Opinions This is a debate post. The post expresses the writer’s views.
In Nordlys on 2 April, Bengt Fasteraune, defense policy spokesman in the Center Party, writes about the government’s increased allocations to the Norwegian armed forces. Fasteraune quite rightly points out that the Center Party was the first party in the Storting to agree to meet NATO’s target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.
An increase in the defense budget has also taken place under the Ap/Sp government, and this year the target of 2% of GDP will be reached. I personally think this is a sensible investment. Not because of the NATO decision, but because Norway has such an enormous land and sea area to monitor and defend. If any NATO country should spend a lot on defence, it is Norway. For many years in the early 2000s, for example, Finnmark had been almost emptied of defences, but now the defenses have been restored in Porsanger and strengthened in Sør-Varanger.
The strangest thing in the post by Bengt Fasteraune, defense policy spokesman in the Center Party, is not what he writes, but what he does not write. The Ap/Sp government has not only strengthened the Norwegian defence, the government has also entered into bilateral agreements with the USA on base rights in several places. The agreements are therefore not with NATO, but with the USA.
Now how wise is that? One situation now is that the USA has offensive superpower interests that do not necessarily correspond to Norwegian interests. If the US chooses to strike from Norwegian soil against Russia in a tense situation, it could draw Norway into a conflict we do not want. Another factor is that these US bases are included in Norwegian defense planning. Norway is becoming somewhat dependent on the United States. But the US can withdraw at any time if it wants to prioritize conflicts elsewhere in the world, and then part of Norwegian defense planning will collapse.
When we know how divided the US is, for example on the Ukraine aid, it is bold to bet so much on the US. On top of everything, we may soon risk having the erratic and dangerous Donald Trump as president and commander-in-chief of the United States.
