Editorials

Jürgen Habermas dies after the world he believed in was gone

Habermas built his philosophy around “constitutional patriotism”: post-Nazism, nations must ditch people, culture and history and bind themselves instead to constitutions, human rights and democratic rules. The cosmopolitan would replace the patriot; reason would defeat myth once and for all.
It failed before he did. Constitutional patriotism is a parasite that lives off the very pre-political loyalty it pretends to abolish. Habermas earned respect, but the world was never persuaded.

Elite cultural revolution wrecking democracy and Europe

Stalin did it. Hitler did it. Mao did it. Pol Pot did it. Kim Il Sung did it. Fidel Castro did it. Ayatollah Khomeini did it. Hugo Chávez did it. ISIS did it: reshaped society according to their own vision, to achieve something greater, better, purer, and more unifying. The exact same thing is being done by Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Ursula von der Leyen, Keir Starmer, and the rest of the elite when they use society as a playground to experiment their way toward a dream society in their own image.

Støre seeks to curb digging in the Epstein case

Norway’s parliament is set to approve the mandate for a high-stakes inquiry into the Epstein case, led by its Standing Committee on Scrutiny and Constitutional Affairs. PM Jonas Gahr Støre, however, has already voiced concern in an interview with NTB that the investigation could overreach, calling for clear limits. The intervention appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to shape the scope of the probe before it has even begun.

Gender imbalance: Female takeover in government communications

The Government’s Equality Shock: In the Ministries’ communications staff, 64% are women! While the government in 2025 launched its first national equality strategy aimed at improving gender balance in professions and leadership, women dominate the state’s information gatekeepers: 80 of 125 communications advisers are women (64%). In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are no men. Journalists often wait days for email replies. Only four ministries are evenly balanced; the rest are skewed. Irony within its own administration?

NOK 100 million in foreign aid channelled to Marxist activism

With slogans such as “Hands off Venezuela” and “Hands off Cuba”, and claims that capitalism undermines women’s rights, the organisation Latin America Groups has received around NOK 100 million from the aid budget. Nearly half of the money goes to political activism in Norway, clearly rooted on the left. The remainder is used for “solidarity brigades”, which involve travelling to Latin America, visiting social movements there, and taking part in agricultural work, voluntary labour projects, or other activities organised by the solidarity brigades.

The rift is visible

The faction meeting that the Nordic members of NATO and the Arctic Council held together with Canada in Oslo on 15 March was convened on the initiative of Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. The entire initiative and the diplomatic process that follows from it bear the mark of the political megalomania that has become characteristic of Støre.

Tight budget, but aid spending still fuels activism

The foreign aid budget invariably expands when the Norwegian Labour Party is in government. In this way, taxpayers finance thousands of people across hundreds of organisations engaged in left-leaning activism. Since 1960, aid has cost NOK 1,500 billion in 2025-adjusted kroner—equivalent to NOK 268,000 per inhabitant. No tangible results from this spending are evident. Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg has signalled a tight budget, but he is unlikely to have the stomach to cut these funds, just as he will not touch the sickness-benefit scheme or disability benefits.

The Rød-Larsen case and how the Labour Party ran a shop within a shop

Do not underestimate the stupidity of politicians. Reason and integrity are often inversely proportional to self-awareness and restraint. The Fideco scandal, like the Oslo Process and large parts of the peace mediation, are examples of this.

A 2016 judgment raises new questions in the Shada case

A ten-year-old judgment raises new questions in the case of Shada, the Palestinian girl who died at a child welfare institution in 2019. The parents have been convicted of subjecting all three children to violence over a period of more than three years. The judgment is based on statements and interrogations, but no physical evidence was presented.

Could the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have financed international terrorism?

Since the mid-2010s, Norway has taken the initiative to play a role in international negotiations with Iran. This aligns with Norway’s longstanding engagement policy, of which the Oslo Accords were a part. From 2010 onward, Norwegian aid to Iran increased. Meanwhile, the investigation into the William Nygaard case faded into obscurity, while the Islamic Republic was able to free up resources for other purposes, thanks to Norwegian assistance.