Back in our early days in the U.S., my parents made a few things clear.  First, and most important, you learn English.  Two, you stay out of trouble, because we don't want to give Cubans a bad name.  Third, we learn about U.S. history, because we want to be respectful to this nation.

My parents understood that integration or assimilation is essential to a successful life in a new country.  They understood it because they were the children and grandchildren of Spanish immigrants who flooded Cuba in the first half of the 20th century.  In other words, they all kept Spanish traditions, specially Christmas and Easter, but were Cubanized with mambo and baseball.

Over in Sweden, we see what happens when "assimilation" is not a priority.  This is from Andy Ngo:

It is too early to see the long-term impact of the 2015 migrant crisis, but if the past is any indication of Sweden's future, the answer may be found in its "vulnerable" neighborhoods.  In recent years, the Nordic state known for scoring among the highest among all nations in quality-of-life indexes has also gained a reputation for gang shootings, grenade attacks, and sexual crimes.

Days before I was due to arrive in Sweden last summer, the country was rocked by mass car burnings across its west coast.  Authorities faulted "youth gangs" for the fires, a euphemism for criminal young men of migrant backgrounds.  My first visit was to Rosengård, Seved, and Nydala, immigrant neighborhoods in the southern city of Malmö and among the 23 "especially vulnerable" areas across Sweden.  At times, ambulances and fire trucks will enter only with police protection.  Desperate police have appealed to imams and clan leaders for help when they cannot contain the violence.

It's going to get worse because of birth rates.

The good news is that Swedes are number three among Europeans in having babies.  The bad news is that 1.85 is not enough to maintain your population.

Sweden is well known for ABBA.  Those cute girls definitively looked good in those hot pants back in the 1970s singing "Dancing Queen."

Unfortunately, most of the babies born in Sweden these days are not going to look like the ABBA girls in twenty years.

Crazy multiculturalism and low birth rates equal the end of Sweden as we've known it.

Yes, there is a ghost of Christmas future walking around Sweden if we have the courage to see it or learn from it.

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