Putin stakes claim to Arctic

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia To Build Floating Arctic Nuclear Stations

Russia is planning a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves, causing widespread alarm among environmentalists.

A prototype floating nuclear power station being constructed at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk is due to be completed next year. Agreement to build a further four was reached between the Russian state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, and the northern Siberian republic of Yakutiya in February.

The 70-megawatt plants, each of which would consist of two reactors on board giant steel platforms, would provide power to Gazprom, the oil firm which is also Russia's biggest company. It would allow Gazprom to power drills needed to exploit some of the remotest oil and gas fields in the world in the Barents and Kara seas. The self-propelled vessels would store their own waste and fuel and would need to be serviced only once every 12 to 14 years.

In addition, designers are known to have developed submarine nuclear-powered drilling rigs that could allow eight wells to be drilled at a time.

Bellona, a leading Scandinavian environmental watchdog group, yesterday condemned the idea of using nuclear power to open the Arctic to oil, gas and mineral production.

"It is highly risky. The risk of a nuclear accident on a floating power plant is increased. The plants' potential impact on the fragile Arctic environment through emissions of radioactivity and heat remains a major concern. If there is an accident, it would be impossible to handle," said Igor Kudrik, a spokesman.

Environmentalists also fear that if additional radioactive waste is produced, it will be dumped into the sea. Russia has a long record of polluting the Arctic with radioactive waste. Countries including Britain have had to offer Russia billions of dollars to decommission more than 160 nuclear submarines, but at least 12 nuclear reactors are known to have been dumped, along with more than 5,000 containers of solid and liquid nuclear waste, on the northern coast and on the island of Novaya Zemlya.

The US Geological Survey believes the Arctic holds up to 25% of the world's undiscovered oil and gas reserves, leading some experts to call the region the next Saudi Arabia. But sea ice, strong winds and temperatures that can dip to below -50C have made them technologically impossible to exploit.

Russia, Norway, Denmark, Canada and the US have all claimed large areas of the Arctic in the past five years. Russian scientists used a mini-submarine to plant a flag below the North Pole in 2007 and have claimed that a nearby underwater ridge is part of its continental shelf.

Last week, ministers from many Arctic countries heard scientists and former US vice-president and Nobel prize winner Al Gore say that the Arctic could be free of ice in the summer within five years, with drastic consequences for the world's climate and human health.

But many countries bordering the Arctic see climate change as the chance to exploit areas that were once inaccessible and to open trade routes between the Pacific and Atlantic.

According to a new report by the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum, Russia is considering other nuclear plants for power-hungry settlements. "The locations that have been discussed include 33 towns in the Russian far north and far east. Such plants could be also used to supply energy for oil and gas extraction," says the report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia Warns Of War Within A Decade Over Arctic Oil And Gas Riches

Russia raised the prospect of war in the Arctic yesterday as nations struggle for control of the world's dwindling energy reserves.

The country's new national security strategy identified the intensifying battle for ownership of vast untapped oil and gas fields around its borders as a source of potential military conflict within a decade.

"The presence and potential escalation of armed conflicts near Russia's national borders, pending border agreements between Russia and several neighbouring nations, are the major threats to Russia's interests and border security," stated the document, which analysed security threats up to 2020.

"In a competition for resources it cannot be ruled out that military force could be used to resolve emerging problems that would destroy the balance of forces near the borders of Russia and her allies."

The Kremlin has insisted that it is not "militarising the Arctic" but its warnings of armed conflict suggest that it is willing to defend its interests by force if necessary as global warming makes exploitation of the region's energy riches more feasible.

The United States, Norway, Canada and Denmark are challenging Russia's claim to a section of the Arctic shelf, the size of Western Europe, which is believed to contain billions of tonnes of oil and gas.

An earlier Kremlin document declared the Arctic a strategic resource for Russia and said that development of its energy reserves by 2020 was a vital national objective. It set out plans to establish army bases along the Arctic frontier to "guarantee military security in different military-political situations".

The strategy published yesterday was approved by President Medvedev and drawn up by the Russian Security Council, which includes the Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, and heads of the military and intelligence agencies.

Mr Putin accused the West last year of coveting Russian energy reserves, saying: "Many conflicts, foreign policy actions and diplomatic moves smell of oil and gas. Behind all that there often is a desire to enforce an unfair competition and ensure access to our resources."

Nikolai Patrushev, who heads the Security Council, once flew to the North Pole to plant a Russian flag. He was in charge of the FSB, the federal security service, when Mr Putin was President and created a special Arctic Directorate in 2004 to advance Moscow's interests in the region. Dmitri Rogozin, the Russian Ambassador to NATO, warned the military alliance in March not to meddle in the Arctic, saying that there was "nothing for them to do there".

The Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, also criticised Norway, a NATO member, over military exercises based on "a conflict over access to resources". Norway responded that Russia was expanding its military presence in the region.

A team of explorers led by Artur Chilingarov, the Kremlin's special representative to the region, used mini-submarines to plant a titanium flag on the Arctic seabed in 2007 to stake Russia's claim to the massive Lomonosov Ridge.

Russia argues that the ridge is an extension of its territory, which justifies its ownership of 1.2 million sq km (465,000 square miles) of the Arctic. It plans to stake its claim in a submission to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

The strategy document predicted that the struggle over energy resources would increasingly dominate international relations. It identified the Barents Sea and Central Asia, where Russia and China are vying for influence, as further areas of friction.

The Caspian Sea is critical to the European Union's hopes of breaking its dependence on Russian gas by building export routes for alternative supplies from Central Asia. Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Iran are locked in talks on dividing the seabed and its energy riches.

The strategy paper also condemned as unacceptable threats to Russian security American plans for a missile defence shield in Eastern Europe and the expansion of NATO into the former Soviet republics of Ukraine and Georgia.

[Ryan Ruck]

Canada Watching Russian Arctic Moves Closely

Canada's defense minister said Friday the Canadian government is closely watching Russian plans to drop paratroopers in the Arctic next April.

Defense Minister Peter MacKay said any country approaching Canadian airspace will be met by Canadians. MacKay didn't give any specifics on what Canada will do in April, but he said Canada is prepared to protect its borders.

A Russian general announced plans this week to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first parachute drop at the North Pole by sending paratroopers to the same site.

Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway have been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to contain as much as 25 percent of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.

All five nations have agreed to abide by international law while scientists map the Arctic seabed.

The dispute over the Arctic has intensified amid growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, opening up new shipping lanes and new resource development possibilities.

In February, Canada sent fighter jets to intercept a Russian bomber flying toward Canadian airspace.

MacKay said there have been no recent intrusions of Russian bombers.

"We have scrambled F-18 jets in the past, and they'll always be there to meet them," he said.

Many countries have beefed up their military presence in the Arctic.

[vector7]

From The Times
October 3, 2009
Nato commander warns of conflict with Russia in Arctic Circle



(Dmitry Lovetsky/AP)

It is estimated that $90 billion barrels of oil previously inaccessible beneath the ice lie in the Arctic Circle


Tom Coghlan, Defence Correspondent

• 23 Comments

Recommend? (5)

Competition for resources in the Arctic Circle could provoke conflict between Russia and Nato, a newly appointed commander at the alliance warned yesterday.

Russia has recently been aggressive in its pursuit of claims to parts of the region and in February sent a submarine to the floor of the sea symbolically to plant a Russian flag. Admiral James Stavridis said that military activity and trade routes would also be potential sources of competition around the polar cap.

Speaking at the Royal United Services Institute in London on Nato’s future direction, Admiral Stavridis, Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, predicted that relations with Russia will dominate thinking at the alliance.

He said: “This is something we are starting to spend more time looking at. I look at the high north and I think it could either be a zone of conflict, I hope not, a zone of competition, probably. It could also be co-operative . . . and as an alliance we should make this as co-operative as we possibly can.”

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His assessment comes after warnings from Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato Secretary-General, who said this week that climate change had “potentially huge security implications” for Nato. The thinning ice cap is opening up a new Northwest Passage trade route, while it is estimatedthat previously inaccessible oil worth $90 billion (£56 billion) lies beneath ice in the Arctic Circle.

Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States, all Nato members, and Russia claim overlapping areas of the polar region. The admiral added: “There are certainly going to be areas of disagreement between the alliance and Russia.”

The West’s relations with Russia have taken a turn for the better after President Obama last month announced the scrapping of its missile defence system based in Eastern Europe. The decision has been credited with the tougher stance Russia has since taken towards Iran on its nuclear capability and subsequent progress at negotiations in Geneva.

Admiral Stavridis said he wished to move forward with “military to military activities and co-operation” with Russia, though it would have to be a politically dictated process.

Amid concern from Eastern European Nato members over the principle of collective defence, Admiral Stavridis repeatedly stated his commitment to Article 5 of the 1949 treaty agreement, that an attack on one Nato nation is an attack on all. But he also said that Nato should not be regarded as a “world policeman”.

With President Obama still undecided on whether to back a request for a surge of up to 40,000 troops from General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, Admiral Stavridis said the general had his “full confidence”.

He called for a better balance between military and civilian parts of the operation. His comments came as the Ministry of Defence announced the death of a member of the Royal Air Force in Helmand. The airman was from 34 Squadron of the RAF Regiment.

Admiral Stavridis also advocated the use of social networking websites such as Facebook to get Nato’s message out.Mr Rasmussen, who uses Twitter, revealed that he had enjoyed a “terrific meeting with Prez Obama and his Cabinet”.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia To Launch Arctic Sea Shelf Mission

October 30, 2009

Russia is planning extensive research to help uphold its claim to the energy-rich Arctic Sea shelf, which the country believes is an extension of the Eurasian continent, an official says.

At a conference in Moscow Friday, Andrei Smirnov of the state-run company Atomflot said Russia is planning icebreaker missions in the Arctic over the next three years to conduct a detailed geological analysis of the seabed.

The mission will kick off with an atomic-powered icebreaker and a research ship travelling to the Arctic next summer, Smirnov said.

In February, Canada scrambled fighter jets to intercept a Russian bomber flying toward Canadian airspace. Following that, the Conservative government outlined a host of initiatives designed to beef up Canada's Arctic presence.

A dispute over the Arctic has intensified amid growing evidence that global warming is shrinking polar ice, which could open up new shipping lanes and new resource-development possibilities.

Russia, the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway have been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, which is believed to contain as much as 25 per cent of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.

All five nations have agreed to abide by international law while scientists map the Arctic seabed.

Under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which Canada ratified in 2003, every country controls the resources under its coastal waters up to 200 nautical miles from its shore. Under the treaty, a country's territory can be expanded much farther if it can prove the ridges and rock formations underneath the water are connected to its continental shelf.

[vector7]

Don't miss...Obama Surrenders US Gulf Oil to Moscow

Canada-Russia Arctic tensions rise

Last Updated: Wednesday, March 17, 2010 | 9:45 PM ET Comments422Recommend187

The Associated Press


Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. (Associated Press)

Fresh tensions between Canada and Russia emerged Wednesday after Russian President Dmitry Medvedev told a session of his Security Council that his country must be prepared to defend its claims to Arctic mineral riches.

Medvedev predicted climate change will spark further conflicts as ice melts, exposing new areas for exploration.

"Regrettably, we have seen attempts to limit Russia's access to the exploration and development of the Arctic mineral resources," he said. "That's absolutely inadmissible from the legal viewpoint and unfair given our nation's geographical location and history."

In a direct response, Canada said it would reassert its sovereignty over the Far North at what is shaping up to be a controversial five-country Arctic summit it is hosting in two weeks in Chelsea, Que., outside Ottawa.

"Canada's sovereignty over lands, islands and waters of the Canadian Arctic is long-standing, well-established and based on historical title," Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, told The Canadian Press.

"This government is dedicated to fulfilling the North's true potential as a healthy, prosperous and secure region within a strong and sovereign Canada. We take our responsibility for the future of the region seriously."

Loubier noted that Canada has committed to building a "world-class" High Arctic research station, will continue to map "our northern resources and waters," and is taking action to reduce pollution and increase marine safety.

The government has also announced a new fleet of Arctic patrol ships, a deep water port, and is expanding and re-equipping the Canadian Rangers.

"Foreign ministers from the other Arctic Ocean coastal states are expected to discuss these issues when they meet on March 29 in Chelsea," she said.

This latest flare-up between Canada and Russia comes as Cannon prepares to host talks with foreign ministers from four other Arctic coastal states — Russia, the United States, Denmark and Norway.

Indeed, all five of those Arctic countries are making claims over parts of the resource-rich region, which experts believe holds one-quarter of Earth's untapped oil and gas reserves.

[vector7]

Russia plans to take grip on Arctic from space

More on this topic


© RIA Novosti. Alexei Nicolski | Buy this image

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• There is no Race for the Arctic - Norwegian expert

13:3529/04/2010

Russia is planning to develop a unique satellite system to monitor climatic changes and survey energy resources in the Arctic region, Russia's top space official said on Thursday.

The Arctica satellite grouping will monitor the weather and environment of the North Pole, pinpoint hydrocarbon deposits on the Arctic shelf, provide telecommunications over the hard-to-access areas and ensure safe air traffic and commercial shipping in the region.

"The creation of the Arctica system will not only allow us to monitor the ecology of the shelf, the water temperatures, the thickness of the ice floe and the pollution levels all year round, but will also ensure the effectiveness and safety of the exploration of the [Arctic] shelf for our and foreign companies," said Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos.

He said the project would cost about 68 billion rubles ($2.3 billion), but half of the funding could from private investment and potential foreign partners.

The basic configuration of the system envisions two sun-synchronous orbit satellites and two high-elliptic orbit satellites for remote sensing and ecological monitoring of the region.

"If we start the work on the system today using the results of the previous research and development, the first of the four satellites could be put into orbit in three years," Perminov said.

Additional satellites will provide telecommunications services across the Arctic, which will be in demand as energy companies expand their operations in the region, attracted by the vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice.

The potential riches on offer have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.

Under international law, each of the five Arctic Circle countries has a 322-kilometer (200-mile) exclusive economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.
However, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, if a country can show its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor.

Russia has undertaken two Arctic expeditions - to the Mendeleyev underwater chain in 2005 and to the Lomonosov Ridge in the summer of 2007 - to support its territorial claims in the region.

It first claimed the territory in 2001, but the United Nations demanded more conclusive evidence.

Russia has said it will invest some 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) in defining the extent of its continental shelf in the Arctic in 2010.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin reiterated on Thursday while visiting the Franz Josef Land, an archipelago in the far north of Russia, that the country has "profound geopolitical interests" in the Arctic region.

MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti)

[vector7]

Russia invites China to explore Arctic

Published: May 3, 2010 at 12:13 PM

SHANGHAI, May 3 (UPI) -- Russia is interested in joining Chinese developers to exploit oil and gas reserves locked in the Russian section of the Arctic, regional officials said.

Dmitry Kobylkin, the governor of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous region in the Russian Arctic, expressed interest in a Chinese partnership in oil and gas development during the World Expo 2010 Exhibition in Shanghai.

He said he was ready to offer partners in China a "mutually advantageous and constructive cooperation" in the regional natural resources sector, Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency reports.
The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous region accounts for more than 90 percent of the natural gas production and around 12 percent of the oil production in Russia.

"We are ready to act as intermediaries between an investor country and the oil and gas sector and create a good investment climate," said Kobylkin.

The World Wide Fund for Nature, an environmental advocacy group, said the oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico raises alarm about the possibility of exploring the Arctic for oil and gas. The WWF said it was renewing its call for a moratorium on oil and gas development in the Arctic until environmental risks are better understood.

[Ryan Ruck]

Vector,
Went ahead and merged those two new Arctic threads into the long running one.

[American Patriot]

Gosh, Russia and China are buddy buddy again? Wow...

Who could have predicted that? Oh, wait, I DID.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia To Seek To Expand Arctic Rights

July 2, 2010

Russia is launching an expedition to map the extent of the country's arctic continental shelf as part of an effort to extend its influence, officials say.

In 2001 Russia filed a request to extend its continental shelf border beyond the standard 200-mile limit, a request turned down by the United Nations for lack of evidence to support the claim, RIA Novosti reported Friday.

Russia says it will spend $50 million to explore and define the extent of its continental shelf to support its request.

Seventy-five expedition members will board a ship in the northern Russian city of Arkhangelsk in mid-July for a journey expected to take three months, including about 75 days in the arctic, RIA Novosti said.

Vast oil and gas deposits, which could be more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice, have led to geopolitical wrangling among representatives of the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway and Denmark.

Each of the Arctic Circle countries has a 200-mile exclusive economic zone in the Arctic Ocean under international law.

But if a country can prove its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor, RIA Novosti reported.

[vector7]

Russian aircraft buzz Navy ship twice in Arctic

Pentagon officials say two Russian aircraft buzzed a U.S. Navy warship in the Arctic's Barents Sea last week, each coming within about 50 yards of the frigate.

By ANNE FLAHERTY
Associated Press Writer

Related

WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials say two Russian aircraft buzzed a U.S. Navy warship in the Arctic's Barents Sea last week, each coming within about 50 yards of the frigate.

Flybys of Navy ships in international waters are not unheard of. But the Cold War-style incident was unusual enough to raise eyebrows.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said Navy personnel aboard the ship did not believe the actions were hostile. He told reporters on Friday that the U.S. was still trying to determine whether either side broke protocol.

Lapan said a Russian maritime patrol aircraft on Sept. 10 flew about 50 yards off the Navy frigate's side, as low as 100 feet.

Lapan said a Russian helicopter did the same thing the next day.

[Ryan Ruck]

DoD Details Russian Buzzing Of U.S. frigate

Sep 18, 2010

Russian navy aircraft made a series of very close passes over the frigate Taylor last week after its visit to the northern port city of Murmansk, defense officials confirmed Friday, in a chain of incidents so unusual they were discussed in person by the top U.S. and Russian naval officers at the Pentagon.

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead was already set to meet his Russian counterpart, Adm. Vladimir Vysotskiy, as part of an official visit by Russian defense officials, so the two used the chance Wednesday to also talk about Taylor’s encounters, Roughead’s spokesman confirmed.

“They did have a productive, private conversation at their level, and CNO was satisfied,” Cmdr. Charlie Brown told Navy Times.

The first incident took place Sept. 10, when a Tupolev Tu-95 Bear maritime patrol plane overflew the Taylor as it was sailing away from Murmansk in international waters in the Barents Sea. The Bear made two passes, the first at about 10,000 feet and the second much closer — about 50 yards away from the ship and only about 100 feet above it, said Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan. The plane apparently had its bomb bay doors open.

In the second incident on Sept. 11, the Taylor sighted a Russian warship that dispatched two Ka-29 Helix helicopters, which buzzed the frigate several times, coming as close as about 30 yards and about 100 feet above it, Lapan said. He did not have information about the Russian ship the helicopters had come from, but he did say the Taylor made some kind of contact with it, although “the nature of the communications was unclear.

The closeness of the contacts made them “a rare occurrence,” Lapan acknowledged, which is what prompted Roughead and Vysotskiy to discuss whether the encounters violated “agreed-upon protocols,” he said.

American and Russian crews spent decades meeting each other in the skies above U.S. carrier battle groups, as they were then known, with Russian planes trying to get as close as possible and American fighters trying to keep them at bay, but the practice is now much less common. It still does happen occasionally: An Iranian maritime patrol plane buzzed the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower at sea in the Middle East in April, for example, and two Russian Bears over-flew the carrier Nimitz in the Pacific in 2008.

Back then, Roughead was sanguine: He told reporters he thought the Russian bombers “were just stretching their wings. This was something that was really quite common in the days of the Soviet navy,” he said.

What’s unusual about the Taylor’s incidents is that they involve a small, relatively low profile surface ship, not a full carrier strike group. Moreover, Russian officials had invited the Taylor to Murmansk to help commemorate the end of World War II; its crew took part in memorial services and other public ceremonies. The city was the destination of U.S. and allied convoys that supplied the Soviet Union with materiel for use in the fight against Nazi Germany.

The Tu-142 (maritime version of the Tu-95) can be equipped with cruise missiles, torpedoes, and depth charges.

[Ryan Ruck]

Russia’s Antarctic strategy

October 21, 2010

All countries are prepared for cooperation and there is no other way possible, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s special representative on international cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic Artur Chilingarov said. The prominent scientist and polar explorer made this statement after a government session on Russia’s further strategy in the Antarctic through 2020.

Chile, Argentina, the United States and China are also actively boosting their presence in the Antarctic region along with Russia, which owns five polar stations on the continent and plans to allocate another 60 billion rubles to implementing a number of new projects. This money is intended for training specialists for launching polar expeditions and developing comprehensive research.

The Arctic and Antarctic Regions have quite different political statuses. A convention signed in 1959 designated Antarctica as a continent for peace and science that cannot belong to any country. Russia will therefore expand its scientific presence there, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said.

Our country strictly adheres to the principles of the Antarctic Treaty and is determined to boost the presence of Russian scientific expeditions on the continent, modernize its polar stations there and take part in international polar projects. With five year-round polar stations in the region, Russia should regard waters of the Atlantic Ocean as the most essential resource base for the domestic fishing fleet. And we have every opportunity for this, the Russian Prime Minister said.

Right after the meeting, Artur Chilingarov, who once headed an Antarctic station, explained the new strategy’s principal provisions to our correspondent.

The development strategy covers both the fleet and aircraft, and also some social problems of polar explorers’ work. This project involves building a new expedition vessel and the modernization of the Ilyushin IL-76 plane delivering people and supplies to the continent, as well as the construction of the Academician Karpinsky research ship.

Researchers have already discovered quite a number of various natural resources in the Antarctic, although it is too early to seriously consider any exploration activities. And tourism, on the contrary, may prove economically advantageous, especially given that Russia’s Novolazarevskaya station has already started accepting tourists from South Africa's Cape Town.

[vector7]

Russia to deploy 2 army brigades in Arctic

(AP) – 12 hours ago

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's defense minister says the military will deploy two army brigades to help protect the nation's interests in the Arctic.

Anatoly Serdyukov says his ministry is working out specifics, such as troops numbers, weapons and bases, but a brigade includes a few thousand soldiers.

Serdyukov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Friday the brigades could be based in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk or other areas.

Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic, believed to hold up to a quarter of the Earth's undiscovered oil and gas.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Russia "remains open for dialogue" with its polar neighbors, but will "strongly and persistently" defend its interests in the region.

Copyright © 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[American Patriot]

I think we should send a couple of brigades to the moon and to Mars to assert our control over natural resources... oh wait, we don't have a space program any more.

[vector7]

Obama has handed our space program to the Russians.

[American Patriot]

Obama has handed our space program to the Russians.

Oh, that's RIGHT!

We should ask the Russians for permission to do anything from now on too.

[vector7]

US and Russia stir up political tensions over Arctic

Heavy-hitting US politicians enter debate about the future of the far north, fuelling concerns about a new cold war

Comments (44)
Terry Macalister

guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 6 July 2011 12.09 BST

Article history


The Arctic Council meeting in Nuuk, Greeenland, May 2011. Eight states that border the Arctic region agreed to co-operate in international search and rescue operations, signalling the growing importance of the region believed to host huge oil and gas reserves. Photograph: Ulrik Bang/Corbis

The seventh ministerial meeting of the Arctic Council in May looked set be a mundane affair, with its focus on signing a new search-and-rescue agreement and handover of the chairmanship to Sweden.

But the atmosphere in Nuuk, the capital of Greenland, was electrified by the first visit to such a forum by the United States, courtesy of the secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, secretary of the interior Ken Salazar, and a host of other heavy-hitters.

The message was clear: the US is putting itself at the centre of the debate about the future of the far north at a time when a new oil and mineral "cold rush" is under way as global warming makes extraction more easy. And being the US, the soft diplomacy was backed up with a bit of symbolic hardware. A few weeks earlier two nuclear-powered submarines were sent to patrol 150 miles north of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

Meanwhile Russia – also on the eight-nation council – was happy to push off the agenda any idea that countries such as China could gain observer status.

The US navy move comes as Russia is said to have increased missile testing in the region and Norway has moved its main military base to the far north.

Meanwhile China has started to woo countries such as Greenland, which are rich in rare earth minerals needed for mobile phones and other hi-tech equipment.

The competing commercial interests in the Arctic are complicated by the lack of a comprehensive agreement on who owns what. Many countries are in the process of submitting competing land claims to the UN as part of its Law of the Sea Convention – a treaty as yet unsigned by the US.

Canada and others were also disturbed when Artur Chilingarov, a veteran Russian polar explorer, placed a flag on the Arctic seabed in 2007. He told reporters his mission was to show the Arctic was Russian, adding: "We must prove the north pole is an extension of the Russian landmass."

Canada took exception to the Russian move, seeing it as provocative, but Moscow dismissed the furore, insisting it was a theatrical gesture by a scientist hired by private companies to make the descent. But it is telling that the following year Chilingarov – also a member of the state parliament – was awarded a new title, Hero of the Russian Federation.

Concerns about a new cold war – if not just a cold rush – have led academics such as Rob Huebert, a professor of political science at the University of Calgary, to warn in a recent paper prepared for the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute that "an arms race may be beginning".

Huebert says he has heard the Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin, talking of the need to establish a "zone of peace" in the Arctic but sees contrary actions as well. "Not withstanding the public statements of peace and co-operation in the Arctic issued by the Arctic states, tThe strategic value of the region is growing. As this value grows, each state will attach a greater value to their own national interests in the region. The Arctic states may be talking co-operation, but they are preparing for conflict."

Meanwhile Admiral James Stavridis, Nato's supreme allied commander in Europe, in a foreword to a recent Whitehall Ppaper published by the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London, argued: "For now, the disputes in the north have been dealt with peacefully, but climate change could alter the equilibrium over the coming years in the race of temptation for exploitation of more readily accessible natural resources."

Stavridis believes military assets, such as coastguards, have an important role to play with international co-ordination in the area – but mainly for specialist assistance around commercial and other interests.

He added: "The cascading interests and broad implications stemming from the effects of climate change should cause today's global leaders to take stock, and unify their efforts to ensure the Arctic remains a zone of co-operation – rather than proceed down the icy slope towards a zone of competition, or worse a zone of conflict."

Huebert points out that as well as opening a new ultra-hi-tech operations centre inside a mountain at Reitan, in the far north of Norway, Oslo is also spending unprecedented money on new military hardware, not least five top-of-the-range frigates. The class of vessel is called Fridtjof Nansen, after the famous polar explorer, which perhaps indicates where the navy plans to deploy them.

Meanwhile Canada's then foreign minister, Lawrence Cannon, voiced confidence his nation would win the territory. "We will exercise sovereignty in the Arctic," he told his Russian counterpart in talks in Moscow.

But optimists say the fears are exaggerated and point to positive developments, not least Norway and Russia agreeing a mutually acceptable boundary line dividing up the Barents Sea.

A partnership between Russia, Norway, the US and Britain has been quietly and successfully working away at decommissioning nuclear submarines and tackling other radioactive waste problems in the Kola Peninsula and Arkhangelsk regions.

One former foreign minister told the Guardian: "We want to avoid complacency but all this alarmist talk of meltdown should be shunned. The Arctic is quite pacific. It is not a place of turmoil but an area of low tension."

However, Paul Berkman, director of the Arctic Ocean geopolitics programme at the Scott Polar Research Institute, believes the deluge of books and features highlighting potential problems cannot be dismissed as melodrama. "You have to ask why are these alarming and alarmist headlines being written and it may be there is unfinished business from the Cold War."

Whether hype or not, he argues that it is necessary to both promote cooperation and prevent conflict. "There is no room for complacency and while tensions are low there is opportunity to address the risks of political, economic and cultural instabilities that are inherent consequences of the environmental state-change in the Arctic Ocean."

Inuit leaders are already concerned that the talk of industrialisation and mineral wealth in the Arctic will increase tension.

Aqqaluk Lynge, former chairman of the indigenous peoples' forum, the Inuit Circumpolar Council, described himself as "nervous" about current developments.

"There is a military build-up and an increase in megaphone diplomacy … We do not want a return to the cold war," he said.

This article was amended on 6 July 2011 to make clear that Lawrence Cannon is no longer the Canadian foreign minister.

[Ryan Ruck]

Canada Looking At Building Military Bases In Arctic

July 14, 2011

It is costly to operate in the vast and inhospitable Arctic. But the Canadian military is exploring a way to cut costs and speed up the movement of troops and equipment by building several new northern bases.

Along the way it could help to strengthen the country's Arctic sovereignty claims by placing additional boots on the tundra throughout the year.

The plan, sketched out in a study that was commissioned by the force's operational support command, is a variation of the one put in place for overseas operations.

Barebones transportation hubs — essentially a suitable landing strip and storage facility — at strategic spots around the globe make it more efficient when soldiers are called out to a global hot spot in a pinch.

Just this week, Defence Minister Peter MacKay was in Kuwait to announce an agreement to use the country as a transit point for equipment coming out of combat in Kandahar and making the long journey home to Canada.

The military is looking at a domestic variant of those overseas hubs.

The plan could result in remote bases and a small-but-permanent military presence in far-off communities.

Locations could include Alert, Inuvik, Whitehorse, Rankin Inlet, Iqaluit or Nanisivik, according to the technical memorandum prepared by the research wing of the military last year.

The Canadian Forces says no decision has been made to go ahead with the construction of new hubs.

That could change.

“The hub concept referred to in this report is just one of many ideas being examined at the time to enhance our capabilities up in the North,” said Navy Lt. Greg Menzies.

The report is premised on the priority that the Conservative government has placed on a more rigorous defence of Canada's territorial sovereignty in the North, where countries including Russia, Denmark and the United States are currently staking their claims to land and underwater territory.

“To maintain its sovereignty over its northern region, Canada will need to develop enforcement and surveillance capabilities for the Arctic,” the report says.

To that end, it envisions scenarios that could call for a military response in the North: disease outbreak in an Arctic community; a major air disaster; water contamination from an oil spill, and the cleanup of contaminated space debris, such as a satellite falling from orbit.

“To quickly and effectively respond to these scenarios, the CF would need to improve its personnel and equipment readiness for deployment in the North.”

Currently, the Canadian Forces relies on the Canadian Rangers for operations in the North. More complex search and rescue requirements are handled out of an air force base in Winnipeg.

But this new plan would see the force's hulking C-17 transport aircraft be loaded with personnel, supplies and a disassembled military helicopter — likely at CFB Trenton in Ontario — and dispatched to the northern hub. There, the helicopter would be reassembled and the Arctic hub would be used as a base for the mission.

Based on calculations that factor in the time it would take to travel to the Arctic from Trenton and the costs involved (which was then cross-referenced with ship and airline traffic, as well as the probability of space junk hurtling toward Earth), the study found Nunavut's Rankin Inlet — on the western shore of Hudson's Bay — would be the most cost-effective spot for a single hub, reducing transportation costs by 28 per cent.

The average response time to get anywhere in the Arctic from the Rankin Inlet staging base was still 48 hours, underlining the vast territory to be covered. Resolute, located on Cornwallis Island in Nunavut, offers the quickest average response time at 35 hours, but the runway there would require further development to accommodate a C-17 aircraft, the study said.

“From a cost-avoidance perspective, the optimal number of hubs would be three, corresponding to Iqaluit, Yellowknife and Rankin Inlet,” said the report, noting that an average of 49 per cent of transportation costs could be saved.

The cost savings trail off after setting up those three hubs, all of which are currently equipped to handle a C-17.

“Using a three-hub solution, the maximum response time would be 46 hours instead of 64 hours for a single hub. The minimum response time would be 16 to 18 hours for locations around the hubs,” said the study.

The military wouldn't speak to the costs of mounting an operation in the Arctic, but said the total budget for its annual northern exercise, Operation Nanook — which involves moving ships, aircraft, helicopters and about 1,000 personnel into the Arctic Circle — is about $15 million.

“The Canadian Forces are ready to execute all potential military tasks in Canada's North and we're always looking at ways to improve our response to possible threats in the North,” Menzies said.