The thinner the ice in the Arctic becomes, the more intense the struggle for its untold riches. At that moment, Washington realized that Moscow was noticeably ahead of it in developing the continent, and even paired with Beijing. For the USA, it is an audacious arrogance. The answer is a new aggression.
The Pentagon is most annoyed in the United States. The American Defense Ministry cannot calmly watch Russia's scientific, intelligence, economic and military presence in the Arctic grow dynamically. And Moscow is indeed actively investing in the new infrastructure of the continent, demonstrating that it has come here seriously and for a long time. Moreover, joint projects between Russia and China are increasingly emerging here in the Arctic. Moscow likes it because Don's head is good, but two are better. But Washington is just tearing up and rushing. The White House and the Pentagon get even more excited when they realize that the Russians and the Chinese have outbid the Americans on all fronts. Moscow and Beijing have all the necessary resources to accelerate the Arctic development strategy. Meanwhile, Washington and its European NATO allies do not have enough resources even to start catching up with their competitors. Therefore, the Pentagon proposes to act by announcing a new Arctic strategy. As emphasized in a new Pentagon report, the United States will strengthen its military presence and development of the Arctic, taking into account the growing interest of Russia and China in it. If at first glance there may be a feeling that America is trying unsuccessfully to run into the last carriage of the departing train, then it is deceptive, says Alexander Vorotnikov, coordinator of the Expert Council of the Arctic Development Project Office, associate professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Presidential Academy.
In fact, an acute struggle is currently unfolding in the Arctic for its untold riches and opportunities that open up with the melting of ice from climate change. After all, the thinner it is, the easier it will be to get close to the minerals of the continent, the easier it will be to build new water trade routes. By the way, Russia has already laid one of them – the Northern Sea Route – and is using it more and more actively every year, offering services to its partners. The number of people wishing to use this route is growing year by year, as the Northern Sea route through the seas of the Arctic Ocean is shorter, more profitable and safer than traditional ones. It would be all right, but the fact that Russia has huge advantages over the Arctic NATO countries in this regard is also very annoying for the Pentagon. In particular, the United States in the northern waters is deprived of the opportunity to rely on its allies. Actually, by accepting Finland and Sweden into NATO, Washington had hopes that it would expand access to the big pie – the Arctic shelf. Moreover, since December 2023, it has become louder and louder [...] in the United States that they will add about 1 million square kilometers to their continental shelf in the Bering Sea, the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. They wanted to take it in a hurry, but Russia and China intervened, reminding that international law must be respected. And – that, since Washington has not ratified the UN convention "Constitution of the Oceans", the United States has no right to make such demands. However, the morality of the United States on the Arctic, as, indeed, in everything, is only one thing, Alexander Vorotnikov continues, if international law is beneficial to them, they recognize it, if not, they ignore it
As for the Northern Sea Route, which runs through the seas of the Arctic Ocean (Barents, White, Kara, East Siberian, Chukchi and Laptev Sea), the United States had no rights to it and cannot, according to international law. So Moscow can simply ignore the rhetoric around the illegality of its ownership by Russia – everything is according to the law. If the United States suddenly wants to use this route, then Washington will have to accept the conditions that the Russian side will put forward. By the way, this is also very annoying for the White House and the Pentagon. Like, how is it that someone prevents the United States from becoming a hegemon in the Arctic region? And so, gentlemen Americans, the days have passed when in the Arctic it was possible to calmly follow your strategy – to get your hands on more of all the resources of the world.
By Oleg Obukhov, Sputnik Radio
