When the Corona pandemic hit Europe there was one country that kept drinking beer at outdoor seating areas, one country where the people were smiling in the sun underneath cherry blossom trees. But despite media mass reporting how “relaxed” Sweden was letting the Corona virus get its way, the truth has been less liberal than […]
Is the State of Norway killing its own citizens with oil?
The State of Norway has again to show up in court because it has given company licenses to drill for oil in the Arctic region. After lower judges ruled it was kind of okay, environmental watchdog Greenpeace and two Norwegian organisation are stepping up their efforts and want a final ruling from the highest Norwegian […]
ISIS woman splits Norwegian govt to almost goodbye
The populistic Frp party has left the Norwegian government, over the return of a woman of the radical ISIS organisation and her son. However the ultra-right Frp remains a strong force when it comes to government decisions. Click to listen to my radio talk (in Dutch)Scroll to 00:49:29 into the broadcastVRT Radio 1, De Wereld […]
Finland stops fake news
While everybody in the world is more or less influenced by fake news, there is one Scandinavian country that prides itself in dealing with it successfully: Finland. Sharing an extensive border with Russia the land of the 1001 lakes is long accustomed to the outside (read: Moscow) trying to clout things. Click to listen to […]
The Strangest Bosnian Road
The war in the Balkans during the 1990s devastated the lives of hundreds of thousands. One of the most chaotic areas was the enclave of Bihać in Northern Bosnia. In 1997, two years after hostilities ended, I went for my first assignment abroad – officially still as a student journalist – and took with me […]