Newsletter: Rearmament Without Debate

President of Finland Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre began their Nordic Response visit to the Alta area at a field hospital. There they got an introduction to how it works with mobile hospitals that can accompany troops even in remote areas. (Photo: Matti Porre/Finland's Presidency)

 

Dear reader. Soon, American paratroopers will descend on Northern Norway, a UK aircraft carrier is spotted in Northern Norwegian waters, and "suspicious incidents" grow proportionally to the number of soldiers on Norwegian soil. And "the rearmament takes place with nearly no debate," comments Arne O. Holm.

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Next week, US Army soldiers will fly over the North Pole from Alaska to Norway and attempt to conduct an airborne jump onto a frozen lake in the north as an extension of the large-scale military exercise Nordic Response.

High North News journalist Hilde-Gunn Bye will be there to report on the event. 

The British HMS Prince of Wales is now the third allied aircraft carrier sailing in Northern Norwegian waters in under a year.

Now, the Norwegian government accelerates Norway's achievement of NATO's aim to spend two percent of the GDP on defense. 

But as thousands of Norwegian and allied soldiers entered Northern Norway to practice military operations, the number of suspicious incidents increased in Nordland. (Norwegian only) 

And the Norwegian Ministry of Defense believes Russia's plans for nuclear weapons in space to be a real threat. 

"Europe's military rearmament parallels the post-Cold War disarmament. It happens nearly without debate, and we are all silent spectators," comments Editor and Commentator Arne O. Holm.

A call for help

On the same day the Svalbard white paper was concluded, the island's politicians, organizations, and businesses gathered in Oslo with clear demands for Norwegian authorities: Predictability and for its inhabitants to be taken seriously. (Norwegian only). 

"The trust has been severely weakened," says tourism actor Renate Larsen.

And do not miss the debate about the forced sterilization of 100 Greenlandic women and girls. 

Read about this and more at High North News. 

Follow us next week as well for news from the Arctic. 

I wish you a good week on behalf of the editorial staff,

Editor-in-Chief Trine Jonassen

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