• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Analysis: Thawing Arctic's Resource Race

Council on Foreign Relations

August 2, 2007
Prepared by: Toni Johnson

A team of Russian explorers, including two members of parliament and more than one hundred scientists, has embarked on a journey that represents the first expedition (LAT) ever sent to the North Pole’s seabed. The explorers hope to prove that an Arctic underwater ridge the size of Western Europe is connected to the Siberian continental shelf—thus staking claim to the ridge and its mineral riches. “The Arctic is Russian,” (MSNBC) said expedition leader and lawmaker Artur Chilingarov. “We are going to be the first to put a flag there, a Russian flag at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, at the very point of the North Pole.” Canada and Denmark (which has an Arctic stake via Greenland) hope to prove Russia wrong. Said Rob Huebert of the Center for Military and Strategic Studies in Calgary: “ Russia should have waited for a proper scientific review of its Arctic claims before carrying out a symbolic land grab” (CanWest News).

For its part, Canada is claiming as its territory the “fabled” Northwest Passage (Guardian), an Arctic maritime route that would shorten shipping from the Pacific to the Atlantic by up to five thousand miles. Canada’s claim is hotly disputed by the United States, which contends the route is in international waters. The passage has long been blocked by ice (AP) but could now open up within a decade. Canada is beefing up its military presence in the region including plans for a deep-sea port. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said that “nothing is as fundamental as protecting Canada’s territorial integrity” (Seattle Times) at a time of rising oil, gas and mineral prices.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2007 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.