text:
Glutaraldehyde

Glutaraldehyde is an organic compound with the formula (CH2)3(CHO)2. The molecule consists of a five carbon chain doubly terminated with formyl (CHO) groups. It is usually used as a solution in water, and such solutions exists as a collection of hydrates, cyclic derivatives, and condensation products, several of which interconvert. Because the molecule has two aldehyde functional groups, glutaraldehyde (and its hydrates) can crosslink substances with primary amine groups, through condensation. Crosslinking can rigidify and deactivate proteins and other molecules that are critical for normal biological function, such as DNA, and so glutaraldehyde solutions are effective biocides and fixatives. It is sold under the brandnames Cidex and Glutaral. As a disinfectant, it is used to sterilize surgical instruments.

Biochemistry
Glutaraldehyde is used in biochemistry applications as an amine-reactive homobifunctional crosslinker and fixative. It kills cells quickly by crosslinking their proteins. It is usually employed alone or mixed with formaldehyde as the first of two fixative processes to stabilize specimens such as bacteria, plant material, and human cells. A second fixative procedure uses osmium tetroxide to crosslink and stabilize cell and organelle membrane lipids.

Another application for treatment of proteins with glutaraldehyde is the inactivation of bacterial toxins to generate toxoid vaccines, e.g., the pertussis (whooping cough) toxoid component in the Boostrix Tdap vaccine produced by GlaxoSmithKline.

Material Science
In material science glutaraldehyde application areas range from polymers to metals and biomaterials. Glutaraldehyde is commonly used as fixing agent before characterization of biomaterials for microscopy. Glutaraldehyde is a powerful crosslinking agent for many polymers containing primary amine groups. Glutaraldehdye also can be used for an interlinking agent to improve the adhesion force between two polymeric coatings. Glutaraldehyde is also used to protect against corrosion of undersea pipes.

Clinical uses
Glutaraldehyde is used as a disinfectant and medication. Usually applied as a solution, it is used to sterilize surgical instruments and other areas.

Dermatological uses
As a medication it is used to treat plantar warts. For this purpose, a 10% w/v solution is used. It dries the skin, facilitating physical removal of the wart.

Glutaraldehyde is also used in the treatment of hyperhidrosis under the control of dermatologists. In people who have frequent sweating but do not respond to aluminum chloride. Glutaraldehyde solution is an effective agent to treat palmar and plantar hyperhidrosis as an alternative to tannic acid and formaldehyde.

Aquaria
Glutaraldehyde diluted with water is often marketed as alternative to carbon dioxide gas injection for aquarium plants, but it lacks any characteristics that promote the growth of aquatic plants, and does not raise the concentration of water it is added to. Aquarists also commonly use it in low concentrations as an algicide.

Safety
Side effects include skin irritation. If exposed to large amounts, nausea, headache, and shortness of breath may occur. Protective equipment is recommended when used, especially in high concentrations. Glutaraldehyde is effective against a range of microorganisms including spores. Glutaraldehyde is a dialdehyde. It works by a number of mechanisms.

As a strong sterilant, glutaraldehyde is toxic and a strong irritant. There is no strong evidence of carcinogenic activity, However, some occupations that work with this chemical have an increased risk of some cancers.

Production
Glutaraldehyde is produced industrially by the catalytic oxidation of cyclopentene by hydrogen peroxide, which can be achieved in the presence of various tungstic acid-based heteropoly acid catalysts. This reaction essentially mimics ozonolysis. Alternatively it can be made by the Diels-Alder reaction of acrolein and vinyl ethers followed by hydrolysis.

 * [[File:Glutaraldehyde synthesis (2).svg]]

Reactions
Like other dialdehydes, (e.g., glyoxal) and simple aldehydes (e.g., formaldehyde), glutaraldehyde hydrates in aqueous solution, forming gem-diols. These diols in turn equilibrate with cyclic hemiacetal. Monomeric glutaraldehyde polymerizes by aldol condensation and Michael reactions yielding alpha, beta-unsaturated poly-glutaraldehyde and related oligomers. This reaction occurs at alkaline pH values.

 * GlutaldehydeHydrateEquilibria.png

A number of mechanisms have been invoked to explain the biocidal and fixative properties of glutaraldehyde. Like many other aldehydes, it reacts with primary amines and thiol groups, which are common functional groups in proteins, nucleic acids and polymeric materials. Being bi-functional, glutaraldehyde is a crosslinker, which rigidifies macromolecular structures and shuts down their reactivity.

The aldehyde groups in glutaraldehyde are susceptible to formation of imines by reaction with the amines of lysine and nucleic acids. The derivatives from aldol condensation of pairs of glutaraldehyde also undergo imine formation.

title: Glutaraldehyde


text:
Memín Pinguín

Memín Pinguín was a Mexican comic book character. He was created in 1943 by writer Yolanda Vargas Dulché. Alberto Cabrera took over drawing from 1953 until 1962, followed by Sixto Valencia Burgos.

The original series had 372 chapters printed in sepia, and it has been republished in 1952 and 1961. In 1988 it was re-edited colorized, and in 2004 was re-edited again. Valencia worked on the reissues over the years, updating the drawings (clothes, settings and backgrounds) for the re-edits. It contains comedy and soap opera elements. However, since 2008 Valencia no longer works on the comic, having departed publishing house Editorial Vid.

In addition to Mexico, Memín remains a popular magazine in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Panama, Colombia, Nicaragua, and other countries. At its peak, it had a weekly circulation of one and a half million issues in Mexico.

Characters
The stories were partially based on recollection of the childhood adventures of Yolanda Vargas Dulché in the Colonia Guerrero near downtown Mexico City. The character of Memín Pinguín was inspired by Cuban children seen by the author Yolanda Vargas Dulché on her travels. Memín is an alteration of Memo, the shortened form of Guillermo, her husband's name; Pinguín comes from pingo (roughly meaning mischievous, in an affectionate tone).

Memín is a restless boy who is not a very good student, not because of a lack of intelligence, but for not being able to pay attention (he is surprisingly good at arithmetic). He helps his mother working in the street, selling newspapers, and as a shoe shine boy. Memín reflects the life of a poor Mexican boy in Mexico City. Memín and his mother are the only Afro-Mexican characters.

Memín is accompanied in his adventures by a group of three loyal friends:
 * Carlos "Carlangas" Arozamena: A shrewd curly-haired boy who was abandoned by his rich father and was raised by his working class mother. He likes to solve things with his fists, and rarely shows fear. He's a tough boy with a heart of gold. He is not as intelligent as Ernestillo but he manages to get the best scores in a private school test when he moved to live with his father. He thinks his mother has an honest job until he realizes she worked as a "Fichera" (dancer in night clubs) and got involved in a fight that leaves his mother bullet injured and Carlangas in jail due to almost killing her aggressor. His mother lately reencounter with Carlos Arozamena Sr., and while they fail to reconcile they decide to bring Carlangas a better future sending him to live with his father, but Carlos got homesick and came back to his mother's side. Finally his parents got married again, but not after Carlos Sr. got bankrupt and really learn to appreciate true love than things.
 * Ernesto "Ernestillo" Vargas: The intelligent and hard working one. His mother died when he was young and has since been raised by his father, an alcoholic carpenter. Ernestillo is so poor he has no shoes. Later, with the help of Ricardo and his friends, he has better clothes and helps his father to overcome his alcoholism and an accident that almost left him without a leg. He acts as the voice of reason of the group but sometimes he is not patient enough to send a "coscorrón" (noogie) to Memín. He is Memín's best friend and was involved in one of Memín's dreams when both go to China.
 * Ricardo "Riquillo" Arcaraz: A blond rich boy who has traveled around the world. His father decided it would be better for him to attend a public school; a self-made man, he thinks his son was being pampered too much at private schools. At first he had significant troubles fitting in, until some incidents after school led to create a bond with Memín and his friends, to the point of standing up to his mother to defend them . He learns the value of work from Memín, as well as the realities and hardships of life. For a while, he even works as a shoeshine boy with Memín. When his parents tried to get a divorce, he ran away to Guadalajara to live with his godmother, but Memín, who accompanied him, left a note to Eufrosina, leading Ricardo's parents to them.

Other prominent characters as listed: Although Memín is a comedy comic, it resembles soap operas in that the comic's story is a continuous one. Every week, the newest publication of Memín begins where the last publication had left off. In addition, because of the elements involved in the comic magazine's story, such as poverty, parental abandonment, death and alcoholism, often there are dramatic moments in the magazine as well.
 * Eufrosina: She is the hot-tempered but charming mother of Memín that makes a living by taking in washing the clothes of her neighbors. She also likes to cook, specially the "tortas de miel" (bread with honey) that Memín loves to eat. However, when she got angry to Memín punishes him by hitting his butt with a table with a nail attached. Her main stories were concerned to adopt a pretty girl that was abandoned in a park while Memín was playing even the poverty of the family; later she tries to get a job in New York City but not without having Memín lost and then confronting Memín homesick attitude after an unfortunate job in a mansion. A more memorable story puts her sick and with the need of a kidney transplant after suffering because of Memín cheating his notes in school.
 * Trifon: An obese boy that comes from the North of Mexico. In his first appearance is picked on by Memín because of his obesity to the point to have Memín jumping over his stomach. Later, he got severely ill while Memín decided to not take Communion; however Memín is not able to make Trifon realize he is acting bad even after slapping him in the face. Later, Memín got really repentant when he learns about Trifon's illness and got scared when he did not find him after his Communion, just to know that he is cured. Lately is a prominent character in the Memín's adventure in Monterrey and Texas, because he helps Memín and his friends to get some hospitality from his aunt Canuta. In a later adventure, he dies bringing an uproar among fans and pushing the creator to avoid killing another characters.
 * Professor Romero: The teacher of Memín's class, he is a very comprehensive teacher while also very strict, going to the extreme to punish Memín sometimes due to his laziness. However, he manages to help his students to help Ernestillo and his father to overcome the alcoholic problems of Ernestillo's father. Some stories later, Memín was punished to study with the lower grade kids and while doing this makes a mischief that pushes the teacher really angry so she went to Professor Romero's classroom to complain about it; however Romero stands for Memín and, in the process, the teachers fell in love and they are married later. During their honeymoon they find Memín's gang lost after they follow a fake treasure map and manages to bring them back to their parents. Later adventures were involved around Memín's incapability to study.

Based on the popularity of Memín, Yolanda and her husband Don Guillermo de la Parra were able to found Editorial Vid, a comics publishing company that eventually published hundreds of titles of Mexican comics, some of them written by Yolanda and her husband. Some of these titles also had stories related to black people, such as "Rarotonga", "Majestad Negra", and "Carne de Ébano", but only Memín was set in Mexico.

Racial issues
While Memín suffers a degree of racist taunting, especially in the first issues, the characters mocking him are depicted as either cruel or ignorant. As the story progresses, his race becomes less of an issue.

In an earlier story, Memín and his friends go to Ricardo's house after the then spoiled kid decides to make them to take a bath because of a mud fight they were involved. While bathing Memín forgets a soap bar and walked outside the bathroom without caring to dress, just to walk in front of Ricardo's mother that, scared, began to scream that a chimp was in her house, Memín, not catching the offense, really thinks that there is a chimp in the house and both began running scared, the woman from Memín, himself from the supposed chimp.

In one famous issue, Memín, having read that Cleopatra VII of Egypt took milk baths to lighten her skin, tries the same treatment. His mother weeps with sorrow that her son would want to change his skin color. A repentant Memín decides to be proud of his race and color to honor his good mother.

In another, Memín decides not to receive Communion at his church, after a cruel boy tells him blacks are not allowed in Heaven, pointing to the lack of black angels in religious paintings as proof (this was inspired by a popular song "Angelitos negros" that asked the same question and a popular Mexican motion picture of 1948 of the same name). Memín reasons that, since he is going to Hell anyway, he can get away with any mischief he wants. This prompted some Roman Catholic priests to boycott the magazine. After sales plummeted in response to the boycott, an issue was published in which Memín's friends, with the aid of the church priest, paint one of the angels in the church black; Memín returns to church and dreams of becoming an angel.

In yet another adventure called "Líos Gordos" Memín and his friends travel to Texas to play soccer. They go for a chocolate milkshake, but the place refuses service to Memín, because it doesn't serve "Negroes". His friends stand up for him, get into a fight, and end up in jail.

In a later adventure, Memín and Eufrosina decide to work in New York City but Memín gets lost in the process and begins working for a Mexican family where a blind girl begins to bring affection to her new employee. She thinks that he is blond and white because of his cheerful attitude (inspired by Marianela from Benito Perez Galdos). Later, Memín meets her cousin, a spoiled kid who he begins to have some fights. Finally, the girl is cured of her condition, but Memín, scared to be seen by the girl, decides to retire from the house while the girl misses her cousin with Memín. Some days later, she frees Memín and his mother from jail and reveals that she learned about the truth and explains all the masquerade to Eufrosina's dismay.

Finally, Memín and his friends went along a millionaire to Africa, where the most racial details were put in hot place, first Memín got a motherly friendship with a female gorilla, that later tends to be very useful for the kids to save the millionaire to be killed by his ambitious son. Later, they got trapped by cannibals that thought that Memín is a gift from the gods because of his bald condition and they named him King, just to be captured by slave traders (that freed Memín's friends in the process) and, while Memín was suffering in the ship, his friends finally freed him not without having a very angry Memín punching everyone (including his friends) due to their bad attitude over black people.

Memín in popular culture
As a result of the character's fame, Memín has appeared in other magazines. In 1965, he gave a lengthy interview for the magazine Contenido, where he appeared in a tuxedo. In addition, he was considered one of the most famous members of the Mexican Scout Association, and included in the cover of their magazine in June 1995 to coincide with the publication of the "History of Mexican Comics" stamps by the Mexican Postal Service.

Controversy
Memín was criticized on its first runs (1960–1970), but the critics were more concerned with his popularity, since intellectuals of that time had a very low opinion of comics in general. The average age of the comic reader in Mexico was higher than in the United States, about 18 instead of 13, so some argue the content of comics had a very strong influence on Mexican society. Memín was read mostly by poor and middle-class Mexicans. Some of the critics touch upon the racial aspects, but this topic was mostly ignored. Critics were more concerned with the stereotypical treatment of certain social themes and the values the stories typically reflect, which more or less echo the ideals of a Catholic middle class. Yolanda was very sensitive to critics, since they reflect heavily on sales. As Harold Hinds comments in his book Not just for children, the study of these comics is important to understand Mexican society.

In June 2005, as part of a "History of Mexican Comics" series, the Mexican Postal Service (SEPOMEX) issued a series of postage stamps featuring the character of Memín. The stamps were deemed offensive by a number of African American community groups and politicians in the United States, including Jesse Jackson, prompting the Mexican government to assert that Memín had done a lot to oppose racism and that the stereotypical Warner Brothers' character Speedy Gonzales was never interpreted as offensive in Mexico. LULAC and NCLR, Hispanic Americans civil rights organizations, also issued statements calling the stamps racist.

The charges of racism stem from the manner in which Pinguín and his mother are rendered, in the style of "darky iconography" (a form which, in the United States, has its roots in blackface and the American minstrel show tradition.) Early Mexican comic artists adopted this mode of depicting people of African descent which had become commonplace around the world. Memín and his mother are depicted stereotypically as the "pickaninny" and the "mammy", respectively. The dress and attitudes of Memín's mother are a caricature of Afro-Cuban women of the time and mirror Afrodiasporic clothing in various Latin American countries.

Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs Luis Ernesto Derbez declared to the press that "it is a total lack of knowledge of our culture; it looks to me that it is a total lack of respect to our culture that some people are making an issue out of this which does not resemble the reality."

According to Mexican author Enrique Krauze, the difference of reactions to Memín Pinguín in the United States and Mexico stem from each nations history. Krauze claimed that due to American history being more fraught with racism than Mexico, including racist legislation such as the Jim Crow laws, Americans will perceive things in a far more racialized manner than Mexicans. He elaborated on this point by saying that although Mexico had racial issues of its own, acts such as the earlier abolition of slavery in Mexico caused Mexicans to view the comics from a less racialized perspective than the American populace.

The criticism from United States officials was not only ridiculed by public opinion leaders in Mexico and by most of the Mexican population, but it also spurred interest in the stamps: from the day they were criticized, they were offered in Internet auction sites for several times their face value, and Mexican collectors bought the full edition of 750,000 copies in a few days. Sales of the magazine increased, and the publisher decided to relaunch the series from the first issue alongside the current printing. Mexican intellectuals both from right and left have denounced this criticism as an attack on Mexico, and political magazines like Proceso have questioned the chain of events that led to the criticism, making this criticism, a political issue against México.

In 2008, after complaints from an African-American shopper regarding what one news organization reported to be Memín's simian-like appearance and his "Aunt Jemima-like mother," all Memín periodicals were pulled from Wal-Mart stores in Texas. This came after the latest issue titled "Memín para presidente" ("Memín for President") was being sold at locations with a large Hispanic population.

In 2011, in one of the Mexican reprints of the comic, there is a picture involving Memín Pinguín walking alongside Michelle Obama. Memín says "and this job is one that African-Americans really want to do" poking fun on the 2005 comment of President Fox, but probably also telling the irony over the fact that an African-American was then the president of the United States (and that the latest issue of Memín Pinguín in USA was called Memín for president).

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Memín Pinguín


text:
Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Dates and numbers/Archive 2

The only time anybody should be thinking about copyediting dates is when they're ambiguous and as long as we spell out the month, we won't have ambiguous dates. If it's decided that we have to stick to one date style for reasons of consistency, it can only be a matter of time before it's decided that we have to stick to one spelling style for reasons of consistency. That way lie extremely silly and pointless disputes between people who know what the "correct" style is and people who don't. And consistency is not necessary in the way that NPOV and unambiguity is. It just makes it more difficult for new contributors to add "acceptable" material without a lengthy "training" process and the "training" process is long enough when it just involves NPOV, never mind all the other standards which have grown like weeds round here. We've learned to avoid a lot of pointless arguments over spelling by allowing any widely recognised spelling of a word to be used. Let's learn from that and apply it to dates -- Derek Ross 01:40 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

 * Well said. No unambiguous form should be disallowed. I'm embarrassed that I didn't see relation to the already solved spelling issue. Arthur

 * I like standards. I think if it were made policy that dates can be used in any way people want, visitors to the Wikipedia would find the inconsistency off-putting. When I first arrived, I was horrified by the American-style dates, and tried to avoid using them. But soon I was swayed by the fact that even if it was an unpleasant convention, it gave the place a nice uniform feel, and so I gave in and started writing dates that way. I accepted that following the convention would make the Wikipedia more coherent, and thus more professional-looking. Of course, my actual contributions may not be very professional-looking, but I do try... :) -- Oliver P. 03:58 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

We are all talking a lot about this issue, but what is the decision? When will it be made? Or is this an open-ended vote where nothing will be decided because the vote never will actually end? We can decide to make a decision. Or decide not to make a decision. But can we at least decide if we are actually going to take a decision here!

 * Or we could even decide what it is we are making a decision about. (As asked no less than four times already without result.) But it doesn't seem likely. Tannin

 * Because to those who oppose to change in status quo, it is simply irrelevant what date we are talking about. I am one of them. I would rather talk about date markup systems. Certainly we want to show dates in different display and American standard cannot be a universal standard in any sense.

Ok - time for answers: JtdIrL 04:36 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

Question 1: Which dates are we deciding should be subject to these dates?
 * 1) All dates
 * 2) Dates at the start of Articles

Question 2: When are we taking the decision?'
 * 1) In the next twenty-four hours?
 * 2) In one week?
 * 3) Never?

OK, I'll take a crack at your questions, JTD. #1: dates at the start of articles only. #2: Well, "never" looks likely as there is nothing approaching a consensus at present. Whenever consensus arrives, I guess. Tannin

Wait a minute, people. This is the Wikipedia. Making a group decision isn't important. What is important is trying to convince others to make personal decisions. For instance if I have convinced enough people that my solution is right, I will be able to change the Style manual to recommend my style and know that I have enough support that others' attempts to change it back won't work. If anybody wants to test the support for their idea, let them go ahead and edit the "(dates and numbers)" article. It's been discussed enough that most of the good points have now been made, so people can decide whether they care enough to revert a change that someone else has made. If on the other hand an edit war breaks out, then we need to apply NPOV thinking. Ie that there is no one best solution and that we must all agree to disagree and allow both (or all three or whatever) styles just as we do with spelling. -- Derek Ross 04:59 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

My answers: #1 - we're talking about all dates except for those in quotes, just as for the current manual of style. #2 - as Derek says, pretty much. If we get consensus, then we're done. If we get close to consensus, then someone will eventually take matters into hir own hands and do it. Martin

I've added to the entry to reflect those issues that I think we have got consensus on. The most important one is that I think that we should add the redirects from UK style to US style as an interim measure. I've only seen one semi-objection to that idea, and it was from an anonymous contributor. The other stuff is basically just avoiding ambiguity, which I think we're all agreed on. Martin

 * I don't understand the strong force of opinions on this disagreement. If we assume that every non-ambiguous form is understood by everyone, that leaves only personal preferences left to drive the discussion. ISO is silent about date forms where months are spelled as words (i.e., all the least ambiguous forms), so ISO is irrelevant to the discussion. And consistency, it seems to me, is a weak argument for the use of force in imposing a style on wikipedia authors. And if the date is unambiguous, style is all the argument is about. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said,

 * A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

 * I vote we let our authors write in their own style and get on to more important matters. Arthur 22:27 Mar 1, 2003 (UTC)

begin content moved from Talk:ISO 8601

Some of us like to put the dates of events in ISO 8601 format. Thus for someone born on January 14, 1921 we would put 1921-01-14. Nevertheless it can be more æsthetically pleasing to see the page heading "January 14". To deal with this I would propose a series of pages with only the numerical month and day in the heading and including any leading zeros. The page would immediately redirect to the one with the existing format. I considered including a leading hyphen as a part of the heading, but rejected the idea because I was uncertain about possible technical effects. I would hope to implement this for particular dates as and when needed. Eclecticology
 * article names in the database should be in strict ISO 8601 format, if times are required they should be at GMT/0 or clearly marked as to time zone. Is there a specification for "BC" dates as well?  Aesthetic presentation issues in the page heading can always be handled by software rather than redirects.24

GMT is Obsolete. Please use UTC ! BC dates are handled in ISO 8601 with a minus symbol. Beware that before AD 1 (0001) there is,  BC 1 which is 0000, so  BC 2 is -0001 and so on. I found a draft copy of the standrd at  http://www.ray-connolly.fsnet.co.uk/ISO8601-2000_Draft-20001215_ISO-TC154-N362_Final.PDF

end content moved from Talk:ISO 8601

Running Total as of Sunday AM:

(This includes people who voted for multiple options.)
 * Make day-month-year MoS policy 15 votes
 * Encourage day-month-year 6 votes
 * Allow both month-day-year and day-month-year, express no preference 6 votes
 * Keep month-day-year as MoS policy (status quo) 4 votes
 * Make year-month-day UTC MoS policy 3 votes
 * Encourage month-day-year 1 vote

This means:

 * Support to enforce/encourage dd/mm/yy 21 votes
 * Support for current system mm/dd/yy 5

 * Allow both dd/mm/yy & mm/dd/yy 4
 * Support to enforce/encourage yy/mm/dd 3 votes.

CONCLUSIONS:
 * 1) dd/mm/yy is OVERWHELMINGLY THE PREFERRED OPTION.
 * 2) There is little support for current system
 * 3) yy/mm/dd is a non-starter

 * THE ABOVE IS COMPLETE NONSENSE.

 * There are 15 votes for compulsory day /month/year
 * 13 votes for non-compulsory systems
 * Plus 5 votes for the current system and 4 confused people voting for a numeric system (which was not part of the question).

 * 15 to 13 is not even close to an "overwhelming consensus".
 * Tannin

So the consensus seems clear. The question is simply, when should we begin to follow this rule? I would suggest asap as we are at the start of a new month, so it is an ideal time. JtdIrL 06:52 Mar 2, 2003 (UTC)

 * The consensus is not clear. -- Tannin

 * This is a major change and should be thought through a lot first. We are only now making redirects for the International style. The next phase would be moving the day articles then somebody is going to have to write a bot to change over all day links to the new style (just the links - otherwise the bot will cause trouble where there are numbers next to month names). This last part is very important to me - otherwise Wikipedia will be mostly in the American format for possibly years to come and will have a nasty looking mess of missmatched styles. IMO without the automatic conversion the status quo is best. --mav

I heartily concur with mav, and have only a couple supplementary points:
 * 1) All international-style redirects have been created.
 * 2) I am willing write that bot.  I will test it very thoroughly on pages in my user-talk space, and then ask the mailing list when they think would be a good time to let it begin its grovelling through the articles.  If you're not on the mailing list, you should be.

A different analysis of different people's positions might be:
 * 15 people are willing to accept making day-month-year MoS policy.
 * 13 people are not willing to accept a day-month-year MoS policy. Of these 13 people:
 * 7 wish to have a middle solution of some sort - IE encouragement or no preference.
 * 4 wish to keep the status quo
 * 2 wish to switch to a ISO 8601 system

I always liked stats... ;-) Martin

 * Me too. But you just failed your term paper! :( Last time I looked, 15 + 6 + 6 + 4 + 3 +1 = 35. Your analysis adds up to 28.) Let's try it again, with the right figures:

 * A different corrected analysis of different people's positions might be:
 * 15 people are willing to accept making day-month-year MoS policy.
 * 20 people are not willing to accept a day-month-year MoS policy. Of these 20 people:
 * 16 wish to have a middle solution of some sort - i.e. encouragement or no preference.
 * 4 wish to keep the status quo
 * 2 wish to switch to a ISO 8601 system

Heh. I think the confusion here is that there are 28 voters, but 35 votes. This is because some people have voted for more than one position - presumably because they are flexible and willing to accept a number of alternatives as being acceptable outcomes. If this point is causing confusion, then perhaps I'm wrong in thinking that wikipedia votes should proceed using approval rather than the simpler system of first past the post? Oh well, something to think about at vote then... Martin

 * Anything is better than first past the post! Tannin

Timeout. The "compulsory" aspect of the first choice would be no more compulsory than what we now have with the status quo. After all the day pages are moved then people will naturally start to prefer the [day month] [year] format. The script will just make Wikipedia consistent. What is very clear is that a clear majority of people want to at least move in the direction of the [day month] [year] format. The word "policy" here should be removed - our manual of style is not policy, it is a set of conventions. English does not only belong to American English speakers and we want to move Wikipedia, especially en.wiki, to being more International in flavor. Thus the date format used by a majority of English speakers is the one we should be using here. The day pages should be moved alone on that count - it follows our common usage naming convention. --mav

 * The datebot has been thoroughly tested and is almost ready to be set ravening among the articles. At this moment it has no automatic article-selection mechanism; it only munges the single article it is pointed at. Next, on Wikipedia-L -- "The Datebot: Threat, or Menace?" --the Epopt

Oy. Are we really going to change every date in the Wikipedia? Do you want to confuse every American who ever reads the thing? -- Zoe

 * Americans who are confused by 2 March 2003 should not be reading an encyclopedia. I don't understand your objection. --the Epopt

 * How elitist of you. Who are you to say who should and should not read anything? -- Zoe

 * Zoe, please quit trying to insult me. I'm trying to continue a discussion already well underway. Can you explain to me how 2 March 2003 could be confusing? --the Epopt

 * I wonder how many Americans would be confused - anybody who's ever dealt with that gigantic military-industrial complex has encountered ddmmyy, because the DoD started using it years ago (probably because of NATO work, but don't know), and as I mentioned early on in the discussion, the Chicago MoS encourages it too, so you see it in American books today. I wouldn't say that people confused by 2 March shouldn't be reading the encyclopedia, but that's going to be the least of their problems with wikipedia - we've got casual use of Chinese and Kanji characters in many articles, 16th-grade-reading-level articles that don't explain or link to many of their big words, and articles that need major rewriting into grammatical English.  But then again, maybe I'm just hanging out in the "bad neighborhoods". :-) Stan 06:36 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

Ugh, I knew that this Manual of Style would cause problems. There is no need to prefer Imperial or American spelling, nor is there any need to prefer Imperial or American date systems. We need a standard for the page titles -- nothing else. I know that standards are fun to discuss (I do it too, I'm partial to "2003 March 3" myself), especially when there's a computer keyboard in front of you, but writing Wikipedia is an art, not a science, and we're creating literature, not code. -- Toby 07:01 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * It is not the difference between Imperial and American date styles, it is the difference between International and American date styles. The analogy with Imperial vs American spelling does not apply because while your average American Wikipedia reader will think "artefact" is a misspelling they will recognize 2 March as a valid date format. --mav

 * I don't understand why the date style is "International" but the spelling is only "Imperial". Is it important for your point? (Unless it's because the date style could also apply in other languages, but that's not relevant to the English Wikipedia.) Setting that aside:
 * An American might see "artefact", think it wrong, and change it to "artifact";
 * A non-American might see "artifact", think it wrong, and change it to "artefact";
 * An American might see "3 March 2003", think it wrong, and change it to "March 3, 2003";
 * A non-American might see "March 3, 2003", think it wrong, and change it to "3 March 2003".
 * All of them, however, will understand everything. People may be more familiar with one variation over another (much as they are more familiar with "realise"/"realize" than "artifact"/"artefact"), but it's the same idea. So what is the difference? -- Toby 20:24 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * All publishers follow a style guide, an in-house one or something like Chicago. Standards are needed for writing. The wiki way means that people don't need to bother with standards if they don't feel like it. But copyediting wikipedians will be applying them. -- Tarquin 13:35 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * Not all publishers require (in the sense that any other one will be changed when they copyedit) a certain date format all the time. For example, the Chicago Manual of Style (according to a quotation on WikiEN-L) allows (in the sense that it won't be changed when they copyedit) several variations. Now, I agree that some standards are needed for writing. But not everything needs a standard -- American vs Imperial spelling is an example. So it's incumbent on the people that want a standard to explain why one is needed in this case. Other than the titles of pages like March 3 (where I agree that a standard is needed, and where I'd even support a change to 3 March), I haven't seen that argument. -- Toby 20:24 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

And ultimately, that's why I'm bothering to get involved. Some people see a manual of style and think "Good! we can write some standards," when they should think "Good! if we need any standards, then we can write them down here." Nothing should be in the MoS without demonstrated necessity -- and that includes the old standard for date order. Our manual of style should be tiny; it was once, but now it's not. -- Toby 20:24 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * I believe that we have general agreement that months should always be spelled out in full. I've not seen anybody here express any kind of objection to that rule, which has been the way we do things for some time. We could have a seperate discussion of spelling out months, I guess, if people want: Martin

 * spelling out months
 * +: makes dates unambiguous, regardless of format
 * +: easier to read
 * +: easy-links to existing date articles with spelled out months
 * +: consistent with article titles
 * +: status quo
 * using numerical months
 * +: saves a few keystrokes when typing
 * -: unclear
 * -: harder to read
 * -: ambiguity likely
 * -: some confusion of day month pages and month year pages

Here's a question from an ignorant American (me!). When people read out loud a sentence like "My birthday is 2 March, 1918," do they say "two March" or "March second" or what? In American English, we write "My birthday is March 2, 1918" and say "March second". Jimbo Wales 13:46 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * I think everyone reads it how they like. I would say "my birthday is the second of march". -- Tarquin 13:57 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * In Oz, it's generally spoken as "March the second" or "the second of March". It is rare to hear "March second", and very rare to hear "March two", which is considered poor English. No-one seems to pay much attention to the order (i.e., month first or the number first), at least not that I've ever noticed. Tannin

 * I would normally say the second of March. A number of people in the UK would say oh-two oh-three nineteen-eighteen, which is obviously ambigusous when used internationally. -- Chris Q 14:05 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * I would read "2 March" or "2nd March" as "the second of March" and "March 2" or "March 2nd" as "March, the second" -- Derek Ross

-

I don't care much what is eventually chosen (although I, as a European, prefer the current form), but please keep the style consistent. Any professional enyclopedia manages to maintain a consistent style throughout -- if the wiki way fails at accomplishing this simple goal of standardization, then it will fail to resolve many much more complex issues as well. I strongly object against any attempt to change the dates wholesale manually -- this is bound to create a huge mess of conflicting date styles, and clog up RC for months to come. --Eloquence 20:28 Mar 3, 2003 (UTC)

 * Thus a properly registered datebot would be perfect. --mav


text:
National Constituent Assembly (France)

The National Constituent Assembly (Assemblée nationale constituante) was a constituent assembly in the Kingdom of France formed from the National Assembly on 9 July 1789 during the first stages of the French Revolution. It dissolved on 30 September 1791 and was succeeded by the Legislative Assembly.

Estates-General
The Estates General of 1789, (Etats Généraux) made up of representatives of the three estates, which had not been convened since 1614, met on 5 May 1789. The Estates-General reached a deadlock in its deliberations by 6 May. The representatives of the Third Estate attempted to make the whole body more effective and so met separately from 11 May as the Communes. On 12 June, the Communes invited the other Estates to join them: some members of the First Estate did so the following day. On 17 June 1789, the Communes approved the motion made by Sieyès that declared themselves the National Assembly by a vote of 490 to 90. The Third Estate now believed themselves to be a legitimate authority equal to that of the King. Elements of the First Estate, primarily parish priests who were closer in wealth to the Third Estate compared to the bishops who were closer in wealth to the Second Estate, joined the assembly from 13 June onwards and, on 19 June, the whole of the clergy voted to join the National Assembly. A legislative and a political agenda unfolded.

Tennis Court Oath

There were soon attempts by King Louis XVI and the Second Estate to prevent the delegates from meeting, as well as misunderstandings on both sides about each other's intentions. Locked out of its chamber, the new assembly, led by its president Jean-Sylvain Bailly, was forced to relocate to a nearby tennis court, on 20 June; there, it swore the Tennis Court Oath, (Le serment du Jeu de Paume) promising "not to separate, and to reassemble wherever circumstances require, until the constitution of the kingdom is established and consolidated upon solid foundations." Failing to disperse the delegates, Louis started to recognize their validity on 27 June.

The Assembly renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July and began to function as a governing body and a constitution-drafter. However, it is common to refer to the body even after then as the "National Assembly" or the "Constituent Assembly".

Structure in summer 1789

Following the storming of the Bastille on 14 July, the National Constituent Assembly became the effective government of France. In the words of historian François Mignet: The assembly had acquired the entire power; the corporations depended on it; the national guards obeyed it... the royal power, though existing of right, was in a measure suspended, since it was not obeyed, and the assembly had to supply its action by its own.

The number of the Estates-General increased significantly during the election period, but many deputies took their time arriving, some of them reaching Paris as late as 1791. According to Timothy Tackett, there were a total of 1,177 deputies in the Assembly by mid-July 1789. Among them, 278 belonged to the nobility, 295 to the clergy, and 604 were representatives of the Third Estate. For the entire duration of the Assembly, a total of 1,315 deputies were certified: 330 clerics, 322 nobles, and 663 deputies of the Third Estate. Tackett noted that the majority of the Second Estate had a military background, and the Third Estate was dominated by men of legal professions.

Some of the leading figures of the Assembly at this time were:
 * The conservative foes of the revolution, later known as "The Right":
 * Jacques Antoine Marie de Cazalès – a forthright spokesman for aristocracy
 * the abbé Jean-Sifrein Maury – a somewhat inflexible representative of the Church
 * The Monarchiens ("Monarchists", also called "Democratic Royalists") allied with Jacques Necker, inclined toward arranging France along lines similar to the British constitution model with a House of Lords and a House of Commons:
 * Pierre Victor, baron Malouet
 * Trophime-Gérard, marquis de Lally-Tollendal
 * Stanislas Marie Adelaide, comte de Clermont-Tonnerre
 * Jean Joseph Mounier
 * "The Left" (also called "National Party") was still relatively united in support of revolution and democracy, representing mainly the interests of the middle classes but strongly sympathetic to the broader range of the common people. In the early period, its most notable leaders included Honoré Mirabeau, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Jean-Sylvain Bailly (the first two of aristocratic background). Mignet also points to Adrien Duport, Antoine Pierre Joseph Marie Barnave, and Alexander Lameth as leaders among the "most extreme of this party" in this period, leaders in taking "a more advanced position than that which the revolution had [at this time] attained." Lameth's brother Charles also belonged to this group.
 * Patriotic Society of 1789

One must add the role played by the Abbé Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, especially in regard to the proposition of legislation in this period, as the man who, for a time, managed to bridge the differences between those who wanted a constitutional monarchy and those who wished to move towards more democratic, even republican directions.

Proceedings
For a detailed description of the proceedings in the National Constituent Assembly and related events, see the following articles:
 * French Revolution from the abolition of feudalism to the Civil Constitution of the Clergy
 * French Revolution from the summer of 1790 to the establishment of the Legislative Assembly

For a list of presidents of the National Constituent Assembly, see List of presidents of the National Assembly of France.

For a partial list of members of the National Constituent Assembly, see Alphabetical list of members of the National Constituent Assembly of 1789.

Restoration of king
In the summer of 1791, the National Constituent Assembly decided that the king needed to be restored to the throne if he accepted the constitution. The decision was made after the king's failed flight to Varennes. That decision enraged many Parisians into protesting, and one major protest devolved into the Champ de Mars Massacre, with 12 to 50 people killed by the National Guard.

Dissolution
After surviving the vicissitudes of a revolutionary two years, the National Constituent Assembly dissolved itself on 30 September 1791. The following day, the Constitution of 1791 went into effect, which granted power to the Legislative Assembly.

title: National Constituent Assembly (France)


text:
Talk:Bahya ibn Paquda

Pronunciation
Based on the Arabic spelling بهية shouldn't the name be transliterated as Bahiyyah (beautiful) rather than 'Bahya'

HussaynKhariq (talk) 08:54, 22 September 2021 (UTC)

Untitled
Surely this name is in Arabic, from the time and place and also the "ibn"? But then, how is it that the surname has a letter "P" in it when there is no such sound in Arabic? PML.

 * Hebrew and Aramaic have a "p" sound. Because of cultural and linguistic continuities between Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic, it is not uncommon for the Arabic name of a Jew to contain Hebrew or Aramaic elements or a Hebrew name to contain Arabic ones. Well, maybe less common now than it was.... Hebrew and Aramaic also enabled other languages with "p" sounds to be represented in an Arabic language context. Additionally, an invented letter "p" was added to the Arabic script shortly after the assimilation of Persia into the Khalifate to accomodate writing Persian in Arabic. DMD

I am linking this to NPOV dispute, as I do not know enough about the subject and have no sources to fix it. Such glowing remarks on such a distant historical figure (without sources) seem somewhat subjective. Words such as...
 * Bahya combined in a rare degree great depth of emotion, a vivid poetic imagination, the power of eloquence, and beauty of diction with a penetrating intellect; and he was therefore well fitted to write a work the main object of which was not to argue about and defend the doctrines of Judaism, but to appeal to the sentiments and to stir and elevate the hearts of the people. He was also broad-minded enough...
 * Perhaps something more along the lines of 'person X has been praised as "quote" by person Y, and is widely considered in Z circles to be ... (well you get the drift)
 * --Pratyeka 02:19, 12 Nov 2003 (UTC)

Rabbeinu ?
Sorry I could not find a more subdued template, but doesn't "Rabbeinu Bachya" usually refer to Bachya ben Asher?

Dfass 17:01, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I dunno. A Rabbi told me that it *is* ibn Pakuda who is typically referred to "Rabbeinu Bachya," so I took away the template.  (I probably should not have slept in yeshiva so much!)

Merge articles?
Since we know little of is life beside Duties of the Heart - Chovot ha-Levavot we should probably combine the two articles. They also almost completely overlap.--Jayrav (talk) 17:38, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Any objections? if not, then I will do it later this month.--Jayrav (talk) 23:12, 8 January 2008 (UTC)

Year of "Duties of the Heart"
The article as well as Jewish Encyclopedia have Bahya's date of composing "Duties of the Heart" in 1040 Encyclopedia Britannica has him writing it in 1080. Obviously it is hard to date something a millennium old, but should we include both opinions?  Valley 2 city  20:11, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
 * A comment added today to the main page: I'm confused. The heading lists his birth year as 1050, yet it also says he lived in the "first half of the 11th century" and that his book was published in 1040. How is this possible?)
 * I've fixed this in accordance with the most recent scholarly sources I could find (seems the year 1040 came from Jewish Encyclopedia, but more recent scholarship says 1080) Ar2332 (talk) 13:52, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

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title: Talk:Bahya ibn Paquda


text:
Jens Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg (born 16 March 1959) is a Norwegian politician who has been serving as the 13th secretary general of NATO since 2014. A member of the Norwegian Labour Party, he previously served as the 34th prime minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and again from 2005 until 2013.

Born in Oslo as the son of the prominent diplomat and politician Thorvald Stoltenberg and politician Karin Stoltenberg, Stoltenberg attended Oslo Waldorf School and Oslo Cathedral School before graduating with a degree in economics from the University of Oslo in 1987. During his studies, he worked as a journalist, and led Labour's youth wing from 1985 to 1989.

Stoltenberg started his career in government as a state secretary in the Ministry of the Environment in 1990 and was elected to the Storting in 1993. He served as Minister of Industry and Energy from 1993 to 1996 and Minister of Finance from 1996 to 1997. He was prime minister from 2000 to 2001, was leader of the Labour Party from 2002 to 2014, and served as prime minister for a second time from 2005 to 2013. The following year, he was named as the 13th secretary general of NATO, and his term was subsequently extended four times by the NATO heads of state and government.

Stoltenberg has been described as a cautious politician, belonging to the right-wing of social democracy. When he became prime minister in 2000, he was portrayed as the "Norwegian Tony Blair", and his policies were inspired by Blair's New Labour agenda; his first government oversaw the most widespread privatisation by any Norwegian government to that date. Stoltenberg said he was both inspired by and wanted to learn from Blair's policies. As the second longest-serving high-ranking official in NATO history, Stoltenberg has worked to expand the alliance into Eastern Europe and to strengthen the alliance's military capabilities in response to the Russo-Ukrainian War, and his tenure coincided with the largest increase in NATO defense spending since the Cold War.

Early life
Stoltenberg was born 16 March 1959 in Oslo, into the Norwegian Stoltenberg family, the family name derived from Stoltenberg in Schleswig-Holstein where a German ancestor once lived. Jens's father, Thorvald Stoltenberg (1931–2018), was a prominent Labour party politician and diplomat who served as an ambassador, as defence minister and as foreign minister. His mother, Karin Stoltenberg (née Heiberg; 1931–2012), was a geneticist who served as state secretary in multiple governments during the 1980s. Marianne Heiberg, married to former foreign minister Johan Jørgen Holst, was his maternal aunt. Jens lived in SFR Yugoslavia from 1961 to 1964 while his father worked at the Norwegian embassy.

Stoltenberg attended primary school at Oslo Waldorf School, and upper secondary school at Oslo Cathedral School. He served his mandatory military service with the Army's Infantry Training Centre at Evjemoen in Aust-Agder. After leaving the army, Stoltenberg enrolled at the University of Oslo, graduating in 1987 with the cand.oecon. degree in economics. The title of his thesis was ''Makroøkonomisk planlegging under usikkerhet. En empirisk analyse'' ("Macroeconomic planning under uncertainty. An empirical analysis").

Stoltenberg's first steps into politics came in his early teens, when he was influenced by his sister Camilla, who at the time was a member of the then Marxist–Leninist group Red Youth. Opposition to the Vietnam War was his triggering motivation. Following heavy bombing raids against the North Vietnamese port city of Hai Phong at the end of the Vietnam War, he participated in protest rallies targeting the United States Embassy in Oslo. On at least one occasion embassy windows were broken by stone-throwing protesters. Several of Stoltenberg's friends were arrested by the police after these events.

Journalistic career (1979–1990)
From 1979 to 1981, Stoltenberg was a journalist for Arbeiderbladet. From 1985 to 1989, he was the leader of the Workers' Youth League. From 1989 to 1990, he worked as an executive officer for Statistics Norway, Norway's central institution for producing official statistics. He also worked part-time as an hourly paid instructor at the University of Oslo during this period. Between 1990 and 1992, he was leader of the Oslo chapter of the Labour Party.

Up to 1990, he had regular contacts with a Soviet diplomat. He ended this relationship after being informed by the Norwegian Police Security Service that his contact was a KGB agent, warning him against further contact. The code name given to Stoltenberg by the KGB was "Steklov".

Ministry for Environment and Minister for Trade and Energy (1990–1996)
Stoltenberg served as State Secretary in the Ministry of the Environment from 1990 to 1991. He was first elected to Parliament in 1993 for the Oslo constituency, and is a member of the Labour Party. He served as Minister of Industry from 1993 to 1996, until Brundtland resigned.

Minister of Finance (1996–1997)
In 1996, Thorbjørn Jagland became prime minister, and Stoltenberg became Minister of Finance. On 29 September 1997, Jagland resigned because of an ultimatum he had issued stating that the cabinet would resign if the party received less than 36.9% of the popular vote. Labour only received 35.0%; true to his promise, Jagland resigned as a consequence of its 36.9 ultimatum, and power was transferred to the first cabinet of Kjell Magne Bondevik. After Jagland's resignation and while in parliamentary opposition, Stoltenberg served on the standing committee on Oil and Energy Affairs in the Storting. He became the parliamentary leader and prime minister candidate for the Labour Party in February 2000.

First term as Prime Minister (2000–2001)

In 2000, the first cabinet of Bondevik resigned following an unsuccessful motion of confidence. Stoltenberg's first cabinet governed Norway from 17 March 2000 to 19 October 2001. Stoltenberg was the deputy leader of the Labour Party while Jagland was the party leader. Instead Jagland was given the post as Foreign Minister. Stoltenberg's first tenure as Prime Minister (2000–2001) was controversial within his own party, being responsible for reforms and modernisation of the welfare state that included partly privatising several key state-owned services and corporations. In the parliamentary election of 10 September 2001, the party suffered one of its worst results ever, winning only 24% of the vote. The 2001 election met with instability for the Labour Party. The Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet stated: "We are heading for a political earthquake when the votes are counted tonight, if we believe the opinion polls." In an interview with The Associated Press Jagland stated "It is unstable and unpredictable." After the election in 2001, Stoltenberg and his cabinet were forced to resign, with the Labour Party suffering from its worst election campaign results since 1924. With the 98% votes taken, the Labour Party only garnered 24%, falling from 35%. Jagland, the Labour Party leader, commented on the results saying, "We will have to make a decision about whether to continue in government after we know the full results". After the election Stoltenberg said, "What is clear is that this was a very bad election."

Some analysts have pointed out that one of the causes for their loss was that with only one year in power until the next election, more time was spent initiating or trying to start reforms than telling the people why they had to be done. Such reforms included selling down in state-owned companies, re-organisation of health care and public hospitals and changes in sick pay. The changes made from the 2001 election to the 2005 election were described by Norwegian newspaper VG as an "extreme makeover".

Party leader election
The bad election result in 2001 was quickly followed by a leadership battle between Jagland and Stoltenberg. Both Jagland, as leader, and Stoltenberg, as deputy leader, said they were open to be challenged for their positions at the party's congress in November 2002. Stoltenberg refused to say whether he would challenge Jagland for the leadership position, which was seen by political commentators as a sign that he probably would seek the leadership position. In the beginning of February 2002, Jagland, who had been briefly hospitalized in January, and had a subsequent sick leave, said that he would not seek reelection as leader. In November 2002, Stoltenberg was unanimously elected new leader at the party's congress.

Second term as Prime Minister (2005–2013)

Stoltenberg's second cabinet governed Norway from 17 October 2005 to 16 October 2013. The 2005 parliamentary election saw a vast improvement for Labour, and the party gained a majority in parliament together with the other "Red-Green" parties, the Socialist Left Party and the Centre Party. This paved the way for a historic first in Norway, with Labour joining in a coalition government, the Red-Green Coalition, after a coalition deal with Stoltenberg was struck. Since the government's formation, key political issues such as Norwegian military participation in the war in Afghanistan, petroleum activities in the Barents Sea, LGBT rights, immigration and the quality of standard education were greatly debated by the public. Following Stoltenberg's re-election in 2009, he worked on the Norwegian response to the ongoing global recession and championed for environmentalist policies through private and corporate taxation.

A marine border dispute with Russia in the Barents Sea since 1978 was settled when Stoltenberg and President of Russia Dimitry Medvedev signed an agreement on 27 April 2010 in Oslo. The agreement is a compromise, which divides a disputed area of around 175,000 km2 into two approximately equally sized parts. However, the agreement still needs ratification by the State Duma and the Parliament of Norway in order to be implemented. Whereas Norway had previously insisted on a border in accordance with the equidistance principle, which is recognized in international law, specifically the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea Article 15 and the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone Article 6, Russia invoked a Stalin-era decree of the Soviet Union from 1926, which was not recognised by any other country. The new agreement replaced a controversial temporary agreement negotiated by Jens Evensen and Arne Treholt, who was later revealed to be a Soviet spy and who aided the Soviet Union in the negotiations. Most of the disputed area was within what would normally be considered Norwegian according to the relevant international treaties.

As Prime Minister, Stoltenberg worked for a constructive relationship with Russia through dialogue and cooperation underpinned by NATO's deterrence and defence capabilities. During his tenure, he also emphasised the need to focus on security challenges close to Allied territory.

22 July 2011 terrorist attacks

On 22 July 2011, a bomb went off in Oslo outside the government building which houses the prime minister's office, killing eight people while wounding others. About an hour later, a shooting spree, which killed 69 people, was reported at Utøya, an island forty-five minutes away where the ruling Labour Party was holding its annual youth camp. The PM was due for a visit at the youth camp the next day, and was in his residence preparing his speech at the time of the Oslo explosion.

On Sunday 24 July, Stoltenberg spoke at the church service in the Oslo Cathedral. He named two of the victims at Utøya, Monica Bøsei, who was the camp's leader, and Tore Eikeland, who was the leader of the youth chapter in Hordaland. He again vowed to work for more democracy, openness, and humanity, but without naïveté. He also said that "No one has said it better than the AUF girl who was interviewed by CNN: If one man can show so much hate, think how much love we could show, standing together." The AUF girl mentioned is Stine Renate Håheim interviewed by CNN's Richard Quest on 23 July 2011. Håheim again quoted her friend Helle Gannestad, who had tweeted this from home, watching events unfold on TV.

On 24 August 2012, 33-year-old Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik was found guilty by the Oslo District Court of having perpetrated by himself both terrorist attacks, the bombing of the prime minister's office and the shooting spree on Utøya island, and was convicted to containment, a special form of prison sentence that can be extended indefinitely—with a time frame of 21 years and a minimum time of 10 years, which, in all, is the maximum penalty in Norway.

On 3 September 2012, Norwegian daily Klassekampen wrote that the Gjørv Report on the terrorist attack "is the hardest verdict against a Norwegian cabinet since the Fact-Finding Commission of 1945 ensured that Johan Nygaardsvold's political career was abruptly halted." Stoltenberg said after the report was published that he had "ultimate responsibility for the preparedness in our country, a responsibility I take seriously," but said he would not resign.

2013 election and defeat
Stoltenberg was the prime minister candidate for the Red-Green Coalition in the 2013 elections, seeking re-election for a third term.

On 9 September 2013, the coalition failed to win a majority, with 72 of the required 85 mandates, despite the Labour Party remaining the largest party in Norway with 30.8%. In his speech the same night, he announced that his cabinet would resign in October 2013. Stoltenberg returned to the Parliament where he became parliamentarian leader for the Labour Party and a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. In December 2013, he was appointed by the United Nations as a Special Envoy on Climate Change, alongside the former Ghanaian president John Kufuor.

Policies as Prime Minister
Stoltenberg has been described as a cautious politician, belonging to the right wing of social democracy.

When he became prime minister in 2000, he was portrayed as the "Norwegian Tony Blair", and his policies were inspired by Blair's New Labour agenda; his first government oversaw the most widespread privatisation by any Norwegian government to that date. Stoltenberg said he was both inspired by and wanted to learn from Blair's policies.

In security policy, Stoltenberg favours increased military spending and dialogue.

Defense and foreign politics

While Stoltenberg was prime minister, Norway's defence spending increased steadily, with the result that Norway today is one of the NATO allies with the highest per capita defence expenditure. Stoltenberg has also been instrumental in modernising the Norwegian armed forces, and in contributing forces to various NATO operations.

Stoltenberg is a supporter of enhanced trans-Atlantic cooperation ties. He has also always been a supporter of Norwegian membership in the European Union.

Stoltenberg has criticized Israel over alleged violations of international law in the Palestinian Territories as well as in international waters, such as the Gaza flotilla raid. In 2006, Stoltenberg stated that "Norway condemns Israel's actions against Palestinians. Such collective punishment is totally unacceptable." Stoltenberg praised doctors Mads Gilbert and Erik Fosse for their humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza War, stating that "all of Norway" was behind them.

Financial crisis
Stoltenberg took an international role during the financial crisis by promoting international financial cooperation. This was among other arenas done through the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and a meeting in Chile 27–29 March 2009 where social democratic leaders from around the world met at a Progressive Governance Conference, just prior to the first G20 summit on the financial crisis. President Bill Clinton was among the delegates and panel that would chart a way out of the financial crisis, which included the host Michelle Bachelet, Britain's finance minister Gordon Brown, Brazil's President Lula da Silva and Stoltenberg. A special emergency meeting of the European Social Democratic Forum (PES) was gathered in Oslo in May 2011, on an initiative from Stoltenberg and the think tank Policy Network.

Both nationally and internationally, Stoltenberg emphasised the enormous costs the financial crisis had in the form of a high unemployment rate, and appealed for better international coordination, the balance between austerity and economic growth stimulus, active labor market measures for young people, and investments for increased innovation. Norway came out of the financial crisis with the lowest unemployment rate in Europe.

Environment and climate change
Partnering with tropical countries to preserve more of their rainforest to bind carbon dioxide (CO2) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions was a policy of the Stoltenberg government. In 2007, the government received support from the opposition to a long-term agreement to finance forest conservation with 3 billion NOK annually.

Stoltenberg through his governing advocated that international agreements with global taxes or quotas are the most effective means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. At the UN Climate Change Conference 2009, a separate proposal on the preservation of rainforests with funding from rich countries, advanced by Stoltenberg and Brazilian Pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2009 obtained support from among others U.S. President Barack Obama during COP15 in Copenhagen.

The summit in Copenhagen ended without a binding agreement, but before the subsequent COP16 in Cancún, Stoltenberg succeeded then-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the leadership of the committee dealing with the financing of climate actions in developing countries, also consisting of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Under a separate forest and climate conference in Oslo in May 2010, a proposal was presented to a number of countries, with final delivery of the report in autumn 2010.

In January 2014 Jens Stoltenberg became United Nations Special Envoy on Climate Change. During the meeting there he met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as well as UN Framework Convention director Christiana Figueres and both Achim Steiner and Helen Clark of the United Nations Development Programme.

Vaccines
Stoltenberg has been an advocate for having all the world's children vaccinated against infectious diseases. The first speech he gave in his second term as prime minister was during Norway's "Pharmaceutics days" in 2005 under the title "Vaccination against poverty". Stoltenberg was a board director of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) from 2002 to 2005 and was awarded the Children's Health Award in 2005.

An international initiative, with the UK, the Gates Foundation and Norway in the lead, that GAVI received more than $3.7 billion until 2015 for their work against child mortality. Stoltenberg was one of the key driving forces behind the initiative, and has stressed that this is an important contribution to save 9 million children from dying of the most common childhood illnesses.

In his New Year speech on 1 January 2013, Stoltenberg spoke about vaccination of the world's children as a personal matter of the heart. "Small jabs are giving millions of children the gift of life. Simple medicines can save their mothers. The fact that all these mothers' and children's lives can be saved is—as I see it—a miracle of our time," Stoltenberg said in his speech.

United Nations Special Envoy (2013–2014)
In 2011, Stoltenberg received the United Nations Foundation's Champion of Global Change Award, chosen for his extraordinary effort toward meeting the Millennium Development Goals and bringing fresh ideas to global problems. In 2019, his term as Secretary General of NATO was extended for another two years. Earlier the same year, Stoltenberg had allocated 150 million Norwegian kroner of the foreign aid budget to the same foundation, which led to criticism.

In 2013, Stoltenberg served as a UN special envoy on climate change (global warming), and he chaired the UN High-Level Panel on System Wide Coherence and the High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing.

2014
On 28 March 2014, NATO's North Atlantic Council appointed Stoltenberg as designated successor of Anders Fogh Rasmussen as the 13th Secretary General of NATO and Chairman of the council, effective from 1 October 2014. The appointment had been widely expected in the media for some time, and commentators pointed out that the alliance's policies toward Russia will be the most important issue faced by Stoltenberg. Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, took the initiative to appoint Stoltenberg as secretary-general, securing the support first of the United States, then of the United Kingdom, and then of all other member states. Norway was a founding member of NATO in 1949, and Stoltenberg is the first Norwegian to serve as secretary-general, although former Conservative Party Prime Minister Kåre Willoch was considered a strong candidate in 1988.

2015
In June 2015, Stoltenberg said, "I believe we don't see any immediate threat against any NATO country from the east. Our goal is still cooperation with Russia… That serves NATO and it serves Russia."

In September 2015, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Andrej Babiš criticized NATO's lack of response to the European migrant crisis. After talks with Stoltenberg on migrant crisis issue Babiš said: "NATO is not interested in refugees, though Turkey, a NATO member, is their entrance gate to Europe and smugglers operate on Turkish territory".

2016
Stoltenberg strongly condemned the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt and expressed full support for Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government. He did not condemn the 2016–present purges in Turkey. In November 2016, Stoltenberg admitted that some "Turkish officers working in NATO command structures... have requested asylum in the countries where they are working."

In June 2016, Stoltenberg said it was essential to step up cooperation with Israel, since Israel had been an active alliance partner for 20 years. In June 2018, Stoltenberg told Der Spiegel that NATO would not help Israel in the case of an attack by the Islamic Republic of Iran.

In 2016, Stoltenberg stated that the NATO strongly supported "the UN-led political process to find a solution" to the dispute over the northern part of Cyprus, which has been under illegal occupation since the Turkish invasion of 1974.

The presidency of Donald Trump was a major challenge to NATO during Stoltenberg's time as secretary general. Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO and undermine the alliance. A 2021 study argued that Stoltenberg played a key role in preventing Trump from undermining NATO. Stoltenberg helped to change Trump's stance on burden-sharing, as well as maintain a robust deterrence policy toward Russia.

2017
In August 2017 the last NATO Certification Exercise of the four multinational battlegroups in the Baltic partners was conducted. Canada leads the battlegroup in Latvia. Germany leads the battlegroup in Lithuania. The United Kingdom leads the battlegroup in Estonia. The United States leads the battlegroup in Poland. This "NATO Enhanced Forward Presence" was the result of the 2016 Warsaw summit and much prior planning by Stoltenberg.

In September 2017, Stoltenberg warned that Russia has used big military exercises, including Zapad 2017 exercise in Russia's Kaliningrad Oblast and Belarus, "as a disguise or a precursor for aggressive military actions against their neighbours."

2018
In January 2018, in response to the Turkish invasion of northern Syria aimed at ousting U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds from the enclave of Afrin, Stoltenberg said that Turkey is "the NATO Ally which has suffered most from terrorist attacks over many years and Turkey, as all of the countries, have the right to self defence, but it is important that this is done in a proportionate and measured way."

In February 2018, Stoltenberg stated: "We don't see any threat [from Russia] against any NATO ally and therefore, I'm always careful speculating too much about hypothetical situations." Stoltenberg welcomed the 2018 Russia–United States summit between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Helsinki, Finland. He said NATO is not trying to isolate Russia.

At the July 2018 Brussels Summit, the Alliance reconfirmed its commitment to preserving the credibility, coherence and resilience of the deterrence and defense posture, including by increasing its responsiveness, heightening readiness and improving reinforcement. In practical terms, NATO adopted political decisions with regard to: having, by 2020, 30 battalions, 30 air squadrons and 30 naval combat vessels ready to use within 30 days.

2019

In March 2019, Stoltenberg stated that "Georgia will become a member of NATO".

In April 2019, Stoltenberg warned in a joint session of the U.S. Congress of the threat posed by Russia. In May 2019, Stoltenberg hailed Turkey's contribution to NATO. He said: "Turkey joined the Alliance in 1952, and it continues to be a highly valued member of our family of nations. As secretary-general, I greatly appreciate all that Turkey does for our Alliance."

In August 2019, Stoltenberg warned that NATO needs to "address the rise of China", by closely cooperating with Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea. In June 2020, Stoltenberg urged like-minded nations to stand up to China's "bullying and coercion".

Stoltenberg "strongly condemned" the 2019 Abqaiq–Khurais attack on key Saudi Arabia's oil facilities and accused Iran of "supporting different terrorist groups and being responsible for destabilising the whole region."

In October 2019, Turkey invaded the Kurdish areas in Syria. Stoltenberg said that Turkey has "legitimate security concerns" during press conference with Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

In December 2019, Stoltenberg told journalists in Brussels that "Since 2016, Canada and European allies have added $130 billion more to the defense budgets, and this number will increase to 400 billion U.S. dollars by 2024. This is unprecedented. This is making NATO stronger."

2020
The U.S. military's 2020 Baghdad International Airport airstrike, which killed the high-level Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, brought strong reactions from around the world. Stoltenberg said, following a meeting on 6January, "all members of the Atlantic alliance stood behind the United States in the Middle East" and that "Iran must refrain from further violence and provocations."

On 14 February Stoltenberg opened the Munich Security Conference. Amongst the topics he chose to address were Donald Trump's call for the European allies to contribute more funds to the common military good, the situation in Afghanistan which he promised not to leave, and the desire of Russia to reimagine the world in terms of the spheres of influence of the post-war years of the 20th century. In a thinly-veiled reference to Chinese leadership in the 5G telecoms sector, he said that "Keeping our societies open, free and resilient must be part of our response... We should not be tempted to trade short term economic benefits for longer-term challenges to our security." Earlier in the day, Stoltenberg had dealt with the partnership issue, and listed New Zealand, Australia, Finland, Sweden, Ukraine and Georgia as such, saying "We support them, but they also support us. Many partners contribute to NATO missions and operations, for instance in Afghanistan or Iraq."

There is a long-standing dispute between Turkey and Greece in the Aegean Sea. The disagreement flared in August. The same month Stoltenberg said that "Both Greece and Turkey are two valued allies and both contribute to our shared security. There are some disagreements and I welcome that there are bilateral contacts trying to address these differences," adding that NATO is not a part of these bilateral talks.

In October 2020, Stoltenberg called for an immediate end to the fighting over the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region, an enclave that belongs to Azerbaijan under international law but is populated and governed by ethnic Armenians.

2021
On 19 February 2021 Stoltenberg addressed the Munich Security Conference via teleconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic with largely anodyne remarks.

On 13 April Stoltenberg called on Russia to halt its buildup of forces near the border with Ukraine. Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said that Russia has deployed troops to its western borders for "combat training exercises" in response to NATO "military activities that threaten Russia". Defender-Europe 21, one of the largest NATO-led military exercises in Europe in decades, began in mid-March 2021 and lasted until June 2021. It included "nearly simultaneous operations across more than 30 training areas" in Estonia, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries.

On 14 April 2021, Stoltenberg said the alliance has agreed to start withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan by 1 May. Soon after the withdrawal of NATO troops started, the Taliban launched an offensive against the Afghan government, quickly advancing in front of a collapsing Afghan Armed Forces. According to a U.S. intelligence report, the Afghan government would likely collapse within six months after NATO completes its withdrawal from the country. On 7 June 2021, Stoltenberg said that "we have been able to build, train Afghan security forces so they are now responsible for security in their own country." By 15 August 2021, Taliban militants controlled the vast majority of Afghanistan and had encircled the capital city of Kabul. Stoltenberg said that "it was a surprise, the speed of the collapse and how quickly that happened."

Stoltenberg attended the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, and specified that the fight against climate change also is something the military could participate in. He also expressed that militaries should work with operating both fossil and environmentally friendly ones.

On 30 November Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that an expansion of NATO's presence in Ukraine, especially the deployment of any long-range missiles capable of striking Moscow or missile defence systems similar to those in Romania and Poland, would be a "red line" issue for the Kremlin. Putin argued that these missile-defense systems may be converted into launchers of offensive Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles. He said that "In a dialogue with the United States and its allies, we will insist on working out specific agreements that would exclude any further NATO moves eastward and the deployment of weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory." Stoltenberg replied that "It's only Ukraine and 30 NATO allies that decide when Ukraine is ready to join NATO. Russia has no veto, Russia has no say, and Russia has no right to establish a sphere of influence to try to control their neighbors."

2022
On 14 January Stoltenberg condemned the 2022 Ukraine cyberattack. He stated that NATOs day experts in Brussels has exchanged information with Ukraine, and that experts from the alliance would be assisting Ukrainian authorities with the matter. He added: "In the coming days, NATO and Ukraine will sign an agreement on enhanced cooperation on data security, including Ukraine's access to NATO's malware sharing platform".

On 19 February at the Munich Security Conference Stoltenberg remarked that despite NATO's "strong diplomatic efforts to find a political solution [to the Ukrainian crisis]... we have seen no sign of withdrawal or de-escalation so far. On the contrary, Russia's build-up continues." He said "we have made written proposals to the Putin administration to reduce risks and increase transparency of military activities, address space and cyber threats, and engage on arms control, including on nuclear weapons and missiles... [Putin] is attempting to roll back history. And recreate [the] spheres of influence. [He] wants to limit NATO's right to collective defence... and demands that we should remove all our forces and infrastructure from the countries that joined NATO after the fall of the Berlin Wall... wants to deny sovereign countries the right to choose their own path. And their own security arrangements. For Ukraine - but also for other countries, such as Finland and Sweden. And for the first time, we now see Beijing joining Moscow in calling on NATO to stop admitting new members. It is an attempt to control the fate of free nations. To rewrite the international rulebook. And impose their own authoritarian models of governance." On the dais with him was Ursula von der Leyen. Together they proceeded to give an interview to the witness audience.On 21 February 2022, Stoltenberg condemned Russia's diplomatic recognition of two self-proclaimed separatist republics in Donbas.

On 4 March 2022, Stoltenberg said NATO would not establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine. He said, "we are not part of this conflict, and we have a responsibility to ensure that it does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine, because that would be even more devastating and more dangerous."

On 8 March 2022, Stoltenberg warned that if there is any Russia's attack "against any NATO country, NATO territory, that will trigger Article 5" of the North Atlantic Treaty.

On 23 March 2022, Stoltenberg accused China of providing political support to Russia, "including by spreading blatant lies and misinformation, and expressed concern that "China could provide material support for the Russian invasion".

On 28 March the establishment of four more multinational battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia was announced, although the Slovak battlegroup had already been announced on 27 February. This brings the total number of multinational battlegroups to eight, and Stoltenberg said ahead of an extraordinary NATO summit scheduled for March 24 in Brussels that "we will have eight multinational NATO battle groups all along the Eastern flank from the Baltic to the Black Sea". The Baltic Sea is guarded by the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence, to which the four more would be added. A multinational brigade headquarters exists in Craiova, Romania and this seems to be the distribution point of the extra four battlegroups. The summit statements by Biden and NATO were somewhat controversial.

Accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO
In May 2022 Stoltenberg said Finland and Sweden would be welcomed "with open arms" to NATO if they apply for membership to the alliance. While most current NATO members responded positively to the applications, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced his opposition, accusing both Finland and Sweden of tolerating Kurdish militant groups PKK and the YPG, which Turkey classifies as terrorist organizations, and followers of Fethullah Gülen, whom Turkey accuses of orchestrating a failed 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt. Stoltenberg said that Turkey has "legitimate concerns" about Finland and Sweden joining the alliance.

In June, Stoltenberg warned that the war in Ukraine could last for years, saying that "We must not let up in supporting Ukraine. Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices."

On 30 November at the Bucharest meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers, were invited their counterparts from Moldova, Bosnia and Georgia, as well as Finland and Sweden. In his closing press conference Stoltenberg said that NATO expressed its solidarity with all three partners and also that "if there is one lesson learned from Ukraine it is that we need to support them now. The more support we are able to provide to these countries. The more support we are able to provide to these countries... under Russian pressure and influence in different ways... it is much better to support them now than when we have seen developments going in absolutely the wrong direction as we saw with the invasion of Ukraine earlier this year."

In December, he said in an interview that "there is no doubt that a full-fledged" war between Russia and NATO is a "possibility". Stoltenberg said that Putin is planning a long war in Ukraine and is ready to launch new offensives.

2023
Following the 2023 Chinese balloon incident between 28 January and 4 February, Stoltenberg said the incident said the balloon "confirms a pattern of Chinese behavior where we see that China has invested heavily in new capabilities, including different types of surveillance and intelligence platforms", and that it presents security challenges for the members of NATO.

On 12 February, a NATO spokesperson said Stoltenberg had no intention of seeking a fourth extension of his term as NATO secretary-general, after the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag reported member states wanted him to stay on while the Russo-Ukrainian War continues. On 13 February, Stoltenberg said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is "sending thousands and thousands of more troops, accepting a very high rate of casualty, taking big losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians. What Russia lacks in quality, they try to compensate in quantity." He said that President Putin and the decision makers in Moscow are the only ones responsible for the Russo-Ukrainian War and it is necessary for NATO member countries to continue providing military aid to Ukraine.

On 14 June, Stoltenberg expressed support for Ukraine's counter-offensive against Russia to recapture the occupied territories of Ukraine and called on Western countries to send more weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces.

On 4 July, Stoltenberg was confirmed to receive a fourth extension of his mandate as NATO Secretary General to 1 October 2024, which would make his tenure as Secretary General at least a decade long.

In September 2023, Stoltenberg warned that we "must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine", saying that "if President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist."

In October 2023, Stoltenberg condemned Hamas' actions during the Israel–Hamas war and expressed his support to Israel and its right to self-defense. Stoltenberg warned Iran and Hezbollah not to get involved in Israel's war with Hamas.

2024

In February 2024, Stoltenberg warned that NATO member states have to prepare for a confrontation with Russia "that could last decades". He said that the best defense tools against Russia are an increase in arms supplies to Ukraine and an increase in NATO's military capabilities.

In February, Stoltenberg criticized Donald Trump's statement that he would "encourage" Russia to attack NATO member countries that don't pay their "fair share" of defense funding, stating that any attack on the military alliance would be met with a "united and forceful response".

In May, Stoltenberg called on NATO member states to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied weapons to strike targets inside Russia. Responding to Stoltenberg's statement, Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto stated that it is "wrong to increase tension" in an already "dramatic" situation and emphasised the need to "leave open the possibility of negotiating an immediate truce and initiating peace talks in the coming months."

Asked about China's military aid to Russia, Stoltenberg said that "Russia would not have been able to conduct the war of aggression against Ukraine without the support from China." He warned that "China cannot have it both ways. They cannot continue to have normal trade relationships with countries in Europe and at the same time fuel the biggest war we have seen in Europe since the Second World War."

On 18 June, it was announced Hungary and Slovakia had agreed to allow outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte to succeed Stoltenberg as Secretary General. He was officially selected by the North Atlantic Council on 26 June, and will succeed Stoltenberg on 1 October.

On 9 July 2024, Stoltenberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honour in the United States, from United States President Joseph Biden for his services to NATO during the Russo-Ukrainian war. This award was given at the NATO Summit in Washington, DC.

Nomination for governorship of the Norges Bank
In December 2021, it was reported that he sought the governorship of Norges Bank, Norway's central bank.

It was speculated that Stoltenberg would be nominated as Governor of the Norges Bank, which sources told Dagens Næringsliv in November 2021, said he would accept if he was nominated for the position. Stoltenberg's press advisor, Sissel Kruse Larsen, told Dagens Næringsliv that it was still too early to say what Stoltenberg would do once he returns home to Norway. Stoltenberg confirmed on 14 December that he had applied for the position, and specified that he had told the Ministry of Finance that he could not ascend to the position before his term as NATO Secretary-General has expired on 1 October 2022.

His nomination was controversial prior to being officially announced, due to his links to the Labour Party, friendship with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and concerns for the independence of the central bank. His pre-nomination was opposed by all opposition parties, with support only coming from the government parties and the Christian Democratic Party.

His appointment was officially announced on 4 February 2022. However, after a NATO summit in March 2022 concerning the war in Ukraine, Stoltenberg accepted a renewed term of one year to continue as NATO secretary-general and thereby resigned as incoming central bank governor. Acting Governor Ida Wolden Bache was instead given the term that Stoltenberg was meant to take on.

Honours

 * 2023: Grand Cordon, Order of Leopold.
 * 2024: Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk
 * 2024: U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom

Incognito taxi driver in Norway
In August 2013, Stoltenberg said on his Facebook page that he had spent an afternoon working incognito as a taxi driver in Oslo. Stoltenberg said he had wanted to "hear from real Norwegian voters" and that "taxis were one of the few places where people shared their true views." He added that, before driving the taxi, he had not driven a car in eight years. The event was videotaped in a hidden camera fashion, and released as a promotional video by the Labour party for the election campaign. It was later confirmed that 5 of the 14 customers were paid and recruited by the production company that produced the event for the Labour Party; however, none knew that they would meet Stoltenberg.

BBC Radio 4 – Desert Island Discs
On 12 July 2020 Stoltenberg was the invited guest on the long running BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs. His musical choices included "Hungry Heart", sung by Bruce Springsteen; "So Long, Marianne", by Leonard Cohen; and "No Harm", by the duo Smerz, one of whom is his daughter Catharina.

In other media
In the crime drama 22 July, which depicts the 2011 Norway attacks, he is played by actor Ola G. Furuseth.

Controversies
Stoltenberg participated in protest rallies against the U.S. war in Vietnam in the 1970s. In 2011, Stoltenberg said "We sang the chorus, 'Singing Norway, Norway out of Nato.' It was a hit."

In 2001, Stoltenberg crashed his Labour Party-owned car into a parked car; he then left the premises without leaving a note with his name or number; the damages cost 8000 Norwegian kroner to repair.

In 2002, Stoltenberg admitted to having used hashish (cannabis) in his youth. He therefore asked the Ministry of Justice and Public Security to evaluate his impartiality in the upcoming government response to the report on drugs by the Stoltenberg Commission, headed by his father, Thorvald Stoltenberg.

In 2011 Stoltenberg got a 380,000 kroner boat as a birthday gift from the Norwegian Labour Party and the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions; the givers also paid the tax for the gift which led to criticism.

Personal life
Stoltenberg is married to diplomat Ingrid Schulerud and they have two children: a son, Axel Stoltenberg (born 1989) who is studying Chinese at the Shanghai Jiaotong University and daughter Anne Catharina Stoltenberg (born 1992) who is a part of Smerz, an experimental pop and electronic music duo signed to XL Recordings.

He has one living sister, Camilla, a medical researcher and administrator who is one year older than he; and one late sister, Nini, four years younger, who died in 2014. Nini was a recovering heroin addict, and the Norwegian media have covered the family's efforts to cope with this challenge.

He prefers to spend his summer vacations at his family's cottage on the Hvaler Islands in the Oslofjord. An avid outdoorsman, he rides his bike often and during the winter season he is an active cross-country skier. In December 2011, in order to mark 100 years since Roald Amundsen reached the south pole on skis, Stoltenberg journeyed to Antarctica.

Although being portrayed as an atheist for most of his adult life, and declining membership in the formerly official Church of Norway, Stoltenberg has stated that he does not consider himself an atheist. He explained: "Although I am not a member of any denomination, I do believe that there is something greater than man. Some call it God, others call it something else. For me, it's about understanding that we humans are small in relation to nature, in relation to the powers that are bigger and stronger than man can ever comprehend. I find that in a church."

title: Jens Stoltenberg