I cannot get the kids on Utoya island out of my thoughts. And how their lives have been so dismissively snuffed out by – it seems – one calculating, deliberate, cold-blooded animal. He was a madman, demented, insane, a lunatic — whatever label which allows us to try and rationalise this massacre – because there is no rational explanation that is possible. But I think that to just put a label on to the individual and “move on” cannot be accepted.
The act flouts all or any possible definition of what makes up – we would like to think – a rational human being. But we should not flinch from calling this what it was – an ultimate act of terror. To terrorise a society into acting as he wanted. He may have acted alone and he bears the responsibility alone. But we cannot escape the fact that it was the world of the right-wing blogs and the extremist political parties and the fanatical movements which have nurtured and encouraged his behaviour. They may escape blame but they need to step-up and confront their own behaviour.
Olof Svensson writes in Aftonbladet:
Anders Behring Breivik’s Plan A was to earn or save the 25 million kronor he needed to advertise and publicise his manifesto.
Through share speculation, he built up a large capital, writes Norwegian Finansavisen. But when he lost money, he became desperate and went on to Plan B: the massacre.
As a 24-year-old Anders Behring Breivik earned his first million. This he depicts with pride in his manifesto. A few years later he expressed his intention to earn 25 million kronor to create an organization and use it to lawfully produce and distribute the manifesto. He had already decided to move on to plan B – “surgery” – if it failed.
In 2002 he started his own firm, Anders Behring Breivik ENK to outsource programming services to customers in U.S. and Europe in particular. “Over the next few years, I had seven employees in five countries, one in the U.S., two in Russia, one in Romania, one in Indonesia and two in Norway” he writes in his manifesto. After a few year his capital had grown to four million kronor and he entered a new phase. Anders Behring Breivik put the company into bankruptcy in 2008 and then began to speculate in stocks and commodities to speed up the growth of his capital.
Although the stock market was extremely strong in 2005, he began to lose money. Between 2005 and 2008, he lost two million kronor. “Stock speculation was not succesful. I have to cut my losses and go on to plan B. I have very little money to pursue my two goals”, he writes. The two tasks were the distribution of the manifesto and the military operation, writes Finansavisen.
To minimize costs, he moved in with his mother. He paid a rent of 3600 kronor per month and started selling off his possessions to finance the massacre. A Versace Rosenthal dinnerware service went for 16,000 kronor. However, he chose to keep a 56,000-kronor Breitling watch and a valuable wine collection. The final solution to raise money was to obtain multiple credit cards. Last November, in conjunction with his attempt to buy weapons he had obtained several hundred thousand crowns from his 25 credit cards. Eventually he sold even his Breitling watch for 14 400 SEK.
When the massacre was approaching his bills and debt had piled up. “I am in a severe credit crisis … this problem could sabotage the whole project” he writes in the manifesto. He could not pay the rent for the farm nor pay for the fertilizer he used to manufacture bombs. He took out all the money he could on his credit cards and asked the landlord and fertilizer company for time to pay.
They said yes.
The k2p blog 