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Why have the Epstein files triggered a political and royal meltdown in Norway — while the U.S. barely reacted?
Norway is living through the crisis US never had over the Epstein files,Yes,Norway,
the country most people associate with Fjord’s, Nobel peace prizes and being one of the most stable democracies in the world.
But when the Epstein documents dropped , something happened in Norway that didn’t happen in the United States.
Real consequences , in just days ,it launched an independent inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein’s political ties.
The country’s former prime minister and top diplomats found themselves under police investigation and force out of their roles.
Contrast that with the United States,where so far there’s so far there’s been almost no meaningful accountability for anyone named
At the center of Norway’s reckoning..
is Crown Princess Mette- marit, next in line to b e queen.
The files revealed years of emails and person contact with Epstein long after his 2008 conviction for soliciting sex from a teenage girl.
Norwegians demanded answers and eventually she sat down for a televised interview.
That exchange aired across Norwey, and it only intensified public questions about judgement, transparency, and accountability at the highest levels of society.
So Why is Norway reacting so forecefully while America has barely moved at all?
We were all wondering what did she find when she googled him and what didn’t look good.
And she answered now that she couldn’t remember.
It’s 15 years ago , she doesn’t have that email anymore ,that email service , she doesn’t use that anymore and it’s really gone for her.
And she really didn’t really answer it , and then the next question that we all had then we didn’t get an answer to, well , okay , she didn’t know…
did their advisers know anything or didn’t anyone mention to her what was happening around Jeffrey Epsten at that time .
Especially when the big story about Prince Andrew in the UK broke.
It wasback in 2010 already that stories emerged linking then the Prince Andew to Jeffrey Epstein.
So, now Norwegians are asking how come members of the crown princess’s inner circle were seeimgly unaware of Epstein’s crimes.
It has kind of moved from a story about her and her ability to judge what kind of relationships she walks into to questions to the institutions that how does this institution really vet the people that they initiate relationships with.
Of course , the royals must have a private life ,they must have a private relationships,we have no right to know what they talk to with all those private relationships.
But when you initiate a new relationship like this one,who ask questions? who vets this people, who gets a picture of what they want from the crown princess.
For instance ,when they get her into their close orbit as Jeffrey Epstein did.
Let’s set the royals aside for a little moment and look a the broader political fallout from Epstein files in Norway.
The relevations now touch a former prime minister and several top diplomats and the ramifications are significant.
The Epstein papers that were released a couple of months ago , they showed that the two of the most famous diplomats in Norway .
Mona Juul and Terje Rod- Larsen, they were mentioned in those papers quite a lot.
And who are they? they were the two Norwegian diplomats that brokered the Oslo agreement.
Where the Palestinians and the Israelis finally manage to agree on some sort of path to piece.
They are quite famous both in Norway and abroad for that work and also work they have done after that and the decades after that .
Now , we’ve understood that Jeffrey Epstein was a close friend of both of them and they visited him in the house in Palm Beach and the questions really now that they are charged with corruption is what did he receive in return from what he gave them?
And there’s a big investigation going on against two of them and also the former Norwegian prime minister and foreign minister and leader of the European council Thorbjorn Jagland.
Was also he was the leader of the labour party for years ,he’s also under investigation for the same with the same questions .
So, it has been a shock that some of the most famous diplomats and profiles ,international politics from Norway has been dragged into this Epstein spehere ,like they have been now.
Okay, back to the royal family.
While senior politicals figures saw immediate consequences after their ties ti Epstein were revealed , that hasn’t been the case for the crown Princess.
In a monarchy , you can’t simple remove someone because you disapprove of their actions.
Well, we think everybyody understands that the crown princess ,she is not elected , she is married to the crown prince, so , he sort of decides if she is to continue in that role.
But also, as far as we know ,she hasn’t broken any laws .
She has bveen in a relationship a friendly relationship which ,well we think she and everybody else thinks was not good for their confidence to the royal family or to her and her ability to really judge these situations.
But of course we have questions many of us regarding what gifts did she received and what did he receive in return and what we know this far that what he has received is legitimacy.
She has been part of his circle of friends and of course that was improtant to him when he was rebuilding his reputation after 2009 and that’s what she says ,anyway she regrets it deeply that she enabled him to rebuild that reputation .
No one’s talking about corruption or anything like that in that case so the police isn’t investigating it and it’s a different story.
And the crown prinsess’s challenges don’t stop there .
Just days after the Epstein scandal broke, a criminal trial began involving her son.
Among the 40 charges he faces are four counts rape.
If you look at the Norwegians as a whole, the trust in the crown princess has fallen ,but that has more to do with Epstein papers than really with her son .
everybody to a certain degree understands that if you have a son of almost 30 years old ,he makes his own decisions.
But of course it has been tough for her and the family and she is also seriously ill , she has a lung disease that’s really weakening her and really makes her unable to perform her duties right now .
all these three stories together the Epstein story,her son in trial and very serious allegations and accusations and accusations and her illness has really has made this a rough couple of months for her.
So you see that the sympathy is growing slightly but but people still feel that they need more answers from the crown princess and the royal family as a whole.
Let’s talk about how the Us and Norway are handling this scandal differently -why is that?.
In Norway, this story hasn’t been as politicized as it has been in the US and we see that the condemnation really comes from all political colors and parties and it’s not like the labor pary are protecting their people in their story.
they are discussing it not as politically as in the states , they are talking about it as a system and culture and bipartisan problem not really a politicized problem , that’s very important to actually rebuild the trust to these systems that they are handling it with the authorities the, the r ight authorities at every point that they should and not make politics out of this.
On top of that Norway’s political culture comes with very different expectations as to how people should respond to scandals.
Some of these like Terje Rod- Larsen and Thorbjorn Jagland they are not in any position right now , so they had nothing to resign from, you might say.
And Mona Juul who was amabassador until a couple of weeks ago, she just resigned and stepped down immediately when the investigation started.
So you don’t have this discussion should they stat or should they go somehow and in a way we would say there is a certain tradtion that you step down if you get a police investigation on your beck then you can’t continue in any role that demands confidence.
So what does all of this mean for the future of Norway’s Monarchy?
Many are very disappointed because they’ve gotten a glimps into a sort of an international arena where people with status and money they meet borrow each others houses meet at the same parties and shop together in New York and it is avery un-Norwegian things to do and many were hoping that the royal family was different and not part of these circles .
But they think they can rebuild trust, thee Norwegians are very forgiving, they are very forgiving if they get a good explanation.
And they forgive people who have stumbled ,fallen done stupid things , had stupid relationships.
But they need them to be open and honest and we are not quite there yet .
What we seen in Norway over the past few weeks is a reminder that accountability isn’t automatic , it has to be enforced by the public , by the press , and by institiutions willing to examine their own failures.
This is now a test of Norway’s system, can they be transparent?
Can they rebuild trust?
And can they hold even the powerful to account?