Norway will be maintaining its troops in Iraq, just as it faces allies’ requests for more troops in Mali and patrol vessels in the Persian Gulf. The latter has been turned down so far, as the defense department also faces myriad demands at home and prepares for new leadership. The requests and demands come amidst […]
Norway will pull out of Iraq, if asked
January 6, 2020
Just hours before delivering his annual New Year’s address Monday evening, Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen couldn’t predict the fate of Norwegian soldiers in Iraq or what NATO might do regarding new and rapidly rising tensions in the Middle East. Bakke-Jensen, however, has said Norway will pull its roughly 70 soldiers out of Iraq if Iraq formally […]
Secret criticism flies around new F35s
December 9, 2019
Something seems to be wrong with the operating capabilities of Norway’s growing fleet of new F35 fighter jets, but no one will specify what the problem is. Norway’s State Auditor General is criticizing the government in a report to Parliament on the new jets, but the report is classified and therefore being handled as top […]
War hero granted a state funeral
December 5, 2019
UPDATED: One of Norway’s last resistance heroes from World War II will be honoured next week with a funeral to be conducted at state expense. Defense Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen will also attend the funeral for Ragnar Leif Ulstein, who died this week at the age of 99. Ulstein was just shy of 20 when Nazi […]
Norway’s ‘Jens’ to calm NATO nerves
December 3, 2019
NEWS ANALYSIS: As nervous and bickering leaders of NATO member countries gathered in London on Tuesday, their own Norwegian leader Jens Stoltenberg was using all his diplomatic and folksey skills to keep them united. Norway’s biggest dilemma, meanwhile, is over the US’ proposal that NATO view China as a threat. Stoltenberg already tried in advance […]
US ambassador to leave amid drama
November 25, 2019
Less than two weeks after the US Secretary of the Navy, Richard V Spencer, was in Norway to visit top Norwegian officials, he finds himself being replaced by the US ambassador to Norway who’d been his local host. Spencer is among the latest to effectively be fired by US President Donald Trump, who then tapped […]
Spy chief waits for probe results
November 21, 2019
The embattled chief of Norway’s military intelligence agency E-tjenesten, Gen Lt Morten Haga Lunde, clearly felt compelled to utter some sort of response as questions fly over the competence of the agency and its agents. He issued a rare press release, to acknowledge a Parliamentary probe into the criticism and complaints of released spy Frode Berg. […]
Many responsible for frigate fiasco
November 8, 2019
UPDATED: The leader of Norway’s state accident investigations board stressed on Friday that its role is not to place blame on who or what caused one of the Norwegian Navy’s five frigates to crash into a fully loaded tanker last autumn. After releasing their report on the collision, however, it was clear that lots of […]
Defense build-up bad for the climate
October 16, 2019
Norway’s new US-produced F35 fighter jets will contribute to considerably higher carbon emissions in 2030, the government admits, and that’s right when emissions are supposed to be 40 percent lower than they were in 2005. Norway’s gas production can amount to a “climate bomb” as well, according to a new report from a German think […]
Solberg to Turkey: ‘Stop the fighting’
October 15, 2019
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg got tougher against Turkey on Tuesday, after a meeting in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Solberg said Norway now joins both Germany and the EU “in condemning Turkey’s military operations in Syria,” as fears rose that Turkey is creating huge problems for all three countries’ collective defense through NATO. […]
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