The Norwegian government has chosen to follow the EU Commission in sanctioning the fishing company Norebo. The sanctions are based on speculations in the press and the EU Commission is open about the fact that it does not care to verify whether the allegations are true.
When the EU sanctioned the Russian shipping company Murman SeaFood, it was not obvious that Norway would follow suit. It could jeopardize the cooperation with Russia in managing the Northeast Atlantic cod and other fish species. The sanctions were also almost exclusively based on alleged wrongdoings by the trawler Melkart-5 carried out in Norway. The Norwegian police investigated the damage to the fiber cable to Svalbard and found no wrongdoing. Nevertheless, this was used as basis for the sanctioning. What was going on?
This analysis shows that the claim put forward that the doctrine is facilitating using civilian vessels for gray-zone and espionage activities in peacetime does not hold scrutiny. An observed or perceived increase in such activity cannot be ascribed to what is stated in the doctrine.
In the TV series "The Shadow War" from the Norwegian public broadcaster, NRK, many allegedly suspicious issues were presented. But what do we discover if we look at what the award-winning journalists from NRK actually uncovered? Did the journalists know they were misinterpreting the information they presented, or did they simply not care to investigate?
What was the contribution from the Norwegian intelligence service in the "Shadow War"? What insight did we get into how they work? Sensationally, it looks like the service actively opposed its own government. Hardly within the assigned scope as a domestic intelligence service.
