Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴

Norwegian, in public administration since 1997.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

@ArthurLHerman No wonder the word Angst came from German. I have never before seen so much denial, projection etc. in central Europe as now. I wonder what will happen when the Kremlin one day commands "halt!" in Ukraine, and stops. The silence could destroy the EU.

[Robert Fico 🇸🇰 @RobertFicoSVK]

Today I held an almost hour-long phone conversation with the President of the European Council, A. Costa. I fully respect him, but while he spoke about money for the war in Ukraine, I kept repeating the senseless daily killing of hundreds to thousands of Russians and Ukrainians.

If for Western Europe the life of a Russian or a Ukrainian is worth shit, I do not want to be part of such a Western Europe. I told A. Costa that I will not support anything, even if we have to sit in Brussels until the New Year, which would lead to support for Ukraine’s military expenditures. I am ready, as Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, to support Ukraine in its reconstruction on the basis of bilateral negotiations between the Slovak and Ukrainian governments, but I reject senseless killing.

In this spirit, I sent a letter to the President of the European Council, A. Costa, and to all the prime ministers of the EU member states, which you can read here.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Ukraine could suffer being a victim of a historically rare double-tap, first in 1991 their ideology and system crashes, making for unstability, poverty, emigration. Then, almost as soon as Ukraine joined the Western bandwagon, liberal Europe starts to unravel. What's next for poor Ukraine.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

@ianinnorway @RSA_Observer I don't understand how her hardline position is a help to Western Europe, either. It all feels very irrational.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Hamas, I think. They have lost half of Gaza, and much or most of their support from Damaskus and Tehran. Israel, on the other hand, has increased its territory, literally castrated Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, got rid of Assad, and let someone on the West Bank watch while butchering chicken in Gaza. All at a loss of personnel equal to but one day's losses in Donbass. The kibbutzim in Qiryat Shemona and Be'eri are safer than ever. If I were Israeli, I'd say this success was clear proof that these problems are highly solvable by military methods. The biggest losers, though, are the arab civilians in Gaza, trapped as they are.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Russia never attacked Norway, except that one time we asked them to, and parts of the Norwegian Army fought in Red Army ranks, to throw out German occupiers.
At the same time, Finland did the entirely opposite - invited germans.
After the war, Finland as a neutral bridge did everything right, and profited greatly.
That's all over now, back to being an Österland, or a front line for Western Europe.
No wonder some proxy countries are attacked. Luckily for Finland, the Soviet Union is no more.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

@dangainor @KimDotcom Iran and Estonia with nukes? 🤔

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

U.S. betrayal of Ukraine. Macron and his colleagues are demonstrably much less able than the U.S. to turn any tide in Ukraine, which is inevitably turning into a wasteland. This echoes the words of Batcho and yourself from at least a year ago, about the Ukrainians sensing betrayal. When does the next chapter in the prophesy begin - Ukrainian anger at the West. And, what forms will it take.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

I share your concern, the thinking is sound, the principle proven. Like, US missionairies in China make life harder for the country's Christians and Chistianity. US and EU support for Navalny and assorted russian crooks spelled their doom. Quite understandable - I bet that if any political party in the US receives support from China or Russia, it will not aid its cause, on the contrary, the ones involved would be treated like traitors, I guess. In the same fashion, US support for specific political parties in Europe could cause a harsh blowback, defeat its purpose.
Today, however, european rightist parties will not lose electoral or financial support in case of US support. Trump, Vance & Co. are quite popular and trusted among the rightists' broad electorates, and seen as moral allies and sympatizers - not as anyone looking for fifth columnists. Nor can the rightists lose much of local financial support, as there are but crumbs to lose, rather, these parties are sabotaged by diverse european establishments and their media.

[Chamberlain's Ghost @RSA_Observer]

"... [German] the industrial economy is haemorrhaging 10,000 jobs a month, the government’s employment agency says. For the first time since records began, manufacturing in Europe’s production heartland contributed less than 20 per cent to Germany’s economy last year, according to Eurostat data.

Industrialists gripe that working cultures, energy costs and bureaucracy are killing the country’s competitiveness. International Labour Organization statistics show that the average German works 29.6 hours a week, compared with 36.1 hours in the United States and 44.8 hours in China.

Studies show that industrial electricity prices in Germany are around three times higher than those in the US and China, amid the dual shock of the nuclear phase-out and the collapse of Russian gas supplies."

-SCMP

But they prefer to spend as much as 5% of GDP - 44% of the German federal budget - on arms and defence, instead sitting down with Russians and reaching a new deal for Europe? These people are suicidal. When has German economic hardship ever had a good political outcome? The answer is 'almost never'. The most likely outcome is an AfD government, with all that entails, including euroscepticism. But the AfD at least will be willing to deal with the Russians - and will possibly have US help in doing so.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

A central tenet of humanism is a strong faith in human intelligence and rationality, and humanism relies on reason, rather than on established doctrine or religious dogma.
What now, when artificial intelligence surpasses human, and AI is more rational than we?
Science built on "enlightenment" tells us that human thoughts and emotions build on neurons and increasingly predictable biological algorhitms. We are but animals, with mental powers unable to compete with AI.
The real danger is not that AI machines becomes too human, or replace God, the real danger is the opposite, humans turning into soulless machines; predictable consumers, predictable voters.
AI will not replace God except in cosplay, rather, to me it looks like AI was sent by God with a mission - to crush secular humanism, and to teach us all a lesson about what makes us human, and not - to answer the oldest question in the book, - What is Man, that Thou art mindful of him?

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Seems like you're right. No western nuclear power will use nuclear or biological weapons and risk retaliation for the sake of Odessa. We're back to plain conventional warfare, where most numbers stack up in Rebecca's disfavour.
For the "as an American"s, this won't be fun.
Economic sanctions from zero-growth EU cause a heavier recoil than they can handle long-term, another good reason for Russia not to hurry.
The US could step up all sorts of psyops and cyberwarfare, false-flags etc but being sulky makes no D-day or victory. I don't think the americans will go that path. Let's hope they are as realistic as Trump, who threw in a towel with 28 points to the EU, and moves on.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

@estermoe Eit departement med ansvar for sektorovergripande fellesfunksjoner.

[Patricia Marins @pati_marins64]

THE SUBMARINE THAT EMBARRASSED NATO IN THE MIDDLE OF A DRILL

Imagine the scene: dozens of warships from the largest military alliance on the planet, helicopters buzzing, sonars sweeping the sea, confident commanders in the operations center toasting to the “total success” of the exercise. Suddenly, right in the middle of the formation, like a late guest arriving at a party, a Russian submarine surfaces, opens its hatch, and requests… a doctor.

This is exactly what happened on February 29, 1996, in the North Atlantic, during NATO's “Strong Resolve” exercise. And, folks, it still stings the Western ego to this day.

The intruder was the K-448 Tambov, a nuclear Victor-III from the Russian Northern Fleet. For days, it circulated among American, British, Norwegian, and Dutch frigates without a single sonar, helicopter, or intelligence officer detecting its presence. Zero. Nothing. A 7,500-ton, 106-meter-long ghost wandering in NATO's backyard like it was having breakfast.

When the Russian commander decided to surface—because a sailor was injured and needed urgent medical evacuation—the shock left the alliance's officers speechless. An American admiral later confessed privately, “It was as if the devil had walked into our war room.”

The immediate response was humanitarian: a U.S. helicopter evacuated the injured crew member to the mainland. But the moral damage had already been done. NATO had to swallow the lesson: even in 1996, five years after the end of the Soviet Union, Russian submarines could still do as they pleased in waters the West considered “safe.”

The British press called it “the greatest naval embarrassment since the Cold War.” The Pentagon ordered a review of all anti-submarine warfare protocols.

Nearly 30 years later, fourth-generation classes, like the Yasen and Borei, which entered service starting in 2013 and are being produced at an accelerated rate, have enhanced this technology. These vessels incorporate pump-jet propulsion—imagine water jetting instead of rotating propellers, eliminating the cavitation "buzz" that betrays older submarines. On the Yasen-M, the latest (like the Krasnoyarsk, commissioned in 2023), the hull is covered with thousands of advanced rubber plates, featuring internal channels that dissipate sound waves like a giant sponge.

The result? An acoustic signature so low that naval analysts refer to it as "almost inaudible," even at submerged speeds of up to 35 knots. Only the American Virginia-class submarines rival these Russian submarines.

But the main issue is that this Russian technology is being shared with the Chinese, ranging from silent nuclear propulsion to anechoic coatings that absorb sound waves, and hull designs that reduce noise to a whisper.

All of this is aimed at enhancing the Type 096, the new Chinese SSBN that promises to be the West's stealth nightmare. China intends to expand its capacity and produce 5-6 submarines per year.

If I know a bit about the Chinese military industry, they will improve the Russian technology in new versions of the Type 096.

And NATO? To this day, it remains very cautious when it comes to Russian submarines and closely monitors the technological transfer to the Chinese.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Yes. A continental Europe led militarily and financially by this united Germany, like in good old days. The French, the Poles and the Russians will be delighted. As if brexit wasn't enough, the failure of NATO could have severe consequences for the EU. Wonder what will come instead.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

I envy your optimism.
1) Ukraine lacks people, not financing. Looks as if there is enough money floating round in Kiev these days.
2) Russia has satcom. They invented it.
3) Correct, all Ukraine has to do is to hold the line, just like, all the Germans had to do in 1944 was to hold the line while using its V2 to eradicate...
4) If you are looking for dangerous supply-side inflation and "regime changes", look west, to an uncompetitive and resource-starved EU.
Sorry if I sound harsh, but after all, now it's two and a half year since the failed summer offensive. Time to stop it, if we still can, lick our wounds, and give this whole Ukraine / Georgia project a very thorough evaluation, who brought us into this mess.

[Angelica 🌐⚛️🇹🇼🇨🇳🇺🇸 @AngelicaOung]

Dear Eastern Europeans,
The reason the Americans won the first Cold War is because their system had the material advantage. Since that victory, they have not maintained their advantage but lived off legacy.

China winning or not winning will depend on who has the material advantage. But this I will say…even if they win, they will not come to Eastern Europe and make you adopt their system: not at the point of a gun, nor with soft influence or NGO. The most they will do is periodically ask you if they can help you build some infrastructure/battery plants etc.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

The West has three choices, I agree. We should not overestimate western fragility, nor Brussels’ power. We could end up with an intermediate scenario, where western fragility is not severe enough to let Europe unravel any further, while the central EU institutions are too weak to unite their members.
This third path leads to a messy, barren middle ground reality. A Europe that, as bystanderd spared a hot war, but cursed with strategic lassitude, achieves neither unity nor genuine reconciliation with the East. The conflict becomes a slow metabolic drain on European budgets, the moral clarity of 2022 long faded into cynical gray.
Zero-growth EU becomes less relevant globally, more vulnerable to internal friction, and potentially a stage for renewed great power competition rather than being a decisive actor itself. Not invaded, but adrift; and chronically unstable, sidelined by its own internal divisions and the shifting tides of global power.
It is the possibility of this muddled middle-ground that should alert and sharpen the minds in London, Brussels, Berlin, and Paris. A failure to choose a coherent path - whether of steadfast collective defense and unification, or of bold, strategic diplomacy - makes this third, indecisive outcome the least dramatic in the short term, but the most dangerous and likely of all.

[Svein Tore Ulset 🇳🇴 @STUlset]

Good find. I stumbled in but one word.
Well.. insofar as volk-souls exist, or are useful explanation models, - the western Faustians lost their wager, and the devil is busy collecting his souls.
The atheist Soviet Union lacked a soul, and failed to completely create one.
Russia, on the other hand, is not soulless.

[Braudel Marx @BraudelMarx]

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