Posts, July 2003:

Legacies of a blood-red decade: I came over two strange books at a used book sale once. Published in the early 70's with proud, red covers, they're Norwegian translations of North Korean propaganda books. One is a biography of Kim Il Sung and the other [...]

The two Jessica Lynchs: Jessica Lynch is a real person, but also a symbol. To Americans she's a symbol of every soldier risking their lives in Iraq. To Norwegians, she's a symbol of the phonyness of the whole war. Americans see a young woman [...]

Conservatives vs Progress Party: Axel Fougner asks a good question in a comment to my post on how the Conservative's are abandoning their tax cut promise. In reply to a question about what particular expenses I thought we should make cuts in, I listed [...]

We who loved Denmark: The stereotypical Dane, as seen from Norway, is friendly, liberal and relaxed, with a touch of continental refinement. By a curious coincidence, he has many of the qualities we miss the most in our own national character. He can drink [...]

Read my lips: No more tax cuts: I voted the Conservatives into power in 2001, and I've had many occasions to regret it. The aftermath of September 11, (a day after the Norwegian election), revealed a fundamental split between their worldview, essentially social democratic and UN-centered, and [...]

Political advertising: Among our strangest laws is the ban on political and religious advertising on TV. This is perfectly legal in print or on radio, but TV is considered such a powerful medium that voters need to be protected, or else the [...]

Review: The Media Battle over Israel: As I explained below, believing Christians are a minority in Norway, and that minority is split between two traditions, a liberal tradition and a conservative tradition. The dominating liberal tradition has attached itself to social democratic concepts of tolerance and [...]

Everybody loves Ariel: Sharon is making his brief visit to Norway on Wednesday, (landing in the remote town of Molde, the PM's home town, thus limiting the number of protesters and avoiding association with the Oslo process), and has been interviewed in Aftenposten. [...]

Phony headlines: Here's a headline in Aftenposten: Hagen dominates the media. The article by Lise Merete Olaussen contains the results from a report on how much attention party leaders and the PM got in the major media from April to June. What [...]

Africa visit "raises" "concerns": Bush's visit to Africa has been largely dismissed here as an election campaign stunt, aimed at black voters. Though the reports are balanced by Norwegian standards, acknowledging that Bush against all expectations may actually be doing some good here, the [...]

Top of the world, Kofi: The UN Human Development Index typically receives a lot of coverage in Norway, because we tend to get a favourable mention. Third year in a row, we've now been declared (or declared ourselves) the best country in the world to [...]

The vulgar truth: There have been more reactions than usual, and all of them very negative, to the Hagen interview I mentioned below, where he called forced marriage a form of rape, and accused the government and Bondevik of being responsible through their [...]

Forced marriage a form of rape: Carl I. Hagen is interviewed in Dagbladet today. Referring to government passivity towards forced marriages among young immigrants, (documented in a highly recommendable book from Human Rights Service): They're passive to the fact that young female Norwegian citizens are raped [...]

Alcohol ads to the people: It's illegal to advertise for alcohol in Norway, and there doesn't seem much political will to make it legal. But the ban has, according to Aftenposten, never been tested in court, and, inspired by a case in Sweden, the magazine [...]

Sharon to enter lion's friend's den: Ariel Sharon is coming to Norway on the 16th to discuss the peace process with PM Kjell Magne Bondevik. I'm not sure why he's interested in discussing this with Bondevik, unless he wants Norway to get involved again, which would [...]

Scandinavian sperm: Summer is the season of cucumber news in Norway, referring to the fact that cucumbers are 96% water - just like the news many editors fill their pages with at a time of year when most politicians retreat to their [...]