Norwegian police assessment from January: Far-right groups pose no “serious threat”

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle09.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/July/international_July1288.xml§ion=international

Internet key as Norway battles far-right groups (Reuters)

25 July 2011, 11:09 PM

OSLO - The Norwegian anti-Islamic zealot who killed 76 people claims he worked with others, but finding far-right groups in their mainly online haunts will be tough for police who for years gave Islamist militants top priority.

Police and experts point to the Internet’s role in spreading the racist material that shaped killer Anders Behring Breivik’s extreme views, but also highlight the difficulty in policing dynamic online forums without undermining civil liberties.

“Individuals who belong to anti-Islamic groups in Norway are first and foremost found on various social media ... Increased activism among Norwegian anti-Islamic organisations can however also increase the use of violence,” Norway’s PST police security service said in a January report.

Such an assessment may now appear prescient, but the report led on the threat from Islamist militants, concluding that far-right groups pose no “serious threat” to Norway.

[gratuitous]

1. Pretty much what we concluded in the U.S.

While the FBI has shown itself to be quite expert at infiltrating and monitoring peace activist groups, they are less capable when it comes to extremist conservative groups. The Council on Foreign Relations report on Militant Extremists produced earlier this year makes for some near-comical reading, as it retails the seriousness with which the government treats perceived threats with the actual number of incidents from various groups (cf., single-issue groups like environmentalists and anti-abortionists):

http://www.cfr.org/terrorist-organizations/militant-extremists-united-states/p9236

For some reason, groups on the conservative side seem to warrant a far more circumspect treatment from the government than those deemed liberal.