“Do you see an ocean of opportunities or a picture of climate change?” This is the question Maren Esmark, the General Secretary of Naturvernforbundet (Friends of the Earth Norway), asked during her speech at the Arctic Frontiers conference. I’m guessing that many of the conference attendees, particularly, government ministers and representatives from oil and gas companies, would […]
I’m currently in Tromsø, Norway where the Arctic Frontiers conference is taking place all week at the local university. Today’s program featured several high-level politicians, including the foreign minsters of Norway and Sweden, the Canadian Minister of Health and the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, the Deputy Secretary of Russia’s Security Council, and the Lieutenant […]
Last week, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited Norway for two days. He met with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg to discuss trade relations, political cooperation, and North Korea. The two countries signed two memoranda of understanding. The first concerns environmentally-conscientious shipbuilding, which makes sense given the two countries’ heavy involvement in the industry. South […]
Last weekend, Hillary Clinton traveled to Norway for two days as part of her ongoing trip to Scandinavia, the Caucuses, and Turkey. In Norway, she first went to Oslo, where she had dinner with Norwegian Foreign Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. He said to the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten, “I’ve spoken with her many times, but we […]
On Monday, a deputy Chinese foreign minister, Song Tao, announced that Sweden, the current chair of the Arctic Council, supported his country’s bid for permanent observer status in the multilateral organization. He stated, “China applauds Swedish support for China to be an observer to the Arctic Council.” Tao was speaking at a briefing on Premier […]
The cold snap that has frozen most of Europe solid has created some tensions over Russia’s role as supplier of natural gas to its neighbors. On Friday, a Gazprom official claimed that Ukraine was taking more than its share from the pipeline that runs through its territory. For those who remember the unpleasantness between Moscow […]
2011 evidenced our inability to predict substantial change and respond to tumultuous events. The ramifications of foreign policy decisions will not show their true colors for some time. Below, I discuss notable states – Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Cuba, Burma, Ivory Coast, Norway, Israel, and Palestine – that I believe are important because of their effects on peace […]
22 July’s heinous, neo-fascist killings in Norway fill us with sorrow for many reasons. Not to detract from the deaths or suffering that occurs on a daily basis elsewhere, but the events that unfolded struck us differently because of their context – Norway seems so peaceful – and the evident, calculated manner in which the […]
Over the weekend FP’s Josh Keating linked to a piece that quotes Lula as stating, with regards to criticism of the proposed Belo Monte dam, that no “gringo should stick their nose in where it does not belong”. Keating’s post reminded me of a recent article I came across in CIP citing a World Rainforest […]
What’s one got to do with the other? Fair question. I wrote about this relationship in May here. Statoil, the Norwegian oil company, has a big stake in the tar sands, and a number of leading Norwegian politicians and their parties want them out. Many, if not most Norwegians, infinitely to their credit, want to […]
The Wall Street Journal has posted an in-depth look at the controversy surrounding Norwegian energy company StatoilHydro’s Snoehvit project. Since 2002, the company, of which the national government owns a majority stake, has been trying to procure natural gas from the seafloor beneath the Barents Sea. Operations at Snoehvit, whose name means “snow white” in […]