Russian muscle spurs Arctic arms race
In this edition, NATO scrambles to invest in its Arctic defenses as Russia races ahead
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American and European officials are increasingly seeing the Arctic not as a “zone of peace,” a term coined by Mikhail Gorbachev, but as one of war. The region is once again a site of burgeoning geopolitical conflict — between Russia and China on the one hand and NATO on the other, particularly if Finland and Sweden join the alliance.
In October, I braced against an Arctic chill as I stood on the bow of the Polar Girl, virtually empty on its last trip to Barentsburg, a former Soviet outpost.