Let me answer you with a question.
Why would anyone bother to manipulate a stock price of a company that had a mediocre future and assets?
No one.
Precisely for the reasons you stated, Noront is worthy of manipulation and that is why it is occuring.

To some extent, much as you, I am also perplexed but at the same time optimistic.
Perplexed due to finding it hard to believe that anyone would risk such action when just about any day the sp could take off and leave a large loss to the manipulator. The only way I can understand it is that there is some large company in the background to whom losses of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars are insignificant to the profits they hope to realize through a take over at a reduced price.

That is the only possibility that makes any sense to me.