some seem to believe that it is possible for an old politician could do something naughty without sacrificing their career. Well, how about doing the right thing? Some people seem to have created a new society without saying so and that is wrong since it seem to involve criminality.

I have realized that certain conversation topics turns my conversant into an avenger of misconduct. The poor soul barks like a dog. Probably as a result of obedience to "system rules".
I wish there was some politician that became real and started a conversation about something very important. As I have pointed out in earlier posts, there is crime in the air and it can get worse. We need to stop this.

Another important matter is the concept of God. I discussed my views on this topic before in my blog and they have not changed. I'm bringing it up because I found some time to read Richard Dawkin's The God Delusion or Illusionen om Gud as it is called in Swedish. I have discussed the content of the book in my blog before. I should say that I, unlike Dawkins, respect people of faith and think the selection of the word "delusion" might be a little too much, too psychiatric.

I found an interesting reference to the world of politics. Thomas Jefferson, the drafter of the Independence Declaration of 1796 says: A professorship in theology should not have a place in our Constitution. Dawkins himself don't really think theology is a subject at all. I didn't know this when I a while ago wrote that I believe scientists are on a track of finding out about God whereas theologians are not. This is because I subscribe to Spinoza's idea that God is Nature. As I see it agape or love is then part of Nature. Dawkins is very clever. He describes a God concept that Einstein had. Thus creating an intelligent haven for those so inclined. Einstein apparently thought that a personalized God concept was naïve.

Charlotte Therese links to a test made by the Humanists. It is supposed to probe my religiosity and I couldn't resist doing it after having performed another test stating that the movie character that I am most like is Batman. The Humanist's test told me I might be an agnostic which I know I'm not. But then again, I don't really feel like Batman either. However, political tests that I performed before the EP election told me I was a liberal, something I had concluded earlier. However, I became a little suspicious when the test that Aftonbladet.se featured made me more social democratic than other tests?

What then is theology all about? Well, since people of little knowledge and intelligence very well can be religious the theological formalism is possibly created as a bulwark for defending faith. Making it look impressive. Clever clerics can use their knowledge to snare an individual of lesser knowledge in theology to convince those in need of its importance. I have experience of this. When I confronted catholics with the problem of cloning, which proves a catholic dogma about the origin of life wrong, they tried to talk me down argumentatively, not logically.

Thoughts about the EP election

Well, the Piratpartiet is the largest party among people younger than 30 years of age. The civil rights party (medborgarrätt). Only one that got a seat in the EU. I ask the question again. Is it possible to channel interest for civil rights against Human Destruction Inc. It should be. It is a little surprising that Swedish youth should lead the world in this respect.

Rick Falkvinge, the leader of the Piratparti, called the other established parties for "Gammelpartierna". Majority voters of all parties except Piratpartiet and Miljöpartiet are retirees. There is a generation gap. Interest for parties in the EU election is being phased out. Alliansen got slightly more votes than the red-greens totally which is good because of the EU chairmanship of Reinfeldt in July.

The voter turn out for Sweden went up a little (approx. 44%) but the voter turn out for the EU went down despite an intensive effort to stem this tide. Legitimacy of the EU project is falling according to the trend. The winds that blow in the EU are right wing. Some extreme right wing but mostly moderates. EPP-ED and ALDE got slightly less than half of the mandates. One thought is could President Obama's friendship with the Muslims create a voice for the extreme right in the EU?

EU parliament election debates

The eight top candidates for the EU parliament election debated yesterday on television and today on the radio. It seems they are well poised to represent Sweden in the parliament where apparently no party wip is used and more of the individual aspects of the candidate will be forthcoming. However, on television it seemed like they were willing to work for free. I don't understand why they don't realize they are about to have important jobs that are valued and paid accordingly?

Gunnar Hökmark gave a very good comment concerning the claims of Miljöpartiet and Vänsterpartiet that since they had voted against the EU their claims would amount to zero. Also the accusations by Marita Ulvskog that EU is promoting "job trafficking" were distasteful. Making the job issue such a prominent feature of their campaign, the Socialdemokrater apparently are trying to surf the wave of the financial crisis in a very low, opportunistic and anti-government fashion.

Marit Paulsen, Ella Bohlin, Gunnar Hökmark and Lena Ek all made knowledgable contributions to the debates and I have begun understanding the issues that were brought up by the election. I think Folkpartiet Liberalerna will get my vote. They deal in schools and research that I as an academic have opinions about. Lars Leijonborg has made a great job in securing the ESS facility to Sweden and the important Öresundsregion that is of sufficient size that it will probably overtake the Stockholm area as the most vibrant area of Scandinavia. Cecilia Malmström, Nyamko Sabuni and Birgitta Ohlsson are hardworking and competent people I have followed in the press. I also feel that Folkpartiet is enthusiastic about EU and that is important.

As I discussed earlier I'm probably more of a liberal than conservative so I ought to belong to this group in the EU parliament. The legacy of the Swedish Folkparti of being critical against Fascism and Communism during World War II is also something I was impressed by. Wikipedia features a cool poster of the 1936 election where someone is brushing tendencies of dictatorship out of their house. My experience tells me this line of work is still important.

I have followed Fredrik Malm on his blog for a while now. He is number four on the list of Folkpartiet. I will make a cross on my ticket for him. He seems intelligent and hardworking and would represent a new fresh spirit for a European career.

Lieberman a game-changer?

Well, couldn't help noticing that Avigdor Lieberman, the Israelian foreign minister and leader of the party Israel Beiteinu, that consists of many immigrant Russians, have put an end to the speculations that Israel would make a raid towards Iran.

He spent the last three days in Moscow and have thus appeased Iran by befriending Russia. Was this the main idea by Binyamin Netanyahu when he chose the in the West controversial Lieberman? If the US and the EU are unfriendly I turn to Russia.

After all, President Obama is disregarding the democratic process in Israel when he asks Netanyahu to go against people in his coalition concerning settlements. To me it seems he will risk become unfriendly with the Israelis at the same time as he is not satisfying the Palestinians.

As a friend of the US and Israel and a person sceptical towards Russia, this is frustrating times.

Party Groupings in the EU parliament

Swedish media talk very little about the various party groupings in the European parliament. If you are in Sweden voting for the "Alliansen", this does not separate your election for the two party groups EPP-ED (European People's Party--European Democrats) and ALDE (Alliance for Liberals and Democrats). EPP-ED is the largest grouping and ALDE the third largest after PES, the Socialists.

ALDE is the destination for Folkpartiet Liberalerna, Centerpartiet and Feministiskt Initiativ. Kristdemokraterna and Nya Moderaterna is more like EPP-ED.

I suggested earlier that it might be a good idea to fuse the four right wing parties in Sweden to a Valallians. However, looking into the future it might be better fusing FP+C and M+KD to streamline with Europe.

The reason for not talking very much about this in Sweden is of course because of the relatively small contribution of the Swedes in the EU. Loss of power is never popular but it would make a lot more sense to work according to the same principles as in Brussels.

The European Parliament is apparently unique because it organizes itself according to ideology rather than nationality. ALDE is supposedly the grouping most dedicated to European Integration. According to Graham Watson, the leader of ALDE, they are also for EU expansion, something I'm not so fond of. EPP-ED has an europhilic centre-right branch and a right wing eurosceptic branch.

EPP-ED is in a Grand Coalition with the Socialists in the Parliament for majority voting. According to Watson of ALDE it is not so important any longer how you position yourself left-right, everyone needs a functioning economy, but rather how you position yourself towards globalization.

I'm not sure I agree on the indifference between the left and the right. I see fundamental differences to important questions. Therefore I consider a vote in Sweden on KD or M which would hopefully translate into a majority situation in the EU parliament for EPP-ED. Hopefully the election in Germany will also remove the "grand coalition" and become a coalition between the centre-right and the liberals.

Je sais pas?

I came across a very nice song by Celine Dion called Je sais pas (I don't know). The lyrics in French takes up the dilemma of mixing religion with terror:

Défier des machines, narguer les lois
Les foudres divines, m'éffraie pas

My translation of this piece of lyrics would read:

Challenge the machines, flout the rules
God's flashes, will not scare me

So, how many "foudres divines" have you succumbed to, as of yet? The torture I have been subjected to includes six "foudres divines". They call them "bangs" ("smällar") in underground Swedish.

Human Destruction Inc. (Människoförstörelsebolaget) have their ways. In my humble opinion one would have been sufficient for educational purposes?

The Phantom of the Opera?

Well, the criminal responsible for torture and harassments over all these years tried to make me play a game with the film by Joel Schumacher called The Phantom of the Opera. The film was on SVT2 yesterday.

There are many films that discuss problems with a certain new technology that make it possible for a person to inform another and to affect bodily functions of another. The Phantom is one of these that portait an ugly person, physically or mentally or both, that has tought another person skills in an Opera of sorts.

Such a teacher is powerful and very clandestine and hard to get. In the end of the film the husband of Ms Daae, the apprentice, finds a rose with a black band tied on its stem, the sign of the Phantom, by the grave of his then diseased wife.

Its a romantization of a story where the apprentice is released into freedom to marry someone else but who remains a subscriber on the life of the apprentice.

People have been telling me that there is a Phantom in my life as well. However, according to my experiences this is not a pleasant soul. This is a person that has only given me a lot of hardship and that should go to jail. I have only been able to understand the nature of this problem since 1998.

Israel and the US

Well, several lines of acquaintanship are now evolving. The media in Israel has truly been preparing for war against Iran since the Gaza debacle. Part of media is now easing in the possibility that Iran could be tolerated with nuclear weapons. Part is still in atack mode even if there was talk about preparing to war that would lead to peace.

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israels prime minister, still has Iran as priority number one. The two-state solution of everybody else is not feasible and he still does not commit to it. It seems he has most of Israelis for him against Iran. Tzipi Livni in the opposition as well. If I have understood the situation correctly this is a defining moment for Israel.

President Obama speak of a two-state solution and has given Iran half a year to respond to the stretched out hand. A new peace plan is in the offing and will be presented. Which Jews will conform to it? The 5.3m in the US or the 5.3m in Israel proper? Will Netanyahu's government hold up considering it? Netanyahu planted a tree in the Golan Heights and is talking of a non-divided Jerusalem. City of David.

What happens if Netanyahu and the Israelis decide to do it their way? The 1967 conquest when attacked is their's. I think is should be and they have proven that if they give land back it is land-for-war as in Gaza with Hamas. One problem with a two-state solution is that there is no land for a state really. Israel needs the Judea and Samaria for security.

The Palestinians will be helped to an increased economic viability and security. They will govern themselves without an army. The world doesn't accept this type of appartheid situation but what can they do. They will start boycotting Israel. Iran and it proxies will attack.

If instead the Palestinians will form a state with an army close by like the world wants. A free Palestine. Will this satisfy Iran and proxies? Probably not. Iran and its proxies will attack.

In the light of these two scenarios it is easy to understand why Netanyahu has Iran as priority number one. Some people think nuclear weapons will stabilize the region with a balance between Israel and Iran, just like the one between Pakistan and India, others think it will cause a race for nuclear weapons in the Middle East. Netanyahu thinks according to the latter scenario, if I have understood the matter properly.

They want to strike Irans nuclear capabilities. A difficult task for an uninitiated to understand since it apparently will require some 1000 sorties and has to take place over enemy territory and and an American Iraq. Robert Gates, the American Secretary of Defense, says a raid will just delay Iran and move the show further underground.

The solution therefore is more sanctions against Iran according to the latest bulletins. However, Russia and China and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will make these sanctions futile even if Europe will agree on tougher sanctions as well.

So, everybody is buying time or will they actually try to make peace with Iran which would potentially eliminate the problem all together.

I'm on Americas side here. I want peace in the region, and like President Obama, I want the US energy independent of the Middle East in ten years like Obama said during his campaign. This makes Israel into a religious/tourist oriented domain rather than a deputy for controlling investments. If Iraq turns hostile that would become troublesome. Will the EU's, India's and China's dependence on the area for petroleum make it more peaceful?

I does not seem that way. It will make it more hostile to Israel. To prepare for this it would be of essence to make friends with Iran. No one wants a hot Iran in this region. Therefore the world has leaked out from the US. It may be OK with nuclear weapons in Iran.

What is unclear here, however, is why would this appease Iran? Will Iran turn into a more responsible country in the region after being taken seriously as a nuclear power? Europe would probably think so. It is more than enough with the NATO engagement in AfPak. At the time of the Iraq war the EU bought more petroleum from the Middle East than did the US. However, they expected the hydrocarbons to flow uninterrupted without an effort. Germany and France did not help out in the coalition of the willing when Saddam malignified. Germany is one of Iran's larges trade partners right now.

President Obama, has acted much like George W. Bush so far, but what would Bush do in the present time. I think Obama wants to leave the area while Bush would have wanted to stay on. Particulary in Iraq. If America is leaving Iran might think it is alright to expand but they have to perform according to their customers needs and as the EU, India and China takes over they might just stay put.

So, I think it looks good for the US but not so good for Israel. They have a so-so relation with the EU and its relation in the media with India and China is so far undefined. Arab countries and Iran will continue to become more prosperous as they sell their goods and will accumulate weapons. Israel would have to get along with these countries which makes even talk about agressions a potential problem and makes the situation worse.

I have not yet seen in the media an attempt at present to look into Israels future other than hearing about aggressions against Iran. I have not seen any plans for peaceful coexistence in the Middle Easst but many scenarios for destruction, if not aggression. I can't get this equation solved.

Four parties or one party?

Trying to find out which of the Swedish parties in the "Allians" that I should vote on in the election to the EU parliament. Found a quiz at DN.se with 25 questions that are important now in relation to the EU and Sweden.

From quizes with American questions I found out that I was a liberal centrist or libertarian centrist. The DN-quiz told me Folkpartiet Liberalerna was most correlated to my answers. Thereafter Centerpartiet and that makes sense also because they have a more liberal agenda lately.

The least correlating party in the "Allians" was Kristdemokraterna which would then define the conservative liberal axis. Although the differences are perhaps at best trends. The questions separated me out a a person who would vote "Allians" not the "red-greens".

I could vote for Kristdemokraterna in order to be with people for whom God is important. I can vote for the ideologically more correct Folkpartiet Liberalerna. But I could also vote with a cross for the seemingly most competent parliamentarian Gunnar Hökmark in the Nya Moderaterna.

I wish I could vote for the "Allians". The quiz did not separate the parties in the "Allians" enough for motivating differences.

Empires of Uranium?

Paul Krugman writes today about Empires of Carbon and concludes that also China has to contribute to improving the environment.

As Krugman points out China is now the country with the highest exhaust of carbondioxide. USA is highest on per capita data. Fareed Zakaria pointed out that between 2002 and 2012 China is building 800 coal-fired power plants.

China is a biological force that like an asphalt flower is piercing the ground to reach for the sun. Sure, unless you send in the cavalry, China is going to sustain its growth to any price, no matter how much morals you push them with. At least according to the report from ECFR from my recent posts. And then there is India and Brazil...

Krugman says that he has seen the future and he claims it will not work. There are people who say we are too late and that there is going to be an environmental catastrophy. Then there are those that claims we will scrape by if we step on the brakes. I myself have the opinion that the planet will hold the globalization and that what we do without hysteria will do to protect it. What I would like to see is a poll that ask these questions.

However, I found a poll where 41% of Americans think media exaggerates data on global warming. 57% think media is correct/underestimating. According to another poll 44% thinks global warming is due to planetary trends, not people. Both polls are from 2009. More people are probably worried in Europe. Margot Wallström, the Swedish EU commissioner, claimed that it is sinful to pollute. I would say it is sinful to pollute unnecessarily.

However, I believe that Krugman is right when he claims that if the US is beginning to take the climate seriously a lot more people are going to follow than if only the EU is active. Some people say that it is worth money to be careful about the climate. I hope they are right.

Did comment on something similar earlier, here.