Russia’s Minister of Defense said, by the way, that Russia is prepared to “defend its interests in the Arctic with military means.” He also said that he won’t allow anybody to be militarily superior to Russia.
Russia’s opponent in the Arctic is Canada, of course. And Canada will fold before any conflict begins.
The question is, of course, why Russia would need the Arctic if it has enormous territories it can neither populate nor use in any way. But the point here is to antagonize as many people as possible and not to do anything about the Arctic.
Clarissa's Blog 
I’m not sure which regions of Arctic they are talking about but some regions have oil and this is an area of active exploration.
LikeLike
Yeah depending on the areas insane amounts of oil.. but as I mentioned before and you seconded clarissa if we become less dependent on oil Russia and the middle east dictatorsips will fold (with a 20 year lag time.. but hey.. not too bad). Short of that, Russia and the dictatorships / theocracies continue. Only three major state actors to threaten west are Russia, Iran .. both crumble without oil and then china, which can/would only go to war with the west over oil.. so. lets become less dependent on it
LikeLike
“so. lets become less dependent on it”
LikeLike
It’s possible oil is involved, but given the Russian psyche I’d say it’s equally likely that they fear Canada claiming some three million square miles of ice and suddenly only being the second largest country on the planet.
This is the same phenomena that saw the French and Italians happily pay for the privilege of owning vast expanses of worthless desert, or England and Russia play the Great Game over who was King of central asian steppe #238237239.
LikeLike
“It’s possible oil is involved, but given the Russian psyche I’d say it’s equally likely that they fear Canada claiming some three million square miles of ice and suddenly only being the second largest country on the planet.”
LikeLike
Have you heard – The “Russian world” has no borders, only the horizon. 🙂
LikeLike
Both Russia and Canada have made territorial claims to the Lomonosov ridge, an underwater mountain crest that runs 1,240 miles across the polar region and which is suspected of having large oil and gas reserves
.
According to the Kremlin, Russia is building 13 new military airfields and 10 radar stations in the Arctic to counter the increasing Canadian military presence in the arctic i.e. Canadian Inuit storm troopers that are running rampant across the tundra.
LikeLike
Poor Lomonosov is rolling in his grave.
LikeLike
How do you know? Maybe he would be a Putinist if he lived in present time…
LikeLike
Let’s be careful here. Lomonosov is my all-time idol and role model. 🙂
LikeLike
“And Canada will fold before any conflict begins.”
Unfortunately, yes.
It would be warmly comforting to think of Canada as the winter hat that helps keep the United States warm when it confronts the Russian bear …
But there’s not much but cold comfort in this continuation of a Cold War.
LikeLike
That’s a very pretty metaphor. 🙂
LikeLike