Arne O. Holm says The Most Important Point Drowned In a Stream of Money and Officers

Les på norsk.

This is a comment written by a member of the editorial staff. The comment expresses the writer's opinions.

A very divided Europe is currently gathered in a desperate and complicated attempt to find a way out of the serious crisis Donald Trump has put them in.

If the commission had taken their own warnings seriously, both Norway and Europe would be better prepared for what is happening now.

Let me rewind to our close security policy history.

Contempt for democracy

When Knut Storberget, the head of the Defense Commission, presented the report's majority conclusion, Donald Trump emerged as the clear favorite to win the US presidential election.

By then, by refusing to accept defeat in the 2020 election, he had already demonstrated his contempt for democracy and democratic processes.

He was accused in a number of court cases and refused to support Ukraine's desperate defense battle against Russia. Instead, he gave his support to Vladimir Putin and called him intelligent.

Already in his first presidential term, he began working to withdraw the US from international organizations.

The Defense Commission's members knew all about this.

And not just that. They also write about it in the report.

For example, they write, "continued polarization in US politics can lead to quicker and more unpredictable shifts in the US' foreign policy in the coming years."

Could leave Europe

Furthermore, it adds that the US, in a worst-case scenario, "could leave Europe and turn most of its attention toward China."

In addition to pointing out that NATO and Europe must take greater responsibility for their own security through increased investments in the Armed Forces, the commission nevertheless overlooks its own analyses and instead recommends even stronger military and security policy cooperation with the US.

Particularly in the High North and the Arctic. 

To be fair, it must be mentioned that two of the commission members presented their own critical remarks precisely on the strong bond with the US.

The advice from the majority, not the analyses, was perpetuated in the Armed Forces' long-term plan, where dependence on the US is strengthened and continued.

Today, Donald Trump sits in the presidential chair and has demonstrated his resistance against Europe and Ukraine and sympathy for Russia and Vladimir over a few weeks.

He has long since announced that he will withdraw US forces from Europe and reduce the US defense budget for NATO, among other things.

Greenland and Canada

He has legitimized the right to hostile annexation of countries by demanding that Greenland and Canada become part of the United States, both members of NATO.

The prestigious Defense Commission saw the danger signals but could not face the consequences of their own observations.

Once again, the High North, including Norway, Finland, and Sweden, is most exposed to a critical situation. What will the United States do, for example, if Russia, with reference to the United States' claim to Greenland, demands control over Svalbard?

In contrast to the Norwegian Defense Commission, the Swedish Armed Forces were quite explicit in their advice. They asked the Swedish government to prepare for exactly the situation we are in now: an unpredictable and volatile United States.

The Defense Commission's mandate was to outline Norway's defense and security policy for the next 10-20 years.

After a year and a half, the report's conclusions were already outdated.

Because the commission did not take its own analyses seriously.