How's it being reported there? What are opinion polls showing about local citizens thoughts on what's going on?
The reports are quite calm for now. The front page in Norway today was about the controversial invite of Taliban leader to Norway this week. But the Ukraine/Russia case is reported as an unnecessary aggression from Russia. It is reported as a test from Russia towards Nato and its allies . Nato pushes Russia to deescalate the situation.
The Ukraine foreign minister was quite unusually visiting Denmark today, so something highly serious is up and is going to happen. Denmark is already more than highly involved in the defense of the Baltic Nations and have now send the frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes and an extra 4 F-16 Falcon jet fighters to the Baltic area, to help them keep out of harm's way.
It has been revealed that the Ukraine foreign minister had a long list of military equipment and weaponry they want the DANEP (Danish Eastern Neighborhood Partnership (with the Baltic Countries, Ukraine, Belarus and Georgia) to help out with. The DANEP seem to have already pledged $81.3 million worth of military "technical assistance" to Ukraine. https://um.dk/en/danida-en/countries and regions/countries-regions/eu-neighbours/danish-eastern-neighbourhood-news/ As written above, the Danish Government is already sending the military "Technical assistance" of the frigate HDMS Peter Willemoes and 4 F-16 Falcon jet fighters this week to the Baltic area. The 4 F-16's have in fact already arrived in Lithuania https://www.barrons.com/news/danish-jets-arrive-in-lithuania-amid-regional-tensions-01643378107 The Norwegian defense forum news about the matter (in Norwegian). : https://forsvaretsforum.no/baltikum...-fregatt-og-fire-jagerfly-til-baltikum/239079 https://forsvaretsforum.no/f-16-jagerfly-litauen/danske-jagerfly-ankommer-litauen/243421 Perhaps it should be said, that neither Sweden or Finland are members of NATO, and so they suffer the risk of being attacked by Russia themselves, and so they can do nothing to help out the Baltic countries, Ukraine and NATO in this matter.
Denmark becomes first country to totally scrap all COVID-19 restrictions, , with the last restrictions (covid-19 passports, face masks and what have you) all being dropped on February 1. “Recent weeks have seen very high infection rates, in fact the highest in the entire pandemic,” The Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen said. “Therefore, it may seem strange and paradoxical that we are now ready to let go of the restrictions.” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke added: “The situation in Denmark is that we have this decoupling between infections and intensive care patients, and it is mainly due to the large attachment among Danes to revaccination. That is the reason why it is safe and the right thing to do now.” https://www.politico.eu/article/denmark-becomes-first-eu-country-to-scrap-all-covid-19-restrictions/ ___ Or in other words, the new and latest string of Covid-19 has proven to be more than highly infectious, just as a "normal" virus would have been in the past (before the Covid-19 pandemic), but the Danish health authorities now regard Covid-19 to have evolved into a string that is just as "harmless" as a "regular" virus, also due to the high number of people who have been vaccinated. So it's no longer considered to be a threat to public health.
Perhaps I should add, that at my present "workplace" (I do have a signed contract, but I'm still kind of freelance, deciding exactly when I want to work, and only pledging myself fully to around a handful of work days of my own choice a month, and only two month in advance), we have not been asked to be vaccinated or to show a Covid-19 passport at any point in time, but we were told to do covid-19 self-tests at home (all provided and paid for by the employer) every day before we were suppose to be at work.
Just adding to what I posted earlier. The Danish health authorities now acknowledge that there is no longer any possibility of escaping Covid-19 (or more correctly one of the mutations of the original), no matter if you are vaccinated or not, but when looking at the latest statistics, they at the same time believe there is also no longer cause to be alarmed, more than it would be the case with a regular flue, because even the vaccinated are now getting infected at a much higher rate than ever during the pandemic, but the infected (all included) are no longer getting more seriously ill or dying at a higher rate than you would expect, if it was from a regular flue. (There is a tiny small difference, but this could be due to the huge amount of testing and awareness, that there would not usually be).
It feels so good to finally could live normal again. Norway has not ended all restrictions yet. We have been a week for two lagging behind Denmark the last two years. So hopefully we will se a full opening soon.
Today is the national day of the Sami people. Contrats to all Sami people. NRK( Norwegian state channel) reported on the celebration most of the day. I think it's the only 30`s year where this day has been celebrated in Norway. In Norway it will be celebrated in kindergarten and schools tomorrow. The Sami people and culture is more accepted and respected now than before.
There was also an article about the the clear signal from the Danes and their support to Ukraine. Sivil and military support if necessary. Norway on the other hand is a bit more careful in their statements. Denmark has sent 220 Million DKR so far as far as I know. And committed to nearly a Billion DKR. Norway has received critic from the Ukrainian ambassador for not being supportive enough. https://www.tv2.no/nyheter/14559878/
Well, if we forget about NATO for a moment, that has it's own political agenda's depending on if you are the USA, Germany (who are more than highly keen on keeping the peace and trading with Russia and so kind of distance themselves from the support of Ukraine) or just European in general, then Denmark has created a kind of special personal Union/partnership and forum, the DANEP (Danish Eastern Neighborhood Partnership) with the Baltics and Ukraine, pledging them all kinds of financial and military support, I'm sure in a kind of negotiated mutual agreement with the USA, though they have no part of it.
How are the Nordic armed forces? After all those years in Afghanistan and Iraq, they have combat experience if nothing else. Norway and Denmark are in NATO so they are relatively small but I know that Finland still has conscription and has a massive army right?
No matter the size of their army, Finland and Sweden are irrelevant military wise, because they are not NATO members and so are scared stiff and terrified of Russia, and so do not feel able to say or do anything when it comes to the Baltics, Ukraine or Eastern Europe.
Perhaps I should add, that Russia have send a personal letter to a few of the NATO members, the USA, England, France, Germany, but also Denmark (I'm sure due to the DANEP partnership), demanding that if they are to keep away from the borders of Ukraine, then NATO have to sign an agreement that they will never adopt any further countries in the future (which also include Sweden, Finland, Ireland, Austria and Switzerland). obviously there is no way a united NATO can agree to this demand.
Denmark is sending yet another frigate to the Baltics, due to the dispute between Russia and Ukraine, this time HDMS Esbern Snare that is an Absalon-class frigate, and kind of a multipurpose flex deck hybrid between a frigate and a support ship, but was upgraded to a more genuine frigate last year, though obviously not quite as powerful as the Iver Huitfeldt-class HDMS Peter Willemoes frigate that is more like a multipurpose hybrid between a frigate and a destroyer and is considered to be the 3rd most deadliest frigate-class in the world right now. http://www.military-today.com/navy/top_10_frigates.htm
While the Danish Government published their promise of yet another frigate to the Baltic area yesterday, two American B-52H Stratofortress bombers left the Morón Air Base in Spain, in a shared training mission to fly to England and then across Denmark with the escort of Danish F-16's to enter Swedish airspace, then spending a few hours in the air in their mission over Sweden before returning the same way as they came. A link to a picture taken from one of the Danish F-16's of the mission and event : https://www.forsvaret.dk/da/nyheder/2021/b52-bombefly-over-danmark/
Norway has decided to send protective gear like helmets and wests to Ukraine. Due to a resolution in the Parlament in 1959 Norway can not sell og give weapons or ammo to a area in conflict or war. A resolutions highly disputed these days. Norway close the airspace for Russian planes and freeze all stocks and money in Russia. And the Norwegian wealth found will sell out from Russia. At the same time finds 2 billion NOK to aid Ukraine. The military sendt an additional 50-60 ekstra soldiers to Lithuania yesterday. In late march and early april Norway will hold Cold response in the North of Norway. A Nato exercise with 35 000 Soldiers from 28 nations. Russia has just completed a atom rocket exercise in the north. https://www.nrk.no/tromsogfinnmark/..._-et-klart-politisk-signal-til-usa-1.15860702 Norwegian media reports warnings from Russia if Sweden and Finland was to join Nato. https://www.abcnyheter.no/nyheter/v...sland-med-nato-trussel-mot-sverige-og-finland
Been a bunch of WW2 films released by Denmark/Norway in recent years. The King's Choice and April 9 come to mind.
Besides other equipment, then Sweden have decided to send 5,000 anti-panzer missiles to Ukraine. Sweden are not a member of NATO and always try to stay neutral, So this is the first time they are sending weapons to a warzone like this since 1939, when Russian invaded Finland. Besides the F-16's and also the frigate-destroyer in place in the Baltics and now also F-16's on patrol in Poland, The Danish PM has said that Denmark will keep sending all sorts of equipment to Ukraine and 2,700 anti tank weapons, and also 300 surface-to-air stinger missiles, besides a fully equipped field hospital, and she also said, that if there are Danes who want to join the fight to defend Ukraine, then there will be nothing preventing them to go. Or in other words, it would seem that Danish military personnel is now actively moving in. The Danish Prime Minister also said on TV, that should Putin expand his aggression by making any kind of military move against the Baltics (or Poland), then Denmark will instantly defend and go to war with no hesitation what so ever, and she acknowledged that it, in that case, could be the start of a WW3.
Media bias and propaganda from right to left aside, then the basic facts that no one can dispute is that Russians are now protesting against this war and have been arrested by several 1,000's (probably in a figure around 10,000) these past few days because there is no room for free speech in Putin's dictatorship, while Ukrainian civilians are either fleeing (mainly women and children) from the Russians to Poland or to Romania, or are now taking up even primitive arms to fight for their freedom, and this personal choice obviously has absolutely nothing to do with what NATO or the USA may have been doing or what happened years ago in some Ukraine provinces, but is all about fighting against a mad dictator who want "lebensraum" and rule over Kiev and Kievan Rus' (just go look it up), that is part of the cradle of Russia, and so recreate a Greater Russian empire. The original Rus' people originate from Sweden, that back in the Viking age was not yet an actual country and Kingdom but invaded and gave name to Russia, unlike the Dene and Denmark, that was an actual kingdom who invaded Paris and the half of England named the Danelaw and admittedly has been vastly more aggressive and uncompromising when it comes to free speech and all kinds of personal freedoms of choice, also in this day and age. Putin has been using the "neo-nazi" card over and over again against Ukraine to make excuses for this invasion, well knowing that Ukraine's supposed "US puppet neo-nazi" president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in fact is Jewish and lost several of his family members in the Holocaust, and thus adding personal insult to the Putin propaganda lies. In my opinion Putin has already lost this war. He can role in his tanks and shoot at civilians, but this will only create even more anger and defiance among the people of Ukraine, and so long as the population is against him, he will never be able to govern them. Remember that this is not some faraway war in a country the Russians do not care about. Kiev and Kievan Rus' is part of the cradle of Russia, so this is Russians murdering what the Russian themselves consider "half-Russian" brothers next door, and for no reason, so this is no longer only a military war between two countries, but comparable to a civil war, and Putin will not be able to survive politically on the home front by keeping this up, so the pictures now emerging of Ukrainian civilians preparing for war just show that Putin has gambled on a quick surrender and lost.
For the first time in history, a survey now show that a majority of the population in Finland are for a membership of NATO, Sweden are now also considering to join.