Who's Afraid of Norway?

The New York Times ^ | 8.24 2003 | MATTHEW BRZEZINSKI

[Eurotwit]

nyone who says America's European allies have no stomach for action has never flown with Norway's defense minister, Kristin Krohn Devold. I might give her this compliment, if only the helicopter we're in weren't plummeting backward.

Moments later, we are racing at treetop level toward a Norwegian military base, from which a contingent of mine-clearing troops is about to be dispatched to Iraq, and Devold encourages her pilots to show me what they can do. The chopper banks wildly, veering to the right and left, so that in one instant I am looking straight down at the ground and, in the next, straight up at the sky. The trees are never more than a few yards beneath us.

In military jargon, this form of flying is known as terrain masking, and it is extremely dangerous because the margin for pilot error is measured in a few feet. The tactic is used in hostile territory to fly below radar and avoid enemy fire.

That the Royal Norwegian Air Force -- 36 helicopters, 57 F-16's and a half-dozen C-130 cargo planes -- is even practicing offensive maneuvers with the defense minister on board says a lot about the aspirations of both this tiny nation and its ambitious defense chief. After all, Norway has a population no bigger than those of Brooklyn and Queens put together; its 20,000 soldiers couldn't fill the ranks of the New York City Police Department.

So why do top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, spend so much time conferring with Devold, praising her initiatives and quietly promoting her candidacy to take over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?

As it happens, small nations like Norway have been assuming disproportionately large roles in global affairs since 9/11, one of the many unexpected consequences of the new new world order. ''During the cold war, when there was a bipolar massing of vast military establishments, the contribution of small nations was negligible,'' explains Loren Thompson, a military observer at the Lexington Institute in Washington. ''But today the nature of the threat is so different and diffuse that a country with special competencies or positioning can have huge leverage.''

Put more simply, size doesn't matter as much in today's localized and technologically driven armed conflicts. What does matter is speed and the ability to bring narrowly defined skills to the front lines. And this is where small countries like Norway or the Netherlands or future NATO members like Latvia come into the geopolitical picture. The evolving nature of conflict presents opportunities for Davids to fight alongside Goliaths, if they bring the right slingshot.

Devold was among the first Europeans to spot this trend, and the openings it presents to motivated, if marginal, powers. ''We want to be relevant,'' she declares, as our chopper swoops over a wheat field, startling a herd of cows.

To make Norway as attractive a Pentagon partner as possible, Devold has spent heavily and cut radically; hence her insistence that our airborne taxi do double duty as a tactical training exercise to save fuel and pilot time. ''We have some of the best pilots,'' she shouts appreciatively over the roar of the chopper's turbocharged engines. It's an American-made Bell 412, a modern version of the venerable Huey popularized during the Vietnam War. I nod weakly, trying not to encourage any further demonstrations of the craft's maneuverability. As if on cue, the pilots oblige us with a series of harrowing missile-avoidance moves known as tail-ons, during which the chopper's airframe shudders violently and we find ourselves suddenly falling -- actually falling -- backward.

The civilian official next to me has turned green. Devold, meanwhile, gazes dreamily out the window, her paratrooper boots propped leisurely on the chopper's deck, a huge smile on her face.

All across Europe, heavy armored divisions, air-wings, artillery, infantry and naval flotillas are still largely deployed to repel Red Army invaders. On both sides of the old Iron Curtain, outdated military equipment turns to rust. Moscow can't afford to maintain its forces or to pursue imperial ambitions. And the Europeans are too preoccupied with pressing issues like European Union expansion.

Continued

[goldstategop]

Kristin Krohn Dehvold IS a BABE!!!

[Paleo Conservative]

Kristin Krohn Dehvold IS a BABE!!!

You know the rules!

[Paleo Conservative]

[Paleo Conservative]

Here's her official website.

http://www.kjentfolk.no/politikere/devold

[jocon307]

I think this lady might just GET it. Too bad I don't read Norweigian!

[RLK]

She has wrists like two-by-fours.

[SoDak]

Oddly enough, she looks like any other lady in my neighborhood, probably because almost everyone here is Norwegian in some fraction, me included.

[chuckles]

Went to Babel-Fish but they don't do Norweigian!

[Nam Vet]

Sounds like my kind of Defence Minister .... AND my kind of woman. BUT no matter HOW I looked, I could NOT find the swimsuit gallery on her webpage!!!! ;)

Nam Vet

[wretchard]

Go to the original article. Plus there's this quote: ''Identify what you are good at, and concentrate on it,'' Devold explains. ''That way you can play with the big boys even if you are small.'' Holy Toledo.

[FlyVet]

Um...she does have a certain "Don't eff with me" look about her. I can deal with that.

[truth_seeker]

"Oddly enough, she looks like any other lady in my neighborhood, probably because almost everyone here is Norwegian in some fraction, me included."

My Swedish grandfather was born in SoDak. I'm the only person who calls it that, since my cousin lived there in about 1966--that's what she said.

His father came from a section of Sweden which is close to Norway, and some of his ancestors were Norwegian.

There's a story that their parents could send them to the Lutheran school which was Norwegian speaking, or the Baptist school which was English speaking, where they went.

That was Lennox, SD in the 1890s, after which he was a cowboy and worked in the Wild West Show, of one William Cody. He eventually married (after 40) and settled near Cody, WY.

[NeonKnight]

The Norwegians are tough cookies. I was deployed there a couple of times back in the early 80's, I about died. Slept in 2 foot of snow....didn't seem to bother them at all.

[JesseHousman]

...why do top Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, spend so much time conferring with Devold...

Is it because she's a fellow traveler?

She'd feel at home at the helm of NATO.

[MEG33]

Great article.Norway is lucky to have this lady!Hope she is chosen to head NATO.

[Clemenza]

The neighborhood I live in (in BROOKLYN, NYC no less!) was majority Norwegian until the 1960s. Sadly this is no linger the case. The "Squareheads" still have a few bakeries, delis (for lutefisk) and one tavern left.

[SoDak]

Very cool story. My great grandfather came to Dakota Territory from Iowa in 1879. He was a tobacco planter along the Mississippi, left that place to a son, and came further west for the cheap land. My Grandfather grew up in rural South Dakota, and my family has ranched here since, until my generation. I still own a decent-sized amount of ranchland, but lease it out to a cousin. If cattle ranching ever gets a little more profitable, I plan to go back to the life, once I've got my retirement a little more in place.

[SoDak]

I'm headed to a Florida beach this year for beer and sun for vacation. But, after seeing Gangs Of New York, I think I'm going to go to NYC next year, instead of the typical beach scene. I want to take a week or maybe a little more, and really see the city. I've little interest in shows or a lot of the typical things people go see, but would like to really get a feel for what the people are like all over the city, and to see some of the history that might not have been dozed away yet.

[RLK]

The neighborhood I live in (in BROOKLYN, NYC no less!) was majority Norwegian until the 1960s.

--------------------

Is there still a Viking Hall up there?

[July 4th]

Great article - thanks. Good to see some of my distant relatives are up to good things.

(Kick out the third-world welfare families and you're all set...)

[AnalogReigns]

If you're happy America was discovered, THANK A NORWEGIAN!!!

(Leif Ericson, 2nd generation Norwegian and 1st generation Christian, discovered New Foundland (Vinland) in 1000 AD.)

[Clemenza]

According to my neighbors, the last Norske Social Club closed about 20 years ago. There is still the Norwegian Parade every May (albeit until recently on an Avenue now lined with signs in ARABIC!).