I have not slept this night. Yesterday’s events in Oslo and Utøya have had me shaking my head in disbelief from last eve till sunrise. It is only a few years since I was attending a very similar camp.
When I was a teenager, I was active in one of the major political youth wings in Sweden. At our annual meeting with 500 people, I thought to myself, that if you wanted to kill this entire party, this would be the place to do it. Take out the entire next generation of leaders in the party at all levels.
Twenty years later, it appears that somebody in Norway held enough hatred for a political party to actually do exactly that. The amount to which this massacre was orchestrated and meticulously planned is breathtaking. The emotionlessness with which it was carried out is mindboggling.
Yesterday afternoon, there were news of a bomb gone off in central Oslo. The target was unclear, the perpetrator was unclear, the motive was unclear. But it caused the nation’s entire police force to converge on Oslo.
Later, we heard something about a shooting on an island. It appeared to be of much smaller scale, with the Oslo bomb still being the main focusworthy event.
In retrospect, that appears to have cynically been the intent, to divert police resources from the real target: 500-700 teenagers. The killer appears to have been intent on killing the entire next generation of leaders in the Workers’ Party, and a likely motive would be to harm that party’s regrowth. (My guess. The whole thing is meticulously planned; this was not random.)
The patience and emotionlessness here is staggering. Killing as many teenagers in the party as possible, to prevent them from becoming leaders in 20-25 years and leaving a generational gap in the party that it might not survive politically — an action that won’t have a real political effect for 20 years? What kind of psychopath has that kind of forward-thinking planning?
On reviewing what we know so far, the attention to detail is scary.
There is a Facebook profile and a Twitter profile for the (alleged and suspected) killer. They are both, for lack of a better word, picture perfect. They are not your ordinary accounts; rather, they are messages intended to be found, with photos that put the killer in good looks. They are even prepared for media.
Not a trace of any friends, connections, or even conversations. Just some photos and political beliefs.
They were meant to be found.
Next — who is so cold that they put a huge bomb in a European capital as a diversion?
Once on Utøya, who can be so cold that he calls teenagers over one by one on a small island, while dressed in a police uniform, just to shoot them in cold blood?
The current death toll on Utøya is 80, and police expect it to rise. Teenagers. Eighty defenseless teenagers, trapped on an island.
Executed in cold blood, as a possible political strategy to cripple a political party decades in the future.
I have no words.
Other bloggers: Opassande, Anna Troberg, Emanuel Karlsten, Hans Egnell and dozens of others.
(Disclaimer: the images were found in the discussion thread on Reddit, hosted on an image sharing site. If you claim copyright monopoly on any of them, let me know.)
[…] of the innocents on Utøya by Norwegian Christian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik. Read the whole piece if you want a horrifyingly plausible explanation for Breivik’s actions. This is ideology at […]
Who?
A “christian” sionist and freemason,
Im sure his pals at Mossad would have done it better and with governmental support in order to give more legacy to the wars for israel in the middle east….
Idiot.
It’s clear that there is a big organization backing this horrible massacre ….
It could be Mossad, Qadhafi, ASSAD, etc ….
But we will never get the evidences …
There are disgusting terrorists in all walks of life, Europeans too! Don’t assume this man was hired by the big guns
Clear but we’ll never get the evidence? Well, that’s not clear to me then.
No it isn’t. Timothy McVeigh was demonstrably alone. when he did something similar. The chief differences being simply:
1) The perpetrator built a bomb a la McVeigh standard, using ordinary fertilizer and diesel oil. Put or poured it into a car with a simple detonator.
2) Using a police uniform he started out for Utöya knowing every police officer within hours would be fully occupied in Oslo.
3) Using his own registered firearms he then stalked and killed every one on the island who he could lay his eyes on.
In order to accomplish this massacre all that is required is one very smart fanatic with – really – very very modest means. You could do the same just by taking out an instant high-rent loan and obtain a few relatively low-cost items. The firearms are really the most difficult thing to obtain but if you’ve been an upstanding member of a gun club and aren’t previously under suspicion…then, no problem.
Everything needed to accomplish this was brains and one man with an agenda. There is absolutely no need to involve any outside organization. And it would be difficult to find any such organization with the agenda of butchering political leftist children. Not even the Rote Armee Fraktion was able to go after children as a whole.
How is that clear? You just pulled that argument out of thin air.
Keep your ludicrous conspiracy theories for yourself.
Den här killen är inte kall, för att göra en sådan här sak, så måste man vara mentalt störd minst tio gånger om.
Sociopat javisst. Psykopat förmodligen. Men skrämmande intelligent. Och definitivt kall.
Hade han varit en fradgatuggande fanatiker eller korkad kriminell hade han inte kunnat ställa till med den typen av skada. Och dödstalet hade varit mindre. Han jagade lugnt och metodiskt ner ungdomar i grupp, lät tydligen enstaka överlevare på avstånd vara till förmån för att kunna plocka ned en grupp personer i närheten i stället.
Allt för att se till att avliva så många som möjligt. Senaste gången jag läste om något lika skrämmande var när jag läste om Hess och Heydrich under tredje riket.
Reading your blog brought tears to my eyes. I weep for Norway and the families who have lost their loved ones.
If, as the rumor has it, the attacker is the blogger known as Fjordman, the explanation above seems to be spot on.
In
Fjordman: Can We Coexist with the Left?
http://europenews.dk/en/node/31942
it says
“If the Leftists and the Globalists have their way then our civilization will die, plain and simple. That’s why this ongoing struggle is likely to get ugly, because no compromise is possible.”
For (much) more of the same, see http://kleinverzet.blogspot.com/p/fjordman-files.html
Fjordman is NOT the Oslo shooter.
It may still be to early. Still, I’d like to point to some pirate angles of all this:
1. He had a police uniform, we should glad he did not have police ammunition. The ammunition used by the Swedish police would transfer all the wounded to the other list. Or maybe he did and it explains the numbers. Either way we should reflect upon the tools we give those that are there to protect us.
2. FRA and data retention does not work.
3. Communication infrastructure is good. The word went out fast and the authorities could react. Not because FRA or it’s counterpart in Norway could data mine the communication beforehand for “signs”, but because the people could communicate. Every kid had a mobile phone to warn others.
4. Would you open your access point in order to let others communicate? It probably depends on how many third strike laws, fra laws, data retention laws, and anti terrorist laws have been passed. I wouldn’t in Sweden today. The risk to myself is to big in relation to the benefit it would give to people I do not really know.
Re. point 1:
It is unlikely he had police ammunition. Having police clothing and police weaponry are two different things (with the latter being very much harder to come by).
He had a license for two weapons, both for hunting. It is likely, although I am admittedly speculating here, that the ammunition matched his license.
If this is the case, he already had the deadly massive-wound ammunition for hunting that the Swedish police also uses, but which the military is banned from using by the Geneva Convention.
Yes. That is true. I keep forgetting that military ammunition is not the standard. I think that Swedish police use hollow point (Speers Gold Dot). It is designed to do maximum damage. Last time I was involved in hunting they were using ordinary half mantle. Still, Point taken.
I still don’t like for the police to shoot that at citizens.
I believe one reason given for the police to use hollow points is because it reduces the risk of ricochets (the reason given that any swedish policeman isn’t meant to even draw his weapon unless he is already being fired upon with deadly force – absurd backwards logic if you ask me).
Hunting ammunition – soft point/half-jacketed – doesn’t mushroom quite as bad but still enough to cause deadly wounds, and honestly, getting shot with either in the torso, upper arms or thighs from a 9 mm (i believe he owned a Glock) means you are either dead or dying very quickly.
There was a radio program today about the Gothenburg manifestation shootings ten years ago. Because of this discussion I kept thinking that both the demonstrators shot had probably been dead with the new ammunition.
…I realize this is a very minor point, but anyway:
The “police ammunition” you’re thinking about has the tip of the bullet sawed off. It’s not exactly rocket science to manufacture it, even if they weren’t sold commercially (they are).
Information and ideas are powerful. That’s why this guy could make a bomb out of fertilizer and diesel fuel. That’s why you can make hollowpoint ammunition yourself. It’s not something that can be banned, but we can destroy our society by trying to.
Home made hollow point will not be quite as good/bad as the police one; It is made to split in a uniform way and stay together as it helicopters around in the wound. A home made will have a bigger entry wound and dispel the energy more shallowly. That said, I’m no expert…
Please don’t react in anger and fear. The correct response to this should be renewed love and unity. Love those who deserve it the least because they are the ones who need it the most.
That’s indeed how it seems. If the rumor that the shooter is known as the blogger Fjordman is true, this seems to support your hypothesis:
Fjordman: Can We Coexist with the Left?
http://europenews.dk/en/node/31942
“If the Leftists and the Globalists have their way then our civilization will die, plain and simple. That’s why this ongoing struggle is likely to get ugly, because no compromise is possible.”
For (much) more of the same, see http://kleinverzet.blogspot.com/p/fjordman-files.html .
So it seems that what we have is a right-wing extremist who shot 80 leftist youths due to a fundamental disagreement in immigration policy.
I can’t for the life of me figure out who would / could want future communistic/ socialist leaders/ figures dead!!!??? Maybe those who work hard and don’t get free stuff from their gov’t!? NAH! Maybe those evil Capitalists that built America!!!??? NAH! The evil Rich Jews!??? NAH! Maybe… just maybe… this is a set up by the NWO, and they will blame it on the Christians, Jews, Rich, Capitalists, Liberty and Freedom lovers, HARD working, Generous Americans, Conservatives, Republicans (turn coats!)… or maybe God? Take your sheeple pick…Who knows… GOD KNOWS!
You really are stupid..keep your stupidity to yourself
I don’t want to believe anyone could plan something like that but I think you are right. Hopefully the police investigation will shed more light on this eventually.
[…] en psykologisk försvarsmekanism. (Att metablogga är möjligen också en sådan försvarsmekanism) Åttio kallblodigt ihjälskjutna, det går inte att ta in annat än genom att behandla det som […]
[…] don’t feel I can add much to what Rick Falkvinge says on his blog (in English). As he says, this was a callous attack on the central values of a democracy: freedom […]
Now it is not the time for understanding, it is time to condemn. The murderous extreme right should also be held responsible for the actions of this one man, who should be made an example of what happens when you cross the line and intentionally murder defenseless children.
The neonaziz deserve no more tolerance, they have gone too far.
Comment deleted as offensive. Repeat offense will result in total ban per troll policy.
(excerpt for justification: By labelling this as a right wing extremist event, you do nothing to help the people of Norway to find the solution to their Muslim immigration problem. … 100% of Norway’s rapes last year were committed by Muslims on Norwegian girls …)
[…] i Norge lämnar mig mållös och jag visste knappt om jag skulle kunna skriva om dem. Bara tanken på skräcken hos de femhundra ungdomarna, som isolerade på en ö plötsligt […]
Comment deleted as offensive. User permanently shown out of this server per the troll policy.
Too many people have died. Too many dreams have been broken. Too many life, of those who have survived, most probably, scarred forever.
WHO did this ?
Apparently a young Norwegian man aged 31, managed to accomplish such a massacre. A man with a lucid mind, yet totally insane. He declared that a man with a believe is stronger that 100,000 people.
YES, IDIOT, THAT IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE !!!!! BUT YOU WERE WEARING A XXXXX GUN TO DELIVERY YOUR BELIEVES TO OTHERS !!!!!
I have decided to change my blog title from “New World Economy” into “Social Innovation” in the hope that I would be able to give my humble contribute to the global change expected and desired by many with my future posts.
Signed: Twitter @Michele1940
I don’t think the perpetrator will succeed in wiping out an entire generation of leaders in that party. There are thousands of young people who will take up the positions held by the killed. There is usually a runner up in every election. The terrorist failed his mission. Democracy prevails.
It might not be the death of an entire generation in that party, but it’s probably the death of this kind of political youth summer camps for all parties in Scandinavia, What normal unpolitically involved parent would alow his teen to go to one from now on?
Naah, from now on, such mass gaverings will be held on the internet, whick isn’t necessarily a bad thing, neither from a general standpoint or from the point of the pirate party, the only one with a internet infrastructure for it already in place.
Anders Behring Breivik had no heart.
I’m betting he had no friends either.
We know for a fact that he had books, and the Internet, and he was thinking seriously about the meaning of civilization. But I’m guessing–I may be wrong–that he had no deep connections that could bring him to understand the value of every human being and the deep connections of love that form between people. I believe his life up before the killing must have been an empty facade.
We know for a fact that he was a right-winger and racialist targeting leftists; that he cared about the survival of the Nordic race more than he cared about the life and liberty of the individuals who constitute that race. How can someone be so depraved as to reach that conclusion? You would have to believe that every rule of civilization–down to our respect for each other’s right to live, and the dignity of innocent children–can be suspended to achieve a political goal. That is not a conclusion that can be reached by someone who understands what society is for and trusts and loves their friends. That is a balance I think he lacked.
Let Norway show him mercy, not because he deserves it, but because their vision of civilization is more complete than his.
Let Norway show him mercy, not because he deserves it, but because their vision of civilization is more complete than his.
So say we all.
“…he cared about the survival of the Nordic race more than he cared about the life and liberty of the individuals who constitute that race. How can someone be so depraved as to reach that conclusion? You would have to believe that every rule of civilization–down to our respect for each other’s right to live, and the dignity of innocent children–can be suspended to achieve a political goal. That is not a conclusion that can be reached by someone who understands what society is for…”
Beautifully put.
The real tragedy of terrorism is the mindless savagery it evokes in response. I hope Norway will see more responses like this rather than more wild-eyed hatred.
It must be a very bizarre and sick mind that can plan something like this. It was obviously well planned and thought through. I saw on twitter that one of the shooters (the blond one, who was arrested first) were using a “machine gun” to shoot at the kids on land. And then he switched to a sniper rifle to shoot the kids in the water… Just the fact that he brought a sniper rifle means that it was in his plans that kids would jump into the water. What kind of person makes up such sick plans? It makes me want to throw up just to think about it.
Oj. Det är verkligen inte hög kvalitet på kommentarerna här.
Jag tänkte samma tanke som dig igår. Någon skrev frågande på twitter varför någon skulle vilja ha ihjäl den här gruppen av människor. I samma ögonblick som jag läste frågan så kändes det som att det mycket väl också kunde vara svaret.
Men herr Falkvinge. Det kanske inte tjänar något till att vara ledsen och sitta och läsa om det här hela natten. Information om det kommer ju ut ändå förr eller senare. Det enda du kan göra är att spekulera. Sov i stället och låt norska snuten fixa det. (Det gäller alla. Jag läste twitter och det enda som står där är en och samma sak hela tiden, om och om och om och om igen. Vad tjänar det till?)
Stupid and ideologically driven to call him a “christian fundamentalist”, his postings are here, and he doesn´t cite the bible. Any “christian” mention is to make clear the difference between islam and occidental world.
He is anti nazi, anti communist and anti islam, because those ideologies massacre people.
He is mad, since he has just done the same.
Something doesn´t match in all these.
The turk who tried to kill the pope was extreme right wing, but working for the URSS secret services.
Why does he kill white young “WASP”?
White young WASPs? We haven’t seen the victims list yet. It will probably be dominated by white young WASPs but with a significant portion of innocent young second or third generation Norweigians with a different skin colour. If so it stands to reason that to this white Aryan supremacist shooter those were the primary targets and the WASPs were collateral collaborators. But then again, at this point that’s just a guess.
@Anonymous 14.03
(Jag läste twitter och det enda som står där är en och samma sak hela tiden, om och om och om och om igen. Vad tjänar det till?)
Det kallas för SORGEARBETE.
Ifall du inte vet vad det är för något så kan du läsa om det här;
http://www.fonus.se/vetamera/sorg/sorg-och-sorgearbete/
“At our annual meeting with 500 people, I thought to myself, that if you wanted to kill this entire party, this would be the place to do it.”
I hope that is not true. I really hope you didn’t use to think like that in your late teens. I hope it’s a retro mind construction of the sort people like you (i.e politicians/evangelists) normally make up on the fly to make themselves look smart.
I strongly suggest you rephrase that sentence and make appropriate excuses for rushing its forming.
Why not think it?
This is why you don’t send the entire company’s IT staff on the same bus to the conference… If you work at all with any kind of risk prevention, this is how you think. That’s why I’m to scared to fly nowadays: the security measures at airports are so laughably inept it makes me scared, even if the risk in itself is minimal.
Of course he should think it. Then he makes an assessment of the risk, and if necessary, take measures to prevent it.
@ Mumfi: Don’t get me wrong, I’m normally one of Rick’s strongest supporters, and I don’t think it’s anything wrong with him or anyone else as an adult thinking about it like that from a security enhancment point of view, But for a teen there to participate? Did you think like that when you were going to political camp as a 14 year old? 15? 18? Even 20? I’ve been to camps like that and let me assure you that any thoughts I had about where one could sneak in or out without drawing attention only had to do with where in the semidarkness I could take a girl if I should manage to “get lucky” late some evening.
“At our annual meeting with 500 people, I thought to myself, that if you wanted to kill this entire party, this would be the place to do it.”
I hope that is not true.
I’m sorry to disappoint, then, as I have always been that security-conscious. I did think specifically that; I even recall the setting and where I was in the room.
No rephrasing then? Too bad. But good luck with the Dark Side media tomorrow or come monday, as you’ll probably wake up to headlines along the lines of “Rick Falkvinge says; I used to fantasise about killing everyone at MUF camp” or something like that.
If I was a reporter for the Dark Side and didn’t spin it like that I wouldn’t be doing my job. Don’t you remember how they pretty much kicked your cred in the balls one year ago by twisting what you said about manga pictures vs child pornography?
Peter,
it may also be worth noting that I matured very asymmetrically compared to most of my peers. I founded my first company at age 16, and had my first employee at age 18.
That doesn’t mean my thought processes and reasoning matured faster than everybody else, just that they did in a different order and pattern from most.
Actually, Mr. Andersson, I’m sure that’s exactly what Rick thought. The same way Bruce Schneier thinks about bank robberies whenever he enters a bank and the same way I think about how to screw up the system I’m responsible for every day I go to work. Any good criminal and any good detective thinks like that.
If you don’t think like this you may be a good citizen. You are also utterly defenseless against anyone who does.
Simply because anyone who works in IT, security, or safety administration always starts out thinking “How would i break this?”, “How would i penetrate this security?”, “What would I do to bring this system down?”.
When it comes to counterterrorism, “How would I cause as much harm as possible with least effort?”
If you don’t have that mindset you make for a very lousy system administrator as you only ever harden your systems against the threats you’ve already been hit by. You’ll also make for a very crappy bodyguard or security specialist. You’d be a sheep trying to predict what a wolf would do without any understanding of wolves – instead of being able to actually think like a wolf.
Most people who make it into professions such as those I’ve described used to think the way Rick says in their teens. All it takes is the stray thought “Damn, if a bomb exploded here most of the party’s leadership 20 years down the line will be the people roped into it as emergency replacements….”.
Surely you don’t think identifying a risk is the same as fantasising about doing something!?
I could have had the same thought if I had been going to a camp like that when I was younger, with the atrocities of the 20th century in memory it wouldn’t have seemed so far fetched. Sadly it wasn’t.
Me and my friends have had similar thoughts and discussions. “What if you wanted to cripple a city”, “what if you wanted to invade Sweden”, “what if you wanted to kill as many people as possible”. We came to the conclusion that we would be very successful as terrorists or counter terrorist, and likewise probably good criminals or police officers – at least our guidance councellor thought the latter. One of us actually is a cop now.
None of the rest have any incline to perform terrorism or mass murders.
You hit a point! I had similar wonderings when walking around on an other big partys youth movements summer camp 20-25 years ago. But I fear the idea was not only to wipe out a future generation leaders physically, but to scare anyone from engaging herself according to her beliefs. Until now, political terrorism has been directed against leaders or symbols of power. Now every activist knows, she can be the next target. It´s a very serious message. Let´s all stand up to show we are not scared!
[…] Mayercatherine_mayer 08.40 Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Pirate Party movement in Sweden, has written an article analysing the potential motivations of the killer. He speculates that the operation was meticulously planned, with the Oslo bombing intended to […]
This story makes you feel sick inside. words cannot express.I send heart felt sympathy for the family and friends of all those who died and for all the Norweigan nation. Truly tragic and beyond comprehension.
[…] on my own stories, which are normally a comfort to me. But I keep getting drawn back to the talk on Norway. I’m not going to weigh in here. This isn’t a political blog, or a blog on current […]
Where have you found the detailed pictures that aren’t blurred like on other web pages?
I truly don’t believe you when you say that you have no words, when you are so insensitive [EDITED: Libel of The Pirate Bay deleted per Troll Policy] Insensitive bastard!
If you took the time to actually read the post instead of trying to take a cheap, libellous and officially-disproven shot at The Pirate Bay, you would have seen the answer to the question spelled out in the clear.
Except for the part where the images here are blurred out.
[…] Rick Falkvinge skriver, er der tale om et massivt politisk attentat som ikke vil have nogen direkte effekt før om […]
[…] Mayercatherine_mayer 08.40 Rick Falkvinge, the founder of the Pirate Party movement in Sweden, has written an article analysing the potential motivations of the killer. He speculates that the operation was meticulously planned, with the Oslo bombing intended to […]
[…] Liberala ungdomsförbundets kongress som jag ska delta i om fyra dagar. Och det är fler som kände samma slags chock på lördag morgon när det stora antalet dödade blev […]
Who? An extrme neoconservative. As iwrote in another comment, this is the logical extension of the (antimuslim) war on terror. I think paralelells to something more familiar (older conservatism) can be drawn to something like the KKK.
Nothing is as it seems…. ever.
What kind of person can kill innocent youth?
Any American President. Over 1000 dead civilians in the AfPak region, killed by Predators and Reapers.
At least this monster had the guts (and I don’t mean that admiringly) to look his victims in the eye. Obama just orders someone, who orders someone, who orders someone to launch a Hellfire missile at a suspected militant.
Collateral damage is not an accident. They know innocents will die. Every time. They don’t care.
Having said that, this guy is a special kind of sick.
This terrorist is a product of the rhetoric spewed out by all the different nationalistic and anti-immigration organizations and websites. Here in Sweden, the “Sweden Democrats” and the web-site “politiskt inkorrekt” are examples of the breeding ground for these actions of terror.
[…] Hautakangas Valituissa paloissa Breivikin breivistä ja Rick Falkvinge blogauksessa Who kills 80 teenagers, one by one? Tästä syystä en siis aio uppoutua paljoa itse tapahtumakulkuun. Melko selvää on kuitenkin, […]
[…] blog post and Jeff Jarvis’ article. Highly recommended reading. Also, here is the blog post about the calculated and strategic killing of future party leaders by someone who’s thinking […]
[…] förkrossad, förgöra, försvarslösa […]