SWEDEN UPDATE: Alterman’s blasting me with pro-Sweden emails now. I think he’s going to post something more later. This Sweden stuff seems to have hit a nerve. I don’t think he or his readers would respond to charges against the United States with such indignant fervor. . . .

Hell anything that can get him to post more than once a day counts as an achievement in my book.

UPDATE: One thing that Alterman hasn’t mentioned, but that someone might, is that some of Sweden’s trade with Nazi Germany was, according to Charles Higham’s book Trading with the Enemy, actually trade by U.S. companies that was laundered through Sweden. Higham’s charges may well be true (I’ve never seen anyone refute them, though I’ve never given the subject deep study) but remember: the original topic was whether Sweden was a “beacon of light.” Evidence of misbehavior by America or Americans doesn’t do anything to make Sweden’s light brigher.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Okay, it’s late enough that I’m not going to get to a post tonight. But here’s an article by Johan Norberg on Sweden’s economic problems. And Swedish blogger Martin Lindeskog, who would like to become an American citizen, seems to think I’ve got it right.