In Bergen, Norway, as I watched TV news footage of European leaders arriving at the White House to discuss Ukraine, the commentary began to be drowned out by car horns, sirens and yelling. Even as a major disturbance was unfolding outside, I was reluctant to stop watching the surreal scene, as President Trump invited each European leader to praise him.
They went through the ritual of admiring and thanking him, while managing to get in key words like “ceasefire”. President Macron of France opted for “truce”. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy (apparently a skilful Trump whisperer) rolled her eyes when Trump wasn’t looking. It was all so painfully contrived.
None of Trump’s sentences hung together and his rambling was bizarre and incoherent. Yet all were forced into his pretence that he’s a great leader who’s “stopped six wars” and is eligible for the Nobel Peace Prize. After the roundtable love-in, journalists asked soft questions. It was quite a spectacle, world leaders tactically participating, hushed and reverent in the dream life of the US President.
The commotion got louder and I went downstairs to find pro-Palestinian protesters belabouring a car with placards. The policing seemed relatively benign. I watched a woman earnestly trying to beat up a policeman. He was a Nordic 1.95m; she was much shorter and he casually held her at arm’s length. In Britain, there might have been a heavy-handed arrest, even a charge under the Terrorism Act.
Norway’s petroleum revenue has made it extremely rich. The country owns the world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, worth more than $3 trillion. It’s the largest single investor in the world. The country has become richer as a result of the Ukraine war, and there are calls by politicians for the vast wealth to be used to rebuild Ukraine after the fighting ends.
There is also intense debate about the sovereign fund’s investment in Israel. After the destruction of Gaza and the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, the Norwegian fund is slowly responding to calls to divest. It holds investments in numerous Israeli companies including some related to the Israeli military and weapons manufacture. The fund has now begun to exclude companies that it says are participating in violations of human rights.
Last month, the Norwegian sovereign group excluded US manufacturer Caterpillar over Israel’s use of its bulldozers to destroy Palestinian homes and other property in Gaza and the West Bank. The fund said in a statement that Caterpillar’s products have been used to violate international humanitarian law.
Its bulldozers were being deployed in the “widespread unlawful destruction of Palestinian property”. The statement also announced the exclusion of five Israeli banks.
As accusations mount up of atrocity, displacement and forced starvation in Gaza, opposition parties have been calling for a full divestment from Israel. Norwegians take pride in ethical and humanitarian values and revelations about their fund’s unsavoury associations are giving local protests a flavour of real outrage.
On the train from Bergen to Oslo, I read an article about types of disordered thinking (because I’m always trying to learn why we’re all crazy).
“Pretend mode” is a state of mind where mental states are disconnected from real-world evidence. This blocks genuine reflection and authentic relating to others. There’s an accompanying vibe: “If you question me you will be bulldozed by my tantrum.”
I frowned over this as the alpine meadows flashed by. Pretend mode chimed in my recall. The intensity of the pretend world, the forcing of others into roles, the lack of “authentic relating”. It was current events and it felt like distant memory. The President’s dream life was giving me déjà vu.
