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We Are No Longer Training for ‘The Unthinkable'
Dear reader. This week has been focused on Exercise North, a preparedness exercise in Bodø, Northern Norway. But where we previously said we were 'training for what is not supposed to happen,' we are now talking about real events that will likely impact us. It is just a matter of time and we must be prepared.
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We have followed Exercise North this week, at which we have met political and military leaders, researchers, and media.
However, while we formerly have written about exercises for 'what is not supposed to happen,' the authorities are now spending a lot of time preparing the population for what will happen, whether we are ready or not.
Crisis, war, extreme weather and hybrid threats. Power outage, water shortage, lack of fuel, loss of communication and hostile states. The list of looming threats is long. Still, not everyone is prepared.
I myself received the clear message stated by the Norwegian Prime Minister as he emphasized the need for self-preparedness and less dependence on fossil fuels when he opened Exercise North.
Journalist Linn Ophaug caught up with the Norwegian minister of foreign affairs during the annual conference High North Dialogue in Bodø. The minister emphasized that Norway's work in the Barents Sea is now being used as one of NATO's strongest arguments against the United States (Norwegian only).
Journalist Hilde-Gunn had a talk with the Chief of the Norwegian Air Force about NATO's newest Combined Air Operations Center in Bodø, and their first “mission”.
Ophaug also met the deputy leader of the Swedish Northern Military Region, who described the vulnerable situation that the Nordic region is facing. (Norwegian only)
Also, read about an exercise that will gather around 400 personnel from the Norwegian Civil Defence, and that the U.S. Coast Guard will base its first Arctic Security Cutters in Alaska rather than Seattle.
A few days ago, Commentator Arne O. Holm found himself in the border city of Kirkenes in Northern Norway, to lecture on the border demarcation with Russia, since which 200 years have now passed.
But not everyone celebrated, because the Skolt Sami lost land and rights as the border was drawn. (Norwegian only)
“A border project that is barely mentioned in Norwegian school books. There is still a blind zone starting in Trondheim, or Nidaros, if you will”, Holm writes in his comment from the celebration.
Now, over to something truly fascinating, as a shipwreck has been found in Svalbard, with a story to tell.
And the permafrost, or the lack thereof, is creating trouble for cultural heritage sites in Svalbard.
Read about all this and more at High North News.
Today marks the start of this year's High North Dialogue conference, also in Bodø. You can look forward to interviews and this year's High North Hero, and much more.
In addition, Holm and Yours truly are in Helsinki, where both a visit to the embassy and a panel discussion on Arctic journalism are on the agenda. So stay tuned!
Arctic spring greetings from Editor-in-Chief Trine Jonassen
