20060917,00

Get It Try It

Now he's gone too - and Sweden wins. Big.



Now Göran 'Napoleon' Persson is gone too - and Sweden wins. In an even bigger way.

And don't feel sorry for him - looking all sad and all that. You're looking at the only big political crook Sweden's ever had.

But today Sunday 17 September 2006 the Swedish people sent a message. And it wasn't just voting Napoleon out of office either - no, they went much further.

They namely registered the single worst election result in the history of Napoleon's party.



And while the new PM might not be all that bad, he and his so called 'alliance' traditionally come to power first when Napoleon's party screw up. And they never last long.

Napoleon's been a brutal leader. He started to rise to power twelve years ago, much like Josef Stalin once rose to power in his country. Napoleon started by scaring the government that an economic crisis was on the doorstep and demanding a carte blanche to clean up.

Napoleon bluffed big and talked big and he got his 'carte' and went on to dismantle - and cripple - the famous pension system. And once that money was taken care of, he proceeded to give it to himself and his friends.

Getting Napoleon out of politics is namely costly: he has the second biggest parachute agreement in the country - something he generously gave himself. His wife who helped him ruin Sweden's pension system has the biggest parachute agreement, so big it's in fact illegal, and if he quits politics she's sure to follow, and their multimillion dollar estate is almost ready for the lovely couple to move in.

And Napoleon's given almost all his cronies equally generous parachute agreements, so when they're all booted out of office now the Swedish taxpayers are still getting ripped off.

But hopefully that will come to an end. Or even better: the new government file criminal charges against Napoleon and his wife and friends.



And what will happen with Napoleon's party? One thing is for sure: they've been shaken up as never before - and frankly they deserve it. They let that crook lead them along and didn't do enough to stop him.

And as other more honest party members rose through the ranks, Napoleon saw they were kept at bay - and if possible banished from the country. Margot Wallström, perhaps the most promising leader in the country, was sent against her will to Brussels. [And now that Napoleon's party is in a crisis, she may get her chance to come back.]

And of course Napoleon's arrogant response to the tsunami catastrophe is known planet-wide today.

As the heat grew on Napoleon, he had more and more cronies and cabinet ministers stand in the firing line and become his scapegoats. And yet nothing saved him in the end. No amount of bombastic rhetoric or outright lies swerved the people.

They voted. And left a message loud and clear. For now no one is any longer more equal than others.