Thursday, February 19, 2026
Norwegian Aid

Norway to provide NOK 115 million to UN Peacebuilding Fund

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway is providing NOK 115 million in funding to the United Nations Peacebuilding Fund. ‘Conflict prevention is good development policy and smart aid. That is why we are now increasing our contribution to the UN Peacebuilding Fund,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.

The UN Peacebuilding Fund works to prevent armed conflict and to prevent countries that have been affected by conflict from falling back into a new cycle of violence. The Fund’s main focus is on Africa.

‘It is impossible to quantify the suffering that has been avoided as a result of conflict prevention efforts, but we can estimate the economic savings. Researchers have estimated that for every dollar invested in preventing conflicts, 16 dollars that would have been used to deal with the consequences of an armed conflict are saved,’ said Ms Eriksen Søreide.

Despite the excellent results it has achieved, the UN Peacebuilding Fund is severely underfunded. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for a substantial strengthening of the Fund, as part of the work to increase the UN’s capacity to prevent and resolve conflicts. With today’s contribution, Norway has fulfilled the pledge it made in 2016 to provide NOK 115 million to the UN Peacebuilding Fund over a three-year period (2017–2019). Norway will consider providing further support in 2018.

The UN Peacebuilding Fund was established to strengthen the UN system’s capacity for strategic, long-term peacebuilding. Norway has contributed to the Fund since its launch in 2006.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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Asia and Norway

Child Welfare Service Is More Profitable Than Oil

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norwegian daily Dagbladet writes a lot of national and international financial instituions recently invest on private child welfare services in Norway. As there is no limitations on who can invest, child welfare turns to be the most lucrative investment.

President of anti-privatization think-tank The Campaign for the Welfare State (For velferdsstaten), Linn Herning says the trend is worrying.

– With such high profitability, we are afraid of commercial child welfare attract investors who are primarily looking for return on capital,” says Herning to Dagbladet.
It appears that around three quarters of commercial child welfare services are now delivered by five large groups, three Swedish and two Norwegian who have made child welfare and other welfare services a particularly lucrative industry.

The groups are largely owned by various acquisition funds, registered in Luxembourg, London and Guernsey.

The return on capital these groups have invested in the Norwegian child welfare companies are sky high. On average, total return for all five has been between 22-23 per cent for the last five years. According to Statistics Norway’s overviews, there is no single industry that has been more profitable than commercial child welfare.

According to figures provided by Statistics Norway, 36,800 children received measures from the Norwegian Child Welfare Services at the end of 2015. This means that 2.9% of all children in Norway received some sort of measure. Of these, 12% were aged 0–2 years, 23% 3–5 years, 30% 6–12 years, and 35% 13–17 years. In addition, 6,800 young people aged 18–22 years (1.1% of their age class) received follow-up care.

60% of the 36,800 children received support measures within their families. 16% received support measures while placed outside their homes with the consent of their parents. In the remainder 24% of the cases, children were placed outside their homes after care orders.[2] Of the 14,850 children living outside their homes by the end of 2015, 72% lived in foster families, 14% were old enough to live by themselves with follow-up from the Child Welfare Services, and 8% were taken care of in institutions, while 5% where temporarily placed in private homes awaiting other solutions.

The main reasons for measures (both support measures and care measures) were lacking parenting skills (29%), parents’ mental problems (17%), high domestic conflict level (11%) and parents’ drug misuse (8%).

Statistics Norway has also published some figures according to immigration status: while 2.2% of all children with Norwegian parents received measures, the corresponding figures were 3.2% for children born in Norway by immigrant parents, and 4.9% for immigrant children. The latter group includes minor asylum seekers arriving without parents.

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Norwegian Aid

Agreement on EEA and Norway Grants to Poland

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway signed extensive new MoUs with Poland on the use of funding under the EEA and Norway Grants amounting to EUR 809.3 million. The business and innovation sector will be significantly strengthened. Justice and home affairs, energy and climate, and civil society will also continue to be important priority areas.

‘I am pleased that we have reached agreement on the framework for the new funding period for the EEA and Norway Grants to Poland. We look forward to continuing the important work that has been carried out under the previous period, and to strengthening efforts in the areas of business development, research and local development,’ said Minister of EEA and EU Affairs Marit Berger Røsland.

The MoUs cover the funding period 2014-2021, and with total funding amounting to EUR 809.3 million, Poland is still the largest beneficiary country in the grants scheme.

‘The negotiations on the new funding period have at times been challenging. I am particularly pleased that we have secured agreement to continue our strong and independent support for civil society,’ said Ms Berger Røsland.

Under the agreement that has now been reached, the funding for civil society (the Active Citizens’ Fund) will be divided into a national and a regional fund of EUR 30 million and EUR 23 million respectively. Both these funds are to be managed by independent operators who have no links to the authorities, and are to be selected on the basis of open competition.

Opportunities for Norwegian actors

Poland is an important trading partner, and Poles make up the largest group of foreign nationals in Norway.

The EEA and Norway Grants help to strengthen bilateral cooperation in many different sectors, and 13 Norwegian agencies will take part in the development and implementation of the programmes. It is important to further develop and create new networks that can contribute to positive developments, particularly at a time where some developments in Poland are giving cause for concern.

‘Many Norwegian actors can benefit from the opportunities for cooperation that the EEA and Norway Grants provide. In the previous funding period, several Norwegian companies established useful ties with Poland through their project cooperation under the scheme. We hope that even more Norwegian actors will make use of these opportunities in the new funding period,’ said Ms Berger Røsland.

Priority areas

Support for business development and innovation will be significantly strengthened, with a focus on green innovation and blue growth. Innovation Norway will play a key role, not least in the work to engage more Norwegian companies in cooperation projects. Innovation Norway will also run the programme for social dialogue and decent work. One of the projects under the programme will involve cooperation between the Norwegian and Polish labour inspection authorities on combating work-related crime.

Efforts in the justice sector will be continued, with particular emphasis on cooperation in the areas of correctional services and courts administration. Several Norwegian institutions are involved, including the Ministry of Justice and Public Security, the Norwegian Courts Administration, and the Norwegian Correctional Service.

High priority will continue to be given to efforts in the area of environment, energy and climate. For example, funding has been allocated to research on carbon capture and storage.

Cultural heritage and cultural exchange will continue to be important in this funding period, and both the Directorate for Cultural Heritage and Arts Council Norway are taking part as partners in various programmes. The cooperation between Norwegian partners and POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews is among the projects that are to be continued.

Facts about the EEA and Norway Grants

  • Under the EEA Agreement, Norway is part of the European internal market.
  • The EEA Agreement sets out the common goal of working together to reduce social and economic disparities in Europe and to strengthen cooperation between European countries.
  • Norway contributes to this through the EEA and Norway Grants.
  • EUR 2.8 billion is available under the grant scheme for the period 2014-2021, to be distributed among 15 beneficiary countries.
  • Norway provides some 98 % of this funding; the remainder is provided by Iceland and Liechtenstein.

 

(MFA Press release, N.Sethurupan)

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Crimes

Norway just voted to decriminalise drugs across the country

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway has voted to decriminalise drugs across the country in a landmark move that will see addicts treated instead of punished. Four out of nine parties in the country’s parliament voted in favour of the move as Norway becomes the first Scandinavian country to decriminalise.

It means users will be given treatment instead of a prison sentence and lawmakers hope it will free up police resources. Norway’s Health Committee was inspired by a recent trip to Portugal, a country which has implemented its own decriminalisation programme. While drug use and possession will still be illegal, decriminalisation would mark a shift in the authorities’ attitudes to users.

Nicolas Wilkinson, health chairman of the country’s Socialist Left Party, told VG: ‘This is the start of a big reform. Now a big effort is being done to switch the system from punishment to help.’ Sveinung Stensland, deputy chairman of the Storting Health Committee, added: ‘The change will take some time, but that means a changed vision: Those who have a substance abuse problem should be treated as ill, and not as criminals with classical sanctions such as fines and imprisonment.’

Portugal decriminalised drugs in 2001, and addicts there are given therapy or community service instead of being sent to prison. Like the model soon to be adopted in Norway, drugs still remain illegal in Portugal which means growing them, dealing and trafficking them carry criminal penalties. But if you are caught in possession of a small amount, the drugs are confiscated and the suspect is interviewed by social worker, a psychiatrist and lawyer. You could then be hit with sanctions which include a fine, travel bans and confiscation of professional licences. Addicts could also be sent to rehab or given community service.

(metro)

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Africa and Norway

Restrictive measures against Venezuela

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway has today introduced restrictive measures against Venezuela. These measures are a response to the negative developments in the country.

In November, Norway aligned itself with the EU’s restrictive measures against Venezuela, and has drawn up new regulations that are mainly based on Council Regulation (EU) 2017/2063 of 13 November this year.

‘These restrictive measures send a clear message to the Venezuelan authorities to reverse the worrying developments in the country. The Venezuelan Government must take immediate steps to find a political solution to the ongoing crisis, and must ensure respect for fundamental human rights. At the same time, we urge the opposition to continue their efforts to take part in a negotiated solution,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.

The new regulations prohibit the export of equipment, goods or technology that can be used for internal repression or surveillance. The restrictive measures set out in the regulations come in addition to the arms embargo that Norway aligned itself with on 25 November this year, under which exports of weapons and military equipment to Venezuela are forbidden.

The restrictive measures also allow the introduction of travel restrictions and the freezing of funds and assets of individuals and companies. So far, no company or individual is subject to such restrictions. Any breach of the regulations may result in a fine or a prison sentence. The measures will enter into force once the regulations are officially published.

(Press release)

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Religion

Hindus urge Norway Govt. to mandate listing of gelatin source on food, which many times is beef

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Hindus are urging Government of Norway and Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) to mandate food manufacturers to mention the source of gelatin, if used in the product, on its “Ingredients” label.

When the source of gelatin is not listed and if it is beef, it is a serious non-disclosure affecting the Hindu devotees and would severely hurt their feelings when they would come to know that they were inadvertently consuming beef-laced popular food products, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed stresses.

Consumption of beef was highly conflicting to Hindu beliefs. Cow, the seat of many deities, was sacred and had long been venerated in Hinduism; Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out in a statement in Nevada (USA) today.

According to Nina Lødrup, Senior Adviser of Mattilsynet: “it is not necessary in Norway to declare the source of gelatin in products”.

It would be shocking for the Norwegian Hindu community to learn that some of the popular food products, which they might had been unknowingly eating for years, might contain beef as part of the gelatin while beef was not explicitly mentioned under the ingredients listed on the boxes/packages to caution them, Rajan Zed indicated.

Zed further said that it was hard to comprehend that why corporations, both Norwegian and international, many times were not transparent enough to mention beef explicitly under the ingredients on the box/package when, being constituent of gelatin, it was part of the product inside; so that an ordinary consumer could make right and appropriate choices.

Rajan Zed urged His Majesty King Harald V, Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Minister of Agriculture and Food Jon Georg Dale and Mattilsynet Director General Harald Gjein to seriously and urgently look into this issue affecting Hindu-Norwegians, who had made lot of contributions to the nation and society.

Dutch-British transnational consumer goods company Unilever, which “has been in business since the 1880s” and which claims to have “developed a clear and global approach to nutrition labeling”, in a response to Zed, noted: Gelatin “is used in some of our products to provide a lower fat, lower calorie product with a pleasing texture and consistency…We cannot guarantee if the gelatin is derived from beef or pork”.

Many products of Wrigley, said to be the largest manufacturer and marketer of chewing gum in the world, contain gelatin that is sourced from beef. Gelatin derived from beef is found in the many products of multinational Kellogg’s, which claims to be “world’s leading cereal company”.

Gelatin/gelatine is procured from various animal body parts and is usually used as a gelling agent in food. It can be from cows, pigs, fish, chicken, etc.; but there are animal-free and plant-based alternatives to gelatin like seaweed extracts. Gelatin is an ingredient in some cereals, ice creams, candies, yogurts, desserts, marshmallows, aspic, trifles, dips, fruit snacks, sour cream, margarine, frosting, confections, gums, Chinese soup dumplings, puddings, nondairy creamers, cakes, cream cheese, lozenges, etc. It is also used for clarification of vinegar, juices and wine.

Mattilsynet, whose mission includes “fair trade”, is a governmental body, whose aim is, through regulations and controls, “to ensure that food and drinking water are as safe and healthy as possible for consumers…”.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about 1.1 billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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Africa and Norway

Civilians and Humanitarian Access Concerning the Conflict in South Sudan

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

This statement was issued jointly by the Governments of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Norway.

On Thursday, December 21, the parties to the conflict in South Sudan signed the Agreement on Cessation of Hostilities, Protection of Civilians, and Humanitarian Access in Addis Ababa. The members of the Troika (Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States) congratulate the parties on their willingness to compromise for the benefit of the people of South Sudan and hope that they immediately take action to make good on that agreement.

The Troika fully supports the continuing effort by the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to build peace through the High Level Revitalization Forum (HLRF).  We would like to recognize in particular the meaningful contributions of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn Boshe, and the members of the IGAD Council of Ministers.  We further recognize the tireless work undertaken by IGAD Special Envoy Ismail Wais and the High Level Facilitators to bring the parties together and the inclusion of a number of civil society organizations and women representatives at the Forum.

The Troika calls on all the parties to implement the Agreement immediately including the parties’ obligations regarding humanitarian access. We are encouraged by the strong statements from the African Union and IGAD making clear their intent to hold the parties accountable. The Troika calls on the parties to reconvene urgently to address the important security and governance arrangements that are essential for peace.

( Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Norway )

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Defence

“I Hope I’m Wrong, But There’s A War Coming”

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

US Marine Corps General Warns “I Hope I’m Wrong, But There’s A War Coming”

Pointing towards the near future possibility of Russia and the Pacific theater being the next major areas of conflict, a US Marine Corps commandant warned troops station in Norway to be prepared for a coming war.

As Military.com reports, the stated goals of the Marine Corps’ newest rotational force in Norway are to enhance partnerships with European allies and improve the service’s ability to fight in cold weather.

But on a brief visit to the 300-member unit ahead of Christmas, the commandant and the sergeant major of the Marine Corps both described the strategic role the small unit fills — and the fact that a peacetime mission can be preface to combat if circumstances change.

“I hope I’m wrong, but there’s a war coming,” Gen. Robert Neller told them.

“You’re in a fight here, an informational fight, a political fight, by your presence.”
Fox News writes that Neller pointed to the near future possibility of Russia and the Pacific theater being the next major areas of conflict.

Sgt. Maj. Ronald Green sounded a similar tone.

“Just remember why you’re here,” Green said.

“They’re watching. Just like you watch them, they watch you. We’ve got 300 Marines up here; we could go from 300 to 3,000 overnight. We could raise the bar.”
The warnings came a day before Defense Secretary Jim Mattis told troops at Fort Bragg, N.C., that “storm clouds are gathering” over the Korean Peninsula.

At a Q&A session with the troops in the Norwegian Home Guard base near Trondheim, Neller said that the U.S. could shift its focus from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, citing Russia’s conflicts with Ukraine and Georgia as justification.

He told the Marines that they should be prepared for a “big-ass fight” on the horizon.

(N.Sethurupan)

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Royal House

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Announce Royal Tour of Norway and Sweden

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Prince William and Kate Middleton will go on a royal tour of Sweden and Norway from January 30 to February 2, Kensington Palace announced this morning.

The couple will spend time in Stockholm from January 30-31 and Oslo from February 1-2, according to Town & Country. The tour is likely part of their duties as “unofficial Brexit ambassadors,” strengthening Britain’s relations with fellow European countries as it prepares to leave the EU. Their first visit under this new role was to Paris in March this year.

The trip will supposedly take place during third trimester of Middleton’s pregnancy, Entertainment Tonight points out, as the Duchess’ third child is expected to arrive in April 2018.

This will also mark the couple’s first joint trip abroad since Middleton’s third pregnancy was announced in September. Prince William, however, recently flew out solo for a royal tour of Finland at the end of November. Though he was away from his family, the Duke of Cambridge openly spoke about his family, congratulating his brother, Prince Harry, on his engagement and sharing adorable stories about his son, Prince George.

The Duke and Duchess’s last joint tour was in Germany and Poland this July. They were accompanied by their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who became the center of attention with their irresistibly cute public appearances. (Remember Charlotte smelling her little bouquet, and George’s reaction to the helicopters?)

So far, it is unknown whether the royal kids will join their parents on tour, but we sure hope they tag along.

(N.Sethu)

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Norwegian Aid

Norway’s grant of additional $6.9 million helping UNICEF

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The Government of Norway’s additional $6.9 million contribution to UNICEF earlier this year in May 2017 is helping in strengthening the education system and increasing access and quality of learning services provided to all children including Syrian refugee children.

The contribution from Norway is focused on improving access to formal education, especially for Syrian children both in refugee camps and host communities. The grant is particularly supporting efforts to increase available education opportunities and alternatives, and to ensure the retention of children in the education system.

“UNICEF continues to work with the Jordanian government to improve the capacity of the formal schools and ensuring that every child receive the education they deserve in a safe and enriching learning environment, and reach their full potential,” said the UNICEF Jordan representative Robert Jenkins. “We are very grateful to the Government of Norway for their generous support which is helping UNICEF provide learning support to all vulnerable children including Syrian children,” he added.

The Government of Norway has contributed a total of $16.8 million to UNICEF since 2015, primarily for education programmes targeting all vulnerable children in Jordan.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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Asia and Norway

China to establish a national carbon trading market

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

China has announced the creation of what is expected to be the world’s largest carbon trading market. The market initially covers the power sector, but will gradually expand to include industry and other sectors.

– It is very welcome that China has announced the establishment of a national carbon trading market. The system is expected to be the world’s largest. It will initially deal with the power sector. The fact that the country with the largest emissions will launch a national carbon pricing system, is an important step forward. This could signal the world’s most important single climate action until now, says Minister of Climate and Environment, Vidar Helgesen.

Power production in China – for a large part based on coal power plants – is estimated to account for approximately 30 to 40 percent of China’s total CO2 emissions. The establishment of a Chinese carbon trading market could mean an important step towards fulfilling the Paris agreement.

– Norway, through the Norwegian Environment Agency, has in recent years had a unique cooperation with Chinese partners to develop the national carbon trading system. Via this effort, Norway has helped to lay the groundwork for potentially large emission reductions in China, says Vidar Helgesen.

According to Chinese authorities, it will take another two to three years before the market is up and running. The Chinese government will first make available an overview of all producers in the power market and create a register for the carbon trading market.

According to the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which is responsible for climate policy in China, additional sectors will be included in the carbon market system from 2020.

 

FACTS:

A carbon market system for CO2 emissions implies that the government determines a price of CO2 emissions.

The most common form of a carbon market system is that the government puts a ceiling on the total number of emission credits in a quota market. For example, the carbon market system may apply to a particular sector in society, as for example power production in the Chinese case.

Each company is allocated a certain number of credits they can release annually. If a company does not release its allocated CO2 quota, these can be sold on the market.

Companies that have released a larger share of CO2 than they were allocated can then buy credits from the same market

In order to ensure that the sector’s total CO2 emissions go down, the government will tighten the total number of market credits regularly. This means that fewer credits – or emission permits – will become available.

(regjeringen)

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Farming

NEAFC continues to place great emphasis on action against Illegal

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The 36TH Annual Meeting of the North-East Atlantic Fisheries Commission (NEAFC) was held in London from 13 to 17 November 2017.

NEAFC is the intergovernmental organisation responsible for fisheries management in international waters in the North-East Atlantic. Its Contracting Parties are Denmark (in respect of the Faroe Islands and Greenland), the European Union, Iceland, Norway and the Russian Federation.

At the Annual Meeting, conservation and management measures for the year 2018 were adopted for a number of fish stocks. These include blue whiting, herring, mackerel, redfish in the Irminger Sea and Rockall haddock.

NEAFC is progressing further in its work regarding improvements to the conservation and management of deep-sea species. At this Annual Meeting, NEAFC renewed its Recommendation on deep-sea fisheries within the NEAFC Regulatory Area, but in addition agreed a Recommendation to ensure fisheries for deep-sea stocks/species not subject to other conservation and management measures only to expand gradually to allow for information to develop to assess sustainability. Current measures include prohibiting fisheries directed at deep-sea sharks, rays, chimaeras and spurdog, in addition to catch limits being set for several species of grenadiers in two separate areas. Bans on fisheries targeting basking shark and porbeagle remain in effect.

The protection of vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs), such as corals, continues to be an important issue for NEAFC. NEAFC has already closed bottom fisheries in all areas where VMEs are known to occur or are considered likely to occur according to scientific advice. During the meeting NEAFC received the latest scientific advice from the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea regarding the occurrence of Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems in the Regulatory Area. In response to the advice, NEAFC has not only extended the current VME closures from the end of 2017 to the end of 2022, but also expanded the coverage of its areas closed to fishing in the Rockall-Hatton Bank. Furthermore it extended the period of the closed areas from the end of 2017 to the end of 2022.

NEAFC continues to place great emphasis on action against Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fisheries. A major step to enhance monitoring, control and enforcement was taken when the basis for an Electronic Reporting System (ERS) for NEAFC was formally adopted in 2016. This year’s adoption of the United Nation’s international standard for exchange of fisheries information was a further step forward in this process. Development of technical solutions for the ERS will continue in 2018 on the basis of arrangements at the meeting.

Following the 2014 performance review of NEAFC, working groups related to the Allocation Criteria and the Framework for Coastal State Negotiations were established. Acting on their outputs presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting, NEAFC adopted Guidelines for Coastal States Negotiations in the North East Atlantic and a Model Framework Arrangement.

NEAFC’s cooperation with other international organisations was highlighted at the Annual Meeting. This includes the collective arrangement with the OSPAR Commission for the protection of the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. The Annual Meeting welcomed the continuing cooperation and coordination between the two organisations, as well as the intention to include other organisations that have international legal competence regarding other activities.

NEAFC’s good cooperation with several other organisations, including the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) was also welcomed. Continued representation of NEAFC’s approaches and achievements at international meetings taking forward global developments on fisheries and oceans governance was encouraged.

The cooperating non-Contracting Party status of the Bahamas, Canada, Liberia, New Zealand and St Kitts and Nevis was renewed for the year 2018. These States cooperate with NEAFC and, in some cases, deploy vessels for transhipment operations in the NEAFC Regulatory Area.

(N.Sethurupan)

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NATO and Norway

Stoltenberg: from NATO opponent to alliance chief

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg is to remain at the helm of the NATO alliance for a further two years, extending his term until late 2020.

The Scandinavian has led the organisation since he took over as Secretary-General in October of 2014 for an initial four-year term.

A brief statement issued on Tuesday confirmed the decision had been reached by the allies to extend his term, emphasising the “full confidence” held in Stoltenberg and the importance of his role in leading NATO’s adaption to the new security challenges of the 21st century.

British Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson was quick to praise Stoltenberg’s extension, taking the opportunity to again highlight Britain’s status as one of the few members meeting the 2% of GDP commitment to defence. Britain’s leading role in NATO will be strengthened in the new year as Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach assumes the position as Chairman of the Military Committee, the most senior military position in the organisation which rotates amongst the member states.

Confirming German support for the move, defence minister, Ursula von der Leyen said Mr Stoltenberg had “done excellent work modernising NATO and adapting its structures to a changed security solution”.

Not all feedback to the reappointment has been positive. Russia Today described his tenure as “gaffe riddled” highlighting recent controversies including a botched exercise in Norway which accidentally marked NATO member, and its President Recep Erdogan, as enemies.

Stoltenberg leads NATO in difficult times; renewed Russian aggression has put the alliance alert, while its entire existence remains jeopardised by increasing moves for European defence cooperation through the EU including the recently signed PESCO defence pact.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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Asia and Norway

Norway’s Foreign Minister Eriksen Søreide’s Myanmar visit

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

On 19 November the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Yangon was proud to receive Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide in Yangon. This was the minister’s very first visit to Myanmar, and one of her first visits abroad as Foreign Minister. In Yangon, she met with local, international and UN organizations, learning about the situation in the country. She also met with representatives from Norwegian businesses and NGOs in Myanmar.

“I am glad to be in Myanmar, and have been very well received by people here. This is an important moment for me to visit Myanmar and to engage with civil society and the government. I look forward to further strengthening the relationship between our two peoples, including working together to resolve difficult challenges in Rakhine and elsewhere,” Eriksen Søreide said.

On 21-22 November Minister Eriksen Søreide was in Nay Pyi Taw to attend the 13th ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. There she met with colleagues from Asian and European countries, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi.

They had a good and open discussion on the situation in Rakhine, including on the importance of providing humanitarian access, security and safe return. Eriksen Søreide reiterated Norway’s readiness to assist the Government of Myanmar in this difficult and complex situation. They agreed to work together to achieve peace, stability, harmony and sustainable development in Rakhine, stated the Norwegian embassy.

( Source: Royal Norwegian Embassy in Yangon, N.Sethurupan)

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Spy War

Norwegian “Espionage” ends up in Russian Court

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Russia has given the order for a Norwegian to be arrested according to court spokesperson Yekaterina Krasnova from Russia.

“The court satisfied the prosecutors’ motion imposing to remand the defendant Norwegian in custody until February 5, 2018,” she said.

According to the Russian spokesperson, The court received an appeal against this decision for him to be charged under Section 276 of Russia’s Criminal Code (“Espionage”).

FSB officers detained Norwegian in Moscow during a special operation where classified documents illegitimately changed hands, Media reported.

According to the news agency, Berg was arrested by the FSB security service when he was receiving secret documents about the Russian fleet.

“When it comes to questions about grounds for arrest and imprisonment, this has to be answered by the Russian authorities,” writes Frod e Overland Andersen, Communications Director of the UD in an email to VG.

Russia is holding a Norwegian man on suspicion of spying after he allegedly received classified documents from a Russian man who is also under arrest, an official said on December 19.

Russian media reports cited unnamed sources as saying that Berg was caught receiving classified material about the Russian Navy that he allegedly planned to hand over to Norwegian agencies.

USA, UK, France, Pakistan, India, Israel, China and Russia – ‘Serious warning’ to Norway ?

Some reports suggested his arrest could be linked to what they said was his opposition to the construction of a fence along a small part of Norway’s short border with Russia near a border crossing and Women in Norway who were beaten by their husbands should not count on help from Norwegian authorities, but they even risk that if Norwegian child care authorities will hear about it, they will take their children permanently away and put the child in to the foster home.

Norway is stealing children from other nations for no sensible reason at all, all the time for many years even right now, and hardly anyone is protesting against them!

Norway should not be allowed to any conference concerning women s or children s rights when they are the ones who are deliberately braking rights of children and their parents in the most horrible way.

Russians were also in time of Soviet dictatorship prohibited to attend psychiatric conferences when they misused psychiatry and now Norwegians are in the same way misusing childcare, while Russian children are much, much safer than children in Norway now.

Mothers are threaten by Norwegian barnevernet not to contact mass media, or their children will be adopted away.

Mothers in Norway can get no help from police.

The case with Breivik shooting, when journalists arrived long time before police did, shows that and also the book written by Jan Eriksen ..

His real Photos name are on VG.

https://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/nordmann-anklaget-for-spionasje-i-russland/a/24214035/

The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow is going to sentence Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, earlier arrested in Russia on trumped-up espionage charges, to 20 years’ imprisonment, according to his lawyer Mark Feygin.

Lefortovo District is a district of South-Eastern Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia.

It is named after a close associate of Tsar Peter the Great, Franz Lefort, whose troops were stationed nearby at the German Quarter.

Lefortovo is considered to have been founded in 1699. In the 18th century, it was home to Annenhof, Lefortovo Palace, Sloboda Palace, and Catherine Palace. In later centuries, the district hosted troops and military organizations, and also became heavily industrialized.

The present-day Lefortovo is famous for the Lefortovo Prison, Lefortovo park and the Lefortovo Tunnel on the Third Ring. Several higher educational institutions are located in Lefortovo, such as the Moscow Power Engineering Institute.

(Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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Farming

Norway Royal Salmon and Aker’s proposal to grow more salmon in the Arctic receives green light

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway Royal Salmon and Aker obtained approval to increase their production volume of aquaculture operations in the Arctic after filing a complaint against the original allocation decision.

According to both firms, their new ocean aquaculture concept, called Arctic Offshore Farming, facilitates sustainable growth in areas that the aquaculture technology thus far has not been able to exploit.

This initiative makes it possible to achieve unique collaboration between traditional aquaculture habilities (Norway Royal Salmon), the expertise in offshore facility construction (Aker Solutions) and the environmentally certified fishery operations in extreme water (Aker Marine).

Now Norway’s Directorate of Fisheries will process applications limited to 5,990 tonnes in maximum allowed biomass compared to 2,995 tonnes in a decision from July 7 2017, Reuters informed.

The new decision gives the companies sufficient volume to test two units instead of one.

Initially, Norway Royal Salmon and Aker had applied for permission to farm 11,700 tonnes of fish, and the two can still appeal the regulator’s decision to Norway’s fisheries minister.

The project involves the development and testing of a brand new type of aquaculture farm with greater capacity to withstand harsh weather conditions. NRS/Aker applied for 15 development permits in order to realise the concept and test the facility in Troms/Finnmark.

These licenses would provide the economic foundation for carrying out significant investments in a future-oriented industry.

If a development project is successful, measured against a set of criteria, it could be converted to a permanent productions licence at a cost of NOK 10 million (USD 1.2 million) per licence.

(Fis,N.Sethu)

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Srilanka and Norway

Consultations held between Sri Lanka and Norway

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Sri Lanka and Norway have held Foreign Office Consultations in Oslo on 11 December 2017.

Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mr. Prasad Kariyawasam met with the Secretary General of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry, Mr. Wegger Strømmen.

They reviewed bilateral relations and ongoing projects in Sri Lanka assisted by Norway.

The two Secretaries also discussed ways and means of broadening and deepening the relations between the two countries.

“It has been good discussions on bilateral and global issues, with focus on international cooperation to secure sustainable use of oceans,” the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo said.

The Foreign Secretary also visited the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Trade, Industries and Fisheries.

(N.Sethu)

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Defence

Norway’s defense minister: The path to the next NATO summit

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Next summer NATO will hold another summit, gathering heads of state and government from all 29 member countries. Summits focus our efforts and provide guidance and direction for the alliance, and this summit takes place at a crucial time.

NATO faces a deteriorating security environment that is both dynamic and complex. Threats present themselves across domains, concurrently and from different geographical directions. Global and regional instability has led to a common understanding among allies that the need for NATO is as great as ever. However, to ensure that the alliance is capable of dealing with these threats in an effective way, the alliance needs to adapt. This will be a main theme at the next summit.

Transformation is underway. At the summit in Wales in 2014, the member states agreed that NATO must improve its ability to provide collective defense and deterrence. This was necessary after a decade where the alliance had focused on out-of-area crisis response operations. Furthermore, Russia’s blatant disregard for international law in its illegal annexation of Crimea and military operations in eastern Ukraine reminded us that state-on-state conflict in Europe no longer is a remote possibility. NATO has embarked upon an ambitious and comprehensive reform agenda.

NATO’s contingency plans have been updated. We have established more capable readiness forces, and we are stepping up our efforts to fight the threat from violent extremists and terrorism. Furthermore, the alliance has established a troop presence in the Baltic states and Poland. This deters aggression and reassures our allies. Exercises and training is a way to demonstrate alliance resolve and to ensure interoperability among forces. NATO is now training and exercising more, in larger formations and with more realistic, high-end scenarios. The alliance is increasingly becoming a hub for allied exercises. My government will host the next large-scale Article 5 exercise in Norway next year. This sends a powerful signal.

As a result of these and other measures, the alliance today is more effective, relevant and strong.

However, our work is not done. We must continue to reform. I want to highlight three important areas that require our focus in the lead-up to the summit.

Firstly, the current command structure is not fit for purpose. It was conceived during a time when out-of-area crisis management operations were the prime operational focus. Now that collective defense and deterrence again are top priorities, we must make changes to the command structure. The NATO defense ministers decided in November to establish two new joint commands. One will have a particular responsibility for the maritime domain and the sea lines of communication across the Atlantic. The other will focus on logistics, movement and mobility. These issues may seem mundane. However, the command structure is a key instrument in generating and fielding the alliance’s collective fighting power. NATO’s legitimacy and credibility depends upon a robust and relevant command structure. This will be an important and very concrete deliverable for the next summit.

Secondly, NATO needs to pay more attention to the maritime domain. Maritime areas will be increasingly contested in the future, and NATO must be prepared to uphold the rule of law and safeguard our interests at sea. The alliance needs to improve its competence and ability to operate in high-intensity maritime environments. That includes the ability to operate our forces in areas where potential adversaries may try to deny entry or freedom of movement. NATO must strengthen our maritime profile. This will be a key point for discussion leading up to the next summit.

Thirdly, NATO must review and adapt our decision-making processes. The complex threats and challenges that we face have one thing in common: Threats and attacks will emerge and occur with little to no warning time. That means that decisions must be made swiftly. That is a challenge for a consensus-based organization such as NATO, with 29 member states. However, we must address this. We risk being at an asymmetric decision-making disadvantage vis-à-vis potential adversaries that are able to take quicker and more effective strategic decisions. This could significantly undermine our collective security.

At the summit, there will be a frank and honest discussion on burden-sharing. The U.S. administration has rightly pointed out that the United States shoulders a disproportionately large share of the financial burden for our common defense. This situation is not tenable. In order to ensure the long-term viability of NATO, all nations must stand by our commitments to make the necessary investments in our defenses.

The upcoming summit is an opportunity to step back and contemplate the true value of NATO. The alliance is a unique construct. No other organization has a standing joint command structure, available high-end military forces and a standing decision-making apparatus. NATO is a political as well as a military organization. And it is an alliance that is founded upon a common set of values. These are the values that bind us together as liberal, democratic nations. Now more than ever, NATO must hold true to and safeguard these values.

The U.S. has on numerous occasions made it clear that it stands by its commitments to its NATO allies. This is also demonstrated through action. U.S. investments in European security through the European Deterrence Initiative is a clear example.

In an increasingly uncertain world, the value of stable and strong alliance relationships increases. The transatlantic security relationship — as manifested through the NATO alliance — is an unmatched and powerful force for stability and security. At its core, this is NATO’s historical mission: ensuring peace, freedom, stability and prosperity for our people. NATO has been successful in this endeavor because we have been able to adapt. NATO needs to continue to adapt, as it has since its inception in 1949. This is the enduring task of the heads of state and government that will convene in Brussels next summer.

(defensenews . com, Frank Bakke-Jensen is Norway’s minister of defense. He is charged with creating and executing the country’s security and defense policy.)

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Environment

U.S. HELPS ESTABLISH AN ARCTIC FISHING MORATORIUM

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

On November 30th, diplomats from the Department of State concluded 10 years of negotiations by finalizing a multilateral agreement to protect the central Arctic Ocean from overfishing, as sea ice in the region dwindles.

Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, China, and the European Union joined the United States in signing a 16-year moratorium on commercial fishing in a zone of 1.01 million square miles, an area the size of the Mediterranean Sea.

“Too often in the past, we’ve ended up overfishing areas before we even really knew what was there,” Steve Ganey, of the Pew Charitable Trusts, tells Pacific Standard. “This agreement dramatically shifts things. We’ve agreed to get the science first.”

The U.S. initiated these negotiations in 2007 at the urging of Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), who advocated policies for sustainable fisheries. In 2008, the U.S. Senate passed a joint resolution directing the Department of State to seek an agreement that would extend existing U.S. fisheries policies for the Arctic to international waters.

The Senate resolution recognized that global warming could shift fish stocks toward the central Arctic Ocean, and that dwindling sea ice would open the door to exploitation of the region. It also recognized that large-scale commercial fishing could pose a threat to indigenous Arctic communities, and that any future management strategies should depend firmly on the latest science.

In 2015, the five countries directly bordering the Arctic Ocean—Canada, Norway, Russia, Denmark (via Greenland), and the U.S.—reached a preliminary agreement, then invited other major fishing nations to the table. The talks dragged on as negotiators mediated regional tensions, including a Russian claim to the seafloor around the North Pole.

“This has spanned the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, and the U.S. diplomats never wavered in their negotiations with the other countries,” Ganey says, adding that the Arctic and Antarctic offer promising instances where international cooperation has worked.

The new agreement is a good first step toward protecting the central Arctic, but much remains to be done, says Alaska-based Arctic researcher Henry Huntington of the Ocean Conservancy.*

The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average. In recent years, up to 40 percent of the region that was previously covered with sea ice has been ice-free during summers. The biological consequences of the meltdown are far from clear.

“The big question is: How do ecosystems respond to that change?” Huntington says. Scientists predict the region will experience a sort of seasonal schizophrenia, with subarctic conditions in the summer and Arctic conditions in the cold, dark winter.

Several nations, including South Korea and Norway, are already planning to study fisheries in the region, and Huntington says it would help if other research projects focused on sea ice decide also to include fisheries research as part of their science missions. Such steps would help build the framework for long-term sustainable governance of the Arctic, he says.

“What’s important about [the fishing moratorium] is that it acknowledges that this is a very unique area,” Jon Burgwald, of Greenpeace Nordic, tells Pacific Standard,praising the pact’s preemptive approach. “We’ve acted before we see problems in this area, before we started seeing commercial fishing.”

(psmag)

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Diplomatic relations

Announcement of the sale of the former U.S. Embassy property

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

The Embassy of the United States of America announces the sale of the former U.S. Embassy property at Henrik Ibsens gate 48 to Fredensborg AS marking a new chapter in the history of this historic 58 year old building.

Renowned Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen designed the triangular-shaped building which came to symbolize the strong and deep relationship between Norway and the United States in the decades after the Embassy opened in June 1959.

“We are excited for Fredensborg AS to be the new owner. They appreciate the legacy of the former Embassy,” said Chargé d’Affaires Jim DeHart.

“We also want to thank the Cultural Heritage Office for working with us on a draft protection order that both protects key elements of the building and provides flexibility for Fredensborg to shape the property for the 21st century,” stated Chargé DeHart.

(U.S. Embassy Oslo, N.Sethurupan)

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Science

NORWAY EXTENDS AUTONOMOUS SHIPPING TEST-BED POLICY

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norway’s third autonomous shipping test-bed has been opened on the Oslofjord in Horten, near Kongsberg Maritime’s local facility.

The new site, along with the original test-bed in Trondheim, will be an important resource as Kongsber and partner Yara develop the Yara Birkeland – the all-electric vessel due to be launched due to be delivered next year which is intended to eventually assume full autonomy.

“The location of the new test-bed will support a number of ground-breaking technology projects,” said Egil Haugsdal, president, Kongsberg Maritime. “The move towards greater autonomy at sea has the potential to transform maritime operations and while the technology has now been proven, we look towards the regulations. Establishment of these test-beds are an important step.”

Kongsberg reported that its use of the fjord at Horten for autonomous vessel testing this year was important in enabvling the Norwegian Maritime Administration and Norwegian Coastal Administration to designate the test bed. In August, Kongsberg and the Norwegian defence research establishment FFI demonstrated high-speed autonomous obstacle avoidance using the ODIN unmanned surface vehicle.

(N.Sethurupan)

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Environment

Norwegian contractor building ‘world’s tallest timber building’

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

Norwegian timber specialist Moelven has announced that it is building an 80m-tall mixed-use building in its home town of Brumunddal, about 100km north of Oslo.

Moelven says its building, the Mjøstårnet, will be the tallest all-timber tower in the world, arguing that a taller, hybrid tower in Vienna cannot claim the title.

The Mjøstårnet will be 30m higher than The Tree in the Norwegian city of Bergen, which presently has the title of the tallest all-timber building, and 28m higher than 5 King Street in Brisbane, which is due to become the world’s tallest when complete next year, and the 73m-tall HAUT in Amsterdam (see further reading).

The Tall Wood Residence at the University of Vancouver is 53m high, but this height does include some concrete in its podium and lift cores.

Moelven dismissed any claims from the unfinished 84m HoHo-tower in Vienna, designed by RLP Rüdiger Lainer + Partner.

Rune Abrahamsen, a director of Moelven, said: “For a start, Hoho is not a timber building according to how the definition of this will be. It’s a wood-concrete-hybrid. Secondly, the building will not be completed until a month after Mjøstårnet is completed. But the latter is a moot point if the first is correct. And there is little doubt that this will be the case.”

The Mjøstårnet will be erected next to Lake Mjøsa, the country’s largest. Its 18 floors will include apartments, an indoor swimming pool, a hotel, offices, a restaurant and communal areas.

Arthur Buchardt, the client for the project, said in a press statement: “Mjøstårnet sets new standards for timber constructions. The building is the closest we’ve come to a skyscraper in timber.”

He added: “The assembly and construction of the Mjøstårnet is nothing short of world-class engineering, and will be managed without external scaffolding, despite the complexity of working at heights. We are primarily using cranes and supplementing with lifts as needed. We have reached 33m to date, meaning we have 48 to go.”

Buchardt argues that the forms of wood such as cross-laminate timber will take over from concrete in the same way as electric vehicles look likely to eat into the market for petrol and diesel cars, and for the same reasons: wood reduces the carbon footprint of a building’s materials by 30%.

He said: “In 15 years’ time I believe it will be illegal to produce and sell cars that run on fossil fuels. Similarly, I expect that climate-friendly materials will become an international statutory standard.”

Moelven is supplying timber for the project from a local spruce forests. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2018.

(constructionmanagermagazine)

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Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace laureates: Nuclear war is ‘one tantrum away’

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

An anti-nuclear weapons campaign group accepted the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize during the elaborate awards ceremony on Sunday in Oslo. The Norwegian Nobel Committee had picked the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) for its work on addressing the gap in international law regarding the restriction of nuclear weapons.

In her acceptance speech, Beatrice Fihn, executive director of ICAN, warned that mankind’s total destruction at the hands of nuclear weapons was just one “impulsive tantrum away.”

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons, or will it be the end of us?” Fihn asked, referring to the ongoing exchange of threats between U.S. President Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

“The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where our mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away,” she added.

“A moment of panic or carelessness, a misconstrued comment or bruised ego could easily lead us unavoidably to the destruction of entire cities.”

Fihn described nuclear weapons as a “madman’s gun held permanently to our temple.”

Hiroshima survivor at ceremony

ICAN, which is comprised of a coalition of 468 non-governmental organizations from 101 different countries, has its headquarters in Geneva.

Fihn was accompanied at the ceremony in Oslo City Hall by Setsuko Thurlow of Japan — a survivor of the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Thurlow was 13 at the time of the bombing and has campaigned on behalf of ICAN.

Thurlow described the “procession of ghosts” she witnessed on the morning of Aug. 6, 1945.

“The hair was standing up and they were all burned on the skin and their flesh was hanging from their bones,” she said.

“Some were carrying their eyeballs. It just was like hell on earth,” added the 85-year-old, who now lives in Canada.

Award ceremony in Stockholm

Meanwhile, the recipients of the Nobel Prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and economics received their awards in Stockholm.

Americans Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne received the Nobel Prize for Physics for the first direct observation of universal gravitational waves, while the award for Chemistry was given to Jacques Dubochet of Switzerland, American Joachim Frank and Briton Richard Henderson for discoveries in cryo-electron microscopy that provide detailed imagery of biomolecules invisible to the human eye.

American scientists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their research into how the internal biological clocks of organisms align themselves with natural cycles of night and day.

Richard H. Thaler of the United States was recognized with the Nobel Prize in Economics for his work in behavioral economics focused on “understanding the psychology of economics,” while Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro, best known for his Booker-prize winning novel The Remains of the Day, received the Nobel Prize for Literature for works that uncover “the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

The event was attended by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and his family.

There has been a moving ceremony in Oslo for the handing over of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) was honoured for its collective work with dozens of NGOs.

Beatrice Fihn, the group’s executive director, said in a speech: “The story of nuclear weapons will have an ending and it is up to us to decide what that will be.

“Will it be the end of nuclear weapons? Or will it be the end of us? One of these things will happen.

“The only rational course of action is to cease living under the conditions where mutual destruction is only one impulsive tantrum away.”

Message to Washington and North Korea

Another ICAN campaigner says she survived in the rubble of Hiroshima when she was aged 13 by pushing towards the light – and a nuclear ban is the new light to strive towards.

Setsuko Thurlow told the audience gathered in Oslo City Hall: “To all in this hall and all listening around the world, I repeat those words that I heard in the ruins of Hiroshima: don’t give up, keep pushing, keep moving. See the light.”

Another moving moment in Sunday’s award ceremony was a performance by the singer John legend, singing Redemption Song by Bob Marley.

Earlier, in a joint appeal to a media briefing, Fihn and Thurlow urged the United States and North Korea to “back down from dangerous rhetoric” and threats to use weapons of mass destruction.

“Engage in a diplomatic solution,” said Fihn.

“A diplomatic solution is the only solution,” said Thurlow.

ICAN’s aims

ICAN is a coaliton of NGOs pushing for a UN prohibition treaty.

An agreement was adopted by 122 countries in July but so far only three have ratified it.

To come into force the treaty needs to be ratified by 50 nations.

But the treaty is not signed by any of the countries that already possess nuclear weapons: the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Israel is also widely assumed to have nuclear arms.

‘Instruments of insanity all around us’

Fihn made it clear that she was accepting the prize on behalf of “thousands of inspirational people who make up the international campaign to abolish nuclear weapons”.

“I am just one member of this huge grassroots movement, who together have brought democracy to disarmament and are reshaping international law.

She added: “At dozens of locations around the world, in missile silos buried in our ground, on submarines navigating through our oceans and aboard planes flying high in our sky like 15,000 objects of humankind’s destruction.

“And perhaps it is the enormity of this fact. Perhaps it is the unimaginable scale of the consequences that leads many to simply accept this grim reality, to go about our daily lives with no thought about the instruments of insanity all around us.

“For it is insanity to allow ourselves to be ruled by these weapons. Many critics of this movement suggest that we are the irrational ones, that we are idealists with no grounding in reality, that nuclear armed states will never give up their weapons.

“But we represent the only rational choice. We represent those who refuse to accept nuclear weapons as a fixture in our world.

“Those who refuse to have their fates bound up in a few lines of launch code. Ours is the only reality that is possible. The alternative is unthinkable.”

(N.Sethurupan, usatoday)

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Nobel Peace Prize

LOS ANGELES-BASED STUDIO DIGITAL DOMAIN TO CREATE IMMERSIVE CONTENT

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

OSLO/LOS ANGELES, December 10, 2017—The 2017 Nobel Peace Prize Concert today announced joining forces with one of the largest and most innovative providers of visual effects and immersive experiences, Digital Domain. The multi-year partnership between Digital Domain and Nobel Peace Prize Concert producers Gyro AS and Warner Bros., will bring innovation and creative technology to share the Nobel Peace Prize Concert content from Oslo with the world.

The Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway on December 11th at Telenor Arena, honoring the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

The concert event takes place in Oslo on 11 December 2017, and in virtual reality headsets and immersive platforms everywhere.

Digital Domain is the only global studio with a legacy of award-winning visual effects expertise that leads innovations in virtual, mixed, augmented realities and technology bringing premium content experiences to the consumer.

“We’re very happy that the test we did last year with Digital Domain can lead to a new successful partnership at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize concert”, said the concert´s producers Odd Arvid Strømstad and Kristian Kirkvaag.

“The collaborative efforts of two established entities like the Nobel Peace Prize Concert and Digital Domain will bring quality content to an audience who expects nothing less,” said Alireza Saifi, VP, Global Business Development, Digital Domain. “To use our innovative technology and creativity to help share a united message of peace and celebrate the laureates is an honor.”

(N.Sethurupan)

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Spy War

USA, UK, France, Pakistan, India, Israel, China and Russia – ‘Serious warning’ to Norway ?

by Nadarajah Sethurupan
written by Nadarajah Sethurupan

As long as atomic bombs exist, a disaster is inevitable, the head of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, said Saturday.

“We are facing a clear choice right now: The end of nuclear weapons or the end of us,” Beatrice Fihn told at news conference  surrounded by too many empty chairs at the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

“An impulsive tantrum, a calculated military escalation, a terrorist or cyberattack or a complete accident — we will see the use of nuclear weapons unless they are eliminated,” she warned.

“These weapons do not make us safe, they are not a deterrent, they only spur other states to pursue their own nuclear weapons. And if you are not comfortable with Kim Jong-un having nuclear weapons, then you are not comfortable with nuclear weapons. If you’re not comfortable with Donald Trump having nuclear weapons, then you are not comfortable with nuclear weapons,” Fihn said.

Nuclear weapons, and activities such as their use, testing, development, manufacture, deployment and acquisition, are prohibited by the UN Treaty, and it is only a matter of time before their use is recognised as a crime against humanity and their possession becomes unacceptable for any civilised nation to continue with. This is what happened when treaties prohibiting biological and chemical weapons came into force.

Many foreign countries Working Together with atom bomb power countries towards a Common Goal against to the Norwegian Child Welfare Service (Barnevernet) also will not participate in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize 2017.

The Norwegian Child Welfare Service (Barnevernet) has long been accused of overreach in its abusive situations. it is has high-handed practices and its role in countless cases of child confiscation, serving as a brutal reminder of our history’s worst nightmares.

Pakistan: Ambassador, according to the Embassy, ​​is abroad and is therefore prevented from attending. The Embassy is considering sending Level 2 instead.

India: According to the Embassy of India, the ambassador is on holiday when the Peace Prize Award takes place. The Embassy considers sending another, but does not know who.

Israel: The Israeli Embassy should originally send the Embassy Secretary to the Peace Prize Award instead of the Ambassador. The Embassy informed NRK that it was because “the ambassador would give more opportunity to experience a very nice ceremony, as he himself experienced it before”. In order to avoid misunderstandings that the original decision could be politically motivated and related to the year’s peace prize winner, the Israeli ambassador will nevertheless come with the distribution.

China: According to the Embassy of China, the ambassador is on vacation for the year. The Embassy currently has no plans to send someone else instead.

Russia: The Russian embassy first announced that the ambassador would participate in the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to ICAN. Following the publication of the NRK’s ​​case that the ambassadors of the United States, Britain and France boycott this year’s award ceremony, Russia has changed plans and will still not send the ambassador.

USA: The United States will be represented by number two at the embassy, ​​not the ambassador. “Together with the UK and France, we have agreed on our participation.

UK: The British Embassy should be represented by the Vice Ambassador, not the Ambassador. “We have agreed with our United States and France about our participation.

France: – This year the French embassy in Norway will be represented by the Vice Ambassador. France will work for disarmament. Like all NATO Allies and all nuclear powers, France is deeply skeptical about what the Treaty prohibits nuclear weapons in the disarmament, and France will not sign the Treaty.

Many countries affected by the Norwegian Child Welfare Service (Barnevernet) will send very low level Embassy officials to the Peace Prize Award event at the Oslo city hall.

North Korea: North Korea has no embassy in Norway and is therefore not invited.

The Norwegian Child Welfare Services are periodically the subject of public criticism, generally they are criticised for taking over custody too easily (i.e., for having a too low threshold for taking action).

(NRK, Norwegian press, Nadarajah Sethurupan)

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