Norway’s Quiet Multipolar Move: Why Western Media Ignored Modi’s Historic Visit to Oslo

On 18–19 May 2026, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid the first official visit to Norway by an Indian prime minister in 43 years — one of the most substantive stops of his broader May 2026 European tour.

Yet in much of the Western media, the visit passed almost without meaningful coverage.

The contrast is striking. While European capitals continue to lecture the world about “values-based foreign policy”, a wealthy NATO member with a direct Arctic border with Russia quietly deepens pragmatic cooperation with the world’s largest democracy — without ideological preconditions. Norway, holder of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund and a major oil and gas exporter, is hedging its bets. It is not abandoning the West. It is simply refusing to put all its eggs in one basket.

That distinction matters more than it looks.

The Cartoon That Said It All

The day before Modi landed, Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, published a cartoon depicting the Indian prime minister as a snake charmer — complete with the headline “A clever and slightly annoying man.” The image triggered immediate outrage in India and among observers who recognised it as a........

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