Det kan därför vara intressant att klicka sig tillbaka i arkivet, och läsa vad Carl Bildt skrev i sin roll som oberoende debattör. Exempelvis hans kommentarer i samband med ett besök i Norge mitt under pågående valkampanj inför Stortingsvalet 2005.
The Last Rich Soviet StateKommentaren äger minst sagt aktualitet också idag med tanke på det förestående samgåendet mellan Statoil och Norsk Hydro.
With Jens Stoltenberg - likely next Prime Minister - smiling at you from a leaflet, they start out by saying that they will "build but not sell" the country. Well, what that means is explained by saying that the government should own power-, energy- and other natural reserve resources and that mail, telecommunications and railway should remain firmly in state hands.
"We want to use our strong capital base to build long-term national ownership of the strategic industries for the country."
Once upon a time, there was a somewhat careless Swedish minister who happened to say that Norwaty was "the last Soviet state."
It was and remains an exaggeration. But when reading the election promises of the Labour Party, it is difficult not to notice the similarities in philosophy to some of the things we are now hearing coming out of Putin's Russia in these respects.
State capital. State control. State ownership.
This is certainly not the wave of the future. It's rather the words from those that can afford to ignore the future.
At least for some time.
Utrikesdebattören Bildt fick norsk media att ta fram de stora typsnitten för rubriker som “Sammanligner Stoltenberg med Putin”. Vi ser fram emot vilka rubriker utrikesministern Bildt ska skapa med sina kommentarer.
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