Posted on 05/02/2006 4:22:33 AM PDT by Kurt_Hectic
US President George W Bush reportedly doesn't want to meet with Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. Norway also seems to have lost an influential role within NATO, apparently, some say, because of Norway's lack of enthusiasm for the war in Iraq. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg reportedly isn't welcome at the White House.
Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) reported Tuesday that Bush's staff had turned down a request from Stoltenberg's office for a meeting between the two at the White House. Bush, according to the report, was too busy to make room for Stoltenberg in the foreseeable future.
NRK reported that Bush's staff wouldn't set up the meeting because of the Norwegian left-center coalition government's criticism of the war in Iraq, and Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen's support for a boycott of Israeli products.
Jan Petersen, who was Norway's foreign minister in the last center-right government, told NRK that he feared a phone conversation Stoltenberg had with Bush shortly after last fall's election put a damper on relations between the US and Norway. In the conversation, Stoltenberg told Bush that Norwegian officers would be pulled out of Iraq.
Janne Haaland Matlary, a professor at the University of Oslo, said her sources also indicate that Norway no longer is part of the "inner circle" at NATO.
"My contacts in NATO and Washington say Norway was in the innermost circles in NATO, that we were a partner in this inner circle together with the US," Haaland Matlary told NRK. "Now these contacts say we aren't any longer."
Støre 'unaware'
Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre told NRK that he wasn't aware that a request for a meeting with Bush was denied. He maintained that the US continued to be an important ally for Norway, while White House officials claimed Norway also was an important ally for the US.
Indeed, Stoltenberg's government often has been criticized within Norway for being too eager to please the US. On issues ranging from the relocation of the US Embassy in Oslo to mixed signals on whether government ministers will meet representatives from Hamas, Stoltenberg has been accused of being too accommodating to US interests.
This in turn has raised concerns about a rift within his coalition government. Stoltenberg's Labour Party needs to cooperate with Halvorsen's Socialist Left, which has a far more critical line towards the US than Labour. A snub by Bush actually might help Stoltenberg appease the more left-leaning members of his government, and voters, at a time when the conservative Progress Party is leading in the polls.
The former center-right coalition government led by Kjell Magne Bondevik of the Christian Democrats, meanwhile, maintained good relations with Bush, even though Bondevik's government went on record as opposing the US-led invasion of Iraq from the start.
We had a traitor in our history name of Benedict Arnold, but we hanged him!
And we shot Quisling. Got a point? Thought not.
Leif Ericson was from Iceland, and you misspelt his name.
As to Norwegian heroes, there are a few to pick from, but you're frankly too childish and dense to be worth educating.
Well, if you can't even name one well known hero from Norway's glorious wars, perhaps you can name some of the battles Norway won during WWI and WWII.
Oooops, that's right, There weren't any battles.
Norway surrendered faster than the French and the good old USofA had to do the heavy lifting to bail all of you "Proud Norsemen" out from German rule.
Not volunteering for dhimmitude or otherwise submitting to Allah would be a start. Defending Europe and Western Civilization would be great, but contrary to the aspirations of any "Centre Left" government.
Here's to Norway electing a conservative government, and rejoining the free world.
Well, if you can't even name one well known hero from Norway's glorious wars, perhaps you can name some of the battles Norway won during WWI and WWII.
Norway was neutral in WWI, as you clearly didn't know.
A few noted Norwegian heroes from WWII:
Leif "Shetland" Larsen, the highest decorated Allied naval officer in WWII
Joachim Rønneberg, leader of the Gunnerside commando team during the Norwegian heavy water sabotage in Telemark.
Knut Haukelid, prominent member of his crew.
Claus Helberg, leader of the Grouse commando team.
Gunnar Sønsteby, leader of the Sabotage Group of the Company Linge partisans
General Carl Gustav Fleischer, the first Allied general to defeat German forces in WWII, at the battle of Narvik on April 28 1940. (So much for your stupid claim that "there weren't any battles.)
Norway surrendered faster than the French? In fact it never surrendered. The King and Government evacuated to London and continued resisting from there as a recognized full Ally, using revenue from the merchant fleet to rebuild the army forces. The effort of the latter may have been decise to the war in Europe, by the way, since Britain would not have been supplied without it.
But first the army resisted for a month on Norwegian soil, despite having been run down in the 1930s by a naïve Labor government.
Do your homework, kid. You're embarrassing yourself.
Never surrendered?
Let's see if I've got this right:
The King and Queen and some other "brave and proud norsemen" desert their country and sit out the war in the English countryside while the Nazis occupy the Country of Norway.
The Nazis pick a puppet named Quisling to front for them for the duration of the war and the norse sheep mutter Heil Hitler for five years.
Only a real phony wouldn't recognize that as a surrender.
By analogy, when you play chess, do you let the opponent take your king, or do you move him away from danger?
But never mind; you're probably too stupid even to know the rules.
Norway is your prototypical, European secular-socialist welfare state.
A toilet.
PN, you're in denial, seek help......and write if you find work.
Since you resort to pure abuse, I take it you acknowledge I demolished your "arguments." A shame it was so easy.
Obviously, there are others who don't think so well of your heritage.
Gee...I wonder how you. as a "Proud Norseman" never considered staying and fighting. Oh, that's right.....you're Norse! Never mind.
Wow.
I see you continue to make dumb assumptions. You have a very impressive mind.
Hey, I understand the why, cause you had no ability to challenge the bear. You did and you were swamped like what happened to the checks
Doesn't negate the fact that those and many more countries did capitulate.
I'd have done the same, let's see live or die.
By Gosh, Joe, who the heck knows what they look like under them car covers they are required to wear? Brittany Spears? Renée Zellweger?
Tried to personally investigate this very subject in the ME with no, repeat NO success.
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