World map showing the oceanic climate zones, as defined by the Köppen climate types Cfb and Cfc.

An oceanic climate, also called marine west coast climate, European climate, maritime climate and Cascadian climate for Köppen climate classification Cfb and subtropical highland for Köppen Cfb or Cwb, is a type of climate typically found along the west coasts at the middle latitudes of some of the world's continents. This climate generally features warm, but not hot summers and cool, but not cold winters, with a narrow annual temperature range. It typically lacks a dry season, as precipitation is more evenly dispersed through the year. It is the predominant climate type across much of Europe, coastal northwestern North America, portions of southern South America and small areas of Africa, southeast Australia, New Zealand, as well as isolated locations elsewhere.

Properties[link]

Climates near the ocean generally have warm (but not hot) summers, and cool (but not cold) winters. They are characterized by a narrower annual range of temperatures than are encountered in other places at a comparable latitude, and generally do not have the extremely dry summers of Mediterranean climates.^[1] Oceanic climates are most dominant in Europe, where they spread much farther inland than in other continents.^[2]

Similar climates in thermal range are also found in tropical highlands even at considerable distance from any coastline. Generally, they fall into Köppen climate classification Cfb or Cwb.^[3][4] The narrow range of temperatures results from the slight thermal range of temperatures between seasons characteristic of tropical lowlands. Altitudes are high enough that some places have at least one month cooler than 18 °C (64 °F) and do not qualify for grouping in the true tropical climates. This variation of the oceanic climate is termed “subtropical highland climate”. Unlike the norm in true oceanic climates, subtropical highland climates may have a marked winter drought. Agricultural potential in both oceanic climates and subtropical highland climates is similar.

Precipitation[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Between October and May, Seattle is mostly or partly cloudy six out of every seven days^[5]

Precipitation is both adequate and reliable throughout the year in oceanic climates, except in certain tropical highland areas, which would have tropical or humid subtropical climates (with a dry season in winter) if not for the high altitude making them cooler (Koppen Cwb). Under some variations of the Koppen classification system, parts of the Pacific Northwest and south-central Chile are sometimes considered as having a Mediterranean climate (Koppen "Csb") due to a markedly drier summer. However despite the "Csb" designation, these are generally considered oceanic rather than "Mediterranean".

In most areas with an oceanic climate, for the majority of the year precipitation comes in the form of rain. However during the winter, despite its C classification, the majority of areas with this climate see some snowfall annually. Outside of Australia, South Africa, the majority of New Zealand and tropical highland locations, most areas with an oceanic climate experiences at least one snowstorm per year. In the poleward locations of the oceanic climate zone (“subpolar oceanic climates”, described in greater detail below), snowfall is more frequent and commonplace.

Temperature[link]

Overall temperature characteristics vary among oceanic climates; those at the lowest latitudes are nearly subtropical from a thermal standpoint, but more commonly a mesothermal regime prevails, with cool, but not cold, winters and warm, but not hot, summers. Summers are also cooler (often much cooler) than in areas with a humid subtropical climate. Average temperature of warmest month must be less than 22 °C (72 °F) and that of the coldest month warmer than −3 °C (27 °F) although American scientists prefer 0 °C (32 °F) in the coldest month. Poleward of the latter is a zone of the aforementioned subpolar oceanic climate (Köppen Cfc),^[4] with long but relatively mild winters and cool and short summers (average temperatures of at least 10 °C (50 °F) for one to three months). Examples of this climate include parts of coastal Iceland in the Northern Hemisphere and extreme southern Chile and Argentina in the Southern Hemisphere.

Locations[link]

Ireland and Great Britain experience a typically maritime climate, with prevailing south-westerly winds from the Atlantic Ocean. The annual average temperature range in the British Isles is only about 14 °C (25 °F).^[6] Although the west coast of Alaska experiences a maritime climate, the absence of an equally significant warm Pacific current in the upper-mid latitudes means that these regions are generally colder in winter, with more precipitation falling as snow. The oceanic climate is prevalent in a good portion of western Europe and the European part of northern Turkey.

The only noteworthy area of Maritime Climate at or near sea-level within Africa is in South Africa from Mossel Bay on the Western Cape coast to Plettenberg Bay, with additional pockets of this climate inland of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coast. Interior southern Africa, elevated portions of eastern Africa, and Mozambique also share this climate type. It is usually warm most of the year with no pronounced rainy season, but slightly more rain in autumn and spring. The only significant areas where this climate is found at or near sea level in Asia is on the Black Sea coast in northern Turkey, in small pockets along or near the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan and in small pockets along or near the Tsugaru Strait in northern Japan. The oceanic climate is prevalent in the more southerly locations of Oceania. A mild Maritime climate is in existence in New Zealand, the island of Tasmania, Australia, southern parts of Victoria and New South Wales, Australia. It can also be found along the western areas of the south coast of Western Australia. The oceanic climate is found in isolated pockets in South America. It exists in southeast-central Argentina and southern Chile. The oceanic climate exists in an arc spreading across the north-western coast of North America, largely in the Pacific Northwest. It includes the western parts of Washington and Oregon, the Alaskan panhandle, western portions of British Columbia, and north-western California.^[7] A significant portion of oceanic climate exhibited in North America features a drying trend in the summer, thus falling under the dry-summer subcategory explained below.

Under Koeppen-Geiger, many areas generally considered to have Oceanic climates are classified as cool summer, dry-summer subtropical (Csb) climates. These areas are not usually associated with a typical Mediterranean climate, and include much of the Pacific Northwest, southern Chile, parts of sotheastern-central Argentina, and northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.^[7] Many of these areas would be classified as Cfb climates, except dry-summer patterns meet Koeppen's Cs thresholds, and cities such as Concepción, Chile; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Victoria, British Columbia; and Vancouver, British Columbia can be classified as Csb.

All mid-latitude oceanic climates are classified as humid. However, some rainshadow climates feature thermal régimes similar to those of oceanic climates but with steppe-like (BSk) or even desert-like (BWk) scarcity of precipitation. Despite the oceanic-like thermal regimes, these areas are generally classified as mild steppe or desert climates. This milder version of steppe and desert climates are found in Washington and Oregon to the east of the Cascade Range in the United States, Patagonia in southern Argentina, the Atacama Desert in northern Chile and coastal areas in the southeastern portion of Western Australia.

Varieties[link]

Subtropical highland variety (Cwb)[link]

The subtropical highland variety of the oceanic climate exists in elevated portions of the world that are either within the tropics or subtropics, though it is typically found in mountainous locations in some tropical countries. Despite the latitude, the higher altitudes of these regions mean that the climate tends to share characteristics with oceanic climates, though it also tends to experience noticeably drier weather during the "low-sun" season.

In locations outside the tropics, other than the drying trend in the winter, subtropical highland climates tend to be essentially identical to an oceanic climate, with mild summers and noticeably cooler winters, plus, in some instances, some snowfall. In the tropics, a subtropical highland climate tends to feature spring-like weather year-round. Temperatures here remain relatively constant throughout the year and snowfall is seldom seen. Areas with this climate feature monthly averages below 22 °C (72 °F) but above −3 °C (27 °F) (or 0 °C (32 °F) using American standards). At least one month's average temperature is below 18 °C (64 °F). Without the elevation, many of these regions would likely feature either tropical or humid subtropical climates. These regions usually carry a Cwb or Cfb designation, though very small areas in Yunnan, Sichuan and parts of Argentina and Bolivia may have summers sufficiently short to be Cwc with fewer than four months over 10 °C (50 °F), though no records exist for such stations.^[8]

This type of climate exists in parts of east, south and south-eastern Africa, some mountainous areas across southern Europe, sections of mountainous North, Central and South America, some mountainous areas across Southeast Asia, higher elevations of the southern Appalachians, and parts of the Himalayas. It also occurs in a few areas of Australia, although average high temperatures during summers there tend to be higher and the climate drier than is typical of subtropical highland Climates, with maximums sometimes exceeding 40 °C (104 °F).^[9]

Subpolar variety (Cfc)[link]

Areas with subpolar oceanic climates feature an oceanic climate but are usually located closer to Polar regions. As a result of its location, these regions tend to be on the cool end of oceanic climates. Snowfall tends to be more common here than in other oceanic climates. Subpolar oceanic climates are less prone to temperature extremes than subarctic climates or humid continental climates, featuring milder winters than these climates. Subpolar oceanic climates feature only one to three months of average monthly temperatures that are at least 10°C (50°F). Like oceanic climates, none of its average monthly temperatures fall below -3°C (26.6°F). It typically carries a Cfc designation. This variant of an oceanic climate is found in parts of coastal Iceland, the Faroe Islands, small sections of the Scottish Highlands, northwestern coastal areas of Norway reaching to 70°N on some islands,^[10] uplands near the coast of southwestern Norway, southern islands of Alaska and northern parts of the Alaskan Panhandle, the far south of Chile and Argentina, and a few highland areas of Tasmania and the Australian Alps.^[11] The classifications used to this regime are Cfc.^[4]

Dry summers[link]

Despite the fact that dry summers is a feature which differentiates Csb areas from oceanic climates, some areas of Csb climate are typically considered "Oceanic" as opposed to "Mediterranean" (see Mediterranean climate). Technically, this version of the Oceanic climate meets Koppen's minimum precipitation threshold limit of 30 millimetres (1.2 in) (or 40 millimetres (1.6 in) under Koppen-Geiger), resulting in a Csb designation. Nevertheless, due to the higher annual accumulation of precipitation and generally cloudier conditions that these regions experiences in comparison to other areas with Csb climates, a number of scientists consider this climate oceanic. This is especially the case in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada, some sections of coastal Chile, in Galicia in northwestern Spain and in northern Portugal, where conditions are wetter and generally cloudier during the course of the year than typical Csb climates.^[12] Nevertheless, those regions have several Mediterranean features :

• Greater annual hours of sunshine than the typical oceanic domain, especially during the drier summer months, sometimes unbroken sunny stretches for weeks at a time under the domineering influence of stable high pressure. For example, cities such as A Coruña or Seattle have at least 2000 hours of sunshine, while the values of the typical Cfb regions are almost always below 2000 hours.^[13][14]
• Vegetation which is partially adapted to xeric conditions. So the cork oak, a typically acidophilus Mediterranean species, and which is widely distributed in Portugal and in southern-half of Galicia.^[15] In contrast, beech or birch, widely distributed in the Cfb area, are not common in Iberia, mostly confined to the Pyrenees and the Cantabrian mountains. In addition, Garry oak, typical of California, can be found as far north as Vancouver Island.^[16][17] Douglas-fir, which is the typical species of the Pacific Northwestern forests, is very well adapted to the summer drought.^[18]
• Forest fires are regular in those regions due to the summer drought.^[19][20]

See also[link]

• Climate classification
• Temperate climate
• Humid subtropical climate
• Subtropical climate
• Continental climate
• Polar climate

References[link]

External links[link]

• University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point: Marine (Humid) West Coast Climate
• EPIC Data Collection On-line ocean observational data collection
• NOAA In-situ Ocean Data Viewer Plot and download ocean observations
• http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/eae/Climate/Older/Maritime_Climate.html

This article may require copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone, or spelling. You can assist by editing it. (February 2012)

Carl Bildt
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Incumbent
Assumed office 6 October 2006
Prime Minister	Fredrik Reinfeldt
Preceded by	Jan Eliasson
Prime Minister of Sweden
In office 4 October 1991 – 7 October 1994 (&100000000000000030000003 years, &100000000000000030000003 days)
Monarch	Carl XVI Gustaf
Deputy	Bengt Westerberg
Preceded by	Ingvar Carlsson
Succeeded by	Ingvar Carlsson
High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina
In office 14 December 1995 – 18 June 1997
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Carlos Westendorp
Personal details
Born	(1949-07-15) 15 July 1949 (age 62) Halmstad, Sweden
Political party	Moderate Party
Spouse(s)	Kerstin Zetterberg (1974–1975) Mia Bohman (1984–1997) Anna Corazza (1998–present)
Alma mater	Stockholm University
Signature

Nils Daniel Carl Bildt KCMG^[1] (born 15 July 1949) is a Swedish politician and diplomat who was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1991 to 1994 and leader of the liberal conservative Moderate Party from 1986 to 1999. He has served as Sweden's Minister for Foreign Affairs since 6 October 2006.

Bildt has also been noted internationally as a mediator in the Balkan conflict, serving as the European Union's Special Envoy to the Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, co-chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995 and as High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy for the Balkans.

Background[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2012)

Bildt was born in Halmstad, Halland, and belongs to an old Norwegian-Danish-Swedish noble family traditionally domiciled in Bohus county. Bildt attended Stockholm University but never graduated. His great-great-grandfather, Baron Gillis Bildt, served as Prime Minister a century earlier and as a diplomat as well as Marshal of the Realm of Sweden (riksmarskalk). His great-grandfather, General Knut Bildt, was chief of the general staff. His great-grandfather's brother Carl Bildt served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Cabinet - Secretary (Under secretary of state of foreign affairs, in Swedish kabinettssekreterare) and was a renowned diplomat and member of the Swedish Academy. Bildt's grandfather Nils Bildt was a colonel and chief of the Halland Regiment. Colonel Bildt and his family were neighbours to the Palme family. Bildt's father Daniel Bildt (1920–2010) was a former major in the reserves of the now defunct Halland Regiment (Hallands regemente) and a former bureau director in the now defunct Civil Defense Board's Education Bureau. He married Kerstin Andersson-Alwå in 1947.

Bildt's brother Nils, was born in 1952. Bildt himself was married to Kerstin Zetterberg 1974–1975, Mia Bohman (daughter of former Moderate party leader and Minister of Economy, Gösta Bohman) 1984–1997 and is currently married to Anna Maria Corazza since 1998. From his second marriage he has the children Gunnel (born 1989) and Nils (born 1991). From his third marriage he has the son Gustaf (born 2004). The family's perhaps most prominent lineage comes from Norway, where at least three of his ancestors have been that country's leaders in a position comparable with a modern prime minister: in 16th century, his ancestor Nils Henriksson av Østråt (Gyldenløve) served as Lord High Steward of Norway and another ancestor, Vincents Vincentson Lunge, as Viceroy of the kingdom of Norway; and then in 17th century, yet another ancestor, Jens Ovesonn Bjelke served as Lord High Chancellor of Norway, and was himself descended from king Haakon V of Norway (the king and his forefathers thus also being Bildt's ancestors) through his daughter Agnes Hakonardottir, Dame of Borgarsyssel.

Early career[link]

While studying at Stockholm University, Bildt was against the occupation of the Student Union Building in 1968 and was one of the co-founders of Borgerliga Studenter – Opposition '68 later the same year. He served as chairman of the FMSF Confederation of Swedish Conservative and Liberal Students, a centre-right student organisation, in the early 1970s. When the non-socialist formed government in 1976, Bildt came to serve as the Moderate party coordinator in his capacity as close collaborator of the then party leader and Minister of Economy Gösta Bohman. Bildt became a Member of Parliament in 1979, although he instead served as State Secretary for Policy Coordination in the non-socialist government reformed after that election. As an MP in the early eighties, he became noted as an incisive and combative debater on foreign affairs, and found himself pitted against Prime Minister Olof Palme. Bildt was elected leader of the Moderate Party in 1986, succeeding Ulf Adelsohn. In 1991 the Social Democrats were defeated by a four-party coalition led by Bildt's Moderates.

Prime minister[link]

His government policies focused on liberalizing and reforming the Swedish economy as well as making Sweden a member of the European Union. It initiated the negotiations for Sweden's accession to the European Union (though the work to prepare the ground, at home and versus the EEC/EU, had already started during the final year of the Social Democratic government. The Social Democrats' volte face on possible accession to the EEC was most likely a prerequisite for the positive referendum result) and Bildt signed the accession treaty at the European Union summit of Corfu, Greece, on 23 June 1994.

Bildt in a meeting with former U.S. President Bill Clinton at Grand Hotel in Stockholm (15 May 2001).

Economic reforms were enacted, including voucher schools, liberalized markets for telecommunications and energy as well as the privatization of publicly owned companies, privatization of health care, contributing to liberalizing the Swedish economy. Arguably, the subsequent budget cut-backs with the Social Democrats, and after 1994, continued spending cuts by the Social Democratic government, did more to reform the Swedish economy and the Swedish model, than Bildt's governments programme as such. The government's effectiveness was furthermore hampered as it was plagued by in-fighting, most memorably over the construction of the Oresund Bridge.

The period was also marked by a severe economic crisis.^[2] In November 1992, the crisis reached its climax as Sweden left the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (the ERM) and let the Krona float, after having defended the fixed exchange rate at tremendous cost. In some people's opinion, single-minded defense of the Krona led to and continues to draw heavy criticism. At the peak of the crisis and amid run-away budget deficits, a number of emergency cut-backs were negotiated with the Social Democrats. The different measures did contribute to a reduction in the public deficit in 1994 and 1995, and allegedly to revived growth in subsequent years. There is still some debate on whether the current (2006) growth levels are in part due to the devaluation of the Krona. Some see the increased importance of the export industry as testament to this.^{[citation needed]}

The Social Democrats returned to power in September 1994, although Bildt's Moderate Party scored a slight gain.

In 1999 he was succeeded as party leader by Bo Lundgren.

Balkan conflict[link]

Bildt and Richard Holbrooke before peace talks in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in October 1995.

After his term as Prime Minister, Bildt was active as a mediator in the Balkans conflict, serving as the European Union Special Envoy to Former Yugoslavia from June 1995, Co-Chairman of the Dayton Peace Conference in November 1995, and High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina from December 1995 to June 1997 immediately after the Bosnian War. From 1999 to 2001, he served as the United Nations Secretary General's Special Envoy for the Balkans.

Bildt is or has been considered persona non grata in several countries for remarks he has made against various governments, including Croatia, where he "lost the credibility necessary for the role of a peace mediator" by suggesting that the former President of Croatia, Franjo Tuđman, was as guilty of war crimes as the Krajina Serb leader Milan Martić.^[3][4] He was also considered unwelcome in Russia after comparing their handling of the 2008 South Ossetia War to Nazi Germany under Hitler, and he was recently prevented from visiting Sri Lanka.^[3][4][5]

During Operation Flash and Operation Storm in Croatia he demanded military operations by OUN and/or NATO against Croatian army.^{[citation needed]}

Minister of Foreign Affairs[link]

Bildt with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Washington, D.C. on 24 October 2006.

On 6 October 2006, Bildt was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the newly formed government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt. This was seen by many as a somewhat surprising move, because Bildt had already served both as Prime Minister and as leader of the Moderate Party and the previous conflict between Bildt and Reinfeldt.^[6]

Controversies and criticisms[link]

The opposition parties and other politicians as well as newspaper columnists have questioned Carl Bildt’s suitability as Sweden’s Foreign Minister for his private stance on international issues as well as his private affairs as a businessman with interest in Russian gas giant Gazprom, and Lundin Petroleum, an oil company with activities in war-torn Sudan.^[7][8]

International crimes in Sudan[link]

Carl Bildt joined the Board of Directors of Lundin Oil AB in 2000^{[citation needed]}, after serious concerns had surfaced that the oil industry was exacerbating the war in Sudan. Lundin Oil was the lead operator of a consortium that worked in an area that had become the centre stage of Sudan's civil war. Despite the fact that the allegations were backed by successive UN Special Rapporteurs [3] and a Canadian Government investigation [4], Bildt succeeded in winning the public controversy in Sweden, allowing Lundin Oil to pursue its activities in Sudan. In June 2010, the European Coalition on Oil in Sudan published the report 'Unpaid Debt', arguing why Lundin may have been complicit in war crimes and crimes against humanity. The company has denied any wrongdoing, but after studying the report, the Swedish Public Prosecutor opened a criminal investigation. Following the decision by the public prosecutor, Members of Parliament in Sweden requested Bildt to step down, which he has refused to do. Human Rights Watch has in their report also put a large portion of the blame of what happened in Block 5A in Sudan on Lundin Oil saying that "no war-related displacement at all took place there until 1998 [the year when Lundin Oil established themselves in Sudan]".^[9]

Private share capital[link]

After having left his political position as leader of the Moderate Party in 1999, apart from being engaged on international issues, Bildt took up a number of private sector positions as well as with international think-tanks.

In the later category, he served as the first non-US member ever of the Board of Trustees of the RAND Corporation (Santa Monica) and on the Advisory Board of the Centre for European Reform (London). He was also a member of the board of the European Policy Center (Brussels) as well as the International Institute for Strategic Studies (London) and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Affairs (New York).

In the corporate sector in the US, he served as non-executive director of the Baltimore-based US assets management company Legg Mason, Inc.

Among Swedish-dominated companies, he served as Chairman of the Board of Teleopti as well as of the public affairs consultancy Kreab AB, and Board member of the IT consultancy HiQ AB. He was also Chairman of Nordic Venture Network, bringing Nordic high-tech VC firms together in an informal network.

In 2002 Bildt joined the board of directors of Vostok Nafta, a financial company primarily with holdings in Gazprom. Bildt was also a member of the board of independent oil company Lundin Petroleum.

He left the board of directors of all these functions upon becoming Foreign Minister in October 2006.^{[citation needed]}

Bildt has been criticized due to the potential conflict of interest due to his previous position in Vostok Nafta, although Bildt could not divest the stock options he has until the first two weeks of December 2006. Among other things the Swedish government has to decide whether or not to lend its support to the construction of a Russian gas pipeline in the Baltic sea near the Swedish island of Gotland. This conflict of interest might also affect relations between Sweden, other European Union countries and Russia, since many EU countries are dependent on Russian oil and gas for their energy needs.^[10][11] On 20 October 2006, Ulf Holm, a Member of Parliament for the Green Party, reported the Foreign Minister to the Riksdag Constitutional Committee in order to determine whether Bildt's private economic affairs might represent a conflict of interest. Carl Söderbergh, Secretary General for the Swedish section of Amnesty International, has also criticized Bildt since Human Rights issues are within the portfolio of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.^[12] However, the criticism against Bildt for his interests subsided after he announced his intentions of divesting himself of all financial ties with the company as soon as is possible. The work by the Constitutional Committee of the Parliament could not find any grounds for questioning the activities of Bildt in these regards. It also came to light that the Swedish state pension funds (Swedish: AP-fonderna) together had invested more than a billion Swedish krona (140 million USD or 75 million GBP) in Vostok Nafta.^[13]

Bosnian war mediator criticisms[link]

Carl Bildt has been criticized for his role as mediator in the Bosnian war. Among others, he was accused, as prime minister, of indifference to the ethnic cleansing and genocide committed by the Bosnian Serb forces against Muslim and Croat civilians.^[14][15] Bildt opposed any military intervention and criticized the former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1993 for calling NATO to intervene against the Bosnian Serb forces, which led to the Sunday Times calling Bildt and other EU leaders "robotic political pygmies" and their acceptance of the ongoing genocide "shameful".^[15]

Following Bildt's appointment as EU's special envoy to Yugoslavia, Tom Warrick from the Coalition for International Justice described Bildt as "dangerously misinformed about his own job description" and largely ignorant about the region.^[14][16] The New York Times criticized Bildt for a nonchalant attitude towards the Srebrenica massacre where over 8,000 Bosniaks were killed,^[14] and described him as being burdened with a reputation for accepting Bosnian Serb claims of good behavior at face value and overlooking evidence of atrocities against civilians.^[17] Several international governments criticized Bildt for having been ineffective and too closely affiliated with the Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia.^[18] British historian Marko Attila Hoare accused Bildt of downplaying the number of victims killed in the Srebrenica massacre and ignoring Serbian war crimes.^[19] Bildt was also criticized for not mentioning the Srebrenica massacre during a lunch meeting on 15 July 1995 in Belgrade with the Serbian President, Slobodan Milošević and the commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, Ratko Mladić, even though he had received reports about the ongoing massacre.^[20]

Following the early release of convicted war criminal Biljana Plavšić from Swedish prison in 2009, Bildt was reported to Swedens Committee on the Constitution for being disqualified to take part in such a decision. Bildt was accused of being personally involved in the case and being personally close to Plavšić.^[21][22] Bildt testified at Plavšićs trial in 2002 at the Hague praising her, calling her post-war actions "brave" and "courageous".^[23]

Other controversies[link]

Bildt has also been questioned for his role as a member of the International Advisory Council of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a group with ties to the Bush administration pushing for an invasion of Iraq in 2003.^[24][25]

On 8 April 2008, during his visit in Israel and Palestinian Authority, Bildt gave an interview to Swedish state radio, where he responded to a question on whether or not it would be possible to strike a peace deal without the involvement of the Palestinian group Hamas, which remained under international boycott. He responded that the Palestinian Fatah-backed government could deal with Israel, in the same way that it was possible for the Israeli government to make peace with Fatah over the objections of the former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, similarly to Hamas opposed a two-state deal. Israeli officials issued very strongly worded condemnations of this (calling it "horrible and stupid", saying it was an example of "chutzpah" and "complete ignorance of the Middle East"), on the grounds that they saw it as a way of comparing Hamas and Netanyahu as equals.^[26]

After the South Ossetian War, Bildt wrote on his blog that the Russian rationale for its intervention, i.e. concern for the welfare of its expatriates in the Near Abroad, had certain similarities with the rationale for the annexation of Sudetenland. The Russian reaction was strong, and the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Bildt was no longer considered welcome in Moscow.^[27] Bildt also called South Ossetian independence "a joke", and said it would be supported only by a "miserable" lot of countries.^[28]

It was revealed following the organization WikiLeaks release of classified diplomatic documents that US diplomats considered Bildt as "stubborn", "arrogant" and to have "limited political skills".^[29] Bildt was also described as someone who thinks he has more power and influence than he really has and called him a "medium size dog with big dog attitude".^[30] The then US president George W. Bush was advised before a meeting to "play on Bildt's desire to operate at a high level" and to pretend to be impressed by his previous international assignments.^[31] Other US diplomats and politicians were also advised and to play on Bildt's self image to "keep him on a good mood".^[30]

There have been reports that Wikileaks has documents proving Carl Bildt is a US spy, with various sources claiming Wikileaks is attempting Blackmail.^[32]

Internet activities[link]

Bildt was an early pioneer among politicians of using the Internet for communicating. On 4 February 1994 he sent an email message to US president Bill Clinton, which was the first (what is publicly known) ever electronic message sent between two heads of government. In the message he praised Clinton's decision to end the trade embargo on Vietnam.^[33]

In the same year he also started a weekly electronic newsletter, which was active until 2005. He is also active as a blogger, starting his first blog in February 2005. His current blog, started in January 2007, is one of the most widely read political blogs in Sweden.

On 30 May 2007 he officially opened a "Swedish embassy" in the virtual world Second Life.^[34] The embassy, called "Second House of Sweden", is a virtual replica of House of Sweden, the Swedish embassy building in Washington, D.C..

During Bildt's time as Foreign Minister the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has opened up a channel on YouTube which has been active since early 2008.

Bildt also maintains a personal Twitter feed in English with approximately 125,000 subscribed followers.

Human rights advocacy[link]

Carl Bildt is involved with the Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism, of which he is an honorary member and contributor to its publications.^[35]

Honours[link]

Bildt was awarded H. M. The King's Medal of the 12th size in 2003. He is a Commander of the Légion d'honneur, and has an honorary doctorate from the University of St Andrews.

Bildt is also a member of the Club of Madrid,^[36] an independent non-profit organization composed of 87 democratic former Presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries.

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Carl Bildt

• bildt.net, official website
• Alla Dessa Dagar, Bildt's Swedish-language blog
• Bildt Comments - Bildt's English-language blog (inactive)
• youtube.com/utrikesdepartementet - Bildt and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs channel on YouTube.
• Sweden navigates complex waters of EU foreign policy, The Local
• "Assuring Peace and a European Future in Bosnia and Hercegovina, Open Letter to Carl Bildt in the light of the "Dayton-2"-negotiations at Butmir, Bosnia and Hercegovina, by Lord Paddy Ashdown, Wolfgang Petritsch und Christian Schwarz-Schilling, 18. Oktober 2009