Erstellt am: 27. 7. 2011 - 13:49 Uhr

Breivik's continuing threat

On today's Reality Check: the chilling revelations about Anders Breivik's ongoing plans and conflict on the Serbia-Kosovo border.

Insane, mad or just bad, and does it matter when the perpetrator has killed 76 people? Police, investigators and the media are looking for explanations and definitions to try to put a label on Anders Breivik. Psychologists will no doubt discuss the actions of Anders Breivik for years to come. If we can agree on his state of mind and define his mentality, we can piece together his actions and begin to answer the question over whether anything could have been done to thwart his attacks?

There are some in Norway who are pouring though his 1500 page manifesto, looking for clues. Our correspondent, Ketil Stenstud, told me that Breivik seemed to have a very clear and unusual plan outlined in his writings. This was to carry out a massacre, to get taken in by the authorities, then to break out of prison and continue with a second campaign of terror, including targeted assassinations. Are they the ramblings of a disturbed mind or is a second wave of killings something for the investigators to be concerned about? Norway's police are nervous, the main central railway station was closed because of a suspicious suitcase left on a platform. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it shows that authorities are taking no chances.

Some in Norway want to ignore the manifesto to deny Breivik the platform he seeks for his obsessions. If we as journalists start to pour over every word and analyze every reference, haven’t we fallen into the trap set by the mass murderer? He seeks notoriety and with the intense scrutiny there is a strong argument that we are giving him what he desires. There is even a campaign to stop calling him by name so that he becomes a so-called “nothing” in the eyes of Norwegian society.

Also on today's Reality Check: Kosovo's troubled border

The north of Kosovo has become something of a no man's land. The vast majority of the people are ethnic Serbs, they live in Kosovo, but do not recognize the government. It's been an uneasy peace - the government in Pristina recognizes that it had little influence in the area, but come to that, neither does Belgrade. It's unofficially an autonomous region within a state. It seems a little provocative, then, of the Kosovo police force to try to take control of two disputed border crossings with Serbia - but that's what they have done. The EU has condemned the action - and with Serbia scoring points with the international community over the arrests of Goran Hadzic and Ratko Mladic, it seems a strange time for Kosovo to rock the boat. Our Balkan correspondent, Nick Thorpe, told Joanna Bostock what might be happening behind the scenes.

FM4 Reality Check

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