inside the glass house

From Abba to aid: Swedes do it their way
STOCKHOLM - If sanctions-hit Cuba is one of the world's most un-wired countries-- where it is painfully slow even to open an email message on a computer screen-- Sweden stands at the other extreme in high-tech lifestyles.

A country saturated with cell phones, high-speed computers and advanced digital technologies, Sweden has an international reputation extending far beyond Abba, Ikea and eye-catching blondes-- not necessarily in that order.

The Swedes can use their cellphones not only to turn on the heat and the lights in their homes while still in their offices, but also reach virtually every single government office or bank online to do their routine business.

A cellphone can also be used to buy a can of softdrinks from a vending machine in the street and the cost added to your monthly phone bill. According to one report last week, Swedish authorities are now jamming cellphone messages from prison inmates who have been arranging hits and drug deals from inside their prison cells.

Dr Nazeem Seyed-Mohamed, a Sri Lankan from Akurana who has lived in Sweden for over 30 years and is currently Associate Professor of International Business at Uppsala University, recounts an anecdote about an American, a Japanese and a Swede sitting in a bar trying to outwit each other by proving their high-tech abilities.

The American hears his cellphone ring, raises his right hand, holds an imaginary non-existent phone to his ear and starts talking. The chips for the mouth piece and the earpiece are apparently embedded in his fingers, so he has no need to physically carry a cellphone.

When the Japanese receives his call, he does not even hold his hand to his ear because his chips are embedded in his teeth and his ear. So he starts talking on an imaginary cell phone virtually hands-free outsmarting the American.

But when the Swede hears the ring, he steps outside the bar and is never heard from for the next couple of minutes. So the American and the Japanese go looking for him only to find him squatting with his pants down-- and groaning. Asked what he was doing squatting in the bushes, the Swede says: "I am receiving a fax".

With 60 percent of its people enjoying access to computers either at home, schools or libraries, and 70 percent using mobile phones, Sweden is often portrayed as one of the most wired places on earth, says Business Week magazine. But it also warns that the technology craze may be creating a society of info-tech haves and have-nots because computer use in Sweden declines dramatically at lower income levels and with rising age.

Still, internet cafes are spread across train stations, shopping malls and airport terminal lounges facilitating Swedes -- and tourists-- easy and cheaper access to the information superhighway.

At the United Nations, Sweden has a reputation for being liberal in its assistance to developing countries and is one of the few countries in the world to meet the 0.7 target of gross national product (GNP) for international aid.

Unlike most industrial donor nations, Sweden shies away from tied aid leaving donor nations to utilize their aid monies to buy goods and services from the cheapest available sources. In contrast, Japanese aid is mostly tied aid, forcing donors to buy Japanese products and services thereby ensuring that aid monies are ploughed back into the coffers of the donor nation.

As a country with a politically stable government advocating peace and global disarmament, Sweden believes that militarization and development have nothing in common.

When India and Pakistan began testing their nuclear weapons in 1998, Swedish development agencies terminated their long-term cooperation agreements with both countries sending a strong signal to developing nations. The choice is between bombs and bread. The Swedes believe the world's poorer nations have to make the right choice.

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