opinions
Arne O. Holm says
He Can’t Even Blame It on the Bottle
Comment: Something is not right when it feels like a relief when the news here in Norway is, quite literally, littered with drunk politicians. From the bottom of a bottle, they run amok on busy highways or on social messaging services.
Published
Modified
This is a comment written by a member of the editorial staff. All views expressed are the writer's own.
Before they eat some humble pie and are subsequently praised for doing just that.
And we forgive magnanimously.
Threatening to send the Hells Angels after a political opponent, or drunk driving on a motorway, is described as a reminder that politicians are humans as well.
Human traits
Perhaps some seriously believe we need a reminder of politicians' human traits because tyrants have ravaged the foreign policy arena for years.
We have just been through a round of fabricated travel expenses and commuter housing. We are in the middle of an unravelling of the Epstein files.
New threats against Greenland and the Arctic.
In other words, the point has long been made. We know that politicians are flesh-and-blood humans who make mistakes.
Even when drunk.
Mark Rutte, NATO's Secretary General, was apparently stone-cold sober when he recently concluded a meeting with the teetotaler Donald Trump in the White House with a smile on his face.
To put it another way, he can't blame that on anything. No mitigating circumstances that explain why he still insists on lying on his back for Donald Trump, just as the drunken Norwegian politicians do in full public view.
A secretary general who thanks Trump for his efforts, while his allies in Israel are raining bombs over Lebanon in an act that lacks historical precedent.
The Nordic Arctic
To emphasize how NATO's secretary general is currently being wrapped around the US president's finger, Trump's first reaction after the meeting was to send new threats against Russia and the Arctic. In combination with a non-covert threat to not stand up for NATO countries in Europe if Russia were to attack.
More specifically, the countries that were not willing to support the attacks on Iran, which comprise the entire Nordic Arctic.
Over the course of a few years, five, to be exact, Europe has been under intense pressure. First COVID, then Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, and now an energy policy shutdown due to the US war against Iran.
The resilience and unity are quite impressive. The only true European defector is the Hungarian Putinist, Victor Orban, Trump's European role model.
Reason to doubt
The US, given that Trump respects an election defeat, of which we have no guarantee, will not withdraw from NATO. The political safety net is too well-functioning for that. The most important question is whether the US under Trump's leadership will stand up for Europe.
There is every reason to doubt that.
The USA, given that Trump respects an election defeat, which we have no guarantee of, will not withdraw from NATO. The political safety net is too well put together for that. The most important question is whether the USA under Trump's leadership will stand up for Europe.
Europe under extreme pressure for five years.
The last thing we need in such a situation is a fawning NATO secretary general. The universities, prime ministers, lawyers, and journalists who have stood up against Trump have all emerged victorious.
The sycophants are the losers.
It's one thing to grovel when the bottle has led you astray.
It's quite another to grovel before despots who rule the world through bombs and missiles.
