A layer of snow and a layer of silence

Sunday last week it started snowing again. It seemed like it would never stop as it was snowing the whole day. Yet another thick layer of snow. A layer that will sound-proof our streets. Snow has a funny effect like that, the ability to make you feel like you are in room that muffles sound -- while being outside. So you might say that snow adds a layer of silence in the streets. A barrier of silence, preventing sound to travel far, almost stopping sound from being heard -- and not to mention words.

This is how I experience the news regarding Wikileaks here in Norway and Sweden at the moment. When the first cables were released it was all over the news here up in the cold north. Speculations were going wild, as usual, and the media tried to scare the people that this might be the last blow that takes down USA. Oh the horror! That was of course the typical hyperbole to get more readers so they could earn even more money; and making us think that they care about the citizens.

Now I get the impression it is snowing in the offices at Norwegian and Swedish newspapers. Not trying to give Wikileaks too much attention, just enough that it's not too obvious that they have lost interest. Or are they also too afraid of the truth?

It's the whole 'U.S. embassies spying on Scandinavian soil' again. All over the news for a few days, then later on it's forgotten.

This raises the question, do Scandinavian news truly do this in hope that the government will listen to them and do something about it, or do they just give up because they know that the government will do nothing? Is the whole world now pandering to the USA for no obvious reason, other than fear that they will actually invade any country, with no consequences whatsoever, that disagrees with them and have?

The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, is constantly downplaying Cablegate by saying "that each cable is the opinion of one diplomat and the opinion at that time, so they are now irrelevant." In other words he seems to be trying to tell Norway that it is best that we ignore Cablegate and try not to get upset about it. It's just business as usual. Which only shows how much Norway is pandering to the U.S. After Norway received help from The Marshall Plan after WW2 it has been waiting for the U.S. to say "jump" so Norway can ask "how high" with unfortunate great enthusiasm.

Swedes are known to be extremely non-confrontational, so it was no surprise that news regarding Wikileaks were almost dying off there too last week. That has now changed when it has shown, thanks to Cablegate, that only a few Swedish politicians knew and apparently approved espionage by the U.S. embassy in Sweden. It is one thing to have the wool pulled over your head, but it's another thing when a small part of the government lies to the Swedish parliament and their citizens. Sweden's Minister of justice, Beatrice Ask, denies this type of co-operation and that if it has happened she knew nothing about it. If it is proven that she did know about it she might have to step down, because handing out information about Swedish citizens to a foreign power is illegal in Sweden.

It has recently been revealed that the Norwegian Police Security Service was allegedly forced to make a deal with the USA giving them access to Norwegian and foreign citizens in Norway. As a pat on the back Norwegian Police Security Service would be given access to the Terrorist Screening Database.

We can't ignore that this is also the country that want to prosecute Julian Assange for alleged rape. Charges that was dropped and magically reappeared again. Sweden is also a country that likes to be neutral to avoid confrontation -- history has shown us that.

Norway and Sweden are just tiny specks of land compared to the U.S. But they seem to be unaware of the power they might have. Sweden has been an EU member for a while now and they still refuse to accept the Euro as their currency. It's not long ago they actually allowed people to use the Euro in Sweden. Norway is telling China to stop complaining about this years Nobel Peace Prize winner. So even if they are small, they can obviously pack a good punch as they are not afraid to stand for what they believe in. Unfortunately, like most other countries, they become tiny and weak when confronted by the U.S. Completely unwilling, probably scared, to stand up for themselves.

We need to stop blaming Julian Assange and Wikileaks for these leaks. That this is kind of like blaming a newspaper for revealing that a politician is doing something illegal. We, the people, have a right to know if the politicians we have elected are doing their job and are doing so according to law. We deserve to know if they have done something illegal. And we should have the right to talk about it freely and openly.