Will Sweden become a member of the Security Council? Should it?
Security Council membership is one of the most "important" official foreign policy-related goals for the current govt. and it's been working very hard to realise that goal. Recently a potential scandal came to light where it was discovered that millions of SEK was diverted from the foreign aid budget towards paying for trips to Sweden by UN ambassdors from small and impoverished nations. While it's true that it can be too expensive for officials from these nations to go to various summits etc. in other countries, a persuasive case for dipping into the foreign aid budget has not been made and it's difficult to ignore the similarities with "lobbying" (aka. bribery) shenanigans that, had they occurred in FIFA or the IOC for example, would have been universally reviled.
It's becoming increasingly clear that the SC membership campaign has become a matter of significant prestige for the current govt. Prior to this scandal, it was announced that Sweden would back away from its previous explicit commitment to acknowledging Western Sahara as a nation. This occurred after meetings with a Moroccan delegation to Sweden and it is widely believed that this political U-turn was made in an attempt to gain Morocco's support for the Security Council candidacy as well as in exchange for taking back some of the gangs of criminal Moroccan street-kids/youths that have come to Sweden in the past couple of years.
Do you think Sweden will successfully ascend to the SC or is this campaign futile?
If you believe they'll fail, what do you think will prove to be the most important obstacle? Will any of the permanent members use their veto? Will it even get to that point?
What outcome would you prefer? Are you for, against or neutral?
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Originally Posted by Loki
