Latest news with #Quisling
Irish Times
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Norway's War: Masterly account of a lesser-known part of the second World War
Norway's War: A People's Struggle Against Nazi Tyranny, 1940–1945 Author : Robert Ferguson ISBN-13 : 978-1801104821 Publisher : Apollo Guideline Price : £30 The Nazi occupation of Norway is one of the internationally lesser-known episodes of the second World War, despite it giving rise to one of the most enduring pieces of vernacular from the conflict. Vidkun Quisling, the leader of the far-right Nasjonal Samling (or National Unity) party and would-be native leader of Nazi Norway, lent his sonorously fitting name to a term for a craven traitor to one's own country. Robert Ferguson, in this invaluably comprehensive history of the five-year occupation, tells us the London Times had already converted Quisling's name into a neologism just a week into his first abortive attempt to wrest power after the German invasion in April 1940. (Though he did manage to become the figurehead of the local administration, Quisling's lack of popularity, even among his fellow fascists, meant Hitler 's Reichskomissar, Josef Terboven, wielded the real power in the country.) But Quisling is only one of the remarkable stories of the occupation, which, as Ferguson, a British-born Norwegian translator and biographer of both Knut Hamsun and Henrik Ibsen , says, turned into a low-scale civil war within the greater war. The Nazis got their local lackeys to do the more inflammatory dirty work, which many Norwegian members of the Hird, the Nasjonal Samling's paramilitary wing, willingly did, often with exceptional sadism. Norwegians, directed by their government in exile in England, resisted as best they could, and some of the key Resistance figures, such as the Christian activist Ingrid Bjerkås, the double agent and police prosecutor Gunnar Waaler, and the career criminal Johannes 'Yellow Cheese' Andersen, who struck up an unlikely friendship with the exiled King Haakon VII, are worthy of book-length narratives on their own. Perhaps the most notable thing about Ferguson's masterly account is how a society that was probably more like a contemporary European liberal democracy than any other country the Nazis occupied (it was well to the left of most countries in Europe at the time) descended into darkness and yet resisted admirably, the Norwegians showing little interest in all the nonsensical Völkish Aryan trappings the Nazis, Heinrich Himmler in particular, were determined to dress them up in. Norway's War is thoroughly recommended for anyone wishing to learn more about one of the more under-explored areas of the second World War.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Don't make me embarrassed to wear my 'That Woman From Michigan' shirt
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer may think that getting "a seat at the table" is beneficial for Michiganders, but as a lifelong Michigander, I would rather my native state suffer all the depredations President Donald Trump can inflict rather than my governor be a Quisling. People are being kidnapped off the streets; everything that gave us security upended. I think Whitmer should remember she served best as "That Woman From Michigan." I got the T-shirt. Don't make me embarrassed to wear it. Diane Petryk Whitehall, New York Opinion: Trump surprise led to cringeworthy moment for Whitmer, Michigan in Oval Office Gov. Whitmer's recent interaction with President Trump is exactly the correct course of action and is how every member at every level of our government should be acting. There has been way too much partisan "grenade tossing" on both sides for far too long instead of bipartisan problem solving. Gov. Whitmer's approach to President Trump not only sets a new standard for civil, mature relations, but resistance against the executive of the country is not only counterproductive, it is against the interests of the people of Michigan. President Trump is often a hot mess of chaos, but he still controls means to provide very substantial support to Michigan. Bringing additional resources to Michigan is the goal and responsibility of the governor and her recent actions in Washington demonstrate that she takes that responsibility more seriously than the political differences between her and the President. Emmett Windisch III Farmington Hills Although of short duration, the Trump administration's economic activity has been characterized by incompetence, inconsistency and chaos. Substantial tariffs were imposed and then paused. Global trading partners were shocked, confused, and large domestic corporations and Michigan businesses, both large and small, face an uncertain economic future due to Trump's whimsical economic policies. A commitment to working with this administration to enhance Michigan's economic prospects necessitates that extreme caution be employed by Governor Whitmer and business leaders before any proposals entertained or deals struck. Wariness is the operative word. Richard Salomonson West Bloomfield I was very surprised Gov. Whitmer went to Washington D.C. to try to speak to President Donald Trump about the tariffs he put in place. She is concerned how this will affect the automobile industry and other workers in the state of Michigan, but I feel this was bad optics for the Democrats. Bipartisanship is not what is needed now with a MAGA president who has no idea what he is doing. The markets need certainty and so does the global economy. Right now, we are not looked at as strong leadership. Most Americans believe tariffs would make things cost more. Sean Fain, President of the UAW, has been speaking up for Trump's tariffs, feeling it will help the automobile industry. And Whitmer said not all tariffs are bad. We need a clear, concise message to MAGA Republicans: "Tariffs are going to cost Michiganders more money and make us worse off." This president likes to work in chaos, and he has taken us down financially already. We need to work together to fight back and be strong together as a cohesive Democratic Party unit, fighting against Trump's failed economic policies. Faith Allen Hazel Park This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 'That Woman From Michigan' shirt still carries meaning | Letters
The Independent
01-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Inside Ukraine's secretive hacker group helping track down children abducted by Russia in Putin's war
In the three years of Putin's bloody war against Ukraine, one of the most shocking statistics to emerge is that as many as 150,000 children may have been abducted by Russia. As the world's attention turns to Donald Trump raging against Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House and hopes of peace talks evaporate, the loss of loved ones is still the daily reality for the Ukrainian people. Among the missing are orphans whose parents have been killed in the conflict and then separated from their remaining relatives. Thousands of others have been taken from orphanages that fell into Russian hands. Most of the children have been spirited away to unknown locations in Russia, often thousands of miles from their homes where they are indoctrinated to despise Ukraine. Attempts to retrieve the children by family members have, overwhelmingly, proved fruitless. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has labeled the deportations as a war crime and issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, his 'Commissioner for Children's Rights', in March 2023. But there are those trying to help rescue the children and return them to their homeland, including hacker groups using Ukraine's technological expertise to do it. Click here for the latest updates on the war. The Independent has spoken to Maksym Dudchenko, the co-founder of one of the most active such groups, called Kiborg. Dudchenko, a 21-year-old student based in Ukraine's eastern city of Kharkiv, said that he and others who started Kiborg in the summer of 2022, were prompted by a desire to help trace the abducted children. The group is named after Ukrainian soldiers who became a legend as they defended Donetsk Airport for a year against overwhelming enemy forces after Putin launched the initial invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Because they refused to quit, the Russians dubbed them 'kiborgi' - 'cyborgs', a nickname the defenders were happy to apply to themselves. Dudchenko explained that one of the group became an expert in exposing the activities of Russia's 'shadow fleet' which illegally exports shiploads of stolen grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. He mentored Dudchenko in 'hacktivism' and inspired him to co-found Kiborg. 'I think I learned quickly,' he said. 'I and my colleagues were able to hack large amounts of data. I was driven, in part, by the desire to find out something others did not know about; to discover something unique and not to just grind out something that had already been covered several times but to find something that would impact on the situation, might even change the world.' Dudchenko said Kiborg hacked into archives of Quisling governments established by Moscow in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions in 2014, during Putin's initial grab of Ukrainian territory, and in puppet authorities of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions occupied in 2022. The hacks remained undetected for some time, said Dudchenko, enabling Kiborg to access huge stores of data. Much of that dealt with deported children and in its first big success the group identified exactly where 160 of the children now lived and who with. Kiborg has continued its work concerning the snatched children, tracing not only their whereabouts but also the identities of Russian officials and Ukrainian collaborators responsible for overseeing the deportation process. Dudchenko said that Kiborg shares its information with Ukrainian government agencies, including its SBU intelligence and HUR military intelligence agencies dealing with Russian crimes and international justice and human rights bodies such as the ICC and UN. The hackers broadened their searches to uncover the identities of Russian officials and secret police agents deployed to bolster Moscow's grip on the occupied territories. Kiborg has handed over the names, photographs and Russian home addresses of hundreds of such Russian officials many of whom are accused of committing murder, torture and rape. Dudchenko said the group had also identified 'thousands' of Ukrainian collaborators in the occupied zones and provided the details to the Ukrainian authorities. Dudchenko says Kiborg knows that much of the huge dumps of information, often comprising many terabytes, does not seem to have an immediate value and, in any case, requires time-consuming sifting through using sophisticated specialist computer programmes, some now enhanced with Artificial Intelligence. Kiborg and similar groups hope that the information they dig up will eventually be used for investigations into Russian war crimes and to fill in blanks and help assemble an accurate record of Moscow's actions in Ukraine. Dudchenko says that Kiborg differs from other 'hacktivists' because they make their data available as resources to Ukrainian and foreign journalists. In turn, hacked data about child deportations led Kiborg to investigate a Russian organisation called 'YunArmiya' - an abbreviation for 'youth army' which prepares schoolchildren, starting from pre-teen years, for military service by indoctrinating them with the Kremlin's version of history, training them to use weapons and accustoming them to life in uniform. YunArmiya began under Putin's patronage in Russia but has set up branches in occupied parts of Ukraine. Kiborg has obtained and publicised details about Ukrainian children inducted into the YunArmiya system. Dudchenko said that some of those from areas in thrall to Moscow since 2014 had been conscripted into Russian forces and had fought and died fighting against troops from the country of their birth. Dudchenko explained that data has provided Ukrainian intelligence agencies with a wealth of information to trace the home addresses and cars of senior Russian military officials, politicians, Ukrainian collaborators and others playing a prominent part in Moscow's aggression against Ukraine. Ukrainian intelligence has thanked Kiborg multiple times for their information and Dudchenko knows their agents have carried out assassinations in occupied territory and inside Russia itself. But he says Kiborg has never been told if its data has led to this happening directly. 'Obviously, I am not informed of anything like that,' he said. 'But, thanks to our information, our defense forces, our special services, can use these databases to find information about our enemies.'
The Independent
26-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Lammy admits Trump can veto Chagos deal ahead of White House confrontation over islands
David Lammy has conceded that Donald Trump can veto the controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The foreign secretary's admission comes as The Independent has discovered the US President has been handed a second legal dossier on why the deal should not go ahead. It is understood that Mr Trump will raise the subject of giving the islands, which are home to the crucial UK/US Diego Garcia airbase, to a potential ally of China. The UK had been prepared to spend as much as £18 billion leasing back the base for the next 99 years after the handover takes place. Speaking on Robert Peston's show on ITV, Mr Lammy said: 'If President Trump doesn't like the deal, the deal will not go forward.' The admission appears to underline a growing feeling that the president will veto the deal which is set to be discussed in the White House when the prime minister visits on Thursday. It also comes on a day when Sir Keir Starmer refused to deny that his defence budget boost of £6 billion will be spent paying Mauritius to lease back the airbase, after he was confronted on the issue at Prime Minister's Questions by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch. Sir Keir and Mr Lammy hope that they can make a last ditch effort to persuade the president that the deal is 'good' and will preserve the legality of the base on Diego Garcia. But they have been unwilling to provide details on the consequences of a deal, which has already been delayed because of a change of government in Mauritius. The Independent has been told that a dossier, prepared by Tory shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick on the legalities of the issue and why there is no need to hand over the islands, has been placed in the hands of Trump aide Stephen Miller. The president is being briefed for questions on the subject when he and Sir Keir meet in the Oval Office on Thursday. Mr Jenrick recently caused outrage by claiming Sir Keir was 'a Quisling' - a World War Two term for someone who collaborates with an occupying force in their own country - because of the planned deal. But today, he republished his points in a video posted to social media making it clear that the deal has no legal necessity because an initial ruling by the International Court of Justice on Mauritius' claim to the island is 'only advisory'. A source in Mr Trump's team told The Independent that the issue is likely to get push back from the President. The source said: 'The US wants to know what side the UK is going to be on when it comes to China. The Chagos deal and the Lord Mandelson appointment as ambassador sent the wrong signal. 'The president won't hesitate to put Starmer on the spot on some of these things, and especially on free speech. The Labour position is untenable, and they seem to have only doubled down on it. I talked with a Labour staffer last week who acknowledged that they'd allowed cancel culture to go too far, but then promptly returned to the talking point of free speech needing regulation because of people like Elon Musk. They don't get it.' Addressing Chagos in a briefing with journalists on his flight to Washington, Sir Keir said: 'I'm not going to get ahead of the discussions. We'll give you a readout of those discussions. And you heard what I said about the funding. The deal when finalised, is something I'll put before the House, along with the costings, and so that'll be clear for everybody soon.'
The Independent
05-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Kemi Badenoch disowns Robert Jenrick's bizarre traitor insult against Keir Starmer
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has distanced herself from a widely condemned tweet by one of her top team describing Keir Starmer as a 'Quisling'. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick has faced criticism for using the phrase, a term for someone who collaborates with an occupying force in their own country, in a row over the Chagos Islands. Ms Badenoch's official spokesman effectively disowned the comment, saying she was 'not responsible' for Mr Jenrick's tweets. But he added that the Tory leader considered Mr Jenrick a 'valued member of the shadow cabinet', saying 'she is not someone who polices tweets'. Vidkun Quisling was a Norwegian politician and Nazi collaborator who led the puppet government of Norway during World War II. Mr Jenrick was condemned for his comments by Brendan Cox, the husband of the murdered MP Jo Cox, who said: 'Calling fellow MPs 'quislings' and 'traitors' isn't just a pathetic, and painfully inauthentic, attempt to sound populist - it's also dangerous. 'MPs know they are all at risk from violence, threats and even murder - yet Jenrick uses language that he knows will increase that threat.' The row centres on the government's plan to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius. Mr Jenrick's intervention came after reports the UK could end up paying £18 billion instead of the original £9 billion under the original agreement to lease back Diego Garcia for 99 years. Unlike the original deal, which new Mauritian PM Navin Ramgoolam said was 'not good enough', there would also be no automatic extension mechanism after 99 years. Shadow home secretary Priti Patel also hit out at the deal. She said: 'It absolutely looks like a betrayal of the British people, a betrayal of our territory.' Ms Patel said: 'We should go back to base camp, look at the judgment and say there are other ways of doing this without just handing over a sovereign territory, and certainly without committing anything from £9 billion to £18 billion at a time when we constantly hear from the government there is a financial crisis here.' Sir Keir has defended the deal, saying: 'This is a military base that is vital to our national security and international security. A number of years ago, the legal certainty of that base was thrown into doubt. 'Without legal certainty, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should, that is bad for our national security, and it is a gift to our adversaries.'
