Nord Stream på Svenska (notes from Stockholm) By Grigory Pasko, journalist The Russian tsar Peter the Great, as he hewed out his “Window on Europe” through the putrid marshes of St. Petersburg, was thinking: “from here we shall threaten the Swede”. They were a threat once upon a time. We live in different times today – the times of globalism. Having agreed with Germany to build a gas pipeline along the bed of the Baltic Sea and having taken on for company – just in case – the Dutch corporation Gasunie, Russia thought that that would be the end of that, no more problems. Ah, but no! Sweden has yet to have its say about the project. A small country in contemplation. Just recently, it was visited by the executive director of Nord-Stream, Dirk von Ameln, who attempted to convince everybody that the pipeline is safe and very necessary not only for Russia and Germany, but for all of Europe – which means for Sweden too. In the fervency of his argumentation, he even blurted out that the actual pipes had already been ordered and were being fabricated. Implying that the project simply has to go ahead after all this.