Arne O. Holm says The Norwegian King's Svalbard Visit Was Important for Completely Different Reasons Than Sovereignty

Les på norsk.

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Is there a reason for that?

Well, it demonstrates that Svalbard is Norwegian land, of course. But it is not a necessary demonstration. There is no international dispute regarding Norwegian sovereignty in this Arctic paradise.

Gas on fire

Not even from the Russian side, except for a few remarks from extremists using any opportunity to throw gasoline on the fire.

There is no disagreement that the security situation in the Arctic and the High North is tense, to put it mildly. But there's no need to make it worse than it is.

The backdrop for kilometers-worth of news analyses and radio and TV features about the King's visit to Svalbard is Trump's attack on Greenland.

But that is an entirely different story from that of a Norwegian king on a trip along his own country's outer borders.

The stream of royals and heads of state to Greenland is a response to and a demonstration against American imperialism. This also applies when the French President, Emmanuel Macron, drops by Greenland – it is a display of European unity.

Like Greenland, Svalbard is of great strategic importance. But unlike Greenland, as part of the Kingdom of Denmark, Norwegian sovereignty in Svalbard is not under pressure.

There is reason to remember that.

Dropped by Svalbard

Because currently, Svalbard expertise can be found in every nook and cranny. Well, expertise is a strong word. All you have to do is spend a couple of days in Longyearbyen, or find Spitsbergen on Google Maps, to elevate the King's visit to a historically necessary assertion of sovereignty.

Two far more significant visits to Svalbard have gone almost entirely unnoticed. Both the Chief of Defense, Eirik Kristoffersen, and the Commander of the Norwegian Joint Headquarters, Rune Andersen, recently visited Svalbard. Rune Andersen was there just a week ahead of the King. In uniform.

This, if anything, is a reinforced message to Russia that Svalbard is not just Norwegian. It is also NATO land. We know little about how it would play out in an imagined military conflict at 78 degrees north. However, this is a clear message that Norway and NATO are present, also militarily.

They are there all the time, if not always as visibly, as Rune Andersen expressed it in an interview the other day.

There is no reason to doubt it.

Does that mean that the King's visit is insignificant?

Not at all.

But the significance is first and foremost internal. 

It is a message to the rest of Norway that the High North, including Svalbard, is something quite different than the towns around the lake Mjøsa. But perhaps even more importantly, a message to those who live in Longyearbyen and ensure Norwegian sovereignty daily, that they are seen.

It is a celebration of the mining workers, who, for over a century, laid the foundation for what eventually became a family community, and who will be discharged in a few days. It is a testament to a treaty that has endured for 100 years, outlasting most international agreements.

Failed policy

And it is also a reminder that Norway is about to fail in achieving something that has been an overarching ambition for years, namely, increasing the share of Norwegians in Svalbard. The strategy, clearly demonstrated by robbing foreigners of their right to vote, was doomed to fail.

And so far it has.

But the King did not touch on that. As is well known, he begins his New Year's speeches with the words "dear compatriots." And by that, he means all of us.

No one I've spoken to can point to a solution after the "Norwegian" industry, the mining industry, was discontinued.

The King's visit to Svalbard is also nothing new. The Norwegian royal family regularly takes trips to Svalbard, both privately and on official business. And as recently as 2013, the king had a very large area on Nordaustlandet, one of the islands that together make up Svalbard, named after him. Harald V Land.

In the same neighborhood, we find Gustav Adolf Land, Swedish king in 1950, and Prince Oscar's Land, Swedish-Norwegian king from 1872 to 1905.

The Svalbard map is filled with kings, emperors, earls, and other nobility.

Although few of these ever set foot on Svalbard.

Unlike King Harald.