The US put heavy pressure on the Norwegian government to go along with a missile defense program and apparently won support before the government made its compliance public. New disclosures from WikiLeaks documents, reported by Oslo newspaper Aftenposten, also reveal Israel’s goal to keep Gaza on the verge of economic collapse.
As Aftenposten continues to report on the contents of documents, mostly American diplomatic cables, initially leaked to WikiLeaks, a disturbing picture has emerged indicating how government officials can say one thing publicly but something else behind the scenes. Not just in Washington, but in capitals all over the world including Oslo and Tel Aviv.
In the missile defense issue, for example, Norway’s left-center coalition government opposed it in writing in its policy platform (called Soria Moria I) published just after it first won election in 2005. The new Labour Party-led government at the time was committed to work towards scrapping plans at the time for the controversial missile defense system that the US wanted to set up in Europe. The Socialist Left party (SV) was most vigorously opposed to the missile defense, fearing it would threaten disarmament. None of the government coalition parties sensed any great interest no the part of the public in the missile defense issue, either.
According to one cable sent by the US Embassy in Oslo and reported by Aftenposten, the US then pressured Norwegian officials (external link), both inside and outside the government, to at least “counter Russian misstatements and distinguish Norway’s position from Russia’s to avoid damaging alliance solidarity.” US officials actively met with top politicians, journalists and allied embassies in Oslo to counter what they considered provocative criticism of the missile defense plan by the Russians.
http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/01/05/norway-pressed-into-missile-defense/
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