My thoughts and message to President Obama on the visit to Stockholm, Sweden

President Obama will visit Sweden and Stockholm next week. I have received the very kind offer of the US Embassy in Stockholm to write my thoughts on the visit to be published on the website of the Embassy. Here are my thoughts and message to President Obama:

Mr President, as the leader of the free world you are very welcome to Stockholm! We appreciate your engagement with other countries and people based on common and universal values. In Sweden we had in 2008 a similar debate on electronic surveillance as you have now. I hope that you can discuss with the Swedish Government how the legitimate struggle against terrorism may be conducted based on transparency, the rule of law and subject to a serious discussion with us, the citizens. Please treat terrorism primarily as a matter for law-enforcement agencies and mutual cooperation between states and not as a matter of war.

Mark Klamberg, PhD and senior lecturer in law with Uppsala University