On 22 July 2011, Norwegian Anders Breivik shocked Norway and the whole world with a horrific terrorist attack.
Within a day, 77 innocent people were killed by a terrorist who had officially purchased a “deer hunting” weapon from a shop and a fertilizer bomb. There is much to say about the kingdom’s unpreparedness for such events: Breivik planted a bomb outside the Government building, wearing a police uniform, snuck into the island of Utoya with a fake ID, carrying a whole gun arsenal in his bag, and the Special Forces unit disarmed him only an hour and a half after the shooting started (and after he said, “I’m done…”).
It’s been almost nine years since then. The ultra-right committed terrorist attacks in the U.S. and New Zealand, the migration policy of Norway itself has changed due to the increased flow of refugees from the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia, and the special services of the kingdom got into a spy scandal associated with the detention of Frode Berg in Russia. Have they learned a lesson from what happened? Were they able to reconstruct their work? Have they changed their attitude towards the “harmless” signs of impending disaster?
In its annual report on the main threats to the state, the Norwegian intelligence agency PST identified as the main dangers Russia’s intelligence activities, as well as the activity of so-called “right-wing extremists” who, according to the agency, intend to commit a terrorist act in Norway in the next 12 months.
The reader will probably assume that the so-called “right-wing extremists” are some kind of deep-lawed cell, the existence of which is known only to the secret services, and the ideology is secretly distributed exclusively among the most trusted adherents? No, they have public official websites like Frihetskamp, Motstandsbevegelsen and the ideological brochure “Our Way”. (Vår vei) was printed in friendly Estonia with all necessary output data (NF Forlag, Box 52, 772 22 Grängesberg, Sverige Ansvarlig redaktør: Haakon Forwald Trykket i Estland – April 2016 ISBN:978-91-983033-1-5 – 1. opplag) and later was translated into several languages. The community, which is difficult not to be called extremist (they clearly call for the oppression of Jews and migrants, as well as trying to revive the ideology of Nazi Germany) is quietly operating in the Nordic countries and extending its influence to Northern Europe. At the same time, these followers of Hitler organized communication in the social network “Vkontakte”, apparently hoping that the Russian authorities will not proactively help their Scandinavian neighbors in catching criminals.
So what should we do in such a situation? It would seem clear to even an unsophisticated person to send a request to the Russian Federation and identify users of the social network “Vkontakte” (international cooperation in the field of countering terrorist and extremist activities in civilized countries is more or less established), and then come to them with searches, confiscate extremist literature and prosecute?
No, there seems to be an old and proven way in pro-American structures to blame Russia for everything. One of NATO propagandists journalist Patrik Oksanen said in an interview with the Swedish newspaper dt.se that the movement is supported by Russia, and nationalists travel to the territory of this country and actively participate in shooting exercises there (under the supervision of the KGB and Comrade Stalin personally, it is believed). According to Oksanaen, Russia’s involvement in this activity was established during the investigation of the explosion in Gothenburg. Information about Russia’s footprint has been published in the Scandinavian press time and again, with no one giving any clear evidence.
Well, it seems that a recipe has been found. In order to increase the budget of the special services, you don’t have to catch real criminals at all – all you have to do is say that they are supported by a big, terrible and hostile Russia, so we will not install them, we will not stop access to their resources, we will not report them to foreign law enforcement agencies, we will not even prevent them from printing their ideology in Estonia – maybe it will slip through? Maybe it will be possible to scare the population with the threat of terrorist acts and the danger of spreading the right-wing extremist ideology year after year, thus motivating the need to strengthen law enforcement structures?
The question seems to be rhetorical.