Hypocrisy Blinds the West to its Own Shortcomings: Norwegian Politician

European politicians could learn some lessons from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, wrote Norwegian politician Stein Ornhoi in Norway's newspaper Dagsavisen on Thursday, warning that the West risks another world conflict if it does not recognize its own shortcomings.

In an article entitled, "A Beam in the eye of Brussels," the politician, a member of Norway's Socialist Left Party, began by citing a point made by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount. 

"There is overall a lot of human wisdom in the Sermon," explained Ornhoi, a member of the Socialist Left Party. "So why not a bit of Bible study on a hopefully warm July day?"

The proverb in question is an attack on hypocrisy, and those who judge others before evaluating their own actions:

"Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam that is in your own eye?" 

Recalling the events of last week's showdown between Greece and the politicians of the European Union, Ornhoi pointed out, "Europe's well-dressed elites stepped in and out of their limousines and palaces, while they threatened and demanded the Greeks accept even more poverty and greater unemployment."

"It was Brussels against Athens. The elite against the people. The speck and the beam. And people saw the plank in Brussels."

Current NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, a former Prime Minister of Norway who is in favor of Norwegian accession to the EU, is one of those who needs to go back to Sunday school, wrote Ormhoi.

"Because the US and NATO are guided by absolute and eternal values, they and we are obviously entitled to harass the rest of the world."

"According to Jens Stoltenberg, NATO and the EU have some higher values that raise them above the judgment of ordinary people in other countries and cultures. Does no-one really see the beam in Stoltenberg's eye? He obviously does not."

Ornhoi, who is a former leader of the organization 'No to the EU', which opposes future Norwegian accession to the European Union, also pointed out the same hypocrisy relating to the NATO military exercises which have taken place on Russia's border.

"The US has moved its weapons to the Baltics and Poland, and according to Stoltenberg and Ine Marie Eriksen [Norway's Defense Minister] all this is pure goodness. NATO has only defensive intentions, everybody knows that.

"We have to do this because of Russian aggression, they say. Because Russia has recently conducted a series of military exercises. Albeit on Russia's own territory, but even so. No-one says a word that NATO's overall defense spending is more than ten times what Russia spends on its defense."

"The speck and the beam is again a good explanation," concludes Ornhoi.

"I'm afraid we will set the world on fire, if we don't soon see the beams in our own eyes."