Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Donald Trump and the Swedish question
The so-called leader of the United States has now qualified his statement regarding immigrant-related incidents in Sweden but nobody is any clearer.
According to the Independent, Mr Trump says that he was referring to a story broadcast by Fox News. The TV channel ran a clip of a film by Ami Horowitz on Friday that alleged Sweden had seen a surge in gun violence and rape following an influx of immigrants.
The only problem is that the facts in that film are in dispute. The paper says that Mr Horowitz's documentary has been criticised for being riddled with inaccuracies. One Swedish terrorism expert told them that the film "grossly exaggerated" the amount of crime in the country and wrongly conflated drug violence in Swedish cities with crime perpetrated by refugees.
Of course these links are debated on the media and elsewhere all the time, but that does not make it right that the US President should quote these disputed allegations as facts. Sweden, and everybody else should expect that Donald Trump would set a higher standard.
Many of Trump's supporters are now accusing the media of covering up the facts. It is not clear how many of those supporters know where Sweden is never mind the truth over their crime rate. So what are the facts?
According to this site, crime levels in the United States are 28% more than in Sweden. The USA tops the league table for violent crime, three times more than Sweden and the murder rate in the US is five times that of Sweden.
Perhaps Donald Trump should put his own house in order before seizing on disputed documentary films so as to distract from his own problems.
According to the Independent, Mr Trump says that he was referring to a story broadcast by Fox News. The TV channel ran a clip of a film by Ami Horowitz on Friday that alleged Sweden had seen a surge in gun violence and rape following an influx of immigrants.
The only problem is that the facts in that film are in dispute. The paper says that Mr Horowitz's documentary has been criticised for being riddled with inaccuracies. One Swedish terrorism expert told them that the film "grossly exaggerated" the amount of crime in the country and wrongly conflated drug violence in Swedish cities with crime perpetrated by refugees.
Of course these links are debated on the media and elsewhere all the time, but that does not make it right that the US President should quote these disputed allegations as facts. Sweden, and everybody else should expect that Donald Trump would set a higher standard.
Many of Trump's supporters are now accusing the media of covering up the facts. It is not clear how many of those supporters know where Sweden is never mind the truth over their crime rate. So what are the facts?
According to this site, crime levels in the United States are 28% more than in Sweden. The USA tops the league table for violent crime, three times more than Sweden and the murder rate in the US is five times that of Sweden.
Perhaps Donald Trump should put his own house in order before seizing on disputed documentary films so as to distract from his own problems.
Comments:
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It is time that Trumps Twitter feed was inundated with THE FACTS ON ALL THINGS to stop him from being'misled'
Up until yesterday many people here saw Trump as a fool or a buffoon, but his policies are now beginning to impact on us, the Welsh. The appalling treatment of Maths teacher Juhel Miah is utterly unacceptable.
Mr Miah had flown to Reykjavik, Iceland, with a party of schoolchildren from Llangatwg Community School before boarding an onward flight to New York, but before the plane took off he was escorted off by US security staff.
Mr Miah, and the rest us, need an explanation.
Meanwhile our AMs and MPs should stand up and condemn this awful behaviour - now!
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Mr Miah had flown to Reykjavik, Iceland, with a party of schoolchildren from Llangatwg Community School before boarding an onward flight to New York, but before the plane took off he was escorted off by US security staff.
Mr Miah, and the rest us, need an explanation.
Meanwhile our AMs and MPs should stand up and condemn this awful behaviour - now!
# posted by 
: 3:07 PM
: 3:07 PM<< Home
