How the Arctic, Greenland and the war in Ukraine are connected
10 January 11:13
OPINION
Marina Daniluk-Yarmolaeva, journalist, media consultant, political strategist, political analyst
Just before Russia attacked Ukraine, the great battle for control of the Arctic was in full swing. Oddly enough, as of February 2022, Russia was the best prepared, with China’s panda with Xi’s smirk behind it.
A few comparisons.
In Denmark (the same scandalous Greenland), according to open sources, the Arctic Command’s staffing table included as many as 80 people with a sled patrol.
As for the United States, despite Alaska, it is not so good with icebreakers. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, it was reported that the Coast Guard was using one icebreaker, and another for scientific purposes. A group of others were undergoing repairs. But now the swampy people on military websites are worried that the United States is finally making a newer icebreaker. However, in November, the Russian media boasted about how they would beat them with their new nuclear-powered Chukotka and Chinese ones.
The Russian Northern Fleet consists of three missile cruisers, eight frigates, a destroyer, six small warships, the same number of minesweepers and large amphibious assault ships, 6 strategic nuclear submarines, about a dozen cruise missile submarines, diesel torpedo submarines, deep-water stations, and a new icebreaker.
At the end of 2019, Russia deployed new S-400 Triumph air defense missile systems in the Arctic and significantly expanded the zone of controlled airspace.
https://fakty.com.ua/…/20190916-rosiya-rozmistyla-novi…
“The new air defense systems are designed to engage strategic and tactical aircraft, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic targets. They can engage aerodynamic targets at a distance of up to 400 km, and ballistic targets flying at a speed of up to 4.8 km/s at altitudes of several meters to several tens of kilometers at a distance of up to 60 km.”
Let’s not forget about the bitch “Olenya” on the Kola Peninsula.
In an interview in 2022/23, former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg – no one else but a Norwegian and the son of a former defense minister who understood the threats of the USSR – raised the topic that NATO security is impossible without a secure Arctic. The fact is that the North Pole is the shortest route for intercontinental ballistic missiles. This means that it is ripe and overdue for the United States and Canada to engage in joint air defense projects – ironically, the security of both is somewhat connected, just like Finland and Sweden. But Canada, under Trudeau and the US, has been doing more bullshit over the past 15 years – more on that later.
If we look at the map of the Arctic, the closest point to Greenland is Svalbard. This is a Norwegian territory demilitarized by a 1920 treaty. However, this does not prevent Russians from wandering around there under the guise of civilian miners, and the Chinese from doing science at a research station. The most valuable prize in the event of an island occupation is the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. In short, if a nuclear weapon goes off somewhere and everyone dies, it is from there that the survivors can take potatoes and beets to plant, and this should not be controlled by China. In recent years, the Russian foreign ministry has issued a stream of statements almost calling the island “native Russian territory” with calls to “return to their native harbor.” Do Norwegians understand this? Yes, they even make TV series about the Russian occupation. They are still fantasy, but still.
Not so long ago, Russia practiced plans to attack the Norwegian coast from Murmansk by sea, land, and air with the 14th Army Corps, send amphibious assault troops to Finnish Lapland, and attack Finland with missile forces stationed on the Kola Peninsula-that’s why the Finns are actively buying up cool air defense systems. It is also noted that in Lapland, the Russians may try to quickly seize Ivalo airport.
It is noteworthy that in December, one of Putin’s closest associates, Sechin of Rosneft, agreed at a forum that the Arctic is ours. All the resources will be taken by Russia and shared with the world – the latter was done with an eye on the countries of the Global South. Those who don’t give a shit about politics, as long as rice and dog meat are on the table on time.
And what did the glorious United States do?
There is a fixed date when Russia decided to take over the Arctic.
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In August 2007, for the first time in history, a Russian expedition sank to the bottom of the ocean at the North Pole, left a Russian flag there, and claimed the Arctic as belonging to Russia.
Bush Jr., sick of conflicts, hurricanes, and other things, condemned such antics, but no one took it seriously and wanted to have fun. However, a few days before Obama’s inauguration, in January 2009, George W. Bush issued a presidential national security directive declaring the United States an Arctic nation. Thus, the United States finally became interested in the topic of security at the North Pole. On the good side, it was thanks to this document that the Senate finally ratified the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
https://irp.fas.org/offdocs/nspd/nspd-66.pdf
Oddly enough, Obama has shown interest in the Arctic, more from a climate perspective and the prospect of glaciers sinking, but his efforts have been constantly met with resistance from the Republicans. In May 2013, the National Strategy for the Arctic Region was issued, the sixth anniversary of which was celebrated in the last days of the calendar. It symbolized the balance between the economic opportunities that are opening up for the United States in the Arctic due to the unprecedented rate of glacial melt and the need to ensure a robust environmental regime in the region. This emphasis was in line with Obama’s consistent campaign to prevent the destructive effects of global warming.
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/…/nat_arctic…
The strategy was clearly aimed at enabling the United States to respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities arising from the significant increase in the activity of international players in the Arctic. Six months after the publication of this document, the US Department of Defense issued its own Arctic Strategy, which stated that the Arctic is at a tipping point, and this allows it to work together with partners to promote a balanced approach to improving human and environmental security in the region.
https://dod.defense.gov/…/pubs/2013_Arctic_Strategy.pdf
In 2016, Obama’s climate agenda was further supported by executive actions to protect the Bering Sea.
So where is the war in Ukraine and the US with Russia?
Despite the fact that Sechin promises everyone gas and oil from the Arctic, it is unrealistic to extract it without modern technology. Today, Russia believes that China will help. But in 2012, it was the United States that it had high hopes for.
Thus, in 2012, Rex Tillerson and Igor Sechin, then CEOs of ExxonMobil and Rosneft, signed a $500 billion deal that provided ExxonMobil with access to Russian Arctic properties with exemption from export duties and property taxes. However, as a result of the annexation of Crimea, this one of the largest energy projects in history was motivated by the US side to stop – here we thank Obama and Co.
However, Grandpa Rex was so eager for oil and money that the work with the occupiers continued until the fall of 2014.
The Russians were so eager to push the project through that they called in the best minds for scientific work.
A report from August 2014 – “Member of the Federation Council from the Tula region Artur Chilingarov will leave the Russian Senate in September to take a permanent job at Rosneft. Last week, the Russian company launched a joint project with the American ExxonMobil in the Kara Sea.
According to the senator, the shelf and the Arctic are his professional recognition, and he will continue to work as the president’s special representative for cooperation in the Arctic and Antarctic.”
The late Chilingarov was a serious Arctic explorer and the father of socialite Ksenia Chilingarova.
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But the sanctions over Crimea caught up with the businessmen. And this is what the American media wrote later:
“…ExxonMobil’s losses due to sanctions against Russia amounted to at least a billion dollars: the company was forced to abandon its joint projects with Rosneft in Sakhalin, the Kara Sea and Siberia.
“Tillerson will sell our NATO for access to Sakhalin oil…”
– Senator McCain’s aide Mark Salter tweeted.”
After the new US administration came to power (the aforementioned Rex Tillerson, a businessman and Trump ally, was appointed as the first Secretary of State), there were well-founded fears that Obama’s decision to impose sanctions on the US-Russian project in the Arctic would be reversed. However, in April 2017, the U.S. Treasury Department decided not to grant a legislative exemption to ExxonMobil after the company officially applied for permission to drill in the Russian Arctic.
At the end of April 2017, Trump issued an order to begin the process of opening Alaska’s Arctic waters to American drilling, which was banned under Obama.
However, at the end of March 2019, a federal judge in Alaska ruled that Trump’s order lifting the ban on oil and gas production in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean was illegal.
However, in 2020, Trump issued a Memorandum that is still very much in the Russians’ eyes.
In June, Trump ordered the creation of icebreakers to protect US interests in the Arctic and Antarctica. By 2030, the United States must build new icebreakers so that the country can be permanently present in the Arctic and Antarctica and protect national interests.
US President Donald Trump has sent the relevant order to the State Department, the Ministries of Finance, Homeland Security, and Energy. The memorandum states that the new ships will help maintain a strong presence of U.S. security forces, as well as its allies and partners, in the Arctic. It also says that the ships can be rented from neighbors.
When Russian military websites write news about the American updates, they sadly state that the United States is already doing something. The first professional negotiations with Finland and Canada began in November 2024.
“Under the Icebreaker Collaboration Effort, or ICE Pact, the three countries have agreed to share research, knowledge, and capabilities to build icebreakers that can ensure each country’s sovereignty in an ocean that is becoming increasingly navigable due to climate change.
While the shrinking polar ice cap opens up the region for commercial transportation and mineral exploration, the ICE Pact is largely driven by concerns about the Arctic capabilities of an increasingly hostile Russia and China, whose presence in the region is growing rapidly.
“Until last summer, you could expect one Chinese research vessel in the Arctic. Last summer there were five,”
– Admiral Linda Fagan, Commander of the U.S. Coast Guard, said this month at a security forum in Halifax, Canada.
“This summer, Russia and China operated in tandem surface groups 60 to 70 miles off the coast of Alaska,” Fagan added. “If we saw the same pattern of behavior off the east or west coast of the [contiguous] United States, it would get the attention of the United States.
https://www.holosameryky.com/a/7882520.html
Although many men on Facebook wrote that we are being merged and occupied by Canada, I can say that the war for the Arctic has not stopped for 18 years. And this is also part of our security, as well as the security of Europe and North America.
I can say one thing: wherever you live in the next 10 years, it will be very interesting and turbulent. Now Canada, Denmark and Norway will learn their lessons and decide whether they are with Chinese money or whether they also care about security and pay for it in NATO.
Given that we are the victims of shelling from Olenya, and we have utilized all sorts of ground forces from that area, it would be good to share with the West the experience of how to twist Russia and China.
Source: Facebook.
