oss 100 kroner!
By Pål Steigan – 27 February 2023
In the sequel to his revelation of Norway’s and USA’s role in blowing up the Nord Stream pipelines, Seymour Hersh addresses the long standing tradition of Norway’s secret and illegal collaboration with USA. He shows that Norway played a key role in carrying out the provocation which gave USA the pretext to bring about the Vietnam War, a war which ended with more than three million dead and an outrageous number of maimed and injured in Vietnam and its neighbouring countries.
Read: From the Gulf of Tonkin to the Baltic Sea
This undeniably raises the question of what role Norway has played for USA’s imperialism in the period following the Second World War. As is well known, Norway also supported the USA and the western powers in the Korean War and contributed, among other things, through Norwegian ships transporting American soldiers to Korea. The Korean War resulted in at least 2.5 million people dead.
Norway’s role as the world’s largest shipping nation probably played an important role here, but this will form the subject of another article. What we can establish is that there has been very close cooperation between Norway and the USA since the Second World War, which has included secret military operations and surveillance of its own citizens for the benefit of the United States, Operation Gladio and so on.
The oil wealth ushered in a new era
As Norway became an oil nation, our country moved up into the imperialist first division. Oil is the number one strategic commodity, and as is well known, the control over international oil trade has been the mainstay for maintaining the dollar as the world’s reserve currency since 1971 in the form of the petrodollar.
Norway’s role in the western US led system was further elevated when oil revenues took off seriously. Today, the «Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global», as it is so misleadingly called, is the world’s largest sovereign investment fund and the world’s largest single shareholder. The fund owns 1.5 percent of the world’s listed shares. We are the Qatar of Europe.
And like Qatar, we have been central in financing a whole series of imperialist wars. Norwegian governments have developed a very special preference for generosity when it comes to imperialist projects, a generosity that Norwegian citizens do not share. More often than not, billions are poured out without foundation in any political process or democratic debate here at home – also often without concrete support in Parliament.
The prime minister, either it being Solberg or Støre, simply shows up at international forums obliging Norway to deliver x number of billion kroner for this or for that. And then primarily towards projects supporting US imperialism.
Norway financed the civil war in The Sudan
Norway spent NOK 13 billion in aid creating the state of South Sudan , as the author Bibiana Dahle Piene describes in her book “Norge i Sudan – På bunnen av sola” (Norway in the Sudan – At the bottom of the sun), as a pure Klondike for the NGOs. They went so far that the Sudanese authorities themselves did not care to build their own systems and institutions. The money – and the workers – always came from outside, usually from Norway.
In the book The International Breakthrough, Professor Terje Tvedt showed us how the transition from a solidarity mindset, to an aid mindset, has cleared the way for an aid industry counting in the billions.
The same thoughts have formed the basis when Norway has given billions of NOK to «save the rainforest», without it being possible to demonstrate any significant effect – disregarding corrupt politicians and scheming speculators, in countries such as Indonesia and Brazil, becoming filthy rich.
The total Norwegian aid budget is approaching an annual NOK 40 billion (4 Billion USD). Also here, «climate» is emerging as the most important investment area. The Solberg government planned to spend approximately NOK 4.8 billion on climate, environment and oceans in 2019. But there is hardly an adequate administration to handle the use of these enormous sums, or for that matter, to ensure any quality of the results.
What is known, however, is that Norway has contributed to creating some gigantic fortunes in the recipient countries, such as, for instance in Angola. In the period from 1999 to 2017, Norway granted NOK 208 million in state-to-state aid to Angola, i.e. money which was managed by the public sector, more precisely by President José Eduardo dos Santos. In total, Norway has given NOK 3.2 billion in aid to Angola. Isabel dos Santos, the president’s daughter, is now accused of greedily helping herself from the country’s treasury to build her own business empire. Her estimated fortune is now 2.2 billion USD, and she stands accused of having built it through corruption and fraud according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists .
And so we could continue. We don’t know whether the aid works as it is said it should, but we do know that many people have become very rich from it. This applies to corrupt leaders in the «third world», but it also applies to involved financial institutions and the aid organisations own consulting industry.
Read: We stick with a caste of dirt expensive politicians
Without democratic process, Stoltenberg and Støre decided to bomb Libya
On 19 March 2011, the Prime Minister’s Office (SMK) issued a short press release. It read like this:
«Norway is ready to send up to 6 F-16 fighter jets to participate in the enforcement of Security Resolution 1973, says Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg.»
With that, Norway entered a war against Africa’s best functioning and most prosperous country. And more than that, Norway was the leading country in NATO’s bombing campaign. Norway, the red-green government and the Labour Party leaders Jens Stoltenberg and Jonas Gahr Støre bear a significant responsibility for the destruction of Libya leaving it in the hands of jihadist terrorists. They committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, and should be brought before an international war crimes tribunal.
The decision to wage war against Libya was not made by the government. The decision was made in an informal meeting at the prime minister’s residence. In addition to Prime Minister Stoltenberg, Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, the Minister of Defence, the Chief of Defence and a representative from the intelligence services attended. Stoltenberg then called his government coalition partners in SV and the Center Party on his mobile phone pressuring them to accept the bombing and obtain an OK from the opposition.
There is good reason to assume that this was done at the request of Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State in the United States and the prime protagonist for war against Libya.
When accounts are settled, we know that Norway was the leading bombing nation and that «we» are responsible for the killing of unknown tens of thousands of people and the destruction of Africa’s best functioning and most prosperous country. Jens Stoltenberg was awarded for his efforts by being given the position of Secretary General of NATO.
And of course we have not forgotten that Norway, through the «Oslo Agreement», has contributed greatly to crushing the Palestinian liberation struggle and turning the Palestinian authorities into obedient bound dogs of imperialism through the «donor group’s» control.
17 billion NOK for the war against Syria – without audit or control
Together with Qatar, Norway became one of the biggest investors in the war to destroy Syria. This has cost Norway a total of more than NOK 15 billion as of today.
Norway spent 15 billion on Syria aid – the National Audit Office will check the use of money
We don’t have any figures showing how much Norway’s destruction of Libya cost, but it is quite obvious that Norway was at the forefront destroying the country with its bombs.
Billions to Gates, Clinton and the pharmaceutical industry
Norway and Saudi Arabia were the biggest donors to the Clinton Foundation. The Clinton Foundation: Part 3: Norway’s contribution to the fund
Norway’s largest donor to Bill Gates and Gavi. Erna Solberg gives 13 billion tax kroner to the Gates alliance
The EU and Norway will allocate 85 billion for a vaccine against covid-19
Shortly following the coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, Norway poured hundreds of millions of NOK over the Kiev regime without the possibility of, for example the National Audit Office, having any oversight where the money has gone. And in 2022 we could read that Støre would beat Solberg’s record gifts by a good margin: the Ukraine bill has increased to almost NOK 14 billion – where will we make the cuts?
And now he has topped this again. With the support of all parties in the Parliament (Storting), Støre has decided to inject another 75 billion Norwegian tax kroner into the war against Russia in Ukraine.
Tamed and disciplined left – «Political operators and agents of influence»
Few public documents have played, and play, such an important role as Stortingsmelding 15 (2008–2009). It is entitled Interests, responsibilities and opportunities Main lines in Norwegian foreign policy , and is probably the most important program document left behind by the red-green government of Jens Stoltenberg.
The NGOs are incorporated into the power apparatus of the imperialist state
Professor Terje Tvedt has made a thorough study of the ideological change in Norway and the Norwegian public in its relationship with the outside world. Here we have previously shown how the «voluntary organisations» have been co-opted by the state and transformed into tools enforcing Norwegian politics, and especially Norwegian foreign policy.
The very close collaboration between the state, voluntary organizations and research institutes is described as «The Norwegian model». In 2003, several thousand employees in the state administration, in around 150 voluntary organisations, at research institutes and universities were linked in to Norwegian politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
In parliamentary notice (Stortingsmelding) 15, the Stoltenberg government writes:
While in the past a distinction was made between voluntary aid organizations and political organizations such as Amnesty International, and No to Nuclear Weapons, now the vast majority of voluntary organizations are political operators and influence agents in addition to being operational aid actors. Collected funds are used in close collaboration with the media and international media personalities to maximize visibility and political influence. At the same time, they collaborate ever closer and more often with government actors and the business world. Globalisation, with the associated media and communication revolution, has led to a considerable increase in these actors’ ability to network and influence politics across borders and actors. (Our edition, ed.)
This is a very precise description of how the so-called aid organizations have functioned as an external agency for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to realize Norway’s imperialist interests. This applies not least to the Norwegian Red Cross, Norwegian People’s Aid, Norwegian Refugee Council, Church Aid, Save the Children and CARE Norway, as well as NORWAC and other similar organisations.
These organizations also present employment and career opportunities for large parts of the petty-bourgeois left in Norway, and it has also been shown that they to a very large extent have absorbed the ideology and mindset of imperialism. The same applies to the largely state-supported media in Norway.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that Norway today has the most militaristic leftists in Europe, and possibly the world.
In short, Norway is ideally equipped to be the glove that perfectly fits the USA’s hand, and therefore it may come as no surprise, if finally it is documented that Norway has been involved in a serious act of war against Germany and Russia, which blowing up the Nord Stream is. Unfortunately, this is what Norway has become.
Tranlated from the original:
Hvorfor er Norge hansken som passer på USAs hånd?
Translation by Erik Skjold.
