A shaken Norway mourns, I read in the news. This peaceful nation has never since WW II seen such bestial violence and the killer targeted exactly the ones who could have made a difference, who could have had an impact on the direction Norway's society will take in the next years.
The killer targeted Arbeidernes Ungdomsfylking, ("The Workers' Youth League") in other words: the critical, idealistic, and rebellious heirs of the social democratic establishment.
This is a traumatizing and shocking event, and the Norwegians deserve our compassion and sympathy, yet I would like to address one aspect that is seldom mentioned in the media:
Despite the fact that every year the Nobel Peace Price is awarded in Oslo (to US President Barack Obama for instance), Norway is not a peaceful nation. Norway is a nation at war, because it takes part in the NATO wars in Afghanistan and Libya, and Norway shares responsibility for the death of thousands of civilians who are killed by NATO bombs and missiles.
According to the Libyan Health office, 3,600 civilian died until now, 1,100 by NATO airstrikes. According to UN estimates, 2,700 civilians died in the Afghan war in 2011 alone.
To be fair, Norway seems not to be comfortable with the Libyan war and will stop participation at the end of July. But the Afghan engagement is going on, with one mechanized company, one support squadron, and one ISTAR-squadron from the Intelligence Battalion serving in Kabul.
Norway's war involvement should not diminish our feelings for the victims of the ruthless terror act and their surviving relatives and friends, but it seems not unreasonable to ask and expect, that Norwegians are also aware of and sympathetic to the plight of Afghans and Libyans, who experience such carnage and worse every week, as bombs and missiles are raining down on them and people are blown into pieces and burned to death.
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http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,776365,00.html
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P.S.:
NO, it was not Islamic terrorism, as corporate media trumpeted at first. So the lyrics to the old tune have to be slightly rewritten: It was a domestic terrorist who learned it from Al-Qaeda. You see, how dangerous they still are.
Let the drones fly….
Let the drones fly….
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/07/25-6
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/25/norway_righties?
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http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/07/25/norway_righties?
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Leading US radio host Glenn Beck compared the teenage victims of the Utoya Island massacre to the Hitler Youth.
Beck said on his nationally-syndicated radio show: "There was a shooting at a political camp, which sounds a little like, you know, the Hitler youth. I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics? Disturbing."
COMMENT
I just waited for such a statement (I didn't have to wait for too long). Weren't they socialists (!) after all? They would have grown up to become "standard-bearers" of the Norwegian labor movement…..
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Update:
From this article: Rarely has the connection between sexual anxiety and right-wing nationalism been made quite so clear. Indeed, Breivik's hatred of women rivals his hatred of Islam, and is intimately linked to it. Some reports have suggested that during his rampage on Utoya, he targeted the most beautiful girl first. This was about sex even more than religion.
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