Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has demonstrated another use for the iPad – running a country.
When a volcanic cloud in Europe stopped flights, Stoltenburg was faced with a bit of a conundrum. Obviously he would not be able to get home right away, and even if he could, the cloud presented an immediate danger to his country that required his attention. Firing up his iPad, Stoltenburg proceeded to direct his country remotely, closing its airspace to mitigate the threat of the ash.
“There are good means of communication, I have close contacts with my office all the times, and there are a lot of activities in Norway where we try to reduce the consequences of the volcano in Norway,” Stoltenberg said. “It’s very normal for a PM to travel abroad so this is not different from the other travels, it’s just lasts some days more than expected. We have the internet, the mobile phone. I also use an iPad, which is excellent.”
In the digital age, it’s amazing to see how far our technology has come, with a simple consumer product allowing a world leader to conduct his country’s affairs remotely. However, for all our technology it seems we’re still not able to completely surmount Mother Nature. Stoltenburg will be taking the long way home, flying to Madrid and then traveling back to Norway over land.
“I am afraid we won’t be back before Saturday because I think most of our travel is going to be by car because the most of the airports in the Northern part of Europe are now closed,” Stoltenburg said.
Source: CNN
