Subhead:Jimmie Akesson explains how Europe ignored growing security threats … until they became impossible to deny.#
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Swedish politician Jimmie Akesson told me about what he believes is the defining challenge now confronting Western democracies, and why Sweden’s experience should serve as a cautionary tale.
When I asked Akesson, who has led the Sweden Democrats since 2005, to identify the greatest threat facing the West, he did not hesitate. “Well, it’s the radical Islam. That’s the toughest thing, I think, and the worst threat we have from outside,” he said.
Speaking to me in Jerusalem at the International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, Akesson argued that Europe has left itself exposed through years of misplaced priorities and political complacency. He said governments had poured money into fashionable causes while neglecting the fundamentals of security and social order.
