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Is VG published by NATO?

The World Gang is Norway's most read newspaper. The newspaper sets the agenda, and characterizes and dominates Norwegian political debate. Then it is a pity that the newspaper's defense and foreign policy profile is so uncritical that one would think the newspaper is published by NATO or the Pentagon. 




(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)

It was far from a one-off case when the newspaper's former political editor Olav Versto characterized the opponents of the Iraq war as "quacked" individuals. In the same slant, he formulated the following way when the United States had captured Baghdad in 2003: "This is not the first time that people have the United States and the United Kingdom to thank for the opportunity, and it will hardly be the last either."
There is a sad line of war in VG all the way from Versto in 2003 to Frithjof Jacobsen in 2015. Following the terrorist attack in Paris last November, Jacobsen wrote that the terrorists now had to "be exposed and hindered by all the means available to our states". He continued: “It will be the shadow sides of us that will dominate. The utmost we allow ourselves in the use of power ... which is rarely associated with democracy and freedom. Surveillance and weapons power. After this startling tirade, he concludes that "the stories of how Western states have fought terrorism in the past are anything but glorious. But the victories have been worth it. ”
With this, VG stands beside the war criminals Bush, Blair and the chief tourist Rumsfeld, who portray the wars in the so-called fight against terror as successful. VG defends brutal wars and acts as propagandists for the world's weapons industry. It is disturbing that Norwegian journalists are stirring up war. The newspaper obviously does not want to see what the wars Norway has been in, caused by suffering and chaos. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are today devastated countries. Over 30 died in Afghanistan. Between half a million and 000 died in Iraq. Libya has become a completely lawless society after a unanimous parliamentary Norway joined the madness and dropped its 700 bombs across the country. And when the refugees escape from the countries Norway and our "allies" have raged, we want to receive as few as possible.

Screen Shot at 2016 03-12-16.33.45Ties to death. VG is far from the only Norwegian newspaper that is unable to conduct critical journalism around military power and the arms industry. More than ever, we need a critical and truth-seeking journalism about Norwegian defense and foreign policy, which is basically about life and death. The media should see it as a social responsibility to penetrate the war propaganda and the unpleasant silence around Norwegian arms sales and war expeditions. Or to quote the Danish lyricist and activist Carl Scharnberg, who was once a regular columnist in Ny Tids forløder Orientering: "If we do not abolish the war, it abolishes us."
In 2011, the now deceased professor of criminal law Ståle Eskeland published the book The most serious crimes. In the book, he concluded that Norwegian ministers and responsible politicians should be placed before the national court for participation in torture and aggression crimes in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. He also discussed Aker / Kvaerner's responsibility for the torture at the Guantánamo base.

VG defends brutal wars and acts as propagandists for the world's weapons industry.

The book was essentially killed. An exception was when he discussed the book's main conclusions with Secretary of State Roger Ingebrigtsen (AP) in the Ministry of Defense at Daily News 18. Ingebrigtsen said that "it was easy for Eskeland sitting in a warm studio to criticize Norwegian military sweating in the desert in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan ". This was also the same man who later said he wanted to invest in the Norwegian arms industry when the North Sea oil ended.

Nuclear weapons. Last year, VG's current political editor, Hanne Skartveit, called for Norwegian rearmament, and launched the incredible slogan "nuclear weapons for peace". It is the Donald Trump format over such a formulation. Recently, the editor has written that disagreement between the blue government and the AP on nuclear policy and NATO should not be discussed in the Storting. Or as she put it: "The Conservatives and the AP cannot have an open dispute about our country's relationship with NATO. They must stand together in defense and security policy. Especially in times like this. Everything else is irresponsible. " (22.2.2016). It's an incredible wording. The nuclear threat and disarmament are the most important foreign policy issues of our time. Nuclear weapons are horrific weapons of mass destruction. How in the world do you intend to fight terrorists and terrorism with nuclear weapons?
In late February, I marched through London's streets with 60 people to fight for Britain to acquire new Trident nuclear weapons at a cost of £ 000 billion. I was there with a Norwegian delegation from No to nuclear weapons. Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gave the keynote address at Marble Arch after the demonstration. He said that peace cannot be achieved by planning war, by using resources for the weapons of war from the poor, and by not respecting human rights.
In Norway, VG screams: "Nuclear weapons of peace." Truly a bit of a contrast.


Borgen is a journalist and filmmaker. He will be a regular commentator in Ny Tid in the future ..
e-borgen@online.no

Erling Borgen
Erling Borgen
Journalist and documentary filmmaker.

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