WTF is going on in Norway?

Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Tim McCulloch said:
Bombs? Shootings at youth camps?

Tragic, and not the kind of thing one would expect to be reading about from Norway.

Helge? Kristian? Any insight you can offer?
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Hello,

This is a strange event. Being that it's a National Holiday in Norway, why would a terrorist (whom, you'd assume would want to harm as many people as possible) bomb a building that is pretty much empty of workers?

For whatever reason, I'm sorry to hear of any casualties and am grateful that there were less people in the building than during a standard workday.

This is a terrible event.

Hammer
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Well, there's been two incidents, and the police says that they are linked.

First one was a large car bomb inside the parking garage or just outside the governements main offices and/or the ministyry of petroleum and enegy's offices. So far seven people is confirmed dead, lots of wonded. A couple of buildings have sustained huge damages, and there's debris and broken windows in a radius of at least 500 m. The drummer of one of my regular bands works in the building closest to the explotion, I saw his office in a picture, there was nothing left worth rescuing. Luckily we are in the middle of the holiday season, and most people, including him is on vacation. Downtown Oslo is in a lockdown right now, they are limiting traffic in and out of the city, all the emergency services are on high alert, and we are encouraged to stay home and limit use of mobile phones. If any of you have ever been at Rockefeller or Sentrum Scene, this happened around 500m away, so even down there there's some broken windos and debries.

Second one was a shooting by a lone male disguised as a police officer. Apparantly he arrived at AUF's youth camp(AUF is the youth division of the labour party, currently one of the partys in the governement), said he was there in response of the first bomb, collected a lot of people around him and started shooting. Official number of deats are "a few" but eye-witnesses report 20 to 30 dead. A lot of people jumped in the ocean and tried to swim away, so the death toll is very uncertain. The army is currently doing search and rescue there, as well as searching for more gunmen and explosives..

They have apprahended the shooter, he is reportet to be a white, caucasian male, and speaks fluent norwegian.

I feel sorry for those who are dead, wounded and their relatives.

I do hope this has a more reasonable explanation, but I fear that this is the response we get from being engaged in wars thousands of km away in foreign contries. I'm glad I'm not in the governement who are responsible for putting us in this mess.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Apparently they are on the long list of western countries that pissed off the radical fundamentalists, by supporting NATO in Afghanistan, freedom of the press (they re-printed the famous Danish newspaper cartoons considered offensive it Islam), and other perceived crimes against that less than tolerant group.

JR
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Helge og alle Norske venner......

My heart is heavy with grief that the insanity of random violence has visited your community and nation. When I was living there I experienced first hand the care and attention given to immigrants and how they were educated and integrated into society yet encouraged to maintain their own traditions.....on an equal basis.

It is so sad that someone would use their intelligence and energy to tear down and destroy things rather than work to build and improve life for all. It seems such acts are selfish insanity.

Ha' de'........

DR
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Very sad indeed. Hopefully the response to these incidents will not leave larger scars than the incidents themselves. The brief time I spent in Norway convinced me it is a beautiful country full of the best people.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

First of all: Thank you for caring and thank you for asking.

Our nation is pretty much in shock at this moment, and many things are still unclear - and as usual there are conflicting reports in the media. I for one will wait to speculate as to who did what and what motivation they might have had.

As of now I don't have much to add to what Helge has already posted about the actual events.

One thing I will mention that warmed my heart a little in all of this is something our prime minister said in his official announcement 10 minutes ago: (rough translation) "We will not let these horrible and cowardly attacks weaken our democray, we are a small nation that takes pride in doing our share in improving the world around us. We will not be fooled into answering violence with more violence, we will answer the violence with more democracy".

I am an optimist by nature and hope these words will turn out to be the truth. I'm seeing many people on social networks updating their status to things regarding tolerance and not jumping to conclusions about immigration, etc.

I hope that when we have revcovered from the initial blow, this event will make us both stronger and better.

I don't know if this link will work in all other countries, but if you wish you can visit one of the nation's biggest newspaper's website here www.vg.no. They have also posted some articles in English for the benefit of tourists and families abroad that are worried about their next of kin who might be in Norway for various reasons. Btw, this newspaper's offices were pretty much destroyed in (one of) the blast(s), they are keeping the wheels in motion from some hotel rooms in Oslo.

Again, thank you for asking about us.

Best regards,

Kristian Johnsen
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Glad to hear our WWW friends are OK.. Know that we are with you.

Yes the response unfortunately is more of what makes them angry (freedom and human rights).
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In Somalia they just appointed a woman's rights activist as the country's minister for women and family affairs. The only woman in the new government. She was abducted on the way to her first cabinet meeting. Her husband was killed by suspected Islamist gunmen 3 years ago. Let's hope she fares better than he did.

It's hard to grasp how much different some people's culture and belief system is from ours.

Good luck with the damage control and clean up. Lets be thankful they weren't able to kill even more innocents.

JR
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Last official word from the prime minister is that the man suspected of planting the bomb and doing the shooting is a 32 year old norwegian, possibly with right-wing associasions, but no suspected international terrorist connection.

If that is the case, it is a total suprise.

Official deaths are now at 17 :(
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Helge Dr. Bentsen said:
Last official word from the prime minister is that the man suspected of planting the bomb and doing the shooting is a 32 year old norwegian, possibly with right-wing associasions, but no suspected international terrorist connection.

If that is the case, it is a total suprise.

Official deaths are now at 17 :(
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Think Timothy Mcveigh, Jerod Loughner, Charles Whitman, etc, etc, etc.

The initial talk today included a lot of references to Muslims. I maintained that the operative term for any such "group" is "insane, unreasoning maniac".

Sad, so sad.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Tim McCulloch said:
Bombs? Shootings at youth camps?

Tragic, and not the kind of thing one would expect to be reading about from Norway.

Helge? Kristian? Any insight you can offer?
Click to expand...

This is going from bad to worse: First we thought the bomb was bad, now we just learned that there are 80, yes, 80 killed youths at the summer camp. Teenagers camping out and learning about politics and going about their summer holidays.

The media have released the identity of a 32 year-old with anti-muslim and pro right-wing sympathies who is believed to be either the sole perpetrator, or one of several, although the latter seems unlikely at the moment. What his twisted motivation might be is unclear.

I'm at a loss for words and I'm experiencing an awful feeling of powerlessness. My sympathies go out to those directly affected by all of this. In my mind are also those who have experienced terrorist attacks, school shooting, etc, in their countries in the past. I now have a clearer understanding of what this is like.

Again, thank you for caring.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Dear Helge, Kristian, and other Norwegians who read Sound Forums-

I'm so sorry to hear of this horrible violence which has happened in your country.

Sincerely,
John Norris
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

I'm an American, but Norway has ALWAYS been my favorite country. It's been a goal of mine to come visit there ever since I was young. I'll echo what Kristian said about being an optimist by nature and hoping that the country continues to take that stance of being about democracy and not violence. I wish other countries in this world would take up those same views. My regards to the victims of this tragedy.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

My thought's and prayers are with you all! I've been to Norway, many, many, a times on tours and this just blows my mind!

One of the best and peaceful places I've been in the past years. I'm just at a lost for words......

WTF did Norway ever do??? Kinda makes me want to come out of (MIL) retirement and go kick some more ASS!

Pat

If anyone needs anything, do not hesitate to give me a call.
 
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Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Latest report now says 85 dead at the youth camp plus the 7 killed by the bomb.
I suspect the numbers will be higher in the end, as there are several people hospitalised with severe injuries.
Sad indeed.
 
Re: WTF is going on in Norway?

Greetings, Ola, Kristian & Helge-

The news gets more tragic for your country. My condolences to the families and friends of the departed.
 
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