WSJ: Russia Is Winning the Race for the Arctic

Russia is winning the race against the United States and Canada to dominate the Arctic, the Wall Street Journal reported on February 3.

Rearming: Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the U.S. and Russia have shrunk their forces in the region. But melting ice and rising tensions between Russia and nato are prompting them to renew military deployments in the Arctic to access its rich resources and strategic position.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security warns that Moscow is better able than America to maintain a presence in the Arctic Ocean.

• Russia has reopened many of its Soviet-era Arctic bases to which it can mobilize state companies and resources.
• Russia has China’s support; Chinese companies are significant investors and equipment suppliers for Russian energy projects in the Arctic.
• If the ice along Greenland’s northern coast continues to melt, Russian warships could soon have a passage straight toward North America, where the U.S. and Canada lack military infrastructure.

Outdated systems: The U.S. and Canada created the joint command norad in 1958 to defend North America against a potential Soviet attack. This was intended to detect assault from over the North Pole with a network of satellites and ground-based radar and air force bases.

However, Russia and China are now deploying missiles that can fly much farther and faster than their predecessors and are capable of passing by America’s sensors unnoticed.

Greenland: The Russian threat in the Arctic is one of the reasons U.S. President Donald Trump recently proposed buying Greenland from Denmark. “We need it for national security,” he said in January.

Greenland is also estimated to have 38 million tons of rare earth minerals, and it could have major untapped oil reserves.

• The U.S. Geological Survey estimates the Arctic holds 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas in the world and 13 percent of its oil.

Russian aggression: In 2008, when Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Georgia and brought a fifth of its territory under Russian control, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote that the world had entered a “dangerous new era.” Since then, Russian aggression has continued to intensify, including in the Arctic.

To learn why, read “The Battle for the Arctic.”