Cold Front Rising As Global Warming Melts Polar Ice Pack, a New Race for the Arctic's Resources Begins; Strategic Insights: v.2, issue 8 (February 2008)

Abstract

Two decades ago, Arctic scholar Oran Young penned a prescient article for the Winter 1985-86 edition of Foreign Policy called “The Age of the Arctic,” in which he proclaimed: “Today, the Arctic is rapidly becoming a focus for defense and development issues that touch on the core interests of each of the superpowers.” Young then believed that the world was "entering the age of the Arctic, an era in which those concerned with international peace and security will urgently need to know mach more about the region and in which policy makers in the arctic rim states will become increasingly concerned.”[1] Indeed, a quick glance at any Cold War-era map of the polar region would show the two superpowers standing face-to-face across their common polar frontier. The logic of geopolitics placed the North Pole at the very center of the world, making the Arctic Ocean appear to be the modern-day equivalent of the Mediterranean of ancient times.