Since the end of the Cold War, the military bases in Northern Norway have been steadily built down, and the number of troop stationed has been reduced. Suddenly that build-down might not seem like such a good idea. After having downsized our military capabilities, it will take a lot longer to rebuild them than the downsizing took. It will also potentially run into greater political resistance than if we had maintained them, and the signals it will send to our neighbors (i.e mainly Russia) will be very strong.But the recent developments should illustrate that we do need a military defense. We can not show goodwill by abandoning the few means we do have to protect ourselves, and naively hope that our neighbor will behave as good in the future that it has so far. The Soviet days are over, and so is the Cold War, thank God. But Russia is still Russia, and it has shown an ugly urge to make up for lost prestige by bullying and intimidating its neighbors. And what's worse is that these policies have broad support in the Russian population.
Although we should never give up our efforts to maintain and further improve the good relationship we have with Russia, we also need to keep firmly in mind that our defense should be closely tied to NATO and the West.
Of course, the danger that we might get into a conflict with Russia is not imminent, and the difference between Norway and Georgia in this respect is vast. But the remoteness of war has been misjudged before; at the 100-year anniversary for our constitution in 1914, the Prime Minister Gunnar Knudsen described the international political sky as as clear as it hadn't been in many, many years. A few months later the entire world was thrown into the worst conflict the human race had seen. So even though the prospects for conflict might be remote, the risks of ignoring them are potentially huge.
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