For twenty years, Overseas Coverage’s Keith Johnson writes, the Arctic has been the “perennial subsequent great-power flash level.” However since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, consultants concern that Arctic concord has change into much more precarious. As NATO has expanded northward, Russia has bulked up its navy presence within the area, and Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation has deepened, predictions of a serious conflict have change into—in Johnson’s phrases—“superheated.”
For twenty years, Overseas Coverage’s Keith Johnson writes, the Arctic has been the “perennial subsequent great-power flash level.” However since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, consultants concern that Arctic concord has change into much more precarious. As NATO has expanded northward, Russia has bulked up its navy presence within the area, and Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation has deepened, predictions of a serious conflict have change into—in Johnson’s phrases—“superheated.”
This version of Flash Factors seeks to untangle what’s actually taking place within the Arctic—a spot that’s warming at a charge 4 occasions better than the worldwide common, the place problems with local weather, delivery, power, and safety all converge. Under, you’ll discover our latest deep dives on the area, from a reported portrait of NATO’s new “Arctic Sparta” to a function taking you inside a Norwegian Coast Guard patrol ship.
Finnish officers (proper) watch contributors within the Jaeger Brigade’s winter fight course, seen within the distance, in Sodankyla, Finland, on Jan. 10.Andrea Prada Bianchi photographs
A Temperature Examine on NATO’s ‘Arctic Sparta’
The Finnish city of Ivalo now hosts the closest base to mainland Russia accessible to U.S. troops, Andrea Prada Bianchi writes.
Members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star work to take away ice from the ship’s deck whereas underway within the Chukchi Sea on Dec. 28, 2020. Petty Officer 1st Class Cynthia Oldham/U.S. Coast Guard
The Arctic Nice Sport Gained’t Be Gained in U.S. Shipyards
The Excessive North is an enviornment of great-power competitors, however Russia is the one with one thing to lose, FP’s Keith Johnson writes.
Joint forces participate within the Nordic Response 24 navy train, a part of the bigger NATO train Steadfast Defender, close to Sorstraumen, above the Arctic Circle in Norway, on March 10. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP through Getty Pictures
NATO’s New Map
On NATO’s new map—with all of Scandinavia now within the alliance—all the things must be related, FP’s Jack Detsch writes.
Crew members aboard the USCGC Stratton help a regulation enforcement boarding staff to arrange a 35-foot-long vary interceptor forward of a fisheries inspection whereas on patrol within the Bering Sea on Jan. 29. Kenneth R. Rosen photographs for Overseas Coverage
The Finish of American Exceptionalism within the Excessive North
After years of inattention, the USA is enjoying catch-up the place it as soon as held vital sway, Kenneth R. Rosen writes.
Telecommunication domes are pictured on a mountaintop close to Longyearbyen, within the Svalbard archipelago, on Might 10, 2022. Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP through Getty Pictures
Arctic Concord Is Falling Aside
An remoted Russia is popping to China for assist in the north, FP’s Elisabeth Braw writes.
