National Security or Legal Niceties? Norway Picks a Path

The Norwegian government decided in July to block the sale of a Manhattan-sized chunk of Svalbard, its Arctic archipelago.

Given that Russia has lately been using the Norwegian territory, which used to be home to a sizeable Soviet contingent of miners and their families, as a staging ground for geopolitically flavored stunts, it’s unsurprising that the Norwegian government saw the sale as a national security risk and gave itself the right to block buyers who might pose a threat to the country.