The pessimistic vision of future world developments:

As no one saw the economic advatages to reversing the emissions of climate gasses, global warming was never prevented or diminished in strength. Because of this, the melting of the ice caps continued its slow progress, and sea levels rose. Also, the deforesting of the world continued, due to the absolute lack of effective international agreements to stop the exploitation of the world’s forests. The Amazon Rainforest is turned into a desert, and many of the world’s other large forests are on their way there. Furthermore, as a result of growing populations, the Sahara and Godi deserts spread, causing massive migrations away from these areas. As a result of this, conflicts erupted in China, the Middle East and Southern and Northern Africa, as the migrating peoples came to areas already populated. These areas were then increasingly depleted of their resources, such as water, fertile land and similar. This development was a global trend, with plagues and other diseases following in its wake.

Meanwhile, the political situations has changed. In the Middle East, a strong Islamic Califate has gained power, ousting the old, corrupt and secular despots of the region. However, as their resources disappear, they wage war on their neighbours in order to secure the welfare of their citizens. Russia, by now well back into Stalinist Communism, is their first and primary enemy, and the Caucasus and Central Asia are ravaged by war, and made almost impossible to live in, ridden with the resluts of biological warfare. This threatens China, who constantly keeps her northern armies alert and ready to strike if either the Russians or the Islamists ally with her great southern enemy, India.

India, however, is a constant scene for civil war, genocides and ethnic cleansing. The central government, consisting of an alliance of Hindu and Buddhist nationalist fundamentalists, has litte authority or power, and India’s capacity for waging war against stronger, more uniform Islamists and Chinese, decreases year by year. However, they are being propped up by the European Union, who sees the strategic value of supporting India economically, using her as a proxy in their own wars against the Califate. Europe, consisting of everything south of Denmark, north of the Gibraltar, west of Belarus and the Bousporous, and everything east of Bretagne, has regressed into a fascist union, where economic power is seen as a safeguard for military power. Thus, civil rights are practically non-existant, secret police forces keep a strict eye on suspicious individuals, and the peoples of Europe live stricktly segregated; all ethinc minorities have been either deposed or destroyed. The European Union has withdrawn back behind the continent’s rivers, mountains and other easily defended natural obstacles, and mainly does its warring either through proxies or through the use of atrocities against especially the Califate’s civil population. An uneasy truce exists between the European Union and the Russian Federation, but none of them really trust each other.

On the other side of the Atlantic, South America is a continent of chaotic anarchy, where leftist extremist governments of minuscule states wage wars against rightist extremist governments of minuscule states. The entire continent is becoming a desert, population is dropping like a rock, and no one really cares what happens there any more, seeing as the Latin Americans are mainly occupied with fighting each other. Further north the United States had at some point expanded to extend all the way to the Panama Channel, but because of financial and military failure in the mid-21st century, the great Union collapsed into a loose confederation of states. Sonn, however, these states started fighting amongst themselves, turning the entire continent into a mass of small, fascist states, fighting against their neighbours. However, because of their common history, they still unify to repulse attacks on one of their number, or to punish any international actor they may feel like deserve some punishing. These cooperative military expeditions are the basis of peace talks, with the goal of reestablishing the Union.

So. There we have it. And what if I was a Norwegian politician today, with complete control of our economy and general political development? (I.e., a dictator.)

First of all, I’d prepare for a massive rearranging of the Norwegian settlement patterns. Everything below 20 meters above sealevel would be demolished and moved, while replacements would be contructed further inland. Then, I’d make sure that we could feed ourselves in the event of a collapse in world trade. This implies preparing for an agricultural expansion; the global warming would enhance the potential of Norwegian agriculture, easing the growing of foodstuffs. As a part in this strategy, I’d also assure Norwegian control of the North Atlantic fisheries, possibly creating an alliance with Scotland and Iceland in order to keep the seas from turning black. Another measure in this regard would be the buying of Sweden’s interior. Some 80 % of Sweden is unused, with the only major population centers being along the coastline. (Eventually, we could offer them to join the Kingdom of Norway.)

THen, I’d resupply Norwegian industry. With the expected collapse of international trade, we would no longer be able to import foreign industrial products, having instead to rely on what we can produce domestically. There’s a small problem of supply of raw materials, but that could be overcome through agreements with Sweden and/or Russia.

Finally, we’d have to expand our army. We wouldn’t take any chances of joining the European Union, and since the new world order would be a complete lack of order, we’d need all the military might we can get. Primarily, this military force would be defensive, with a deterring purpose: To convince any hostile faction that an attack on Norway would cost them dearly. In this respect our northeastern defenses would be the most problematic. To the west and south we could easily use our navy, coastal fortresses and ai force to repel most any attack, effectively turning our coast into a graveyard for enemy ships. (As we could have done to the German navy in 1940, hadn’t our government in the 1930s been a bunch of pacifist wankers.) For the interior, however, the task would be much graver. In Finnmark, we’d have to control settlements, moving them to more strategic points, and building forts and anti-tank defenses all across the region. Forts, however, are most dysfunctional in an era of mobile warfare, and so we’d also be dependant upon an effective infantery, possibly a mechanised infantery. These troops should be stationed all across the country, and be well trained in the art of guerrila warfare. It shouldn’t be impossible to invade Norway, but it should be costly and thus virtually impossible to occupy us.

Diplomatically, we’d depend upon good relations with Russia and Europe, with possible strong ties to Scotland, Iceland and Sweden; in particular it’d be necessary to coordinate our defenses with Sweden, so that the Russians wouldn’t be able to drive their tanks straight through Sweden and into Norway further south. Ideally, these three countries would be integrated into the Kingdom of Norway, but more pragmatic arrangements could also be made.