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Norwegians campaign to give Finland a mountain
- jerguismi 11y agoWhat would we do with that crappy mountain. Give use the oil, dammit.
- bybjorn 11y agoHey now, how about appreciating the gesture at least? :-)
- fauigerzigerk 11y agoCareful what you wish for! Countries with oil seem to be in a world of hurt right now :)
- sheraz 11y agoExcept that Norway has been exceedingly prudent and now have one of the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world [1]. This fund is the largest stockholder in Europe. [1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Norway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_Pension_Fund_of_Nor...
- scholia 11y agoExcept it's a pension fund... Did anybody suggest using some of the money to deliver fiber optic broadband to every home in Norway? Either way, it's a much better outcome than the UK, where governments pissed away the benefits of North Sea oil and gas....
- nhaehnle 11y agoThe story of how Norway came to be the country that survived oil is fascinating. The crux is they had the insane luck of a young but experienced Iraqi geologist with the right mindset showing up on their doorstep at just the right time - and the wisdom to know they needed his help. This is where I first read the story: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabdc0.html http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/99680a04-92a0-11de-b63b-00144feabd...
- josinalvo 11y agopaywall :(
- IkmoIkmo 11y agojust search for the iraqi who saved norway from oil on google, click the link.
- S4M 11y agoIt was actually discussed here on HN several times before: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=norway%20iraq&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=norway%20iraq&sort=byPopularit...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- abrowne 11y agoGoogle search the URL and follow the link. Works for FT, WSJ and many others who have some agreement with Google.
- vhffm 11y agoDespite its name, it is in fact not a pension fund. http://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/about-the-fund/ http://www.nbim.no/en/the-fund/about-the-fund/
- scholia 11y agoThanks! I was perhaps mislead by Wikipedia, since that's where I looked for info ;-)
- pi-rat 11y agoWe actually tried to give away major oil rights to the Swedes 35 years ago, in exchange for 40% of Volvo, but the Swedes refused. So we ended up pumping up the oil ourselves and invested it in a giant oil fund. This oil fund is now the second biggest owner of Volvo. Thank you Sweden for not accepting the offer :)
- Cyph0n 11y agoWow, really? Sweden must regret that decision so much haha!
- Johnny_Brahms 11y agoYou know that the sovereignty of Norway was just a hundred year trial until 2005. We could have just gone "Nope, they still eat fiskekaker. it has obviously not worked out." Now, it would have been a diplomatic crisis, but we _could_ have done it.
- yongjik 11y agoIn an unexpected Ninja move, Norway gives Finland Shetland and Falkland Islands as gift. Sources say Oslo has ordered five million barrels of popcorn.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- interfixus 11y agoFrom the guys who gave us OOP, css, and Qt to the guys who gave us the guy who gave us Linux. A mountain top. What's not to like?
- dirtyaura 11y agoLinux, irc and MySQL.
- therobotking 11y agoWhat's not to like about Linux or IRC or even MySQL?
- tajen 11y agoThe back ticks to escape MySQL columns ;) But that doesn't remove the huge thanks for producing reliable OSS at such a level that it's a competitor to Oracle.
- Numberwang 11y agoWasnt MySQL Swedish?
- buovjaga 11y agoYou forgot Dovecot.
- mahouse 11y ago>This is some kind of trick. I'll bet the mountain has 50,000 'Syrian refugees' living on it or something. Cracking up.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- jkot 11y agoCzech Republic is giving Poland 900 acres as a gift: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepublic/11452364/Czech-Republic-to-hand-over-900-acres-of-territory-to-Poland-in-border-dispute.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/czechrepubl...
- littletimmy 11y agoCould the Scandinavian countries be any more perfect? In a world full of strife, and countries fighting over pieces of land, Norway/Sweden sound like a fairytale.
- sheraz 11y agoHardly perfect. 1. This is a story about Norway gifting Finland a bit of land as a celebration of Finland's full declaration of independence (I think from Russia). Sweden does not factor into it. 2. Scandinavian countries are also inhabited by humans, which means there are all the same "isms" and problems like everywhere else. It is just distributed a little differently.
- Numberwang 11y agoIm sitting on the station in Malmö after being abroad for a year. It's perfect.
- sheraz 11y agoI'd like to think there is sarcasm in this, but since you forgot to end it /sarcasm, I'll bite.... - Bombings and grenades this summer - https://www.rt.com/news/310757-sweden-malmo-blasts-crime/ - A long history of Anti-semitism (not unique to Sweden) - Anti-Muslim hate-crime (again, not unique to Sweden) - Anti-Roma (Gypsy) hate-crime - (again...you get the point) Malmö is one of the many powder kegs across Europe. You have entire neighborhoods where Fire, emergency, and law enforcement will not go ("no-go zones") [1] Sweden is not perfect. Malmo is no perfect. No place is perfect. To say so is a lie, or you have your head in the sand. [1] - http://swedenreport.org/2014/10/29/swedish-police-55-official-no-go-zones/ http://swedenreport.org/2014/10/29/swedish-police-55-officia...
- kryptiskt 11y agoThere most certainly is no neighborhood in Malmö where law enforcement won't go. There was a time when firefighters wanted to be escorted by police when going to Rosengård because they were harassed.
- Gravityloss 11y agoAs a Finn I really appreciate this gesture. I've even been to that mountain. Norwegians are cool and straightforward. If all countries were more like Norway, there wouldn't need to be wars or closed borders.
- jpkeisala 11y agoWhat a nice gesture from our great neighbor to give few extra meters to our highest peak.
- thomasahle 11y agoCan we have one too? Mange tak. - Denmark
- zeristor 11y agoIn dire need: - http://danskebjerge.dk/dansktop-en.htm http://danskebjerge.dk/dansktop-en.htm - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammefjorden https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lammefjorden Unless you count Greenland... - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_of_Greenland https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountain_peaks_of_Gree...
- unixhero 11y agoAs you know. You had it all - Norway amicable nipletwist
- troels 11y agotouché
- steanne 11y agohttp://satwcomic.com/highest-points http://satwcomic.com/highest-points
- tosseraccount 11y ago"Open borders" but a firm embrace of a welfare state? That's an invitation to migrate for welfare. "It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state," -Friedman. (dang, thanks for the down votes. Parent gets a dig in for "open borders" and pointing out that concept has a serious cost is "unmutual" thought here at HN? How about some serious feedback instead? )
- k-mcgrady 11y agoCouldn't you just limit welfare access? e.g. Must live or work in the country for x years before having access to welfare.
- berntb 11y agoThen the Scandinavian countries would have two levels, like the Persian Gulf countries. We tried hard to create a society without a "gastarbeiter" group; no real poverty and no desperate/hungry people. Because how immigration has been handled the last few years in Sweden, that ambition seems to fail the coming years. The social contract will need a rewrite. :-( The shocking part is that seems mostly to be a result of party politics.
- DeusExMachina 11y agoBut if all countries were more like Norway, there probably would not me welfare immigration, since every country would have it.
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- hack_edu 11y agoI too wish I was sitting on near-infinite reserves of natural resources. The Norwegian economy and social state can sustain itself for generations on oil income alone. Its population literally doesn't need to work and can still support the current quality of life.
- eklavya 11y agoFrom a very distant part of the world, it seems magical to hear about such people and places. I can only wish for it :)
- tomaac 11y agoWhile it sounds like a nice gesture, it is quite dangerous actually. Maybe this generation of norwegians don't mind to give away part of their country but next generation will do. They might demand to give it back for some reason and here you go - endless disputes and friendship turns in hatred.
- nkoren 11y agoThat kind of thinking produces a race to the bottom. "Let's not be good-hearted, because our children might be jerks and resent us for it." The solution to this is not to reach for the lowest common denominator, but to aim high (and raise decent children).
- throwaway999888 11y agoI think the area is small enough to be measured in square meters...
- sokoloff 11y agoFrom the article: 0.015 km^2.
- pm24601 11y agoHere is the google location: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Halti,+99400+Enonteki%C3%B6,+Finland/@69.3096807,21.2601769,15.76z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x45cff81455374207:0x75d43fa3984b730!5m1!1e4!6m1!1e1 https://www.google.com/maps/place/Halti,+99400+Enonteki%C3%B...
- jpatokal 11y agoOddly enough, Halti is already Finland's highest mountain: the current highest point in Finland is just a little lower (1,324 m) than the actual peak that the Norwegians propose to hand over (1,365m). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halti https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halti