Arctic Anxiety: The War for Energy Resources Is On

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Townhall:


While the ultra-cool “Climaterati” ponder the fate of polar bears and glaciers over cappuccinos at U.N.-sponsored climate change conferences in cushy Copenhagen and Cancun, there are other serious matters at hand in the High North.

It turns out the Arctic is heating up on the political, economic and security fronts, too.

According to observers, the ice cap that covers much of the Arctic region is disappearing -- the size and thickness of the Arctic sea ice that envelopes the North Pole is decreasing, following a more than three-decade-long trend.

In fact, this year, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, which receives some U.S. government support, the “extent” of Arctic ice, at a little over 5 million square miles, is at the lowest level since 1979, when satellites first started collecting data.

These changes are exposing parts of the globe that were previously inaccessible to a number of military, transportation or commercial activities, including the always-important exploitation of potential energy resources.

In the April issue of Townhall Magazine, contributing editor Peter Brookes offers his analysis of the international battle for control of the resources buried at the North Pole. "Arctic Anxiety" reveals Russia's tactics, including a 2007 act perhaps best suited for a Hollywood movie: Two Russian mini-submarines planted a titanium flag on the Arctic seabed near the North Pole at a depth of nearly 14,000 feet, claiming for Moscow a territory roughly calculated to be one-half the size of Western Europe.