Jonas Gahr Støre’s account in the Storting [parliament] concerning the security policy situation was like an echo of the interwar period. The term “great powers” is now also used about the USA. In fact, it is the USA that is highlighted as the great disturber of peace. It therefore rings hollow and schizophrenic that, in the same breath, assurances are given that the security policy anchoring remains firm. If one listens to Støre, it is by no means self-evident that the USA will, for all time, come to our assistance, regardless of what the Government may undertake.
Støre used the expression “unconcealed use of power by great powers” and meant the USA. Point by point, he went through how the USA under Trump had made the world insecure.
“Authoritarian countries gain greater traction,” said Støre, and meant the USA. He scarcely mentioned China.
Russia was mentioned programmatically. But there was no analysis. There was no account; there were moral expositions by Prime Minister Støre, who attempts to convince the public that he is morally superior to the “bully” in Washington, as the far-left party SV’s Ingrid Fiskaa called him.
There is a difference of degree between Støre, Fiskaa and Sneve Martinussen (the Communist Party leader). But not one of principle.
It is the USA that is the threat: He attacks values and international law.
Støre is provoked. Trump stood at the UN podium and said, addressing the Europeans: – Your countries are going to hell.
Støre is unable to see this as a well-intentioned warning. He takes it as an insult, because it wounds his self-esteem.
Thus they all react: Macron, Merz, Starmer, Frederiksen, Kristersson.
They are unable to rise above the notion that everything revolves around them, for that is the world in which they have long found themselves. It is only about them; the population is a grey mass they can dispose of at will.
Støre is as though cut from continental centralised administration. The people are to obey!
Trump breaks with the contract between the authorities and editor-controlled media. They invoke international law. When Trump extracts Nicholas Maduro, that too is a breach of international law.
Now Cuba stands next in line. This also causes the EU great discomfort. Trump compels them to ask why these regimes deserve to fall: They are corrupt and do not serve the population. Nicaragua and Mexico stand next in line. The USA will not accept having a narco-state as a neighbour.
When the EU and Norway define the defence of corrupt regimes as international law, one may question the content of the concepts.
Norwegian media constantly say that Trump “threatens” Iran, just as they also said about Venezuela. No, he warned. The choice of words says something about which side the media are on.
Støre and the Storting are on the same side. It was not possible to hear the difference between Listhaug [leader of the Progress Party] and Støre. Listhaug merely wanted greater tempo.
Nothing about the fact that the word international law has been hollowed out and transformed into a shield for authoritarian regimes (here the word manipulation comes in, for the designation authoritarian is now used about Hungary and the USA). They are protected by silence.
Those who understand this are Persians. They hear the falseness and the hypocrisy.
That the Iranian ambassador was invited to the Palace’s gala dinner for diplomats only a week and a half ago says everything about Støre’s Government. The Palace does this in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the same Ministry of Foreign Affairs that is to scrutinise Mona Juul [Labour-linked ex-UN ambassador disgraced by the Epstein files], and is on a track where the authoritarian regimes serve as a counterweight to Israel.
Norway is on the wrong side of history. How is Norway to maintain its self-image when Persians and persecuted Christians see the hypocrisy?
Støre did not mention Iran with a single word. That says everything. Norway participates in a reactionary alliance of states that desire the status quo and an equilibrium – a balance – that favours China.
It is this game that Trump shatters.
But Støre will shatter Trump and has allied himself with forces in the EU:
– A higher heaven arches over Norwegian foreign policy, said Støre: From Ukraine to Gaza and Sudan.
Thus it is idealism that distinguishes us.
But security policy is not an exercise in self-righteousness and narcissism, nor a diplomatic catwalk. Støre believes it is, but he appears bitter. There is a sharpness in the delivery.
He too looks like an undertaker.
80 years after the Second World War we have learnt nothing. The Government pushes the USA away, yet believes it will receive help regardless.
But there is a connection between diplomacy and security policy. The Europeans believe they can have their cake and eat it. Participate in the public shaming and opposition to the Trump administration while practical security cooperation continues as before.
That is what one in English calls “folly”: foolishness.
Støre, von der Leyen, Starmer, Macron. They are fools, and it may go very badly for us. Precisely as in the interwar period.