Sweden faces a critical choice. Stephen Brawer urges a shift from conflict and unilateral power to cooperative global development. Rooted in Renaissance thinking, his message challenges policymakers to embrace peaceful, infrastructure-led alternatives for Sweden.
Stephen Brawer is a renowned speaker in the international arena on world affairs, geopolitics, and the deep state. Brawer is the chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden (Brixsweden.org) and a distinguished research fellow of the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies. Brawer is also the founder of the Leibniz Project.
Brawer opposes the American rule-based order and leans towards multipolarity, and he says Sweden should join the new wave of thinking.
Brawer critiques the manipulation of public opinion by mainstream media, which portrays global conflicts and escalations (e.g., in Ukraine, Iran, and with Russia) as inevitable parts of Swedish reality.
He contrasts two global paradigms: the ”law of the jungle” exemplified by U.S. actions (such as interventions in Venezuela, claims on Greenland, and unilateral power plays) versus a cooperative vision of a ”community for a shared future for mankind,” as proposed by China’s President Xi Jinping through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Brawer emphasises reviving profound, truth-oriented thinking inspired by European Renaissance figures like Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, whom he credits with foundational ideas in binary systems and calculus, to foster philosophical depth among younger people and counter neoliberal superficiality.
He warns of risks like nuclear war or a divided world if current bloc-based, sanction-heavy policies persist, advocating instead for infrastructure-driven global development, especially in the Global South and BRICS nations, to promote peace, sovereignty, and improved living conditions.
Brawer urges Swedish policymakers to recognise Sweden’s potential as a key player in international strategy, moving beyond domestic issues to debate and adopt conflict-avoiding, cooperative policies.
He highlights Sweden’s economic dependencies on China, citing major interests like the Wallenberg Group and IKEA, and warns that severing these could collapse the economy, while embracing the BRI would leverage Sweden’s engineering and technology strengths for global infrastructure projects, such as in Africa.
Politicians should shift from supporting sanctions and escalation with Russia to seeking toleration, common interests, and peaceful cooperation, avoiding endangerment to Europe and the world. He calls for open national media discussions on alternatives like BRICS expansion, the yuan as a reserve currency to counter U.S. dollar dominance, and participation in Global South development, rejecting neocolonial exploitation.
Brawer praises politician Elsa Widding and her party Ambition Sweden, for opposing war risks with Russia, positioning her as a model for genuine debate.
Ultimately, he demands a ”truly democratic” approach by ending censorship, providing the public with full information on strategic options, and addressing profound economic foundations for global cooperation, potentially aligning with recent European shifts (e.g., as noted in Mark Carney’s Davos speech) away from unreliable U.S. alliances toward Europe’s own interests.
This, he argues, would serve Sweden’s national best interests and help resolve global turbulence intelligently and peacefully.
Text and video: T. Sassersson
