I see a lot of back & forth regarding Norway, and how (as I stated before) their culture is relatively peaceful. Many think that this is indicative of the society wearing blinders to the danger of violent radicals, and I suppose this is true, to a degree. They’ve not had such issues with violence since about WWII, and I think it’s pretty safe to say that, as a people, they are mentally unprepared for such danger. But that is not to say that they are sheep, only that they were not prepared to deal with an event wholly outside their current experience.
Bad winters? Check.
Hungry polar bears? Check.
Violent Oceans? Good to go.
Fallout from Icelandic volcanoes? Sure thing!
Mass Murderers? Not so much.
Being critical of them for not being ready to deal instantly with a mass murderer is akin to being critical of the people in the midwest for not being ready to survive a major earthquake, or people in California for their lack of tornado shelters, or New York for not having a plan to deal with volcanoes. These are, effectively, never events. Yes, the midwest has experienced earthquakes, but they are usually small, and it’s been a very long time since the last big one. California could experience a tornado, but it’s highly unlikely. Etc. ad nauseum.
Now, if this happens again in the next few years, and this current event is not their collective Flight 93, then it’s fair to be critical of their Pollyanna attitude. And hopefully they won’t establish the police state we have in response to this single event.
It is difficult to understand why the police in the capital, Oslo, have no helicopters available to send in a SWAT team with, or, failing that, a police boat that could have quickly made the short trip to the island.
Norway is a rich country, with their North Sea oil revenues (and Brent Crude selling near $115), so they could have afforded these tools, had they wanted them.
Rivrdog beat me to it: for average citizens I can see it, sure, but their LE and military? With all the terrorism, with the problems they have with many muslim immigrants? Especially with their current situation(before the attack). I can’t figure if they just decided they wouldn’t be hit, or if someone way up there considered it and decided preparing for such might be considered a provocation.
I think part of it was that they (unlike a large number of our socialists and hangers-on) don’t just talk the good talk about the ir multiculturalism and tolerance… a lot of them actually believe all of that.