Tag Archives: Oslo

October 2, 2025 · 05:04

Military incompetence?

Consider the military, we all have them. Australia has theirs, Canada has theirs, apparently America has them and Russia have them. They all have their best of the best of the best of the best warrior style drafting. And some of them have a massive amount of tests, especially the top 3 in military and to get into their airfare you have to jump a massive amount of hoops. They are trained, dressed and drilled to a millimeter precision and they all have their own ways.

So when I saw (at https://www.highnorthnews.com/en/russias-violations-norwegian-and-allied-airspace-sign-desperation-says-professor) with the headline ‘Russia’s Violations of Norwegian and Allied Airspace: “Sign of Desperation,” Says Professor’ as such we have a new setting. We are given “Russia has violated Norway’s airspace in the North three times this year, as well as the airspace of several other NATO countries. This suggests that the war in Ukraine is going much worse than Moscow wants to admit, says Professor Tormod Heier at the Norwegian Defense University College.” And we all think that he might have a case. With the highlighting quote ““I interpret these violations as a sign of Russian frustration, desperation, and discouragement,” says Tormod Heier, Professor of military strategy and Operations at the Norwegian Defense University College, to High North News. “After three and a half years of war in Ukraine, the Russians have only won 120,000 km2 of terrain. This nearly equals the total area of Finnmark, Troms, and Nordland [the three counties in Northern Norway, ed. note],” he points out and continues” He makes a fine point. The second/third largest army in the world and they are slapped around like a cheap crack whore by the 20th largest army (Ukraine). Russia is more than frustrated, it needs to be broken by NATO, or the usefulness of the Russian higher ranking officers is shown to be classified as useless (and their president with them) and that is a lot to be set on by the media. Even the Russian media can no longer tell the Russian people that the war is going their way. They’ve lost over 1.1 million troops and more are getting conscripted. They lost over 400 planes and now they are putting their most valuable stealth fighters into the mix, the SU-57 Felon. It is a war they are losing at present and it seems that the military needs to add NATO in the mix, so that they can gracefully exit the battlefield. They can claim that NATO was always the enemy they could not defeat, for that they need NATO to participate. And as we see others like Estonia report similar setting (at https://extra.ie/2025/09/19/news/russia-estonia-fighter-jets) where we see “NATO says it has responded after what it described as ‘Russian military jets’ violated Estonian airspace this afternoon (Friday). In a statement released this evening, the Estonian Government reported that the incident involved three Russian MiG-31 fighter aircraft, which flew over Vaindloo Island, off the coast of Finland, without permission.” As well as NPR who (at https://www.npr.org/2025/09/30/nx-s1-5557908/why-are-russian-aircraft-violating-nato-airspace) give us “NATO’s airspace is busy these days. And not in a good way. That’s especially true for member nations on the alliance’s eastern flank. It’s not supposed to be that way. In recent weeks, states like Poland, Estonia, Romania, and Denmark have seen drones or other aircraft violate their airspace. In some cases, these airborne craft clearly identify they’re Russian in origin. Multiple countries have called on NATO to consult about what to do next. So, what’s going on? What is Russia up to?” So, before we get the excuses we are likely to get, do you think that any government will let one of these young sprouts into any plane before they can properly read maps and navigate their Cessna’s over spaces that are not Russian? And these planes go for millions.

As such, I am with professor Tormod Heier on this. It is not an isolated case, and putting your fighter planes over someone else’s terrain tends to be seen as a sign of war. Russia needs more involvement from NATO as they at present are seen as the losing clowns of the global defense departments. You can blame losing a ground war on demoralized soldiers, even if you call for help from North Korea, but for them to let their ‘proud’ pilots taking the blame does not go over well and these generals are now desperate, and apparently too many have fallen out of windows.

So as I see it, something has to change and I am all for Russia waving a white flag, but you know how Russian politicians are: better dead than dropping the red. And at present, this is how it looks, so it is better (for them) to get NATO involved. So they can cry that it was always NATO and they just weren’t ready. The Russian prostitutski’s will eat that like borsht with black bread. Besides that, there aren’t too many solutions out there for them at present. I reckon that the NATO card will be played more openly soon enough, because the NATO nations have figured out that play, as such the next step would be a larger incursion and an ‘accidental’ event of the “Oops” variety, but how large an event remains to be seen. I reckon that they will most likely target Tallinn for that, It is in view of Helsinki and too close to Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen for that to go unnoticed. And the NATO has been loading up their weapons for Russian bear in the last few months. Feel free to disagree and I am very willing to be seen as wrong, because this is not a happy moment for me, but that is seemingly how it sizes up to.

Oh, for the next story I will be loading up on Conspiracy Theory by a lot, so there is that to look forward to All that AI and not a predictive analytics mind in sight? I’m game. Have a great day today.

Here’s a crazy thought

Today I got made aware that Oslo seemingly has a water shortage. I could not believe my ears (eyes too). You see, Norway is 1,100 miles long and for about 90% of that distance it enjoys the tropical rains (read: implied sarcasm) of the Atlantic all year long. So I was a bit surprised to hear this. Now I understand the predicament, but have no fear, I is here. So here is a crazy thought. What if the snow clearing services get one additional task?

You see, Oslo gets its water from lake Maridalsvannet. And that place is almost as dry as a funny story by many politicians. So here’s a thought. It gets its water from Skjærsjøelva and Dausjøelva. So, what if we add to this? Consider this image (below)

Now consider that Skjærsjøelva is around 3 KM, Dausjøelva is even shorter. Now consider that pretty much every town in Norway needs the snow cleared. They normally place it where nature takes a hold and dissolves it into the Atlantic ‘river’, but that is merely an easy option. There is a line of towns from Rotnes up to Brandbu with a combined stage of thousands of houses, clearing snow every year. So what happens if a ditch is created, at times ceramic pipes with a diameter of 2 meters. And it is strategically placed to catch the melting snow and rainwater. It could mean a few thousand hectolitres of sweet sweet water all going straight to lake Maridalsvannet. This is not done in a day, the main line would take a few years to do, but it would mean a steady infusion of water to lake Maridalsvannet. The ceramic pipes make it environmentally friendly, and the snows will not be ‘wasted’ on the Atlantic river (small pun intended).

I wonder if it is was feasible. You see we think merely of the river, but there are more ways to Oslo that per boat (Vikings swear by it). And the question becomes how much snow is cleared from these places in a year. It might even require a little more effort.

As towns place their snow in a specific place, on a catchment field, the melting snow as well as any rain falling there goes straight towards the pipeline. Now I get that not all towns will have one, but Rotnes has a population of 20 939. I reckon close to 10,000 houses, roads and it all has to be cleared. That implies up to 10,000 locations with 20 to 40 pounds/square foot snow. It has to be cleared every year (some multiple times a year) and the roads collect even more snow. So whilst it is blown aside, it could be specifically placed. I foresee that optionally additional water filtering is required, but it could take care of the shortage. And Oslo has an estimated 1,588,457, which is around one fourth of Norway. Will my solution solve it? Optionally over several years, as the number of snow streams are directed towards Oslo, it might solve it, in the short term it merely lessens the pressure on Oslo.

It is all my brain could conceive in an hour and perhaps Norwegians will laugh at this thought stating they considered this a long time ago. That would be fair, I merely go where my creativity takes me. And even as Oslo is currently the most visible example, I am certain it is not the only one. We need to move into what we did, into what we optionally need to do now. The world is changing and the people are setting pressures into places pressure was never a consideration. That is all I have to contribute this day.

So consider the image below and wonder how much water is stored there? Could any of it find its way to Oslo? Just consider how much water you see there. In spring all that water is gone and a lot of it isn’t going to Oslo (not sure where the image was taken), but it is likely fuelling the Atlantic.

Have a great day and as diner is about to be served (by me, for me) I am signing off.

Those dodgy numbers

We knew it was going to happen, we knew that there would be some term of hardship, everyone knew this. So when the media is lashing all out whilst they know that they are misinforming the people intentionally. We have to wonder why we are not making short work of the media as a whole. So as the Independent gave us (at http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/eurozone-gdp-growth-rate-uk-second-quarter-2017-eurostat-ons-eu-brexit-a7870811.html), ‘Eurostat’s ‘flash’ estimate for growth in the single currency bloc was 0.6 per cent, double the 0.3 per cent estimate for the UK from the Office for National Statistics last week‘ we have to start asking questions. You see, the numbers are correct, they are all about the correct numbers, yet the clarity that is also behind it, mainly what Forbes and a few others tell us with: “We have the results of the composite PMI for the Eurozone and this is showing that the economic growth in the region is slowing. This really is not quite what is desired, especially as we’ve still got the ECB going all out on quantitative easing” we need to wonder what the game of the Independent is. In addition there is from that same Forbes piece: “in this day and age, people tend not to order the parts to make something until they’ve committed themselves to actually making it. So, what people are ordering to make things from is a really good guide to what is going to be made in the immediate future. We then standardise the measures so that we’ve an index, anything above 50 indicates expansion, below contraction. The one really great joy of PMIs is that they are a very good guide to what is about to happen” and that part of the equation is a slowing economy. Even as we see “A falling Eurozone PMI isn’t a disaster but it’s not exactly what we want either” we see what matters, in the age of 60 billion a month QE, we see in equal measure that the economy is slowing down, so in all this, did the independent give us that, or are they in a ‘lashing mode’ on how the EU is at twice the presented strength? And the term ‘presented strength’ is actually a lot more important than you think.

You see, this is important when we consider Mehreen Khan’s article in the Financial Times (at https://www.ft.com/content/edd41c68-76a4-11e7-a3e8-60495fe6ca71). Here we see: “Separate figures from a business survey showed the Eurozone’s manufacturing sector is in the grip of a jobs boom. Factories in France are hiring at their best pace since 2000 and in Spain at a rate not seen since before the start of monetary union in 1998, according to IHS Markit’s purchasing managers’ index“, interesting that both are referring to the PMI is it not? Another article in the Financial Times is giving us ‘Spain unemployment rate has fallen to a 9 year low’, which is great for Spain, yet again, it is merely part of the issue. The fact that it is over 17% is still an issue. Even as there is a drop, it is August, the tourist season is starting to peak this month and that is good for Spain, I am happy for them, I actually am. Yet, the issue is that the drop of 26,000 claims is merely a temporary one, because as tourist season winds down in 8 weeks, these people will get back on the unemployment books, so it is merely a very short term benefit. In addition, it might be better than another time, yet when we consider that the increase started in 2007 doubling the amount in 26 months is another given missing. In addition, there is still the issue not merely of the unemployed, but the internal drain it causes to the coffers (source: Statista). So in my view any benefit Spain gets at present is merely setting the clock forward a mere quarter. Unless an actual economic improvement comes to Spain, we see mere posturing through ‘presented strength‘, not by actual growth or gaining actual strength. It takes three quarters to get a true visible growth to show and the newspapers are keeping silent on that, they hide behind ‘but that is tomorrow and this is now‘, which for the most is correct, yet as they know from various sources that there is already a visible slowdown, the presentation they give is a fake, it is presented fake optimism, some might refer to it as ‘fake news‘.

The fact that the BBC gave a similar view (at http://www.bbc.com/news/business-40774654) does not make any of them a liar, they spoke the truth with “The rate dropped to 9.1% last month, from a downwardly revised 9.2% in May” the fact that France, Spain, Italy and Greece are dealing with global tourism that brings them money, so they need staff is perfectly valid, yet here too is the missed information that is not shown. These nations depend on Tourism. In France and Italy we might see the year round tourism for Paris and Rome, but those two parts are extremes. What is not an extreme is that all three rely to a part on tourism, a valid dependency. Now we consider two sources, the first (at https://www.imtj.com/news/european-tourism-figures-show-growth-2017/), gives us “Several destinations report a rebound in arrivals from Russia -Iceland (+157%) Cyprus (+122%) and Turkey (+88%)-. Overall, outbound travel from this market is projected to improve in 2017“. Now, we need to remember that this was a June article, part of it was expected growth, which is fair enough. The second source Statista (at https://www.statista.com/statistics/186657/travel-and-tourism-scores-of-countries-from-europe-in-2011/), gives us a chart with Spain, France and Germany showing a rise beyond 5% and training Italy with 4.99%, a decent growth all perfectly valid, so when you realise that, and when you see that the impact was a dropped from 9.2% to 9.1% in unemployment rate, is that still a good thing? The rise of these three nations alone (others nations all have tourism, yet not that high), consider the tourism needs; how come that the drop for the short term was not stronger to let’s say 8.7%? That would have been a clear indication of progress, 9.1% even in the short term is not progress and that part remains undiscussed by the media, is that not strange? They have been slamming Brexit through speculations in dozens of articles, and the reality of this so called double economic growth versus the UK is not set into a complete proper context. Even as several sources show the European slowdown. The EU has 8 more weeks until summer is over, what happens then? Will we see the message of a non-anticipated slowdown, or will we see that the slowdown was larger than anticipated? When you see that part, could you decide to trust the media you rely on?

However the independent also gives us “However, the UK economy has grown faster than the Eurozone’s since the 2008 financial crisis, reflecting the single currency’s multiple crises between 2010 and 2013“, which is true yet in this, they also fail to mention that there will be some level of slowdown and the Eurozone will make some level of temporary improvement, the question is for how long this happens. I am slightly less optimistic, yet also hesitant to be too negative. When the dust settles in the Middle East, we know that the Netherlands have two massive opportunities and a few other options through the large projects in Oman and the UAE, those large projects are the kind of solutions that put the Netherlands in the engineering top of the planet. The options could propel that small nation with most of it below sea level in scale and equality to Germany which is roughly 900% the size of the Netherlands. As Germany is one of the large 4, the Dutch achievement would be close to a legendary one. And if there is a large boost to the EU economy it will not be less likely to come from Germany than it will more likely to come from the Netherlands in both 2017 and 2018. This was always a reality that the EU and Germany faced, things will turn around, yet for the short term the EU numbers would probably boost. What is important is that it would not have impacted the UK in any way other than the presented numbers of difference. In this the UK is not on par with the EU on the short side, yet as European tourism falls in autumn, the numbers will no longer look against the UK to that degree and we will suddenly see different mentions, in this some of them are already a near given, so when we see “The single currency zone has now seen 17 successive quarters of growth. The unemployment rate in the Eurozone currently stands at 9.1 per cent, down from 12 per cent in 2013, but still double the UK’s current rate of 4.5 per cent“. OK, I will accept that, yet what I miss is the part that needs to be given with the quote ‘17 successive quarters of growth‘, so how much were these quarters of growth and how did they compare to the UK? It seems that this part is equally missing. In addition there is another part missing, this related to the final quote in the article. With “Other data last week showed that, within the Eurozone, France’s GDP expanded by 0.5 per cent in the second quarter and Spain’s by 0.8 per cent” you might wonder, yet when we look at Statista (at https://www.statista.com/statistics/263008/gdp-growth-in-eu-countries-compared-to-same-quarter-previous-year/) we do not see the same part. We see the Q1 numbers where France and the UK are on the same foot, Italy trails by 0.1% and Spain is ahead by a fair bit, which is the part that impacts and matters, yet the high note comes from Ireland, Estonia, Malta and Romania, which seems like a powerful impact, yet they are together a mere fraction of the EU output, which is why France, Spain and Germany are so important, they are the lion share together with the UK. Only when we look at the last 8 quarters can we see numbers that make actual sense to some and whilst the future is not a given, the knowledge that there is a slowdown coming, there we see that the hyped EU numbers are slightly over the top in my view. So as we accept that the 2 of the large 4 would have much better numbers in tourism season, the fact that the unemployment numbers were projected down by 0.1% is still a much larger issue than most people realise. What is phenomenal is the fact that the impact on tourism is better for Greece. They reported yesterday that the number of international arrivals in the first half was up by well over 10%, which is awesome, as the Greeks should be getting loads of good news after all the garbage they went through. The two sources, the first (at http://www.tornosnews.gr/en/tornos/trends/26630-greek-minister-spectacular-tourism-figures-in-2017.html) gives us: “there is a huge increase in overnight stays and hotel occupancy, ranging from 80% to 95% in most tourist destinations, as well as record arrivals in some of them. The Minister also referred to important economic benefits from the tourism industry, particularly from non-Schengen countries“, which means that the local Greeks will get a relief from the pressure they have had for the longest of times. The small issue that temperatures are up to 41 Celsius might not be the best thing to be confronted with, yet over all they heatwave will give the sun the hours of baking that the tourists love so much, it would also increase the need for windy trips (on boats with sails) and those enjoying places like the caves of Lasithi (in this, I have personal experience that visiting Knossos is a really bad idea, but several museums in Iraklion tend to be nice and cool. another source is giving us (at http://greece.greekreporter.com/2017/08/05/a-record-3-2-million-tourist-arrivals-expected-in-august/). This gives us “Russia and the Netherlands have marked the greatest rise in seats by 25.8% / 46,000 and 18.3% / 26,000 seats, respectively. Top Greek destinations include islands of Crete, Rhodes, Zakynthos, Kerkyra, Mykonos, Santorini and Halkidiki. Tourism professionals are forecasting the same performance in September, citing a total of 2.73 million seats booked for the month after“, implying that it will be a much better year than hoped for, and good for them I say!

Yet in the back of our minds will be not just for the European zone, more precisely, what will Greece do next? In this day and age tourism is great for them, yet they still have the other three quarters to deal with and in this they might have options and opportunities, it merely becomes the view on how to address it and which model to change so that it becomes a benefit.

They are all issues people want to address, yet in this we need to realise that the dodgy numbers are not a help. They are merely the approach towards undesired thoughts and in the end presented strength is no strength, it becomes strength when it is acted upon and results in a positive outcome, this is why quantative easing is never an actual solution. It is merely an option for those who are paid and reflected on the presented result with quarter on quarter growth. The fact that there is a new multi trillion debt is not what their bonus is balanced on. That is the part that people forget. I state to you here that I can go into the USA tomorrow and get a firm with $2 billion if revenue within a week. I have access to all the materials. I merely want 1% of that revenue as a bonus. Now consider that I am selling Official US currency $20 bills for $9.99. I get the bonus because I made my revenue, yet the fact that there is a $1 billion loss is not my issue, it will be for the registered owners of the business and if I set up an LLC with my finding founders, go bankrupt after the exercise one week later, I am still entitled to my $20 million severance package. This is the reality of quantative easing. People like Mario Draghi will not call it like that (and in equal measure find my example way to simplified, which is partially true), but it is the reality that they face in Europe. So as we see the reported news on how the UK is merely 50% of the Eurozone, we need to realise that there is a blowback from the actions that they are taking and in the long run only the bankers and the top of the ECB will be smiling enjoying life in the luxury estates that they own. I feel that we will see a strong impact of what happened before on the 26th October in Oslo Thursday. On that day we will see

Norway Central Bank announces interest rate decision – 0800 GMT.
Stockholm – Swedish Central Bank announces interest rate decision. Monetary Policy Report will be published – 0730 GMT.
Frankfurt – ECB Governing Council meeting, followed by interest rate announcement
Frankfurt – ECB President Mario Draghi holds a press conference, after the interest rate meeting Monday, October 30^th

The press conference comes three days later, so after the 3 day speculation there will be the press meeting with even more speculation all that as the Christmas temporary need for short term staff is announced in several global places. I will let you work out what speculation will be offered. I am not having too much faith in the upcoming actions. Merely an anticipation of a media assisted manipulated bad news through overly optimism. It is merely my speculation on the matter.

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Military incompetence?

Here’s a crazy thought

Those dodgy numbers

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